Stuff yourself

A bargain roast

A monthly series to teach you basic cooking techniques

Taste

Beers, wines that won't break your gift budget

During the holidays, many of us like to give and get good things to drink. This December, the economic climate is so harsh that we are searching for beverages that deliver cheer on the cheap.

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Persimmon pudding is dense, velvety treat that dates from Reagan White House years

Claire Krach of Glen Arm was looking for a recipe for Nancy Reagan's Persimmon Pudding that she said dates to the Reagan White House.

Holiday cookie contest 2008

There's something different about a holiday cookie. It's not only great tasting and good-looking; it's also often a bridge to the past. And more than the everyday cookies we might make for our own families, holiday cookies are meant to be shared with a wider circle — the neighbors and friends, postal workers and teachers so important to our daily lives.

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These holiday breads spring from long histories

Stroll into my kitchen this holiday season, and you'll smell the rich aromas of cinnamon, cardamom, melting chocolate and toasting nuts.

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Ricotta cake suitable for any dessert buffet

Rosalind Mann of Baltimore was looking for a recipe for a ricotta cake. She did not give any detail as to what type of cake she was looking for, and I received several variations of what our readers knew as ricotta cakes.

Taste

Hot chocolate gets spicy

December is the month when many of us make and share food with others. Home bakers turn out all manner of sweet treats. Others serve warm mulled cider or wine at caroling parties and trim-the-tree gatherings. Everywhere there is a sense of celebration through food.

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Stock up with Thanksgiving leftovers

Psssst! Here's a stock tip for you: Make your own.

Turkey Trials

Today we begin a three-week series to help allay your Thanksgiving fears and get you ready to make and enjoy the feast. We'll show you no-fuss ways to tackle the cornerstones of the meal - turkey, stuffing and pie.

Rob Kasper: Holiday beers: something to celebrate

Now that Thanksgiving is upon us, it is OK to drink holiday beers.

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Aging's a fine thing for sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes, like fine cabernets, get better with age. Fresh out of the ground, they are considered "green" and have a high degree of starch. But if handled properly, their starch converts to sugar and, when cooked, sweet potatoes live up to their sugary appellation.

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Tips for a flavorful turkey day

Whether you are a novice or accomplished cook, here are some helpful last-minute ideas for preparing your dinner on Thanksgiving Day, as well as tips for using leftovers.

Eat this instead: cream vs. evaporated milk

Want to save a few calories at Thanksgiving? You can save 9 grams of fat, including 7 grams saturated fat, for every 1/4 cup of whipped cream you dole out on that pie - if you've whipped evaporated milk sweetened with powdered sugar and vanilla instead. You'll also cut 75 calories. You can find instructions on how to use evaporated milk as a whipped cream substitute, and how to make it stay "whipped" up to 30 minutes, at verybestbaking.com.

Thanksgiving calculations

The most important ingredient for a successful Thanksgiving? Math.

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Thanksgiving side dishes we love

Yes, there will be a turkey on almost every table a week from tomorrow. But, to us, the side dishes are what make it Thanksgiving.

Rob Kasper: Pie fans want no substitutes on the big day

On Thanksgiving, the pies are plural, and that reason alone makes the day the best holiday of the year.

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Table Talk: Try Open Table for choice spots to eat on holiday

Last November if you had asked me to recommend a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner a week before the big day, I would have said, "Good luck with that." But with the economy in the tank, I don't think you'll have trouble finding a place this year.

Eat this instead: yeast rolls vs. french rolls

When it comes to frozen dinner rolls for Thanksgiving - or any other night - you might want to think crusty instead of soft. If you choose Pillsbury Crusty French Dinner Rolls over Sister Schubert's Pre-Baked Dinner Yeast Rolls, you'll save 60 calories, 3 grams fat, 1 gram trans-fat and 80 milligrams sodium per roll.

Get your Thanksgiving dinner on the table fast

Here are some last-minute hints, tips and a bit of inspiration to make your Thanksgiving meal delicious, safe and hassle-free.

A beautiful setting

Think of your table as a stage setting that can make a festive meal a production that will win rave reviews.

Aunt Erma's comes to the rescue of pie-challenged cooks on Thanksgiving

Aunt Erma's Bakery

Taste

Get your Thanksgiving chops in

A monthly series to teach you basic cooking techniques

Rob Kasper: Carving turkey can be electric experience

For most guys, Thanksgiving is the day we have a tango with a turkey, an exercise known as carving the bird. Every year as the big meal approaches, I get the urge to buy an electric knife. This would be a purchase fueled by nostalgia, not culinary motives.

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Just the right mix

A finely crafted cocktail, says Dale DeGroff, "is more than just a handful of ingredients poured into a glass. It is a marriage of creativity, history and expression." Moreover, he says, a cocktail often has a story that goes with it, and a technique for its proper execution.

The stuff of tradition for a Thanksgiving meal

Today we continue our three-week series to get you ready for a no-fuss Thanksgiving feast.

Revisiting our favorite holiday cookie recipes

It's one thing to win that coveted title of Top Chef. It's another when you're back to compete against the winners from past seasons, each eager to claim ultimate bragging rights.

Conquer pie fears by making crusts you pat in the pan

Last in a series.

Rob Kasper: Thankful for those leftovers

Tomorrow, as I dig into the roast turkey, the corn-bread stuffing, the hominy casserole, the mashed potatoes and gravy, I also will be thinking about how good these dishes will taste at the many eating opportunities stretched over the weekend.

Carving: sharp tips

After you've decided whether to roast, grill or deep-fry your turkey and settled the question of to-brine or not-to-brine, it seems that carving the bird should be a straightforward project.

Rob Kasper: Beyond wine for holiday dinner

Once you have answered the sticky Thanksgiving questions - what type of turkey stuffing and what set of relatives you are going to spend the day with - the next issue to solve is, what are you going to be sipping?

In Season: Cranberries

Every red-blooded American knows that when it comes to Thanksgiving, cranberries are as American as apple pie. Contrary to popular belief, cranberries didn't come over on the Mayflower, though, but were a staple of Native Americans long before the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621.

Pumpkin pie has orange twist

Brenda Walker of Knoxville, Tenn., was looking for a recipe for pumpkin pie with orange zest as one of the ingredients. She lost the original recipe from many years ago and has had no luck duplicating it.

Recipes fit for the holiday table

The usual advice

Here are some more traditional tips from weight-loss experts on how to minimize the caloric damage from a Thanksgiving meal.

How to cook a Thanksgiving turkey

It sounds sacrilegious, I know. Roasting the turkey breast and legs separately for Thanksgiving may strike you as altogether wrong-headed, like serving a standing rib roast for July Fourth, shish kebab for Easter or cupcakes at a wedding (which, come to think of it, has become fashionable lately in certain circles).

Tinkering With Tradition

It's a dilemma faced by every home cook contemplating the Thanksgiving menu: how to design a meal that is essentially traditional - this isn't the time for tuna tartare with mango chutney - but also conveys a sense that this is 2006, and not 1621.

Heading Off Last-Minute Disasters

No amount of planning can completely forestall disaster. In fact, the mark of a good host is the ability to recover gracefully from the unexpected. Here's some advice from the experts on how to cope with some common Thanksgiving mishaps.