Kardea Brown of Food Network's "Delicious Miss Brown" Has Advice for Thanksgiving 2020

Thanksgiving in the time of COVID sadly is not like past holidays It means most of us baking fewer if any pies cutting recipes in half and coming to grips with the realization that unless you live with your relatives this is not going to be a big family affair except perhaps on Zoom It39s almost enough to make a microwave burrito look like an option There are though ways to still make this a scrumptious celebration Kardea Brown of Food Network39s delightful Delicious Miss Brown took a break from shooting her Saturday show to reflect on smaller ThanksgivingsquotI just spoke with my grandmotherquot Brown said from her Edisto Island South Carolina kitchen She learned to cook by watching her grandmother and the first dish she cooked on her own at 13 was mac and cheese More on that belowquotWe are all very disappointed and decided it just would not be safe to have the elderly members of the family in one spacequot she said quotWe will all stay in separate homes What I encourage people to do is stay at home with immediate family members and try to make the most of what is going on That has been the tone this year try to make the most of what you have What COVID has taught us is to try and appreciate what is in front of you This Thanksgiving just scale back and minimize the amount of peoplequotTo that end Brown planned a modified Thanksgiving dinner exclusively with MediaVillage Since most feasts will be smaller this year Brown suggested going with just one appetizer her fiveonion dip It39s easy though not quite as simple as the powdered onion salt and sour cream dip most rely onFrom there Brown would serve a salad and then move on to spatchcocked chicken For those who don39t know the term it39s butterflied chicken the bird with the backbone removed so it can cook flat This can also be done with a small turkey Although markets aren39t stocked as fully as they were before the pandemic Brown acknowledged that everyone is likely to be able to find a fryer chickenSure turkey is always the star of the meal but Thanksgiving dinner39s most valuable supporting players are sides many of which we have just once a year While we may roast turkey breast throughout the year how often do most people make cranberry relish from scratch or spend time on stuffing Even for those who will make this more of a meal than a feast some traditional side dishes cannot be left off the tableFor Brown that means the mac and cheese she learned to cook as a teen If the kind you usually eat is from a box with a packet of granular neon orange dust you need to have the real thingquotIt39s the butter and the cheesesquot Brown explained quotBaking it makes a world of difference My good old Southern mac and cheese is failproof It is very comforting Southern food is slowcooked Most of the time it is warm and cheesy and a little saltyquotAnother side she would add is turnip greens which Brown jazzes up with pomegranate seedsIf you are going with the traditional Thanksgiving spread and you want to add stuffing Brown answered the question that has nagged at some of us What makes some stuffing Southern Stuffing can be made from pretty much any bread Southern stuffing however is based in yellow cornbreadDessert she maintained would have to be sweet potato pie quotI can39t have Thanksgiving without my grandmother39s sweet potato piequot she saidOf GullahGeechee descent Brown traces her ancestors to West Africa Those influences are found in her cooking and in the culture that thrives in the islands off South Carolina and GeorgiaBrown has a straightforward way about her which makes her recipes easy to follow She39s not abrupt rather there39s a clarity to her instructions that is sometimes lost with professional chefs Brown posits that could be because she never went to culinary schoolAn exboyfriend taped her cooking when she was a social worker and sent the video as an audition reel to the Cooking Channel This led to appearances on cooking shows as a judge guest and eventually star of her first show Cupcake Championship She39s also been on Beat Bobby Flay and Farmhouse Rules among othersLike so many of us Brown was saddened by the thought of whom she won39t eat with Thursday She39s especially sad about not seeing her grandmother But Brown knows this is for the best and she imparted some excellent advice beyond cooking for this ThanksgivingquotIt is cherishing the moments you have right now with the people around you who are not present reaching back into previous memories of Thanksgiving and being hopeful that there will be a time when we can safely join togetherquot she said quotBut just appreciate what you have in front of you Who39s to say we have to wait for Thanksgiving next year When things get better you can have a mock ThanksgivingquotClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not 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Kardea Brown of Food Network's "Delicious Miss Brown" Has Advice for Thanksgiving 2020

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Kardea Brown of Food Network's "Delicious Miss Brown" Has Advice for Thanksgiving 2020

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Jacqueline Cutler

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