A week after Thanksgiving and I’m still tipping the scales at 140 lbs and retaining water faster than you  can fill a bucket. The worst of it is that I hardly ate anything. I spent so much time cooking that I lost the will to do the American thing and stuff my face. My family has always done nontraditional Thanksgiving meals. We’ve never welcomed Big Bird into our house and that’s how it’s going to stay as along as I’m doing the cooking. I have nothing against Big Bird personally, just its size. I come from a country where a bird this size could feed an entire village, yet here in America, it barely nourishes a family of five and their friends. A couple of years ago, we were invited to a friend’s house for the big meal. There were two turkeys and about fifteen people. At the end of the meal only massive bones, skin and scraps were left. The table looked like a crime scene.

Last year we did fondu and that really took the strain off me because everybody essentially fixed their own meal. This year,we had salmon with a really decadent bourbon, ginger sauce (recipe follows). The sauce is versatile enough to be used on chicken, or even braised vegetables. You can adjust the zing to suit your taste buds. The sauce I made was about a 6 on the Sindhu spice-o-meter, which is a bit more adventurous than medium but at the same time won’t give you second degree burns inside your mouth. Here goes:

Bourbon-ginger sauce with dried red chili flakes

You will need:

1 cup bourbon ( the cheap stuff will do)
1 inch fresh ginger root – peeled and smashed
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic – peeled and smashed
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp mustard (the grainy kind not the stuff you get at fast food places that look like throw up)
1 dried, red chili crumbled (1 inch long)

Method

Combine all the ingredients and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken. Give it about two minutes on the stove, remove and set aside. Check for salt.

Grill chicken, salmon until brown and baste the sauce over the broiled chicken, or sauteed veggies. Serve hot or cold.