Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so students are preparing to head home or host Friendsgiving in the city.
Don’t stress about baking, because The Dalhousie Gazette talked to Dalhousie University professor and competitor on the second season of The Great Canadian Baking Show, Sachin Seth, for some sweet tips.
Seth recognizes that not all students have the means or the money to buy and cook a turkey, but he says it’s not just about the food.
“It’s not always about having this table full of really lavish, crazy things that you see on TV or in magazines, at the end of the day it’s all about getting together with your friends or your family and just having a really nice time together,” he says. “If you can’t afford the turkey or the chicken, does it mean you can’t have thanksgiving? Absolutely not; you do what you can, and if it ends up being chicken wings then oh well, you do that.”
Chicken wings for Thanksgiving could be a new lasting tradition.
But for Seth, Thanksgiving is all about dessert anyway. He says even students can make a dessert that everyone will love – boxed cake.
“If you want to get something sweet on the table and you don’t have the know-how, boxed cake is underrated,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong with a boxed cake and you can buy them fairly inexpensively and I think why the heck not? You get something on the table and everyone always likes it and it’s always a great place to start.”
Seth’s tips include adding something extra to the cake batter; a package of pudding mix can also turn boxed cake into something nice and wonderful.
If you’re cooking for a smaller crowd he suggests mug cakes. He recently filmed a video for DalNews showing students how to make a mug cake in the microwave and says they turn out delicious.
And his go-to is pie. Despite the debate over which kind is the best.
“The one sad thing about my marriage, and I love my marriage, is that my wife does not like apple pie,” he says. “I love apple pie and it’s just one of those things. She likes pecan pie, so in the spirit of keeping everyone happy in my household I make a pecan pie and it happens to be my father’s favourite as well.”
He suggests if students want to make their own pie you can’t go wrong with Nova Scotia apples this time of year and you can always dial it back a bit by using store bought crust and other pre-prepared ingredients.
If you really want to go for it and try something new, creative and a little harder, Seth’s recipe for Fall Harvest Cookies from The Great Canadian Baking Show are on the show’s webpage under week two’s Star Baker recipes.
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