The American holiday table is as diverse as the country itself, making the “traditional” meal something different for every family. But when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, it’s hard to beat the classic golden brown delicious Butter Roasted Turkey.

Here are the steps to make it.

STEP 1: Melt 2 cups of butter over medium-low heat. Remove it from the heat; stir in wine. Set it aside.

STEP 2: Wash the turkey with cold running water. Pat it dry with paper towels.

STEP 3: Place it in a shallow roasting pan, breast-side up. Salt and pepper its inside with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Stuff it with onion pieces. Sprinkle (撒) 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper onto the turkey.

STEP 4: Put it in the wine and butter mixture (混合物), squeeze out a little of the liquid. Pour more wine and butter mixture over the turkey.

STEP 5: Heat the oven to 230°C. Roast it 30 minutes. Pour more wine and butter mixture over it again.

STEP 6: Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C. Pour more wine and butter mixture over the turkey every 30 minutes. After 3 hours, pour the remaining wine and butter mixture over the turkey.

STEP 7: Remove the turkey from the oven. Let it stand 30 minutes before carving.

Notes:

1) The size of the turkey varies depending on the number of guests. Typically it’s one pound per person or one and a half pounds per person if you want leftovers.

2) Turkey doesn’t take quite as long as people think and over-roasting leads to a tough bird and a shortage of juice.

3) Remember to allow at least 20 minutes to let the turkey stand at room temperature after roasting and before slicing. The meat will then slice more easily!

Since I’ve been living abroad, many different people have asked me to name typical British dishes. I have, however, struggled to think of an answer. Yes, we do have our own national dishes. 【小题1】

Fish and chips, as you could guess, is made up of battered fish and chips. It is often accompanied by mushy peas (豌豆糊), which consists of peas mashed up to form a thick paste. The majority of British people really do love this dish but it is not something that we would eat, say, on a weekly basis. 【小题2】 British people associate this dish with the seaside and it’s something that will usually be eaten on a day trip there.

【小题3】 This is made up of roast meat, usually chicken or beef, accompanied by roast vegetables and a meat sauce. It is usually eaten on a Sunday, perhaps for a special family dinner.

Although we do have our traditional dishes, we do not eat these on a daily basis. On a daily basis many British people will eat rice or pasta dished. 【小题4】 You can see this by looking at the range of international foods in the supermarket or at the variety of different restaurants you can find on our high streets.

【小题5】 However, perhaps unlike other countries, we tend to prefer to cook recipes influenced by other cuisine.

How to yum cha in Hong Kong

For Hong Kongers, a quality restaurant could become a family haunt that’s visited for generations to come. Here are some of the best places for chowing down on these steam-basket goodies.

Founded by a legendary abalone (鲍鱼) master, this three Michelin-star restaurant serves classic Cantonese dim sum with an attention to detail that can only be described as impeccable (无瑕疵的). If you want to know what perfect dim sum tastes like, head to Forum.

As the chefs begin kneading (捏) dough and wrapping buns in the middle of the night, neighbors slowly fill the seats and wait for its freshly made dumplings and stir-fried milk puffs. There is no menu or ordering sheet here. Diners choose their dim sum from the display towers located at the counter.

Golden Valley offers two styles of Chinese cuisine — Cantonese and Sichuanese — on one dim sum menu. Golden Valley’s dumplings are a refreshing and sumptuous (豪华的) pocket of shrimp, mushrooms, pork and water chestnuts, while its Sichuanese dan dan noodles are flavorfully spicy.

Veggie Kingdom boasts a pretty impressive meatless dim sum experience that even non-vegetarians wouldn’t feel lacking. Helmed by a veteran dim sum chef, Veggie Kingdom makes fresh vegan dishes using traditional cooking techniques. Specially-treated vegetable oil is used to replace lard (猪油) and butter. Mushrooms are added to replace the usual pork fillings.