WORLD OF THANKS

I can describe the aromas that filled my
childhood home on Thanksgiving morning as if I was standing in
that suburban kitchen now. Near the stove, onions and celery
sizzling in a saute pan for stuffing are wafting a tingly, sweet
perfume; there’s the warm, yeasty scent of rolls browning; and
the aroma of turkey, slowly roasting, making it impossible for
us to resist reaching into the oven and tearing tiny bits of
crisp skin off the bird then nibbling them away from mom’s disapproving
eyes.



Others can recall the pleasure of glimpsing grandma walking up
their driveway carrying her famous pumpkin pie; hearing the sound
of pots clanking and women’s laughter emanating from the kitchen
while fathers, uncles and cousins watched a football game in
the den; and seeing a tired child sleeping on their parents’
bed covered with someone’s coat.



Foreign-born chefs that have settled in Brooklyn embrace the
holiday, and incorporate their own memories of their native celebrations
to the table. For Austrian Thomas Ferlesch, recollections of
"Erntedankfest" ("Harvest-Thanksgiving Day"),
celebrated throughout Austria and Germany, colors both the dishes
he serves to family and guests in his home and those served to
diners in his Fort Greene restaurant Thomas Beisl.



Chef and restaurateur Pierre Thiam brings the flavors of his
native Senegal to the Thanksgiving meals at his restaurants Yolele,
in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Le Dakar, in Clinton Hill.



For Jennefier Ewers, chef and owner of Brawta Caribbean Cafe
in Boerum Hill and Brawta Outpost in Park Slope, Thanksgiving
is a day to turn off the restaurants’ stoves and cook a feast
that wouldn’t be at home on any table in Jamaica.

Bistro fest



Ask Ferlesch, an Austrian ex-pat and owner of Thomas Beisl ("beisl"
means bistro) if he celebrates Thanksgiving, and he assures you
that he does, "Just like every other New Yorker." Probe
a bit and you’ll find that the Thanksgiving celebrations he’s
been throwing for 25 years in his Fort Greene home are inspired
by childhood memories of "Erntedankfest."



"It’s a time to celebrate all the locally grown products
of the harvest, and the coming of the ’quiet time,’ the winter
months when families rest," says Ferlesch,



During the one-day festival, usually held in early October, churches
display fruits and vegetables, and grains and breads on the altars
as a symbol of their gratitude to God. Communities feast together
and assemble to play games and dance.



At home, Ferlesch brings a touch of "Erntedankfest"
to the table starting with hot apple cider spiked with Stoh,
an Austrian rum flavored with orange that "is like 80 proof
so I only use a splash," he says.



Unlike the festival where chicken or Cornish hens with a stuffing
of acorn squash or other root vegetables were served, he honors
American customs with a big roasted turkey. Starting with a sourdough
bread filling seasoned with onions, garlic and celery, he adds
double-smoked bacon and ground pork, and mixes in a few chopped
jalapeno peppers "to boost the flavor and kick up the heat."



Ferlesch loves chestnuts and serves them roasted, so guests can
peel them while they’re hot and at their best. He does prefer
Austrian confections to American desserts, so Ferlesch assigns
pumpkin pie duty to a friend. Instead he whips up "Kaiserschmarrn,"
fluffy pancakes studded with raisins and served warm with butter,
sugar and a compote of apples, pears and apricots.



On Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 25, at Thomas Beisl, Ferlesch
is offering a three-course, prix fixe dinner that will please
holiday purists and those who stray from tradition. Gravlax (Swedish
cured salmon) with mustard-dill sauce or butternut squash soup
with dill are two appetizer choices; there’s a turkey entree,
or you can opt for roasted pork cheeks with caraway seeds, sauerkraut
and dumplings; and for dessert, there’s pumpkin pie, chocolate
hazelnut crepes and farmer cheese dumplings with fruit compote.

Spirit of joyfulness



For Thiam, memories of the Muslim holiday Tabaski (also known
as Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Kabir) informs the Thanksgiving meal
he serves in his restaurants and the cooking demonstrations he
conducts at the South Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan. Tabaski
commemorates the story of Abraham’s dedication to God. Traditionally
celebrants sacrifice a sheep that is then divided equally between
family, friends and the needy.



Afterwards, Thiam said, families dine on lamb together, and many
other traditional dishes, rejoicing in their familial bonds,
and blessing one another with "I san bee san bee,"
wishing a long, happy, prosperous life to the host and other
family members.



For the last five of the 10 years Thiam has lived in the States,
he has cooked a Thanksgiving meal for 30 people. The meal wasn’t
served in his home or his restaurants, but in the South Street
Seaport Museum.



Each year that Thiam has cooked in the museum’s kitchen, he’s
created a menu based on different areas of his native Senegal.
In 2003, the dishes he assembled originated in the region of
Casamance, south of Dakar, where he was born. A few days prior
to the holiday, Thiam instructed museum visitors on the proper
techniques for cooking a four-course meal with side dishes that
blend the seafood-heavy cuisine of the Casamance region with
a nod to American dishes.



He began the meal with two seafood dishes, lobster served at
room temperature topped with a dollop of cilantro mayonnaise
and warm shrimp marinated in a light lemon sauce. He replaced
chicken with a lime-marinated duck and served the moist pieces
with caramelized onions. Oysters are plentiful in the region,
so his rice pilaf with smoked oysters is reminiscent of their
abundance, and America’s rice dressings. And, as a substitute
for cranberry sauce he made a compote of green mango cooked in
simple sugar syrup brightened with lime.



This year, while the museum is closed for renovations, Thiam
will serve a Senegalese-inspired Thanksgiving dinner in Yolele
(which means spirit of joyfulness) and Le Dakar (named for Senegal’s
capital). The three-course, prix fixe dinners (with three selections
for each course), include butternut squash with green mango soup
or sweet potato blinis (little pancakes) with smoked salmon,
creme fraiche and salmon caviar; main courses feature five-spice
turkey with wild mushroom stuffing; and for dessert, diners can
choose from "sombi" rice pudding with roasted pineapple,
warm chocolate cake or his answer to pumpkin pie – an apple and
mango tart.

A bit of Alligator Pond



Jennefier Ewers grew up in Alligator Pond, a tiny fishing village
in Jamaica that would be as exotic to New Yorkers as Brooklyn
was to Ewers when she first arrived, in 1978.



"Everything was so new to me then," says Ewers, "I
had no idea what Thanksgiving was all about."



As anyone who has moved far from home knows, your friends become
your chosen family. So, with a new set of kin, and later her
two children and resettled Jamaican family, Ewers creates a Thanksgiving
that draws inspiration from the fish her father caught and mother
cooked, the thyme, garlic, curry and hot peppers that seasoned
them, and the palates of the American friends who dine at her
table.



This Thanksgiving, Ewers will open her huge Fort Greene loft
to 25 family members and friends. On the menu is curried goat
("You have to have it at any get-together in my home,"
she says); jerk chicken and shrimp; rice with green peas and
pumpkin; a turkey with bread stuffing sweetened with apples;
and her favorite dish, candied sweet potatoes that she makes
from scratch.



"Never the canned kind," she says.



For dessert, she’s found a perfect hybrid of Jamaican and American
flavors – a sweet potato pudding made with coconut milk and topped
with a fruit salsa of pineapple and berries and a splash of rum
sauce.



Ewers’ Brawta restaurants are closed on Thanksgiving.



"I want to do what everyone wants to do on Thanksgiving
Day – give thanks for family, my children and good business,"
she explains. "I’m just part of a clan on that day, not
a chef."



To all Brooklynites, recent immigrants and long entrenched alike,
we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Brawta Caribbean Cafe (347 Atlantic
Ave. at Hoyt Street in Boerum Hill) accepts American Express,
Diner’s Club, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $10.95-$23.
The restaurant serves lunch and dinner from noon-10 pm. For information,
call (718) 855-5515. Closed for Thanksgiving.



Brawta Outpost (447 Seventh Ave. between 15th and 16th streets
in Park Slope) accepts American Express, Diner’s Club, Discover,
MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $8.50-$21. The restaurant is open
for takeout from noon until 9 pm. For information call (718)
788-4680 or (718) 788-4870. Closed for Thanksgiving.



Le Dakar Restaurant & Cafe (285 Grand Ave. between Lafayette
Avenue and Clifton Place in Clinton Hill) accepts American Express,
Diner’s Club, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Thanksgiving dinner
($35 for three-course, prix fixe menu) will be served from 6
pm to 10 pm on Nov. 25. For reservations, call (718) 398-8900.



Thomas Beisl (25 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Place and St.
Felix Street in Fort Greene) accepts American Express. Thanksgiving
dinner ($29.95 for three-course, prix fixe menu) will be served
from 3:30 pm to 10 pm on Nov. 25. For reservations, call (718)
222-5800.



Yolele (1108 Fulton St. between Classon and Franklin avenues
in Bedford-Stuyvesant) accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard
and Visa. Thanksgiving dinner ($35 for three-course, prix fixe
menu) will be served from 6 pm to 10 pm on Nov. 25. To make a
reservation, call (718) 622-0101.