The mother of all thanksgiving meals!

Needless to say, I had a blast playing a food critic! I've linked the sfgate article with all the recipes, details and photos, and here's my personal play by play from the SF Chron Turkey Tasting.

We started with a soup from each of the chefs: a chestnut-pumpkin soup with pumpernickel croutons from Mina and a meyer lemon-miso broth served with a cranberry-goji berry relish from Keane. Mina was the winner in this round, hands down. I normally don't like chestnuts but this soup was somehow differerent. For starters, it had a lovely velvety texture, and it wasn't super creamy. I also enjoyed the fresh sage and thyme accents - strong enough to be noticable, but subtle enough to not overpower the delicate main flavors. And lastly there was the satisfying crunch of the pumpernickel croutons - a lovely counterpoint in both texture and taste, and adding just the right amount of umami. My only quibble -- the portion served was both too large and too heavy for the start of a multi-course holiday meal! A tiny portion of this soup would make a decent starter, but it would probably be best served as the centerpiece of a simple winter supper, with some crusty bread and a simple salad. And I learned an interesting trick: using water pitchers to serve the soup was so efficient and easy, that I was ready to run home and throw out all my ladles!

Keane's soup was thin and salty (and unlike any miso soup I have tasted inside or outside Japan) and strangely one dimensional. Too much umami perhaps? The best and most interesting aspect of this dish was the contrast of the warm salty broth with the cool sour-sweet relish, but even that was not enough to save it. In my book, this was a flop!

Next came the turkey -- separately confit-ed breast and leg from Mina, and a Hoisin Sauce glazed breast with a confit turkey leg from Keane. I was excited to try the confit-ed parts from both chefs but less excited about the Hoisin Sauced version. But once I had tasted Chef Keane's turkey, I was a convert to both turkey and hoisin sauce. As many of you know, I had never tasted a turkey that floated my boat, though the deep fried version made by some friends from North California came close! This turkey breast was flavorful, tender and lacked the signature overcooked turkey smell -- it was unlike any other turkey (or any meat for that matter) that I have ever eaten! And his hoisin glaze was light and balanced and added just the right amount of flavor to the meat, and it wasn't too bitter, too sweet or too salty like the commerially prepared hoisin sauces I had previously encountered in restaurants and on the shelves of my local Asian grocery stores. The confit-ed leg was also yummy, and very tasty and forktender, just like all good confit should be. Needless to say, I cleaned my plate --something I have never done at any previous thanksgiving dinner. But then, I had also never eaten a thanksgiving meal cooked by a 4 star chef until now!

Mina's turkey was a complete contrast: the confit-ed breast was not only slightly dry, but also tasted and smelled like many a turkey I had disliked in the past. The leg was slightly better, but it could hardly hold a candle to the superior bird cooked by Chef Keane. My first thought: wow, what a waste of 5 lbs of duck fat. My 2nd thought: even 4 star chefs have bad days. And my third and most evil thought: Mina could stand take lessons in turkey cookery from Keane!


The chefs were pretty equal in the stuffing catergory - Keane's fluffy sushi rice stuffing won points for originality with unusual ingredients like cilantro,chinese sausage and dried shrimp. I could have done without the dried shrimp which had burnt to bitter crispness in areas, but otherwise it was excellent. Mina's stuffing was more traditional but no less yummy! And unlike his turkey, his stuffing was not your mother's stuffing (unless your mother is an accomplished chef that is) - made with brioche, pecans, dried cranberries and several fresh herbs and baked and served in individual ramekins -- it was the best rendering of traditional stuffing I've ever tasted.

When it came to the required side vegetable, Keane's roasted brussell sprouts with candied kumquats won hands down in both the originality and taste categories. All the judges (including yours truly)
loved this dish and many of us felt this would be the dish we would be most likely to attempt at home. On the other hand, Mina's sweet potato-carrot puree was a toss up between glorified (aka highly buttered!) baby food and the salted version of my sweet potato pie filling.


And lastly, we had the desserts: The quince clafouti/cobbler with star anise (the recipe published on sfgate uses ginger instead) icecream from Mina had a slight edge due its contrast of sweet and sour flavors, however it would have been even better without the streusel topping which made it way too sweet for me. Keane's pumpkin custard pie with green cardamom icecream was a fantastic dessert too, but perhaps a tad too sweet a combination for me.

And what a sweet ending it was to the most memorable thanksgiving meal of my life!