So for the third year running, Alaina and I have cooked up the turkey for this awesomest of American holidays. And every year, we go to bed the night before thinking, "oh crap, we don't know what we are doing?!" Hence, this year, I decided to fully document our proceedings before they escaped my memory. (Actually, the first year we cooked, we went to bed ALL the previous week freaking out).
On the menu:
- turkey
- garlic mashed potatoes: pretty self-explanatory--butter, sour cream, garlic to taste
- stuffing: ms. cubbin's, 'nuff said. One day I will attempt making it from scratch.
- giblet gravy from homemade stock
- jicama and pear salad
- pumpkin cheesecake
from kate and riley:
sweet potatoes with streusel topping
cranberry sauce
citrus fruit salad
Black & Blue (berry) pie
Chocolate cranberry torte
Stuffing, Sweet Potatoes and Pies
Turkey:This year's turkey we named "Gus, Gus."
First step, Wheels washed & drained the 15 lb beast. Then, I got my hands dirtaaaaay. All up in Gus Gus' chest area, massaging fat pats of butter right up under the skin all over the breast area. No, I do not derive some sick fascination from molesting our turkey. The buttering is key if one is cooking the turkey breast-side up, because you don't want the white meat to dry out while waiting for the dark meat to cook (thighs take longer to cook, hence putting the thermometer into the thigh and waiting for it to reach 180 degrees F, signifying done-ness.)
Then we shoved the turkey into the oven bag and into the disposable aluminum pan, arranging plenty of chopped carrots and celery pieces around, and stuffing as much stuffing inside as could fit. Poured some liquid in (2 cups hot water mixed with 1/2 tsp bouillon). Note on that: ultimately, we wound up with 6 cups of juice at the end, so probably we could have poured even less in to start with. Then we rubbed various spices (basically the tiny bit of thyme we had left, powdered rosemary, salt, pepper, sage). In order to shut the turkey, we use metal barbecue skewers strategically poked in (we tried those string-packets they sell for turkey at the store, but that failed miserably last year). Then into the oven Gus Gus went, and we basted around every half hour for 4 hours.
Note on the timing: as it was a 15 lb turkey we were expecting it to be 4 to 4.5 hours. However, at a little over 3 hours, it had reached the appropriate temp (180) in the thigh, but to be safe, we left it in for another hour because that just seemed too short of a time and we didn't want the turkey to be undercooked. At 4 hours, it wound up perfect.
It appears we started carving before we remembered to photograph.
Stock: I washed the giblets and browned them in butter with some onion, then poured in 3 cups water and 3 cups chicken broth, some sliced carrots & celery, a bay leaf, some allspice kernels, and a bunch of tied cilantro stems (i hate parsley), plus salt and pepper. I let that simmer till it reduced by half, and drained off the stock, reserving the giblets for fine dicing for the gravy, and discarding the remaining solids.
For the gravy: We always use a baster to remove all the liquid from the turkey pan once it finishes cooking, so we wound up with 6 cups of that, plus the 2 or 3 cups of stock I had made. You're supposed to let the fat rise to the top and skim that off, but I didn't think it was working, so I ended up making a roux with butter instead. The next morning, the fat had risen to the top on the liquid that I hadn't used yet for gravy...so I guess it just takes a damn long time and I didn't have that.
Anyways, for the gravy. Take the fat if you can separate it, or butter, and an equal amount of flour, and mix so that no lumps remain and heat this over the stove. We did 1/2 fat/butter, and 1/2 cup flour. This roux works as a thickener later when you add the stock or turkey liquid. We added 4 cups liquid and stirred till boiling, then let simmer and added the chopped giblets. Ta da, delicious heart-attack in a pot. I was working off a basic recipe in gourmet, and the recipe I've used previously that Sonya's mother had left, but it's pretty basic regardless. For future reference, Lena, don't freak out! the gravy will turn out ok!
Jicama and Pear Salad: The grocery store always has loads of pears this time of year, plus I've seen jicama before but never used it. Hence, when I saw this
recipe, I really wanted to try it. Basically, jicama is rather flavorless but very crunchy, kinda like a cross between a bland apple and a radish. Hence, it pairs nicely with a tasty fruit. So we chopped up a ton of jicama, with a bunch of pears, made a dressing out of equal parts lime juice & olive oil with salt and pepper, then tossed to coat, and tossed in a lot of chopped cilantro (my fave). Turned out yummy, but don't make too much like we did because it'll produce lots of juice.
Pumpkin cheesecake: we used this
recipe, and it's a pretty standard cheesecake. Notes, the swirling described on the recipe doesn't work! We just filled in the top with white then made whatever design we could with a knife. Also, I think it could have used more pumpkin or perhaps additional spices like cloves and nutmeg. Still, very tasty, and it was my first time making a graham cracker crust from scratch. So pleased that it didn't all crumble apart on me.
These are all the recipe notes I have, perhaps we can get Kate to send us her recipes on the dishes she and Riley made. Otherwise, Thanksgiving was hella fun...watched Godfather II (with a tiny nap in the middle of it), resurrected Catch Phrase, played with adorable Sir, good food and good drinks with good friends (ok, i'm lame, won't apologize).
somebody's plate...don't think they could even fit everything on it
Sir Winchester, Kate's Dog
My buddy Billy has a penchant for french onion soup, so at his behest, we have gone to a few swank French restaurants in LA.
