Let’s Talk Turkey

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on the turkey. In recent years we haven’t done turkey, so having one this year was a bit of a novelty for us. I’m not a big fan of turkey generally (too much white meat; I prefer the more flavorful dark meat on poultry), but this one turned out pretty amazing. And I even consumed a fair bit of white meat myself.

What made this turkey different for us? I have one word for you friends – brining. Allow me to reinvent the wheel here. Authorities greater than I have been extolling the wonders of brining for a good long time in the culinary world, but leave it to me to ignore sound advice. I’m pretty sore about the fact that I haven’t tried it before recently. But now that I’ve brined, I’ll never go back. No more dry birds at our house!

In addition to brining our bird, we also apple smoked it. Last year’s apple smoked pheasant was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever eaten, and I wanted to capture the incredible mahogany color and intense apple flavor again this year. Why not throw a turkey on the Weber? It’s really easier than it seems, so I’ll give you the run down. Maybe you’ll brave the weather and smoke yourself a turkey on Christmas Day. Wouldn’t that be a show stopper?

This year we did a fourteen pound bird. You’ll need to have a thawed bird forty-eight hours before you want to serve it – an overnight for the brine (the longer the better – we only did twelve hours, but twice that would’ve been better) and a second overnight uncovered in the fridge so the skin gets super dry (which will make it nice and crispy when you cook it).  So for a Thanksgiving bird, start on Tuesday. For a Christmas Day bird, start on the 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve (this year it’s a Friday).

First up, let’s talk about gear. Like me, you probably do not have a non-reactive food-safe plastic or glass container in the 21 quart ballpark in order to brine your turkey. For less than five bucks though, you can put together something that will actually fit in your fridge. All you need is a disposable turkey roasting pan and a turkey cooking bag. While I think those bags are fully useless for actual cooking (and I just don’t trust heating any kind of plastic with food in it) they’re great for brining and curing. I actually use them when I make my own bacon because I can’t find two quart zip top bags in my area and I never get around to ordering them online. But I digress. If you have a proper roasting pan that will fit a turkey, by all means use it with the bag. It’s just one of those big ticket items we haven’t acquired yet. A word on brining in chest coolers – I see it recommended a fair bit of the time, but I just can’t get behind it. I don’t trust the temperature being stable at all. Better, and safer, to do your brining in the fridge. Aside from the brining ingredients, the only other thing you’re going to need is some apple chips. I still consider myself a beginner food smoker, so I cheat like hell and use the Camerons Flavorwood cans. I love these things. They’re absolutely foolproof and everything I’ve ever smoked with them tastes great. You’ll need three to four cans to do a whole turkey for three to four hour smoke time. Basically, one can per hour.

Now let’s discuss the brine. As it’s most basic, a brine is a water/salt/sugar solution. Where it gets fun and exciting are the flavor components. There are a billion different combinations you could come up with. Since we apple smoked, we thought an apple brine would really make for intense flavor. My point of reference was a recipe I found on Serious Eats. Naturally, I made some modifications -

half gallon of apple cider

1/2 cup of lemon juice (next time I’ll use 2-3 large fresh lemons, but I only had juice on hand this year)

3 quarts water

2 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1 cup kosher salt

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into chunks

15 whole cloves

3 fresh bay leaves (if you don’t have a tree like I do, you’ll need 6 dried)

6 whole peppercorns (I forgot to add them for Thanksgiving, but I plan to put them in next time for a little extra kick)

First up, you want to dissolve the sugar and salt in the apple cider. The quickest way to do that is to heat it up in a saucepan on the stove. Bring it to  a boil for just a minute, stirring well until both the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. Let it come to room temp – I came back to it after an hour while I was doing other prep.

As a matter of fact, you can take down your bird while you’re waiting for the cider to cool down. We’re not big on presenting the whole bird and carving it at the table at our house, and we wanted to put it on the grill in pieces to make sure everything got evenly smoked, and we could take off meat when it was done. Turkeys are notoriously hard to cook right whole – half the meat is often overdone, half underdone. Not too appealing. Now I’ll be honest. I was pretty mentally fried after a long day of Thanksgiving prep and baby care, so I didn’t take apart my turkey before putting it in the brine, which was supremely stupid for a couple of reasons. First of all, try holding a plastic bag full of liquid open with one hand while lifting a fourteen pound turkey with the other hand into it. Want to guess how long it took me to clean up that sticky mess? Longer than I cared to spend on it as the clock was nearing midnight. The other reason has to do with flavor. Forget flipping the bird in the brine in the middle of the night so that it brines evenly – which is another disaster waiting to happen. If it’s it in pieces, you drop them in one by one no problem, everything gets brined equally and you’re all set to go. Learn from my mistake. Never took down a turkey before? Me either. But it’s just a chicken, only much, much bigger. Leave everything bone in for the best flavor. You can do it.

Then put your turkey bag into your roasting pan. You probably want a sheet pan underneath the flimsy disposable so it’s easier to lift – the disposables will bend and warp at the drop of a hat. Pour your now room temp cider mix into the bag. Add the rest of the brine ingredients, and plunk in your turkey pieces. Tie up the bag and make sure it’s sitting pretty in the pan, and stick the whole affair in the fridge for twenty four hours. You can get away with eight-twelve, but longer is better in my opinion. You really want the cider and spices to penetrate all the way to the center of the meat.

When you feel like you’ve brined enough, take your turkey pieces from the brine and rinse them really well under cold running water. You want to remove any excess salt that may still be on the skin of the bird. Pour the brine down the drain (it’s done it’s good work) and put the bag in the recycling. Hang onto the roasting pan for drying out the bird. Once the turkey is well rinsed, dry it thoroughly with paper towels and stick it back in the disposable roasting pan and return it to the fridge for another twenty four hours. Make sure there’s nothing weird in your fridge – like an uncovered bowl of chopped onions or anything. It will reek up your turkey. I don’t know why anyone would have a bowl of uncovered chopped onions in their fridge, but you get the idea. The only naked thing in there should be the turkey.

You’ve now made it through forty eight hours of turkey preparation. It’s now time for the big show. Pull the turkey out of the fridge about a half hour before you want to put it on the grill so it comes up to room temp. You want a simple two zone fire in your grill. Throw one of the smoke cans onto the coals, give it a couple of minutes to start smoking, then place your turkey pieces on the cool side. Put the lid on and position the upper vent over the turkey so it draws the smoke up over the meat. You’ll need anywhere from three to four hours for a fourteen pound bird – temp it periodically when you get towards the end. And since your bird is in pieces, you’re halfway there with the carving. You’ll still want to let it rest for 20 minutes or so before carving so all the juices don’t run out.

And that’s it. With a little advance planning and some simple tools, you can have an amazingly flavorful, beautifully browned bird. And it won’t be like every other turkey on the block! Be sure to set a couple extra places at the table – when your neighbors smell your bird smoking away out back, you can bet they’ll abandon their boring oven roasted birds in favor of pulling up a chair at your house.

Wait! Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet!

I almost made a terrible, terrible mistake. I almost forgot to put our turkey in the fridge to defrost. If you got a frozen bird this year as well, you’ll want to be sure to get up out of bed, trot over to the kitchen and spend ten minutes rearranging your refrigerator so it fits. Especially if you plan on using a recipe that requires you to brine your turkey for 24 hours.

According to the USDA factsheet on turkey it can take 3-4 days to defrost a 12-16 pound turkey, and up to 5 days to defrost a 16-20 pounder. So that means you’ve really got to get on it! Leave it in it’s original wrappings and place it on a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest shelf.

But fear not – if you didn’t see this post in time all hope is not lost. The USDA also says it’s safe to defrost your bird in cold water – 6-8 hours for 12-16 pounds and 8-10 hours for 16-20 pounds. You could even put it to defrost on Wednesday night and be able to put it in the oven Thanksgiving morning. You’ll need to change the water every 30 minutes. You can do it in your sink, but if you’ve got to use the sink for other things (as most of us do) you can do it in a large stockpot (at least 16 quarts should work, but if you’re a canner your 21 quart canning pot would be perfect) or even a clean plastic bin or tote. One of these days I’ll get a proper food storage container to tackle these types of jobs, but until then I’ll just try to remember to defrost my turkey on time.

Make Ready – Thanksgiving is Coming!

Okay folks, it’s one week until the Big Feast. Where are you with your pre-holiday preparations? I’ve got the lists all made and ready to go. Three lists are key to getting your big dinner on the table without a hitch – the menu, the shopping list and your prep outline. Here are mine for this year – not so simple that I’ll be bored getting it together, but not so complicated (as in previous years) that I won’t be able to pull it off with a baby on the scene.

The Menu

Roasted turkey (still trying to convince husband we should also apple smoke it)

Honey glazed ham

Mashed potatoes

Bread stuffing (with white and rye breads)

Stuffed sweet potatoes

Braised greens (whatever’s on sale – Swiss chard, kale, collards…)

Home made cranberry sauce

Turkey gravy

Pumpkin crescent rolls

Pumpkin pie

Chocolate icebox pie

Shopping List

12-15 pound turkey

8-10 pound ham

5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes

celery

carrots

onions

chicken stock

4 sweet potatoes

3 large bunches greens

cranberries

flour

sugar

eggs

soymilk

mini marshmallows

Prep Itinerary

Monday – Bake white bread and rye bread for stuffing.

Tuesday – Parbake and freeze crescent rolls; make chocolate pie; make cranberry sauce.

Wednesday – Bake pumpkin pie; prep all veggies and keep in fridge.

Thanksgiving – Get turkey and ham in oven by 9:00; cook bread stuffing in crockpot; cook mashed potatoes; bake sweet potatoes; braise greens; finish baking rolls.

 

Of course the Thanksgiving work list needs expanding and refining. I like to have times listed out so I know when to start each item so that everything is ready to eat at the same time. It takes a little maneuvering. That’s why I’ve decided to sacrifice the crisp crust on the bread stuffing this year and do it in the crockpot. I can just set it and forget it. Actually, I suppose I could throw it under the broiler for a few minutes if I’m so inclined, but personally I like a softer stuffing anyhow. So we’ll see. And juggling the turkey and ham in the oven will be tricky. Another pro to apple smoking it, as it can be done on the grill. But if we go that route, I’ll have to take the turkey down into pieces so it will fit on our grill. Not a big deal, since we don’t make a big thing of presenting the whole bird at the table anyway. But if we don’t smoke it, I may have to cook the ham through on Wednesday night so I can just heat it up on Thursday when the turkey is out and resting. So, I’ve got the master plan all set to go but we’ve still got some planning to do in the next week. And we’ve got to do the grocery shopping this weekend for sure!

Hello November – Time for Thanksgiving!

Wow,  this year has just flown by. I can’t believe it’s November already. Time to start thinking toward the holidays! This year, I’m ready for colder weather and the fun and excitement of the holiday season. Summer and fall were nice, but I’m getting into a winter mood. And yes, I’ll likely regret saying that in the middle of January every time I have to go outdoors. But right now, I’ll embrace it.

First up, Thanksgiving. Of course we’ll be hosting it again this year. Unlike in year’s past where I’ve done something “unusual” for our main course (remember last year’s wood smoked pheasant?) this year we’re going with a straight traditional dinner. While I’d love to do the pheasant again since it was so amazing, we’re going to have a bit of bigger crowd this year, so that prices us out of it. Since the baby is here, it seems we’re the popular Thanksgiving spot! So we’re looking at seven of us for sure, and possibly ten. With that in mind, a twenty pound turkey is what we’ll be having for our centerpiece. To go with it, I’m going to make mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, bread stuffing, a few stuffed sweet potatoes (found those on Pinterest – ingenious if you only have a few people that like them) and some kind of green vegetable. Not sure on that one yet – maybe sauteed kale with garlic and bacon, or wine braised Swiss chard. Or steamed broccoli. While I love brussels sprouts, it seems I’m really the only one. They weren’t exactly flying out of the bowl the last time I served them. And this year, I’d like to bake up some kind of home made roll. I confess I usually just put packaged croissants out… but I’ve been working with bread a lot more this year, so home made rolls should show up on the table. I’m also going to be baking my own bread for the stuffing – I’m going to do a mix of white bread and rye the weekend before, and let them go stale naturally. Mixed in with a well caramelized mirepoix, plenty of chicken stock and fresh herbs, it should be amazing. And for dessert, I’m making pie of course. Pumpkin, chocolate icebox, and maybe even a shoofly.

For my table, I’m keeping it simple again this year. We’ll have to rearrange the house a little bit to accommodate the crowd. We currently have our sofa in the middle of the room, acting a divider between our living room and dining room space. We’ll have to move it against the interior wall so that we can have the table down the center of the room. We’ll also have to add a long folding table to our dining table, which only seats four. With that small adjustment, we’ll have plenty of space. And I may have to borrow a large tablecloth from my mother in law though, since mine only fit our dining table. For the table, this year year I’m going with a dozen or two fresh gourds if I can find them at a good price. And I’ll use my regular Blue Willow place settings, as well as short tumblers for the wine. I really like tumblers instead of stemmed wine glasses at “formal” dinners – it just makes everything seem more warm and friendly – there are no worries about knocking over your glass or pretensions of wine snobbery. I also plan to turn our chest freezer into a buffet sideboard by throwing a tablecloth over it and added a centerpiece. I’ll be glad to have the extra space this year.

So, I’ve got to make a shopping list and write out this year’s prep schedule. I can do a lot of it the day before since I’m not working, which will be great. And start watching the sales to stock up on ingredients!

Pheasant Success!

Ah, Thanksgiving. I woke up early and baked my trio of breads right away – applesauce spice with apricot glaze, pumpkin and cranberry. The oven was on literally all day. Then I cracked fresh chestnuts for my chestnut bread stuffing, sauteed the mirepoix for it and got that pan into the oven.

While the oven was working full steam ahead, I had the husband fire up the Weber for this showpiece – the pheasant. We narrowly averted a wood chip disaster when we realized were out of the apple-chip cans. But I was able to throw together a packet with the apple shavings I normally use in the stove top smoker by putting an entire pint of them into a tin foil packet. Despite previous problems with this method, it actually worked this time, to our great relief.

While the pheasant was smoking out back, I made up a whole stockpot full of mashed potatoes (I love mashed potatoes), home made cranberry sauce and steamed broccoli. I also put together a few a few appetizer platters – proscuitto and smoked salmon with dilled mustard and a veggies – marinated mushrooms, gerkins, pickled asparagus, soy mozzarella and triscuits (for some reason, we have a box in the panty). After all that, I slid the ham into the oven and set the table.

I had a linen tablecloth down with two glittered pumpkins and a beeswax taper in a silver candleholder for the centerpiece. We used my blue willow dishware, as always. It was simple, yet nice. Jeremy’s grandpa came over for dinner and we all had a great time talking – we love hearing stories of the family and his life.

And when we sat down to dinner, the pheasant. Oh, the pheasant! The color was the deepest chestnut brown, with a crispy skin, and the meat was tender – even silky and very moist. It was gamey, but not too much so, and was redolent with apple flavor. It’s the best poultry I’ve ever eaten. I’m not sure I can go back to turkey after pheasant.

Oh, and you want to know the secret to extra pumpkiny pumpkin bread that will make you happy forever? Cook down a can of pumpkin until it’s reduced by half before adding it to your batter/dough. Concentrate the flavor. I’ll have the miracle pumpkin bread recipe itself posted soon so you can try it out.

So all in all, Thanksgiving was a great success. And we’ve got a nice pile of leftovers, so the cooking fun continues with creative leftover recipes. Happy Holidays everyone!

Turkey Troubles

The last few years, I haven’t always had a turkey on the table – there are so many feast worthy foods out there, I just can’t help but try something new. This year I’m doing a double whammy and not serving turkey or pie – two of the dishes that most people couldn’t live without on the Thanksgiving table.

Perhaps I like to try new things because of disasters past? Turkeys don’t scare me on principle, and I’ve made quite a few that turned out perfectly golden brown, moist and delicious. But then there were a few that didn’t quite live up to the Thanksgiving standard. There was the turkey breast one year that was a lovely chestnut brown, but was so dry that we thought we were eating paper shreds. Then another year, we had a lovely whole bird that looked and smelled amazing – until we started carving the breast meat only to realize it was woefully underdone. Right at the moment that our guests were arriving. Thinking quick on my feet, I shoved the whole platter into the microwave and was surreptitiously pulling it out just as everyone was walking in the door.

And the pies. Pumpkin pie is standard on nearly every Thanksgiving table. One year we had the perfect pumpkin pie. Until I was pulling it out of the oven at the end of the meal with everyone anticipating how delicious it would be, and then promptly dropping it on the floor. The glass pie plate shattered and everyone just stared in stunned silence. Or the year that I managed to get the thing out of the oven and sliced, only to realize that I forgot one crucial ingredient – the sugar. It was so awful even courtesy bites were abandoned.

All disasters aside, I don’t really think that’s why I’ve more or less abandoned the turkey, or the pumpkin pie. There is just so much out there! Crown racks of lamb, pork rib roasts studded with cloves, whole smoked pheasants. Then there are the quick breads, the pastries, the parfaits. There is just far too much to choose from; why settle for turkey and pumpkin pie every time?

The Great Pheasant Debate

Pheasant is destined to grace the table this Thanksgiving, but for something so special, how should I present it? Plain, roasted with a little butter? Or something fancier, with an exciting combination of flavors – citrus and sage, juniper and cracked black pepper, with a sauce?

Whom else to consult but the revered L.L. Bean Game & Fish Cookbook by Angus Cameron and Judith Jones? There are a whopping eighteen pheasant recipes included in the book, plus one for making stock from game birds in general. With that many to choose from, how could I pick the one? Since I’ve decided that I’d like to present the bird whole since it’s the star of the show, half of the recipes are automatically eliminated because they call for the bird to be cut into pieces. Sadly, this elimination includes Pheasant Coq au Vin, which would likely taste amazing. That one will have to wait for another time and place.

Narrowing down the contenders is tricky because they all sound so delicious. The simplest preparation is the Roast Pheasant with Herbs Under the Skin – basil, tarragon, parsley, shallots and even mushrooms are pureed with a little brandy which is then layered under the skin before roasting. Pheasant Flamed with Apples sounds good though too – the pheasant is surrounded by gooseberry-filled apple toasts and the whole thing is flambéed in Calvados.

There are also several recipes for stuffed pheasant – sorrel, wild rice and mushrooms, Gruyere and noodles, and liver and mushroom. Braised Pheasant Marsala sounds pretty good, including mushrooms, Marsala wine and juniper berries in the dish. And then there’s Pheasant Cock-a-Leekie, a recipe chock full of aromatics – leeks, parsley, and bay.

And aside from the wonders in the L.L. Bean Game & Fish Cookbook, using the grill has been on my mind lately as well. Last weekend we made hickory smoked chicken on the grill and the honey-brown color of the crispy skin was stunning, not to mention the delicious flavor of hickory permeating the meat. Why not pheasant? And maybe I can riff off of the Pheasant Flamed with Apples – maybe we’ll hickory smoke the bird, stuffed with calvados-soaked diced apples, caramelized red onions and thyme…

So many choices – how will I ever decide? Stay tuned for the final decision!

Start With the Bird

Thanksgiving will be a small affair this year – just myself, my husband and my husband’s grandfather. With a trio to feed, I can really focus on quality over quantity and that opens up a world of exciting possibilities for dinner, dessert and drinks. We’re not wedded to turkey at our house, so the first question in planning dinner is – will we have a bird?

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been wanting to do pheasant for Thanksgiving and now the cost doesn’t seem so daunting – one bird will certainly feed the three of us quite well. I’m going to roast it, but I’m not sure yet if I’ll roast it plain or flavor it in some way. I’ll have to page through my cookbooks and check out my favorite blogs to see what the options are. I’m also going to do a small ham, because I just love all things pork and I think it’s important to serve at least two meat dishes for holiday feasts. I’ll likely do a simple honey glaze and stud it with whole cloves for flavor.

For side dishes, I’ll do mashed potatoes with truffle oil, a simple herbed spaetzle, and chestnut bread stuffing. The bread stuffing will be a mix of light and dark rye bread – you just can’t beat the wonderful flavor. I also like to have something green on the table, so I might do a quick sautéed rainbow chard, as my husband has discovered this autumn that he likes chard quite a lot. It’s colorful and a nice change from kale or broccoli. And of course I’ll have a bowl of home made cranberry jelly on the table as well.

I’ll make up a small appetizer plate of smoked salmon, mixed olives, and cornichons to munch on during pre-dinner socializing. I might also do up a dozen or so shrimp for grilled shrimp cocktail with a home made horseradish cocktail sauce. Why not be a little indulgent?

For beverages, I’ll have a small bottle of my apple spice snaps for the dinner toast as well as a bottle of Longview Pinot Noir (my favorite winery in Michigan) that we’ve been saving for a special occasion. I think it will pair nicely with the roasted pheasant and honey-clove ham.

And of course, you can’t forget about dessert. I’m going to do a trio of breads – pumpkin, applesauce spice and probably gingerbread. I’m going to make them in mini loaf pans and send Grandpa home with some for the freezer.

For décor, I’ll keep it simple and fresh this year. I’ll use blue willow dishware and short café cups for the wine. I’m thinking of getting a simple woven tan table runner instead of a full tablecloth this year. And I’ll use half a dozen fresh gourds and a couple of short beeswax candles to decorate the table runner.

Now that I’ve got it all planned out, I can make my shopping list, clip my coupons and compile my recipes. This is the meal I most look forward to cooking each year (with Christmas dinner for my husband being a close second) and I think this year’s menu will be just delicious!

They Call It… Velvet

I’ve been thinking recently about doing a new table runner for the dining room table. We have a beautiful pine dining table and I really like the warm, simplistic look of bare wood. Table runners are also an easy, affordable way to change the look of the table, and can also be used on bookcases and sideboards. For every day use, I have a Norwegian table runner – it has a cream background with a red and green pattern of stars and hearts.

But for Thanksgiving I’d like to do something a little more elegant. I love dark linen in the autumn – it’s textural without being overdone, and it’s various shades of dark cream or even hazelnut hued fabric lend just the warmth to the table that I’m looking for. I think I’ll sew a simple runner, with triangular pointed ends. And for a touch of elegance, I’ll edge the whole thing in chocolate brown velvet. I don’t normally like velvet (I hated velvet Christmas dresses when I was a child), but just a little bit of velvet will elevate this table runner from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Now I’ve got to make a trip down to the fabric store to find the perfect fabric and ribbon. And maybe small chocolate brown tassels for the pointed ends of the runner, though I don’t want it to end up being to fussy… we’ll see what I’m able find!