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Food

Good gravy . . . and turkey, too

Horrendous Thanksgivings past haunted our readers. We invited a dozen to Wishbone U., and by the end of the session students were fluent in talking turkey and all the fixings.

By JANET K. KEELER
Published November 19, 2006

Jonathan Friedman of St. Petersburg, channeling Emeril Lagasse through his apron, practices slicing onions at Apron’s Cooking School in Tampa.
	[Times photo: Scott Keeler]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Scott Keeler] Green bean casserole mostly from scratch? Yes, it can be done. The Recipes A turkey feast that's top of the class

TAMPA

Maybe now Marge Lennon can stop fretting about Thanksgiving dinner. For years, the 63-year-old Dunedin resident has worried about the annual roasting of the turkey, silently "begging him to not let me down." She even admits to an encouraging chat with the bird. "I say, 'Please come out like I see on TV and not with your legs falling off,' " she recounts. After a session of intense instructions at Wishbone U., the St. Petersburg Times' holiday cooking boot camp, we hope this year Lennon can tell that turkey who is boss. Lennon was among 12 readers selected to attend the class at Publix Super Markets' Apron's Cooking School in Tampa. Ranging in age from 13 to 66, the class of 2006 graduated with honors, or at least with noggins full of culinary know-how.

They will put their knowledge to the test on Thursday, and so can you if you decide to tackle the holiday recipes they learned to make. If you're new to the Thanksgiving game (or just grappling with years of failure), take it slow. Select a recipe or two that sound doable, but first read the cooking tips on Page 2K.

Apron's resident head chef, Bil Mitchell, and his sous chef, Rich Norris, were kind and confident in their guidance, and, boy, did they have some tough cases. The desperate dozen earned their spots in the class mostly by submitting essays about Thanksgiving efforts past.

Consider Dottie Baxter of Clearwater, who served blue mashed potatoes one year because she made them in a pot that had been previously used to dye a pair of pants. You see, one of the kids needed a Pilgrim costume.

There's more.

Pamela Johnson of Spring Hill wants family and friends to forget her "fish eye gravy." The fish eyes would be the small, hard lumps of flour swimming in brown goo. She listened attentively as the chef explained how to make silky smooth gravy.

And poor Sheryl Armstrong of Palm Harbor. Her mother-in-law, Myra Armstrong, nominated her. She has the interest but hasn't had the time to learn, she told us.

"I am sure she can't peel an onion let alone slice and dice," mother-in-law wrote. She can now, and we're happy to report the Mrs. Armstrongs are still speaking.

Not everyone's stories were about side dishes gone awry. Some letters just plucked our heartstrings. Teenagers Jonathan Friedman, 13, of St. Petersburg and Hannah Gutierrez, 15, of Clearwater both said they wanted to impress their families by helping to make the big feast.

"Meals are very important. They not only nourish us, they bring family together," she wrote. Hear, hear Hannah. We're glad to lend a hand to the generation that isn't supposed to be interested in cooking.

The sweet letter from George F. Bennett of Spring Hill so embodied the spirit of Thanksgiving that we knew he had to join the group.

Mr. Bennett took up cooking during his wife's second bout with breast cancer. She's a six-year survivor now, but he has kept on preparing meals, learning as he goes. It's payback time, he says, for all she has done for him. They've been married 42 years.

But anyone can make spaghetti; Thanksgiving dinner is the big leagues, he says.

"Preparing Thanksgiving dinner with a few selected guests would be one way of saying thanks for all the memories past, present and definitely future," Mr. Bennett wrote.

And it's nice when those memories can include a delicious feast. Welcome to Wishbone U.

Janet K. Keeler can be reached at (727) 893-8586 or jkeeler@sptimes.com

Class of 2006

Instructors

- Bil Mitchell, resident head chef, Apron's Cooking School

- Rich Norris, sous chef, Apron's Cooking School

Students

- Sheryl Armstrong, 37, Palm Harbor

- Dottie Baxter, 62, Clearwater

- George F. Bennett, 66, Spring Hill

- Jonathan Friedman, 13, St. Petersburg

- Hannah Gutierrez, 15, Clearwater

- Vicki Jackson, 60, Clearwater

- Pamela Johnson, 57, Spring Hill

- Marge Lennon, 63, Dunedin

- Linda Lewis, 55, Indian Rocks Beach

- Liz Mejia, 39, New Port Richey

- Chris Ross, 45, Gulfport

- Cathy Taulbee, 52, Pinellas Park

[Last modified November 17, 2006, 08:24:04]