The Dish
Plus: Free coffee for a dance, Wild Child opening, and happy hour hot dogs.
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Foodies, this is our holiday. It’s the one time of year I use that New York Times cooking app I pay for and get excited about cooking — a task I typically loathe. I go to sleep dreaming of pie, and my work brain fogs over with thoughts of green bean casseroles and mashed potatoes (sorry, editors).
I’m sure you’re there, too. So I’ll keep this week’s newsletter useful. The best part of a food holiday like Thanksgiving is, well, eating food, of course. But the second best part is leftovers (technically also eating).
I asked some local chefs for their best recipes to use in the kitchen the day after Thanksgiving when your fridge is stuffed to the brim with turkey and fixings.
Matthew Bullock, Southern Pines Diner Car chef said: Leftover braised greens sandwich. You can add ham or other leftovers if you’d like. The first part of the recipe includes making a slaw, then the sandwich. Makes six sandwiches.
Tracy Chang, Pagu chef said: Day-after Turkey congee. Use those turkey bones and leftover rice to make a savory rice porridge. Makes 4 cups, but you can adjust the recipe and ingredients to accommodate more people.
For the full recipes, click on the cards below.
In case you need more recipes for your week with family or friends, here are some recommendations from our newsroom:
Heather Alterisio, our senior content producer, swears by this Brussels sprouts recipe.
In case you’re still searching for the best way to cook a turkey, real estate editor Eileen Woods recommends this cheesecloth recipe.
Culture reporter Kevin Slane loves this East Coast Grill cornbread recipe, which can also be used as the base for cornbread stuffing.
For dessert, do what reporter Abby Patkin does: bake a whiskey-apple crumble pie.
For your reading list
– 🦃 Cranberry sauce’s Mass. connection (Associated Press)
– 🌯 El Pelon Taqueria closes
– 🍽️ Top restaurants in New England, according to OpenTable
– 🕺 Want free coffee? Dance for it. (Boston Globe)
For your calendar
– 🍷 Buy a bottle of wine from the new Wild Child
– 🫖 Unwind post-holiday with high tea
– 🌭 Eat a happy hour hot dog at Little Donkey
What I’m eating this week: Guinness Beef Stew at Sweeney’s ($33)
I was curious what had become of the former Solas space, a bar I frequented any time I found myself in Back Bay and didn’t want to spend $20 on a drink at a hotel cocktail bar. The good news is Sweeney’s isn’t much different from its predecessor, but the food menu is slightly more elevated. Given that it was raining for the first time in weeks, and it was cold, I ordered the Guinness Beef Stew. It was both hearty and warming, as it should be, but this rich dish packed so much flavor, which I’ve found can be missing from much of the bar food I’ve had in the city. Looking at the forecast, it’s looking like a great week to have this dish again.
Thanks for stopping by, and have the happiest Thanksgiving.
— Katelyn Umholtz
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