Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything: Holiday Cooking

Other Books by Mark Bittman:

How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian

How to Cook Everything: Bittman Takes on Americas Chefs

Food Matters

The Food Matters Cookbook

The Best Recipes in the World

Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking

Leafy Greens

Mark Bittmans Kitchen Express

Mark Bittmans Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times

Copyright 2011 by Mark Bittman. All rights reserved.

Illustrations copyright 1998 by Alan Witschonke

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, NJ

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Bittman, Mark. How to cook everything. Holiday cooking / Mark Bittman ; illustrations by Alan Witschonke. p. cm. ISBN 0-7645-2512-3 (Paperback : alk. paper); 978-1-1182-9829-9 (ebook); 978-1-1182-9832-9 (ebook);

1. Holiday cookery. 2. Menus. I. Title.

TX739.B52 2003

641.568dc21

2003008739

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Turkey, Meat, and Pie Photo PhotoDisc, Inc. / Getty Images

Photos of Bruschetta, Soup, Shrimp, and Truffles by David Bishop

WILEY PUBLISHING, INC.

Publisher: Natalie Chapman

Executive Editor: Anne Ficklen

Senior Editor: Linda Ingroia

Production Editor: Heather Wilcox

Cover Design: Cecelia Diskin

Interior Design: Edwin Kuo and Anthony Bagliani, Solid Design

Interior Layout: Holly Wittenberg

Manufacturing Buyer: Kevin Watt

To my parents and my kids

Acknowledgments

I have been writing about food for nearly 25 years, and its impossible to thank all the people who have helped me make a go of it during that time. Most of them know who they arewe have shared cooking, eating, and talking, much of what constitutes my lifeand together I do owe them a broad thanks.

However, some special friends and colleagues have been there for me and helped me out in recent years, and I want to thank them especially: Mitchell Orfuss, Naomi Glauberman, John Bancroft, Madeline Meacham, David Paskin, Pamela Hort, Jack Hitt, Semeon Tsalbins, Susan Moldow, Bill Shinker, Jim Nelson, Fred Zolna, Sherry Slade, Lisa Sanders, Genevieve Ko, Charlie Pinsky, Geof Drummond, Sam Sifton, Nancy Cobb, and Steve Rubin.

I have been blessed, too, with great colleagues at Wiley: Linda Ingroia, who has worked tirelessly on the new How to Cook Everything series; Edwin Kuo, Jeffrey Faust, Cecelia Diskin, and Holly Wittenberg for great covers and interiors; Heather Wilcox, the production editor, and Christina Van Camp for keeping keen eyes on clarity and consistency; and Kate Fischer and Michelle Sewell for managing How to Cook Everything publicity opportunities. Jennifer Feldman got the How to Cook Everything series up and running, and Natalie Chapman and Robert Garber have given it tremendous support. My agent, Angela Miller, is simply the best, and has been a terrific influence in my life for over a decade; huge thanks to her, as always.

Few of my cookbooks would have been written without the help and inspiration of Karen Baar, to whom I remain grateful. And, as always, special thanks to my fabulous children, Kate and Emma, and my most frequent companions, John H. Willoughby, John Ringwald, and Alisa X. Smith, all of whom give me invaluable love and perspective on a daily basis, and newfound confidence in the world of cooking.

About This Book

How to Cook Everything: Holiday Cooking is an easy-to-use collection of my favorite recipes for the biggest special occasions and parties of the year. Theres an emphasis on food for the major autumn holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years Eve; it addresses the feasts, family time, entertainingand, lets get this clear, stressthat goes on during these months. Many people cook more often and with greater relish in the late fall to early winter, and this collection reflects that. Of course, you can use this book to also plan meals for Valentines Day, Easter, Passover, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Independence Day, or any other day of the year.

There is no doubt that cooking for a holiday can be stressful; even if you love cooking, theres a greater demand on your time, energy, budget, organizational skills, and knowledge. The idea here is to offer good recipes and sound overall techniques and strategiesin short, guidanceto get you through it. This book not only will help you to prepare holiday feasts, but also to cook for casual and formal sit-down dinners and for party buffets. The recipes can usually be varied to your taste or diet, or whats available in your kitchen, so consider this book a potential guide for specific meals, but more important, it is a springboard for your own creativity.

In addition to more than 90 recipes, like the classics . Ive also included dozens of variations; tips to help you shop for, prepare, and cook the recipes; lists of flavoring ideas; and illustrations on some tricky techniques like shucking clams and carving turkey.

If youre interested, and if it will help you plan your meals, many of the recipes should or can be made in advance, so youre not juggling the work of cooking five dishes right before you need to serve them. (You should enjoy your own gatherings, too.) These recipes are labeled with a