A 29 year-old home-made recipe for 'Thank You'

by Simon Salgado

Start with an American base – influences from Upstate New York, LA, DC, Tennessee, and Texas. Pour in some French, Honduran, Thai, Indian, British and Chinese for flavor. Baste with liberal, conservative, Jew, Christian, gay, straight, and be sure to sprinkle in seasoning aged 12 to 83 years. Mix rigorously with students, bankers, economists, therapists, doctors, lawyers, house cleaners, and throw in a former playboy bunny for good measure. Let it simmer for four hours and you have the outrageously delicious and outlandish 50 guest 2008 Salgado Thanksgiving, an ongoing near 30 year tradition.

In the US, Thanksgiving is a festival to give thanks for the harvest and a time to express our gratitude… and what better way to give thanks than to share in an evening filled with good company, feasting on an elaborate spread of delightfully savory and tasty dishes. A nutritionist's worst nightmare, Thanksgiving is a meal where on average, Americans shamelessly consume over 2000 calories in one sitting… atrocious perhaps, gluttonous for sure, and food-coma-licious for certain. As far as I can tell, the only way to make the meal even more over-the-top would be to eat it with no hands…

The matriarch of a tradition that started in 1977, my spunky, energetic, and food-pushing dear Jewish mother organizes an annual Thanksgiving feast with family and mostly friends who have nowhere else to go for the celebration. The guest list has undoubtedly evolved over the years, but it is always a charming cross-section of 50 or so starkly different individuals (at least a handful of whom will share in our feast for the first time) who each bring a unique perspective and dish to the lovely affair. 2008 was no different.

(The hostess with the mostest; and evil mastermind behind the plan to take out some of America's finest with nothing but tryptophan and sugar)

The guests begin to file in at 4 o' clock in the afternoon… warm salutations and long embraces are shared and the young strapping lads and ladies lug in bountiful gourmet concoctions to the grand buffet. A hum of chatter and guffaws fill the room as folks sip on piping hot freshly made apple cider (spiked with white rum if you please!) seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest. The aroma of perfectly carved moist turkey and tryptophan permeates the air (2 free range birds and both 30 pounders! an abomination to some animal rights activists, but splendid for this large to-do!).


Other simple, no-nonsense traditional and non-traditional comfort foods are smattered on the table – perfectly glazed cured honey baked ham; heavenly home-made deep fried Thai eggrolls; warm and flaky breaded brie brushed with black currant preserves; rich stuffing baked with grilled onions, mushrooms, peppers and apple sausage; sweet and delicate Nashville corn soufflé that melts in your mouth; bountiful tart cranberry sauce; perfectly baked sweet potato fingers that make your mouth water; and a viscous vegetarian gravy blended with grilled onions, mushrooms, and peppers seasoned in soy, sherry, salt and pepper. There is nothing fancy shmancey about it… just simple, home made and delicious.


The fifty guests make heaping plates and cram into four tables on two floors of our modest town house – impeccably decorated with autumn colored table cloths from all over the world, tasteful antique turkey-like centerpieces, majestic lighted candles, and beautiful calligraphy drawn on shaved bark name plates at each masterfully arranged setting. Fine wine flows freely as the boisterous group chows down, each heavenly bite better than the next. The room fills with pockets of rigorous debate, uproar over the failing economy, horribly bad jokes, obscure sports trivia, and countless shared laughs. Seconds are had, in some cases thirds, and somehow in the gluttony of it all, everyone still has room for dessert… and what a sight the dessert table is to see…

The grand buffet has transformed into a majestic mountain of sinful delights giving new meaning to the term "naughty": rich and creamy flan, a Spanish custard made from condensed and evaporated milk, eggs, caramelized sugar, and some secret ingredients; flaky and rich baked-from-scratch pecan pie with authentic Texas pecans; a wicked chocolate brownie cake with almost torte-like creaminess; a magnificent French Yule Log made with meringue, marzipan, and melt-in-your mouth silky butter cream; freshly baked pumpkin pie spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. When all is said and done, undoing the old belt and dozing off for a food-coma-induced cat nap is surely in order. Football is watched, hot coffee is sipped, and feet are warmed by the fire place. After some much needed digesting over pleasant conversation, the night is capped with thank you's, affectionate goodbyes, and final embraces.

A 14th century German born theologian, philosopher and mystic, Meister Eckhart, once said that "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." Thanksgiving Day…. sharing food with friends and family… what a great way to give thanks… and what a blessing.


Simon Salgado's mother is a saint. You understand me? She is a saint!