Thanksgiving Charcuterie - A Satisfying Turkey Day Alternative

Ok - the photos are going to speak for themselves, and hopefully are an inspiration to try this alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, should you like to employ it.

Charcuteries gained prominence the last several years because, easily, they are delicious and give all of your guests a full range of options on what they are craving. Graze boards, crave boards - the iterations are a range of choices, highlights, and, let's face it, you can ignore the things you don't like or not in the mood for. No one should bat an eye - because someone else will like that item and can enjoy more of it.

Our Thanksgiving Charcuterie here takes the traditional meal and translates much of into a traditional board - turkey is the highlight protein here, so no one can say they didn't get turkey on the big day. We convert a fresh turkey breast into several options - a Turkey Salad (separate recipe in another blog post), and simply cut into bite-sized, gravy laden pieces. We have turkey Kielbasa, translated into delicious oven-baked burnt ends. We have turkey luncheon slices rolled and topped with a Kalamata olive.

Then, rounding out our ASG Thanksgiving, our freshly made nuts round out a selection of moderately priced cheeses (we're cognizant of price too), dried fruits like chopped dates and dried cherries. We have fresh fruits like grapes and raspberries (for color). We like to add baked brie and baked camembert. Then, a few aromatics like fresh rosemary and thyme.

We always like to put out some pickling as a way to cut anything overly sweet.

Set some tables and a nice wine - you've got dinner my Gourmands!

Proteins - Turkey

• Turkey Salad - separate blog post this week, let's just the fresh, crunchy apples really make this swing

• Baked Turkey Breast with Light Gravy - standard turkey breast oven-backed, then cut into pieces, then introduce back a bit of its gravy so it doesn't go dry

• Turkey Kielbasa Burnt Ends - cut a kielbasa into bite sized slices, fry it in a pan with butter for 10 minutes, or until both sides are brown. Move to a mixing bowl. Mix in mustard, ketchup and barbecue sauce until all are evenly layered. Dry mix - cayenne, brown sugar, light salt, cracked pepper, onion powder, garlic powder. Hand drop each piece into the dry mix, then to a baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or until well caramelized - avoid burning. Allow to cool, then serve with toothpicks.

• Sliced Turkey with Kalamata Olives - roll your sliced turkey, then run through a Kalamata with a toothpick and through the meat. Easy, but so good. Bonus: use the Cranberry Ketchup on its tips.

Spiced Nuts

• Vinegar and Dill Cashews

• Spicy Cayenne and Hot Sauce Salted Almonds

• Sugared Cashews with Nutmeg

• Fresh Curry Pumpkin Seeds

  • All of these are available at this blog post - Spiced Nuts

• Kettle Corn - we love this little nod to the Peanuts.

Cheeses

• Baked Brie

• Baked Camembert

  • Ok, I goofed, I was rushing and forgot to prep this appropriately. There's two ways - take your brie or camembert roll and either, slice it in the middle and stuff it like a sandwich, or, slice it like a pie. Either way works. Heck, just baking it as is and topping it with honey was fine, too.

• Sharp Cheddar

• Cheese Log

Dried Fruits

• Chopped Dates

• Dried Cherries

Fresh Fruits

• Green Grapes

• Raspberries

Pickling, Crackers and Miscellany

• Fresh Butter Baked Crostini - we were limited because there was no fresh bread when we went to market, but they did have pre-sliced crostini. We buttered these evenly and dropped in the oven for less than 7m. Golden brown and perfect for the proteins.

• Gherkins - refrigerate first - they taste regal cold.

• Fresh Pickled Red Onions and Red Cabbage - standard pickling - boil even parts filtered water, apple cider, and white vinegar. Drop in a single packet of pickling spice. Then drop in about a 1/2 cup of sugar, black peppercorns, kosher salt. Prep Red Onions and Red Cabbage into slices. Stuff them into mason jars, then, when ready, carefully pour brine into stuffed jars until there is 1-inch headroom. Allow to get to room temp before moving. Store in pantry, but we like them in the fridge to cool.

• Kalamata Olives

• Honey

• Hot Pepper Jelly

• Cranberry Ketchup - recipe in blog

To say this was a hit is an understatement - you've got dinner that gives maximum options for your guests. Ask them to bring their favorite bottle so you can likewise share a tasting - all goes well with this selection of cheeses.

Please check out more Thanksgiving with allstreetsgourmand.com