Photo by Regina Charboneau
To try peppered beef brisket, click here for the recipe.
This is the week I take out my corn bread I made last week, make my dressings and beef brisket, and get them in the freezer.
I know brisket of beef may not be part of a traditional Thanksgiving, but I never liked turkey that much. Thanksgiving in Natchez was a Sanguinetti event. That is my mother's side of the family. They are the most wonderful people, who love to entertain, but I have to be honest, my cooking genes came from the Trosclair side, my father's family in South Louisiana. This may explain why I did not have a fondness for the food at Thanksgiving. It was not at all what I had the rest of the year.
Our home kitchen was filled with savory, delectable, well-seasoned, well-prepared food. Thanksgiving brought memories of dried-out turkey, gravy without a dark roux, and whatever gelatin concoction was en vogue at the time. I saw jello-based side dishes go from green to orange to burgundy in the '60s and early '70s. The dressing was often made by the cooks at the Catholic school cafeteria and purchased, and it was as bland as a dressing could be. This history forced me to find a way to make turkey more moist and flavorful and add many dishes that were more of what I wanted than what I had in the past.