by Mick Vann
A memoir of a 2013 feast at the home of nursery owners Diane
('Princess Di') and Chris ('CBoy') Winslow
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Once again the annual Turkey Day gathering commenced at
Rancho Winslow, with fairly decent weather and an abundance
of spirits. It was a small but solid crew, dedicated to giving
some thanks, celebrating, and chowing down.
Princess Di (Diane Winslow) the Martha Stewart of Manchaca,
and I had been cogitating about the menu, and made some grand-
iose plans, but as the day approached, we came to our senses.
The turkey was originally going to be brined, spatchcocked, and
grilled, but our head griller, CBoy, insisted on non-grilling. It didn’t
get butterflied and brined because it wasn’t thawed in time, so
instead, it got its cavity stuffed with celery, carrots, onions, garlic,
thyme, sage, and parsley, and then settled down to a long, warm
golden-brown slumber at 350°F, with a frequent basting of butter
and turkey schmaltz.
The ham got crisscrossed-slashed and baked, and then got a finish-
ing glaze of habanero-pineapple jam, apricot jam, German mustard,
brown sugar, and roasted garlic.
I fought my way into the SuperHEB in Kyle and procured the
last few packages of fresh turkey thighs, and a package of chick-
en necks.
They would join the turkey neck in the pot with celery, carrot,
garlic, onion butts, and herbs, for some rich, slow-simmered tur-
key stock.
I used it to make the dressing, this year made with sausage, onions,
roasted garlic, celery, sage, thyme, parsley, walnuts, dried cherries
(plumped in the turkey stock), day-old French bread cubes, a
couple of bright gold-yolked RW yard eggs, and that turkey stock.
CBoy declared it the best dressing he had ever eaten, which speaks
volumes, considering his advanced age.
There was a dish of baked sliced red sweet potatoes and apples,
topped with toasted pecans and a spiced topping of butter, honey,
brown sugar, and dark rum; a nice little combo. Di made her fam-
ous slaw of cabbages and broccoli stems, sweet onion, and a gin-
ger-lime dressing, garnished with toasted sesame seeds.
I blanched some beautiful green beans for 6 minutes, and then
sautéed them with butter, turkey fat, thick-sliced mushrooms, and
then finished them with roasted garlic and touch of turkey stock.
There was huge platter of fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries,
pineapple, and red grapes).
Nancy made some of her wonderful cranberry relish, to go with
the canned cranberry jelly that Havie insists on (not bad on a PB
and J by the way). While all that stuff was cooking, Nancy had
thrown together a nosh of her famous slow-cooker chile con
queso, scooped up with Frito’s.
There were store-bought rolls to pop in the oven and some soft
butter for schmearing, and Nancy brought one of her famous
pineapple upside-down cakes, to go with one of HEB bakery’s
finest pumpkin pies (and some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla).
Sorry, no dessert pics; I was in a tryptophan, Dogfish Head, Old
Forester, and Malbec haze by then.
The turkey came out very moist and tasty; ditto for the ham. The
meat from the turkey stock turkey thighs was saved for some
turkey mole enchiladas further down the calendar a bit. The dress-
ing was superb (as declared by CBoy), and the accompanying
gravy rich and luscious.
All of the side dishes soared above expectations; same for the
accompaniments. We put a serious dent in the spirits supply, and
the crowd was especially jolly. UT even beat Tech.
Many thanks were given, and old friends reconnected, and epox-
ied together with new friends. Nobody hit deer or got hit by deer
on their way out. All things considered, Turkey Day at Rancho
Winslow was a huge, delicious success.
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Mick Vann is a cookbook author, culinary gardener, food critic,
blogger... and many more things besides. Catch up on his musings
