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THE STUDENTVOICE SINCE 1904
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VOLUME 118 ISSUE 65
notice 93
TURKEY DAY REVIEW
Holiday tunes already fill the airwaves and shopping centers all around are twinkling in decorative anticipation for your dollars. It would seem that Thanksgiving is but a speed bump to more consumerist celebrations.
But hark, dear readers! If this most American of holidays has got you snoozing (blame the turkey) read on for a delicious treat (layers of meat!). Jayplay knows what goes into a great Turkey Day (bourbon and brand) and how to best share it with the family (give less stress than you receive). And if dinnertime conversation turns foul, we supplied you with a history lesson to share as an educational treat. Because, whatever the season, knowledge is the best gift of all.
1. Eat turducken
Turducken a traditional Cajun meat-gasm that unites turkey, duck and chicken into one delicious foul. The three-in-one bird is migrating from its southern Louisiana roots and could someday replace the traditional uni-meat dinner on a Thanksgiving table near you. Carnivores of the world give thanks!
"It tastes like a turkey, a duck and a chicken," she says, adding that it drips with moisture.
The aptly named turducken is breaking out of regional confinement with the help of businesses like Hebert's Specialty Meats. Hebert's, pronounced "A-bears" is a purveyor of Cajun meat products that sells a variety of stuffed animals (including rabbit, crab and quail) from stores in Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.
Kim Dunlap, who manages the butcher-chain's restaurant and shipping center in Tulsa, Okla., says the business was the first to commercialize turducken and sells thousands of the birds each year.
Making a turducken is a labor of layering. A turkey, duck and chicken are de-boned, spread open and layered one on top of the other. Various stuffings and seasonings are sandwiched between the meat layers and any meatless nooks and crannies. Then the turkey layer, bursting with flesh and flavor, is sworn together at the skin to form a delicious frankenpoultry.
"It looks like a big of fat turkey," Dunlap says. "Except it has no cavity."
If you'd like to learn how to stuff and assemble your own turducken, visit `fabulousfoods.com/features/turducken/stuff_turducken.html`. Otherwise, buy your own from Hebert's at `www.hebertmeats.com`
2. History moment
In the autumn of 1621, a village of half-dead, super-prudish Puriatsuns with some nearby Native Americans. We know the gist of the story as given by kindergarten actors across the nation, but what really happened at the Carthusians?
Peggy Baker, director and historian at Pilgrim Hall Museum, works in Plymouth, Mass, the town where the famous feast occurred. Baker gave a quick lesson on the historic event, beginning with the fact that the first Thanksgiving was not a thanksgiving at all.
"A day of thanksgiving would have been purely religious," she says. The celebration in question was more of a harvest celebration.
That's not to say that the pilgrims didn't have anything to be thankful for. They were alive, Well, 53 of them were. Of the 102 original pilgrims who arrived fresh off the Mayflower from England, exactly half of them died during the first New England winter. Their number then benefited from a later addition of two pilgrim babies, Baker says.
So, happy to be alive and having raped their first American harvest, the pilgrims had a party. Baker says it lasted about a week, and that about 90 dudes from the nearby Wampanoag tribe were in attendance. No one knows why they were there. Baker says they might have been invited. Perhaps they were there for turducken.
Baker says the food at the first Thanksgiving was different from what is traditionally served today. Though historians do not have an exact menu, they probably had foods including geese, ducks, turkey, pigeon, partridge, cod, bass, commal, nuts, and maybe pie. What is known is that the Wampanoa brought five deer. The pilgrims did not have sugar, so cranberry sauce was impossible to make, and pumpkins, if eaten, were likely spiced and stewed instead of baked.
"That's a technique that was used in seventeenth-century England, stuffing things into other things." Baker says.
Though the first Thanksgiving was very different from those we host today, Baker says there is at least one similarity among them.
"The real story, which is of these two very different cultures coming together—that's absolutely there."
3. The joy of family: a cornucopia of loathing
The families of seasonalThanksgiving commercials,set down to the perfect meal,smiling and laughing in simple,iconic 1950s glee,are as authentic as a turkey made with Spam.
The holidays, family forced together with expectations of perfection, can be stressful, says psychologist Harriet Lerner, author of bestseller The Dance of Anger and an expert on difficult relationships.
In real life, the stuffing is bland, your parents hate your girlfriend. Uncle Joe just came out of the closet, Mom lost her job and the snail on Grandpa's face can only mean that he's thanked God that Grandma isn't alive to see how much of a disappointment the family is.
"It's a perfectly legitimate goal just to survive and not do your usual thing." she says about traditional familial quarrelling.
But there are some things you can do to make the holidays more enjoyable. Lerner suggests anticipating what arguments might arise and have a plan to stay calm and constructively deal with difficulties. She says it's important to be non-reactive when people push your buttons and to not be an instructor of anxiety toward others. Also you shouldn't choose your turkey dinner to air grievances or drop the unexpected life-altering bombshell.
"One thing to avoid is any kind of agenda." Lerner says. "It's just not the time."
So, prep for stress, pass on less anxiety than you receive and keep your lips zipped about that fresh credit card debt you've accrued. Enjoy your time together and save headache-mongering for a less savory occasion.
Does Turkey make you sleep?
"In fact, [L-tryptophan] had been used until 1990 as a popular sleeping aid," she says.
Yes, says Marianne Middleton, clinical coordinator of Lawrence Memorial Hospital's Sleep Disorders Center. A naturally occurring chemical in turkey, the amino acid L-tryptophan, is the culprit.
L-tryptophan also is found in other foods, including chicken, pork, cheese, beef, soybeans, peanuts and brown rice. But eating these foods isn't the only cause of food-coma. Middleton says overeating, eating high-fat foods and drinking alcohol are also common harbingers of Mr. Sandman.
All you need to this Thanksgiving By Nathan Gill
The body uses L-tryptophan to produce the B-vitamin niacin, which is used in turn to produce serotonin. Middleton says serotonin is a natural sedative that helps regulate sleep. So, eating turkey causes the body to produce more serotonin, which can make you drowsy.
You burned the turducken, lost a fight with the family and failed your history class'
Thanksgiving quiz. Find solace in the bottom of a highball glass or your favorite mug with this comcupia of seasonal alcoholic comforts.
Absolutely Cranberry Smash
3 cubes ice
2 oz. vodka
4 oz. cranberry juice
2 oz. ginger ale
Stir ingredients together.
Serve over ice.
Apple Cider Slider
1 splash 7-Up
1 splash 7-Up
¾ oz. apple schnapps
¾ oz. cinnamon schnapps
1 oz. spiced rum
Pour over ice. Shake and strain into shooter glass
Brandy Eggnog
1 ½ oz. brandy 3 oz. milk
1 egg yolk 1 oz. nutmeg
¾ oz. cream ¼ oz. tawny port
¼ oz. sugar syrup
Wild Apple Turkey
Shake well over ice in a shaker, Strain into a large highball glass over ice cubes, sprinkle with nutmeg and serve
2 parts apple cider
1 part Wild Turkey bourbon
Mix and drink. Or, leave it in the freezer overnight to create a slushy!
Thanksgiving Special
¾ oz. apricot brandy
1 cherry
¾ oz. gin
¼ tsp. lemon juice
¾ oz. dry vermouth
Shake all ingredients (except cherry) with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Top with the cherry and serve.
FULL AP STORY PAGE 3A
index
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Classmeus. .5B
Crossword. .4A
Horoscopes. .4A
Opinion. .5A
Sports. .1B
Sudoku. .4A
Junior guard Brandon Rush jumps for a shot over a Washburn defender during Thursday night's game in Allen Fieldhouse. Rush played for the first time since his surgery for a torn ACL during the summer. He scored seven points in 15 minutes in Kansas' 92-60 victory against Washburn.
All contents, unless stated otherwise,
© 2007 The University Daily Kansan
Three-star general speaks to students about Army experiences
CAMPUS
Lt Gen. William Caldwell spoke to students about the Army's use of force, its actions in foreign countries and its relations with the media on Thursday and Wednesday nights.
Caldwell is a three-star general and commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth.
He and administrators in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are working to put together a joint program with the
FULL STORY PAGE 6A
University of Kansas and Ft. Leavenworth
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University of Kansas and Ft. Leavenworth.
Caldwell also spoke to students about the difficulties of being deployed for long periods of time and adjusting when he returned.
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