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    The Velcro Kids
    1 bite · 2 chews

    The Velcro Kids

    A 1" roasted turkey and cranberry-sage croquette — one long table in Boise, no separate settings for the kids

    He and his wife host thirty to forty for Thanksgiving at one long table, and call the extra faces their Velcro kids: his children's friends, their friends' friends, anyone without a place to be.

    Why this bite? Thanksgiving for forty, one long table, room for anyone. The holiday compressed into one inch.

    The Story

    Trained as a chef and deliberately never professional, because the version of cooking he wanted happens around a table for people he loves. He was baking for gatherings of a hundred by eleven years old; now the surplus seats are the point, the same instinct his parents modeled when they folded strangers into a thin household. This bite is the whole table in one inch — turkey, sage, cranberry, fried to order and passed hand to hand, because nobody at this table gets a separate setting.

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    Prep: 35 minYield: 12 pieces (1" croquettes)

    Ingredients

    • Roasted turkey (shredded)
    • Sage and thyme
    • Cranberry gel
    • Panko
    • Butter and flour béchamel

    Preparation

    1. 1.Bind shredded turkey with a thick sage béchamel; chill firm.
    2. 2.Roll into 1" spheres and bread with panko.
    3. 3.Fry to golden and drain.
    4. 4.Top each with a small dot of cranberry gel.