We cover all the bases for Thanksgiving this year - where to eat, what to drink - and leave you with only the leftovers to worry about.
ores, alternatives must be found. Without a big bird to carve, the feast just isn’t the same.
Of course, the U.S. Embassy’s commissary might just stock those juiced-up, artificially fattened Butterball turkeys – they certainly stock cranberries by the can. But what if you don’t know someone with a commissary card? And what if you don’t care to eat a hormone-tainted bird? Simple: head to the local market.
Government-certified markets in the city provide a surprising selection of locally raised, grain-fed birds: turkeys, geese, ducks, game hens, free-range hens and cocks and pheasants. These are the birds to truly give thanks for. They’re not industrially raised; they taste the way nature intended.
Top Choice
Volodymyrsky Market near Palats Ukraina metro happens to be the city’s best choice for festive dinner birds. Nowhere else in the city that I checked out had their selection of birds, or staff with such knowledge of the American festival.
Prices for turkeys, geese and ducks were virtually identical: Hr 20/kg for turkey and duck, and Hr 25/kg for geese, with the average size of each around 3-4 kg (about 7-9 lbs). Prices were slightly higher for larger birds, which are available upon request, and must be ordered no less than four days in advance. Game hens go for Hr 5 each, pheasants for Hr 10 and free-range hens and cocks for Hr 10/kg.
In general, the merchants at Volodymyrsky Market were the most friendly and among the least pushy with regard to sales.
Other Options
Bessarabsky Market fares poorly as a market for game birds. They have free-range hens and even the odd duck, geese or turkey, but most such birds are smaller and pricier than elsewhere. Compare Hr 30/kg for smallish turkeys and ducks and Hr 40/kg and up for geese, and the selection on hand is really limited – larger product must be ordered, and typically must be ordered a week in advance. Shoppers going to Bessarabsky for their Thanksgiving turkey have “sucker” written all over their faces and, if they don’t have prior acquaintances among the merchants, will pay far more for inferior fowl.
A better alternative to Bessarabsky, though still not as good as Volodymyrsky, is the Podil Market on Nizhniy Val. Though the selection includes only ducks, turkeys, free-range hens and cocks, other birds can be ordered (minimum four days in advance), and the prices are fair – Hr 20/kg or slightly more for larger birds, Hr 10/kg for smaller.
Markets that will typically not yield big, quality birds – or any birds other than hens/chickens for that matter – include the Siniy Market near Lvivska Square and the Pechersk and Lukyanivsky markets near the metros of the same names.
Fixings
Other accompaniments for the big bird can be found with greater frequency at local markets this year. Sweet potatoes or yams (pataty) and a great cranberry equivalent, those tiny little red berries called klyukvy, are in most markets, as are pumpkins (harbuz) and squashes or gourds of all sizes, colors and varieties.
Any drink that accompanies Thanksgiving dinner has to stand up to the meal’s overpowering textures and flavors: it can’t be subtle. That’s why beer is a good choice for the meal – it fights back against gravy, cranberries and super-rich stuffing, and its scent and color are appropriately autumnal.
We dropped by Velyka Kyshenia, in Pechersk, and picked up a bunch of aggressive imported beers (Thanksgiving calls for something special) and then held a degustation in our office kitchen. What follow are our wildly subjective tasting results. We tasted everything but the Newcastle Brown Ale, since our stamina had failed by then.
Paul Miazga, Ruslan Tracz, Sarah Lowman, Theresa White and Andrey Slivka were the boozers.
Goesser Dark (Austria)
Paul: Good with game meats, like a nice moose sausage I had from an old Nordic recipe, or with a turkey drumstick. It’ll kill the taste of white meat. Also good with pumpkin pie or for dessert. Woodsy, beechy taste with a slight aftertaste.
Sarah: Golden in color with a slightly floral aroma. It has a light lager body and a slightly crisp bitterness. A good all-around choice for Thanksgiving, or for any occasion, really.
Ruslan: The beer quickly fills up your pallet, and has a hickory-smoke taste to it. Makes me feel like a brisk fall afternoon. Good with dark meat or stuffing.
Theresa: Warming beer for socializing after a heavy turkey dinner.
Andrey: Generic dark beer. Soapy, slightly bland. Had the idea that if you heated this stuff up, it would soothe a sore throat.
Belle-Vue Kriek (Belgium)
Paul: Kitchen help should have this handy – a splash would go well with the cranberry sauce. Fizzy taste might make it good for post-meal consumption.
Sarah: Fruity dessert beer with a festive amber color. I’ll be drinking this lovely girly beverage on Thanksgiving.
Ruslan: Whoa – like saccharine. Would go well with dessert; maybe you could cook with it. Dangerous stuff, with an alcohol level of 5.1 and a taste like fruit juice. Who bought the cheap champagne?
Theresa: A sweet dessert beer – have it instead of dessert. Champagne taste on a beer budget.
Andrey: Powerful fruit scent, like that Charleston Follies crap Ruslan likes. The acid will cut through turkey and stuffing and the fruit flavors will stand up to cranberries, yams, etc. Love the red color.
Leffe Blonde (Belgium)
Paul: Nice aperitif: Caramel taste, almost like ice cream. There’s a wine-like aspect to it. After a beer like this, few guests will know or care if anything else tastes foul.
Sarah: Beautiful golden color. It’s slightly sweet with a hint of vanilla. Not a bad choice to accompany anything with brown sugar and walnuts.
Ruslan: There’s a party in my mouth and everyone’s invited. All my taste buds are working at once. Probably a good starter beer. Too much flavor for the main turkey dinner. Those monks knew what they were doing.
Theresa: Like something out of an ashtray.
Andrey: Funky flavor, reminiscent of truffles. Winy, like sherry. Love the abbey on the label. Don’t love the small bottles, which are contrary to the holiday spirit.
Kilkenny (Ireland)
Paul: Avoid this in bottle form. Flat, no head, bitter aftertaste.
Sarah: I’d rather drink Budweiser.
Ruslan: Slightly more pleasant than chlorine.
Theresa: Flat and bitter.
Andrey: Miserable.
Golden Pheasant Dark (Slovakia)
Paul: Lighter, less challenging than Goesser. A better mid-course beer for the stuffing, or the mashed potatoes with gravy. Light aftertaste with a nice foamy head that lasted longer.
Sarah: This dark beer has a crisp and mild flavor, but a slight aftertaste. Goes down smooth but sits heavy.
Ruslan: Smoky, but not like Goesser. Will stand up to some meat and potatoes. Light and smooth. I can definitely live with it.
Theresa: No aftertaste; would go down well with a gravy-soaked dinner.
Kruovice Black (Czech Rep.)
Paul: So heavy it could serve as a hint to guests to grab their coats and go. Like a German bock beer – syrupy flavor and smell – but sits uncomfortably down in the gut.
Sarah: Not too sweet, not too heavy, not too bitter. Caustic aftertaste (or maybe I’ve just had too many already).
Ruslan: Like molasses, with a bloody awful aftertaste. It’s light in alcohol, at 3.8 percent, surprising, given the heavy taste. Serve this to Thanksgiving guests you don’t really like.
Winter Koninck (Belgium)
Paul: A fruity, happy beer for going caroling. Starts off simply, but has a pleasant complexity. Great accents of pear, vanilla and rose water.
Sarah: Honey-flavored, light and refreshing. This cold-weather beer borders on the dessert variety, but isn’t too sweet, and would be a good compliment for a Thanksgiving meal – particularly anything containing pumpkin or even apples.
Ruslan: Mmmmm. Very tasty. Fruity and yet not overbearing like the Kriek. Good with something chocolaty.
Theresa: A nice light beer that won’t fill you up before your meal.
Andrey: Dig the cool label, with the Flemish urchins skating on the canal. But unmemorable.
Leffe Radieuse (Belgium)
Paul: Yeasty, with a lingering aftertaste. Nice amber color. It’s a good-tasting beer, with a solemnity the other beers lack.
Sarah: You can really taste the alcohol in this dark brew. High alcohol content and the bitterness/yeastiness of it is distracting. Certainly doesn’t have as clean a taste as Goesser, Golden Pheasant or Winter Koninck.
Ruslan: Those Belgian monks amaze me yet again. The party in my mouth is out of a P. Diddy video. The nice red/amber color and the sweet, strong taste make this a great all-around choice.
Andrey: Monks rule the world. Great mouthfeel, as the wine people say. Sherry flavorings prominent, reminding me of a barleywine ale. Nice cranberry-colored hue.
Paul’s Summary:
Pre-dinner – Leffe Blonde
Dinner – Goesser Dark
Toasting – Leffe Radieuse
Post-dinner – Winter Koninck
While cooking – Belle-Vue Kriek
Avoid at all costs:
Krusovice Black
Kilkenny
All beers available at Velyka Kyshenia, 1 Pecherska Ploshcha, 295-3308.
