A French country feast for Thanksgiving Day

In a pot, bring 1 gallon water, salt, honey, garlic, allspice berries, black peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme and coriander to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Using a separate, larger bowl or pot, pour over ice. Stir until ice melts and mixture is completely chilled.

Pour brine over turkey, making sure bird is fully submerged.

Refrigerate turkey in brine for 36 to 48 hours.

After brining, leave bird uncovered in refrigerator to dry out for 24 hours.

When ready for roasting, prepare the spice blend by combining pepper, pink peppercorns, fennel seed and dill seed in a grinder. Grind coarsely; you do not want a fine powder.

Stir in fennel pollen and smoked sea salt.

Rub bird with oil (optional: use chicken or duck fat), then season evenly with spice rub and additional salt.

Roast turkey at oven's lowest setting, 200 degrees or lower, for several hours depending on oven and size of bird.

When bird is almost cooked through, with internal temperature of about 155 degrees, remove and let rest for about 90 minutes.

Cover the end of the legs in foil to protect it from burning and roast turkey at oven's highest setting (up to 600 degrees) while basting with more oil, duck or chicken fat for about 20 minutes until a desired color and texture is achieved on skin.

Let bird rest for another 25 to 30 minutes before slicing.

Toss mushrooms with oil, arrange on tray and lightly season with salt.

Place in oven for 25 to 30 minutes, checking periodically until they are evenly roasted but not dried out. Let cool to room temperature.

Heat a cast-iron pan or wide sauté pan with high sides over medium high heat. Add small amount of chicken or duck fat and roast sausage in the casing on all sides to get even color.

When cooked through, remove from pan and cool to room temperature.

Using the same pan and fat, sear turkey liver and giblet, then set aside to cool down.

In same pan, add onion, carrot, celery, thyme, bay leaves and garlic. Cook on low heat until extremely soft with a small amount of color.

Transfer vegetables to a sheet tray and chill in the refrigerator.

Remove sausage from casing, dice to same size as bread and place in refrigerator to chill completely.

Chop the liver and giblets finely and chill in refrigerator.

Chop mushrooms to about the same size as the bread and refrigerate.

Prepare the cheese pumpkin. Using an electric knife or sharp bread knife, slice pumpkin horizontally, just above the middle hemisphere.

Scoop and clean out the guts of the pumpkin until it forms an even, bowl-like vessel.

To assemble stuffing, mix bread, sausage, liver and giblets, roasted vegetables, fines herbs and mushrooms in a large bowl.

In stages, add cold chicken stock to the mixture until the bread starts to break down slightly. It should feel a little like a loose paste with some texture to the bread. You may not need the full 2 quarts of stock. If in doubt, err on the side of over-moisturizing.

Adjust the seasoning to taste with salt, a couple of splashes of vinegar and pinches of chili flakes.

Pack the cavity of the pumpkin with the mixed stuffing. Fill just above the rim and smooth out top to form a dome-like shape.

Cover pumpkin loosely with foil and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.

Uncover pumpkin, turn oven up to 375 degrees and bake another 20 to 30 minutes to get a crunchy topping on stuffing.

Just before serving, drizzle with turkey fat from the roasted bird, if desired, and sprinkle with more fresh-cut herbs.

Place sugar in sauce pot and place over medium heat, allowing sugar to melt gently.

Let it become a light caramel and add star anise, pomegranate  molasses, orange juice, cranberry juice, ginger and orange zest.

Bring to boil and reduce by a third.

Add dried cranberries and fresh cranberries. Let sauce thicken.

Adjust sweetness with sugar or more molasses.

Top with pomegranate seeds and serve at room temperature.

Coat bottom of a cast-iron pan with oil and heat to medium high.

Add Brussels sprouts, cut side down, and allow to evenly caramelize. Season lightly with salt and black pepper. Do not worry about cooking them all the way through.

When they have caramelized, add 1 Tbsp. butter, 2 cloves crushed garlic, and 1 sprig thyme and cook a few minutes more. Place in drain pan to allow excess oil to fall off.

Repeat process with five more times with each type of vegetable, making sure to get a deep caramelization on each. Place each in same drain pan as Brussels sprouts.

Drain vegetables and let cool to room temperature.

Right before serving, mix all of the different vegetables and place on a baking tray.

Warm vegetables in oven at 350 degrees.

If desired, dress vegetables before serving with a splash of lemon juice and adjust seasoning with sprinkle of coarse sea salt.

To ferment the cabbage, weigh in metric measurements to ensure accurate curing. For every 1 kg of cabbage. add 35 g of salt.

Using a large bowl, mix salt into cabbage evenly and let sit for 30 minutes so cabbage begins to wilt.

Tightly pack cabbage into plastic container so it fits snugly with some room at top.

Place piece of plastic wrap directly on top of cabbage. Weight cabbage down with plates. Cover container with a lid.

Let sit in a cool, dry place outside of refrigeration for 4 to 5 days. Check the flavor: Cabbage should be salty but also have a pleasant tanginess. For more tanginess let sit for several more days.

To prepare the sauerkraut: Using a pot large enough to hold all of cabbage, place pork belly in dry, with no oil or fat, and turn heat to medium.

Let pork render on all sides and develop a bit of color. When evenly cooked, remove from pot and set aside.

Leave fat in the pot and add onions, carrots, garlic and sachet. Do not add any salt.

Cook quickly until vegetables have a slight amount of color. Add cabbage and cook slightly just to warm through.

Add wine and bring to boil.

Add stock to cover cabbage.

Turn heat down to a very low simmer and cook for approximately 30 minutes.

Add the pork belly to braise and cook for approximately 15 minutes more.

Remove pot from heat, stir in duck fat or butter and adjust flavor with vinegar, depending on how sharp you want it.

Remove carrots and slice into smaller, bite-size pieces. Add the pieces back into the kraut.

Garnish with lots of fresh parsley.

Place half of butter in a small sauce pot.

Melt on medium high heat, constantly whisking until it starts to become brown and smells nutty.

Turn off heat as soon as the browning begins, but keep whisking so browning occurs evenly.

Set aside but keep warm so butter doesn't solidify.

Place cream in pot with garlic, 2 sprigs rosemary, bay leaf and pinch of salt.

Simmer for 5 minutes without reducing too much, softening garlic.

Cover with plastic wrap and step aside, but keep warm.

Small dice the rest of butter and place in a deep sauce pot. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Place potatoes in a separate pot, and fill with just enough water to cover potatoes. Season water with plenty of salt and bring to boil.

As soon as water boils, skim foam off the water.  Remove all foam and boil potatoes for approximately 10 minutes.

Potatoes are done when they are just starting to fall apart when gently squeezed with a pair of tongs. Quickly strain and lay potatoes on sheet tray.

Place in oven for 7 minutes.

Reheat cream. Remove garlic from cream and set aside. Remove rosemary and bay leaf from cream and dispose of them.

Place garlic in potato ricer. Place or hold potato ricer over the pot with the diced butter.

Remove potatoes from oven and immediately rice potatoes over the diced butter. As soon as all potatoes are riced, place pot over low heat.

Add cream and brown butter to potato in stages, reserving a small amount for garnish. Stir gently over low heat. Keep adding cream and brown butter until desired consistency is achieved, stirring until it is smooth. (Optional: pass potatoes through fine-mesh strainer as a final step.)

Saute a few leaves of rosemary briefly in a pan with a little oil.

Garnish puree with rosemary and a drizzle of brown butter.

In a sauce pan, melt the butter and add the vanilla pod.

Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper.

Fan out the apples in a layer in the cake pan. Drizzle them with about 1½ tablespoons of the melted butter, and generously sprinkle with brown sugar. Add a second layer of apples, butter, and sugar.

Place in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan and add two more layers of apples, butter and sugar. Repeat this process four to six times, depending on how thick you want the Tatin to be, and return to oven for 10 to 20 minutes.

When apples have softened, remove pan from oven and let it fully cool.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry and cut into a circle that is a little larger than the cake pan filled with apples.

Bake pastry according to package instructions, until golden brown.

Immediately sprinkle top of pastry with powdered sugar and place under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes or until all the sugar is melted and it becomes shiny.

Carefully flip the cake pan of apples onto the puff pastry.

Garnish with sweetened crème fraiche, a vanilla bean pod, or fresh apples or other fruit.