Last year, I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for 14 people...and I was absolutely exhausted at the end. If you ever want to have a profound appreciation for your mother, cook a big Thanksgiving with little to no help. So this year, I ended up deciding that I was not going to repeat last year's dinner. No...I was going to top it! I cooked for 22 people instead, including Fab's mother and sister. I fretted for weeks, because last year, at least I was a student and had time to run everywhere to gather ingredients. But this year, I am a working woman who works close to 50 hours a week. Procuring the necessary Thanksgiving ingredients was not going to be an easy task. Plus, I was going to be introducing Thanksgiving to many a French person, including my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Eek !
In the end, this year turned out way better than last year, because I had great help from roommates and friends, plus I had previous French Thanksgiving experience under my belt. The surprise of the evening was the stuffing and pecan pie. Stuffing in France tends to be made of chestnuts (marrons) and various sweetbreads and bread. I, however, favor my mom's recipe which combines fruit, bread, and savory ingredients. The pecan pie was gone before I could even blink, and it was shocking because pecan pie is incredibly sweet ! French people + really sweet foods tend to not go together. But it was a hit ! Recipes for both can be found here.
So how do you successfully put together a Thanksgiving dinner in Paris ? Here are some pointers:
