We're just skipping Thanksgiving this year. What a relief! We were supposed to drive to my married son's in Balitmore, but decided instead to enjoy the last days of my ailing cat, Siddhartha. Also, it's supposed to pour tomorrow (was to be our travel day). Lastly,
many of the extended family are vegetarians, if not vegans, and they all plan to eat out!! As an inveterate cook (with a 1500 volume cookbook collection), I can't tell you how this decision has unburdened me. If I'm feeling sprightly on Thanksgiving morning, perhaps I'll bake my special pumpkin pie (I generally set aside a pie crust making day, and have 6 or 8 disks of crust in the freezer). It's made with eggnog and brandy, and it has been called "the best." Then, we'll just eat pie all day and watch old movies. I feel like a turkey who's just been pardoned. What a release! What freedom!!!

Loved hearing about the pumpkin 'kootu' on your show.. Its such a comfort food that's made practically everyday in South Indian homes!

I'm sorry to be the skunk at the garden party -- or food worrywart at the Thanksgiving feast, BUT....

About using so much salt on a turkey: How much does it add to the normal sodium content of a turkey? Is all that sodium absorbed by the bird's flesh? Or does it mostly get into the juices used for gravy?

I have to watch my salt intake and I don't know how to measure the effect of the dry rub. Which, by the way, is the way my mother used to season her turkeys: Dry poultry seasoning herbs, salt and pepper to taste, dabs of butter. She didn't leave it overnight, but it did season a bit while she was was preparing the dough for the fresh rolls and making the pies. With only one oven, she had to have a pretty precise schedule. (I do not know how she did it all!!)

And, as a possible topic for a future foods we eat show, I've been finding it difficult to find turkeys which aren't pre-salted, loaded with sodium, in the local grocery stores out here in NJ. It seems the big poultry producers are now adding salt to almost every part and whole birds sold, chickens and turkeys. Especially the ones which go on sale. Usually the poultry labeled "organic," at three times the usual price, don't have added salt.

And yet, I recall news reports that food manufacturers were going to gradually lessen the amount of salt added to their products. Somehow, I've noticed, such announcements seldom actually result in lesser amounts of sodium in the foods on offer.

Grrrrr.

I really must try the high heat roasted brussels sprouts, but I usually boil them (in about one half inch to one inch of water, depending on how many are in the pot) until just tender, then serve with lemon wedges and sour cream (for me, fat free sour cream).

I'm salivating thinking about them....

I can't resist them. But I love just about anything that sings with fresh lemon juice. It has to be fresh lemon juice to be the most tasty. I do so love my nearby Inidan grocery which sells lemons at affordable prices!

how salt per pound to dry brine turkey?

OK, a dry salt-and-pepper rub for the turkey, but how long to roast it and at what temperature?

You still can't get Mallomars until late OCtober, at least in NY. They come in October and leave by the end of April.

Would it not be great for Melissa & Mr. Lopate to publish a cookbook: The International Thanksgiving Table in America. Great show. Thank you.

I "discovered" how good rutabagas could be when I found them in health food store without the wax on them! When I'm cooking them, I always slice a little bit thin & eat it raw. I even put them in salad, sliced very thin or shredded like carrots.

Here's one for celery root - boil w/ green apples, then mash w/ whipping cream, salt and white pepper for celery - root apple mash

Melissa, i love your NY Times column, you approach meals and food with equal parts hunger, curiosity, adventure and practicality...your new book is on my wish list!

"Don't boil brussels sprouts"? Why not? I like to put them in soups. As long as you don't overcook them, they retain that sweet flavor. Just don't put them in too early.

Alison from Manhattan.. no frozen!! you can do fresh. it's so much better. frozen is going to be mushy
do it Alison.. I have faith in you.

What about frozen brussel sprouts? Can you roast them the same ?

i love oysters!