Lol, Sammy! Well, cassoulet only became a tradition in our family because Mom cooked it one Xmas for Dad at Seneca Army Depot, from Julia Child's recipe... and it's just that good! They had been given the traditional clay pot as a wedding gift and she was alone for many hours that Xmas because Dad had to work, so she had time to cook it. Later, when I was able to go to France, I happened to love the area where the recipe originated! I had cassoulet days in a row... not that anyone could really top Mom's ;] She loved a picture I have of one spot with a big orange cat and the menu scrawled on the window [we're cats in the restaurant types]. The Hungarian connection is 'cos Dad got an opportunity to start a manufacturing plant there because of his old Hanes Knitwear connection [then Sara Lee]. They would make T-shirts for SL among others. Mom and I urged him to do it because his little brother had lived in Costa Rica for Motorola and surely Dad was as gutsy ;) It would be temporary [and the $ was astounding frankly]. He flew back every 3 weeks and Mom kind of liked that for a change of pace, lol. Then I graduated college and got to go live with him! Special times :) Thus, quail egg soup... Although we did hang out at the Vazi street Dunkin Donuts a lot! Oh and wild boar. A great friend named Istvan roasted one for a party - yum! - and he's who I named my dog after. Well, the order is in to ship and I couldn't afford the eggs too for Xmas Eve, but I'm excited! I swear, confit or not, cassoulet is that craveable.

The dinner was served tonight, but it was half-hearted on all side - SWMBO and my son are still sick, dear daughter might be sinking, and I have the start of something. Current symptoms are a wincing headache, achy joints, and a draggy feeling. Crap, I have to go on a trip Tuesday. Back to the food - the duck breast turned out tasty, I couldn't get the gastrique-or-whatever-we're-calling-it to look pretty so I left it off for the pics (I didn't process it smooth enough for a squeeze bottle, lesson learned). The veg is pretty charred after re-heating but tasted fine. I'm taking a Tylenol PM and going to bed. Thank you all for helping me with this "meal". Oh, P.S. I've decided it could be fun for those of us who cook with music to mention what we were listening to when we made whatever we're talking about. Tonight: Lana Del Rey, Isaac Hayes. This post was edited by johnliu on Sun, Feb 10, 13 at 21:48

I have tried all types of turkeys and preperations - Amish, organic, brined, herbed, upside-down, etc. - and the best I have found is a regular Butterball turkey prepared according to their own directions. It is not unique or creative, but it is tasty and reliable. Williams-Sonoma gravy is very very good. Everyone likes this recipe for make-ahead mashed potatoes from All Recipes... INGREDIENTS * 5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed * 2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese * 8 ounces sour cream * 1/2 cup milk * 2 teaspoons onion salt * ground black pepper to taste DIRECTIONS Place potatoes in a large pot of lightly salted water. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, and mash. In a large bowl, mix mashed potatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, onion salt, and pepper. Transfer to a large casserole dish and refrigerate overnight. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and bring potatoes to room temperature. Cover, and bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Lastly, when I schedule my time for the day I try to find a one hour chunk of time where I can just put my feet up and relax before guests come. I never get the full hour, but scheduling an hour gets me at least 20 minutes that is so refreshing! Nicole

I taught small animal husbandry and gardening at a Bible Institute in Mexico, for a little over 8 years. Rabbits were a mainstay of our production because they grew really well on alfalfa and corn, which we raised ourselves. The domestic rabbit was developed for culture in cages. I know that many are prejudiced against cages. But the rabbits themselves don't mind. Having each adult animal in its own cage allows one to control their breeding and maintain better hygiene, and thus protect the health of the does and, indeed of the entire rabbitry. Someone above mentioned starting with a buck and two does. That is indeed the way to go. If one doe fails (and a certain percentage of them do, right from the start) then you are not out of completely out of production. More than two does will produce A WHOLE LOT of offspring, which may be more work than you want. Each will have at least four litters a year of an average of, say 7 kits. The kits reach butchering size in 12 weeks. A standard meat breed, such as California or New Zealand White, will yield a 2 1/2 to 3 lb carcass, dressed out, at that time. That is mainly meat. Their bones are quite light. So, in four months, from breeding, a doe can be responsible for the production of about 21 lb of meat. One of the beauties of rabbitry is that one could raise a whole lot of meat in a shed or garage, and neighbors might never even suspect. They do not stink. They do produce a lot of manure, but it is not smelly as manures go. It can be spread directly on gardens without hurting anything, as long as it doesn't carry urine in it. Well fed domestic rabbit meat isn't all that lean. But it isn't marbled. The fat is easy to separate from the meat. I happen to like eating it, as it comes, on the carcass, when we roast it. Our favorite way to fix a rabbit, is roasted whole, like a whole chicken. Place the rabbit in a baking pan, sprinkle with lemon juice and salt and roast for about 1 1/2 hour at 350F. The meat should easily pull off the bones when fully cooked. After serving rabbit this way, the left overs can be picked from the bones and used in a stir fry or soup. We have frequent dinner guests and I cannot, in 20 years, think of anyone who didn't think that it was just wonderful. It is a white meat. Anyone raising a few rabbits at home could fairly easily harvest weeds or grass to supplement their feed. Before teaching rabbitry at the Bible Institute, I raised rabbits in a more remote setting, where there were neither prefabricated cages nor commercial rabbit food. Our rabbits did fine on local weeds, cover crops and either whole kernel corn or stale tortillas for a carb. The domestic rabbit is the easiest of all animals to butcher and prepare. It is definitely the least messy. Duck is another favorite of our family. Duck is all dark meat, which I dearly love. We raise Muscovy ducks, which are not nearly as fatty as other breeds. The Muscovy, is, in fact, from an entirely different species than other domestic breeds. Muscovies are wonderful foragers. Ours roam our pasture and pond, devouring insects, rodents and small reptiles. They lay eggs, easily twice the size of a regular chicken egg. Their eggs are delicious. I like to roast a duck exactly the way we roast rabbit. The meat is flavored like... duck, which we enjoy. Leftover duck makes WONDERFUL soups, stews and stir fries. Just be sure to cook it no higher than 350 F and for however long it takes for it to easily pull off the bones. Most of the fat in a Muscovy duck is in the skin. So it is easy to remove, if so desired. Muscovies actually beat rabbits for exponential reproduction! As a homesteader, I find that my greatest challenge with them, is to keep them from producing too many ducklings. The wild reproduction seems great during the summer, when they are eating so much from foraging. But after a killing freeze, suddenly those cute ducks consume A LOT of expensive feed! They are also much more laborious to process than are rabbits. The argument against beef is completely slanted, as a couple of people have already mentioned. Most places that raise beef have a drier climate and poorer soil than where the "anti beef people live." Somehow they seem to think that if ranchers didn't raise beef on their ranches, that those ranches would be converted to luxuriant gardens. But that is not the case. Believe me. I LOVE to garden, and have several nice sized vegetable gardens on our little farm. But I never cease to battle with rocks and constantly work at building tilth. After I have spent all available resources and energy to grow gardens, I still have a lot more than 90% of the property well suited for ruminants. We like to have a few cattle along with sheep and goats, as the three species do not eat exactly the same things. They actually produce better in a mixed herd. George Tahlequah, OK