Thanksgiving 2020 - COVID-19 Edition

 This year's theme is booze - because what else could it be in the Age of the Pandemic? More specifically, the theme will be bourbon. The bourbons I plan to use include: 

• Knob Creek - butter, cheesecake
• Stranahan's - stuffing, turkey
• Woodford Reserve - cran sauce, pecan pie balls
• Bulleit - sw pot, carrots

I'll note which bourbon went into which dish, though I didn't give a ton of thought to trying to match specific flavor profiles to the different dishes. Most of the dishes the alcohol cooks out, but I added an extra tablespoon back into the cranberry sauce because reasons. 

For breakfast: The very much bourbon-free Thanksgiving Morning strata. Recipe: https://fullcontactcooking.blogspot.com/2018/11/thanksgiving-morning-strata.html

Cocktails: 

Bourbon Maple Leaf Cocktail: Recipe

Bourbon Cider: Recipe

Turkey and Gravy: 

Update: Due to idiocy apparently beyond my control, my second turkey didn't thaw in time...or at all. My first turkey, which is primarily for stock and leftovers, has already been rendered into bite-sized pieces and put in the freezer. SO....this year experimenting with a bone-in breast and a boneless breast. Still doing the gravy, though. 

Bourbon-Cream Turkey Gravy: Recipe

Bourbon: Stranahan's

Cranberry sauce:

Vanilla Bourbon Cranberry Sauce: Recipe

Bourbon: Woodford Reserve

Stuffing: 

Bourbon Pecan Stuffing: Recipe

Bourbon: Stranahan's 

Potatoes: 

Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon and Maple: Recipe

Bourbon: Bulleit

Vegetable: 

Whiskey-Glazed Carrots: Recipe

Bourbon: Bulleit

Rolls and Butter:

Hawaiian sweet bread rolls from the store

Bacon-bourbon butter: Recipe

Bourbon: Knob Creek

Desserts: 

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon-Butter Sauce: Recipe

Bourbon: Knob Creek

Pecan Pie Balls: Recipe

Bourbon: Woodford Reserve

Store-bought honeycrisp apple streusel pie

Liq-Creme Bourbon 'n' Beer Ice Cream

Liq-Creme Bourbon Pecan Pie Ice Cream

Relish tray - sweet gherkins, dill gherkins, black olives

Upcoming Challenges - The Paqui One Chip Challenge and the Death Nut 2.0 Challenge

 Just a placeholder post. I have 5 of the Paqui One Chip Challenge chips, 2020 edition, and 2 of the Deathnut 2.0 Challenge sets. These will need to be done on a weekend, because while I have a pretty strong constitution, I expect that there will be...consequences. In addition, they will need to be on different weekends for the very same reason. 

Tasting Indomie Mi goreng Hot & Spicy Noodles

Another first for me today as I tried my first Indonesian noodles, Indomie Mi Goreng Hot & Spicy. This made the Top 13 spiciest ramens list per TheTakeout.com. Pretty small package at only 2.82 oz (80g) - probably why the calorie and sodium totals are so relatively low. Inside are pretty typical-looking ramen-style noodles, and no fewer than 5 different sachet ingredients: seasoning powder, seasoning oil, sweet soy sauce, chili powder, and fried onion. The seasoning oil was...interesting...in that part of it was very dark and seems to have congealed inside the sauce packet, while the rest was a radioactive orange. 

I cooked the noodles per directions - boiled for 3 min, then drained. I added the sachet ingredients to the noodles rather than the noodles to the sachet - so I guess I didn't *exactly* follow them. 

]The texture was good, and the taste was definitely more soy than anything else. Then again, it didn't say it was chicken, beef, etc. I didn't see any animal proteins listed in the ingredients. Heat-wise, there isn't an immediate hit, but it does grow slowly over maybe 30-40 seconds. To my palate it wasn't very spicy but I could see it being a bit tingly for some people. Once I hit the fried onions, they were very potent little salt-bombs. I clearly didn't distribute them evenly enough as the last coupe bites were like chewing on salt crystals. 

390 calories, 17g of fat, and 8g of protein. Definitely more typical ramen in all categories. "Only" 770 mg of sodium so better than many others. 

Verdict: It was OK, but not worth what I paid for it (maybe $1.79 or so at my local grocery store). I'd eat the rest of the pack if it only came in a multi-pack, but since I got just the one, it's probably one and done. 

Taste: 6/10

Heat: 6/10

Tasting Asha Healthy Ramen Noodles (Extra Spicy with Ghost Pepper, Medium Width Mandarin Noodle)

So today I tried my first Taiwanese ramen, A-sha Mandarin Noodle, Extra Spicy Sauce, with Ghost Pepper. They note on the package that it is non-fried. It's a smaller package than many, at 3.35 oz (95g). Inside I found the noodles, which are wider and almost linguine-like, and the sauce packet, also labeled Extra Spicy with Ghost Pepper. 

The directions were distinctly lacking in specifics, so I boiled the ramen for around 2 minutes or until they hit the right level of chew. Per the packaging I drained them and then added the sauce packet. As I opened the sauce packet there was a distinct and strong aroma of....something, midway between soy and teriyaki. My daughter remarked on the pungency as well. 

The texture was good, and the taste was definitely more soy than anything else. Then again, it didn't say it was chicken, beef, etc. As the flavor lingered it turned somewhat black pepper-y. Heat-wise, there was some spicy but not nearly what I expected of something that had ghost pepper in the name. The sauce left a bit of tingle that lingered for a few minutes after I finished the bowl. 

300 calories, only 1.5 grams of fat and 11 grams of protein, so in terms of "healthy" ramen, it'd be hard to beat this one. Lots of empty carbs of course. And a whopping 1,540 mg of sodium. 

Verdict: I bought this as a 5-pack and will definitely eat them all. 

Taste: 7/10

Heat: 7/10

Tasting Paldo Volcano Spicy Chicken Noodles

Today I'm trying Paldo's Volcano Spicy Chicken Noodles. It's labeled as being "Crazy Hot! Hot Spicy". It's rated #9 on the spiciest prepackaged ramens of all time by The Ramen Rater. 

I generally followed the package instructions, cooking it in 2 1/2 cups of boiling water for 3:00, then drained most of the water off. I did not do the stir-fry step. 

The noodles were fairly thick, very chewy, very tasty by themselves. It comes with two packets, one that had seaweed and sesame seeds, and one that was the chili sauce. I added both, gave it a stir, and let it sit a minute or so. 

I found the actual flavor to be a nondescript "meaty". It's labeled as chicken but I didn't see any actual chicken in the ingredients - rather, there was yeast extract, MSG, and artificial beef and chicken flavor. Heat-wise, it did have a bit of a punch, though I'm not sure I'd consider it to be spicy enough to be the 9th hottest of the several thousand the Ramen Rater has tried. The heat lingers - I waited about 4 min after the first bite and I could still feel it. The heat seems to build, too - I finished the bowl about 5 min ago and not only can I still feel the heat in my mouth, but my lips are slightly tingly in a way that evokes both heat and numbness. 

This one runs 520 calories and 1,263 mg of sodium. 

Verdict: I bought this as a 4-pack and will happily consume all 4 of them. That said, I may try a mukbang with the 3 remaining chili sauce packets in one bowl of noodles and save the other two for some other treatment. 

Taste: 8/10

Heat: 9/10

Tasting Tapatio Ramen Noodle Soup

 Today I'm trying Tapatio Ramen Noodle Soup. Saw this at the local Walmart and thought it might be interesting - I love hot sauce and I love ramen, so why not try the combination? Tapatio is not a super-spicy hot sauce - along the lines of a Tabasco or sriracha. 

Followed the directions using boiling water and let sit for 3 min. The noodles were still a bit more al dente than I generally go for so I let it sit another minute or so. 

The flavor is tough to describe. I didn't really get any flavor from it other than a very mild protein flavor - I had to check the ingredients to see that it includes beef and vegetable stock and MSG. The heat was there if you have a very sensitive palate, but as I noted, Tapatio isn't noted for scorching heat. Overall I'd say the flavor was pleasant. 

I didn't have anything to stir into it so I ate it as is, but it would have been significantly improved I think with a bit of meat, maybe some lime juice and cilantro. 

440 calories as packaged, and 1540 mg of sodium. 

Verdict: It was OK, but that's it. 

Taste: B

Heat: D

Tasting Nissin's Hot & Spicy Blazing Hot Flavor Noodles

 

Today I'm trying Nissin's Hot & Spicy Blazing Hot Noodles. Like the previous one, it's a big serving and presented the same way. I cooked it in a bit more water and for 3:00 per package directions. Noodles were nice and chewy and held up well. 

I tried it without the chili sauce first. Flavor was fairly bland, and while there was a slight bit of heat, i.e. hotter than plain or teriyaki, but no real bite, there was not much flavor other than that slight piquancy. 

I opened the chili sauce and there was no particular aroma to it. Added it to the noodles and again, it added a bit of heat and not much flavor. It certainly was unworthy of the term "Blazing Hot". As with the previous tasting, I added a bit of leftover pork and maybe 1/2 tsp of sesame oil and it was OK. 

Only(!) 420 calories as packaged, and 1300 mg of sodium. 

Verdict: It was OK, but that's it. 

Taste: B-

Heat: B-