Editor’s Note:
This week we wanted to share this essay from Will’s sister, Mariah, who spent Thanksgiving at Finca Gualfín. You can read more about her experiences of ranch life in the Calchaquí Valley and travels around the world by subscribing (free).
Thanksgiving Morning at Gualfín
Dear Reader,
Yesterday morning I rose early. It would be my first time cooking turkey, and I needed to figure out what to do.
“Do you know how to cook a turkey?” I asked Marta.
She shook her head.
“No…”
Adrien had bought two 5-kilo (10-pound) birds for eleven people. We inspected the packaging and found they recommended an hour of cooking per kilo.
I pulled out my phone and found a Thanksgiving turkey recipe. It told me to salt and pepper the birds an hour before putting them into the oven. Then, melt butter with rosemary and lemon and brush them with this mixture. Once the birds were in the oven, this was to be repeated every forty-five minutes. Easy enough.
I picked rosemary in the garden, cut the lemons, and put it all together in a pan with plenty of butter.
Marta and I sat down at the kitchen table, and I briefed her on our tasks. The fire in the horno de barro (mud oven) had to be lit, the bronze candle holders polished, napkins ironed, vegetables chopped, lettuce from the huerta picked, the table set, the boxes of miscellaneous objects in the “living” hidden away, and a picada — a plate of cheeses and cured meats to have with pre-dinner drinks — prepared.
I had also brought the ingredients for her to make flan — a custard-like dessert, served with dulce de leche.
To iron the napkins, a non-electric iron was brought forth, and coals from the fire were placed inside.
An American friend was visiting.
“Are there any special dishes you like to cook for Thanksgiving?” I asked.
“Not really…” he replied. “But I can sous-chef!”
The three of us set to work. We chopped, picked, peeled, basted, arranged, and tidied all day.
The Gualfín Thanksgiving Menu
Picada in the Gaucho Bar
Oven-roasted carrots drizzled with honey and olive oil, and sprinkled with cinnamon
Roast turkey with rosemary and lemon, served with its juices
Fresh garden salad with greens from Marta’s garden
Peas and corn
Roasted whole sweet potatoes
Mashed potatoes
Marta’s flan with dulce de leche
Coca tea (dried leaves from the coca plant are used to help with altitude sickness and digestion) with mint
Our own pure Malbec wine, Tacana
After Dinner
After dinner, more wine was drunk, and songs were sung. A friend of ours from Alabama broke into a blues number a cappella. I joined him on House of the Rising Sun.
After we finished our duet, he stood up and raised his glass.
“This has been a wonderful Thanksgiving,” he said.
“Indeed it has,” agreed a friend.
“Salud!” chimed in another.
Our Alabama friend downed his glass of red wine.
“And now, my friends,” he concluded, “I think I’d better retire. Thank you, and goodnight!”
More to come.
Abrazos,
Mariah
