Our 19.5lb brined bird was up to temp in just over 2 hours. Damn you osmosis! Damn you convection!

Despite having appointed a logistics man (my brother) and a detailed, dedicated schedule, everything hit the fan when the bird sped towards the finish - so the last 2 hours were a flurry of activity.

Slightly atypical hits were the starter of pureed frozen pea soup garnished with mint and hazelnuts (wish I had time to strain it and it needed more salt). And rather than pie, we made the spiced pumpkin cheesecake out of CI's best recipe (fresh pumpkin, of course). This was augmented by pecans in the crust and liberal helpings of bourbon whipped cream.

I might never eat pumpkin pie again.

seebee wrote:

stevez wrote:

seebee wrote:A handfull of chocolate chips, and or butterscotch chips are a welcome addition to a pecan pie if you are looking to jazz it up.

I, too am a pecan pie aficionado, however I completely disagree with this statement. In my book, adding any of those frou-frou ingredients amounts to sacrilege.

I used to truly believe it would be sacrilege as well. I was extremely reluctant to try it (why mess with perfection?)....

See, now, in our* family, we call that Derby Pie, a completely different thing, intended for a different season entirely. IMHO, bourbon is not an embellishment, it's an essential ingredient in either case.


*meaning my in-law's, who originate from Louisville, KY.

I never remember to take pictures.

I had 22 people.

I made a cold crabmeat with creamcheese and lemon spread, topped with cocktail sauce. An oldie but everyone likes it a lot. I made the indonesian-style peanut dip from the original Ravinia cookbook with some cut veggies, also an annual hit. I baked a small brie round with apricot and puff pastry...there was something in the rack above in the oven so the pastry puffed except for the top (so=called convection my ass LOL). Took a little while but it was inhaled. My SIL brought an alsatian onion tart she's been making for several years, it was great as always. And our first-time guests brought a hot bean dip with chips and some artichoke dip that was very chunky and quite tasty, also with fresh cut veggies. There were too many appetizers!

My SIL makes a spicy squash soup that is a tremendous hit with the family, she made 2 pots worth this year due to the number attending. Used up a valuable burner heating up the second batch but it was worth it. LOL

Our main course consisted of 2 14 pound turkeys. One fresh, one frozen at half the price. After the brining and roasting you couldn't tell them apart. The fresh one took longer to cook oddly enough, just weird. Our sides were a make-ahead mashed potato casserole that baked for an hour. My cranberries with figs and port were fabulous and well-liked. Mom brought the green bean casserole and all the regulars enjoyed that. My aunt does the sweet potatoes with pineapple and marshmellows, always a big hit with this family. Mom's stuffing, made from challah, was outstanding, if a little challenging. I asked my husband to bring the pan from the other fridge into the ktichen, and then p ut it into the oven...without checking the pan. Unfortunately it was the turkey, not the stuffing, which infuriated my mom and caused a momentary chaos in the kitchen as the stuffing had to be divvied up among 2 pans to cook more quickly. Ended up perfect of course, but it was a little stressful.

I also made shiraz-glazed shallots to go with beef tenderloin (with a goat cheese sauce that I cannot recommend). The shallots were a big hit, as was the beef. Not so much the sauce, grrr. I again ahve to put in a plug for Happy Foods on Oakton, this was $7.99 a pound and while probably not prime or whatever the highest quality is, it was beautifully trimmed, tied and delicious. They'll cut you whatever size you want, worth a drive into the past to pick it up too!

Also on the table, mom's jello, jellied cranberries from the can, and some fresh asparagus. Made gravy with a turkey broth I'd simmered the night before and the drippings, so it was intensely turkey-ish and quite good. I added a dash of applejack (it's a cider brine so it ties together nicely) and I was pretty pleased with it. Was able to pack up tons of leftovers for the unmarrieds and the dark-meat lovers so everyone was happy.

Dessert...no pumpkin pie this year, a sacrilege imo but there was french silk for the hubby, strawberry rhubarb for the SIL, apple from the cousin and some cookies from the other cousin. Celebrating 3 birthdays over the next week so there was a chocolate chip banana cake from Sweet Mandy's or something like that. It was very tasty, incredibly dense but nice banana flavor.

Next year, no goat cheese sauce, the shallots will stay on the annual list and I'm done with the big cooking now til....chanukah celebration next month. LOL

Hope eveyrone had a great holiday.

Thanksgiving was at my cousin's in Jersey, very well done by his girlfriend, which was her first time. I made my Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake which turned out great. (my slightly vague recipe)

However the culinary excitement started when I was recruited to handle the frying of the second turkey (the first was regularly roasted). I had never done this before, but despite the scary combo of fire, propane and hot oil, it was relatively simple, 52 minutes for a 14 lb. bird and it turned out great, moist with crispy skin.

kiplog wrote:.....turned out great, moist with crispy skin.

Look quite tasty, in particular the crispy fatty last over the fence, which may be the best bite on a fried turkey.

(crossposted from yesterday)


day after Thanksgiving

feeling oddly glowy and post-coital

most of the dishes are done, the first load of laundry's started

T's down the street buying a (used) car(addendum: it's a neighbor's and way cheap and if we ever get it insured, etc...is to be used strictly for ferrying our asses over to the supermarket and back during the Winter...it's not exactly roadtrip-worthy, is my understanding///it's now sitting in our garage awaiting all that good gubment certification froufraw)

his younger brother's on his way over to join us in a salvage lot expedition

oh, that turkey was the best yet(numero 3); subtle mesquite smoke, juicy flesh...mmm

people are now sayin' the neighbor, J, an' I oughta set up shop selling 'em

so much fucking food...jeebus krist

T made pies(custard and pumpkin) and I ended up doing about everything else: "um...so...are you gonna do those green beans?"

the stuffings were dry(which always seems the case with homemade...it always wants to drink up 10x as much stock as any given recipe calls for)

and my first true pickles(green tomato and 4 bean salad) turned out salty and dill-y...that sucked...I didn't serve them...I'm gonna go back to the drawing board and try to finagle a way to sweeten 'em up

but, really...so much damn food anyway(I even decided "screw the cheeseplate" and left my candied kumquats in the fridge)

then, later on, after everyone had gone home, we relaxed by the neighbors' firepit

T and his mom trundled back inside, hung out by the fireplace (he just got it working...it's awesome)

and I went back over to the neighbor's for a bit, watched Seth Green's neck explode on Grey's Anatomy(man...what a fucking shitty show...I remember liking the first couple/three episodes...but, dang! Is there a more pedantic, afterschool special-y, soap opera on TV?), and had some Domino's pizza(at 10 o'clock after tracking through nearly all of Indy's pizza purveyors...only the Catholics were open) that they ordered after their own holiday repaste while their son pasted peoples' heads on Jib Jab

---

the stuffings were dry(which always seems the case with homemade...it always wants to drink up 10x as much stock as any given recipe calls for)

Do you just use stock? I use stock and cream/milk (I never buy half and half, I just use half of each) and the milkfats seem to keep everything moister, yet less than soggy, than stock would alone. Also, don't just go straight from pouring the stuff on to cooking, let it sit and soak it up at least an hour (per Cook's Illustrated who tested none, 1/2 hour, hour, and overnight soaking and said an hour was best).

Mike G wrote:

the stuffings were dry(which always seems the case with homemade...it always wants to drink up 10x as much stock as any given recipe calls for)

Do you just use stock? I use stock and cream/milk (I never buy half and half, I just use half of each) and the milkfats seem to keep everything moister, yet less than soggy, than stock would alone. Also, don't just go straight from pouring the stuff on to cooking, let it sit and soak it up at least an hour (per Cook's Illustrated who tested none, 1/2 hour, hour, and overnight soaking and said an hour was best).

Agree 100%. I always add an extra egg, do extra stock than the recipe calls for and add about 3/4 c. cream and let it sit, room temp (oh, the humanity! where are the feds!) for about 1/2 - 1 hour.

My grandmother, who has been gone now some years, made still the best stuffing to date. Nobody really knows what she did, but I recall seeing her take bread, run it under the fountain with tap water, and squeeze it out, before adding the other ingredients. I haven't gotten that crude yet, but I might in 20 years or so . . .

good idea: cream, etc...

next time, then...

kinda...duh, for me, I guess...

I did do the eggs(4 eggs per tray of cornbread stuffing...and the oyster one had the added liquor, too)...the stuffings weren't bonedry, but they weren't succulent, either.

Our first time hosting the holiday for that many(12) AND it being family I think it went quite well, all told. I'm just nitpicky when it comes to creative work...of course, I also know better than to self-critique in front of company. On the inside I'm going, "urgh! fie on you! dastardly cornbread stuffing!...this is not the end of the battle!...I'll best you yet!"

Yea, I have to say that the cornbread/egg-based dressing I tried this year wasn't as good as past bread/stock/wine ones - partially the recipe (and my alterations) added too many notes, and partially just preference: I don't like the corn pudding-y texture of a cornbread dressing.

I've never had a problem with dryness when I do homemade, but I do add a good bit of butter or olive oil along with my liquid.

At noon on Thanksgiving day, after a bit of the Macy's Parade and the Packers-Lions in expectancy (tv piped in on cable from Plattsburgh NY and Burlington VT), the Other Dr. Gale and I looked deeply into one another's eyes and said 'DAMN! we shoulda known we couldn't do without a turkey on Thanksgiving, even in Montreal.' So she, being the young and limber one, strode out into the snow. 30 mins later, the neighborhood IGA had provided us a 6 lb hen, frozen solid, at 5.99CAN$/lb. Into the sink, hot water, alternated with the microwave, etc. Don't lie, you've ALL had to do this at least once in your cooking life...

Brined for an hour or so. Methode à la Alton Brown. Smashed taters--from some nice new red Quebec pommes de terre, lizzard gravy.

Ate at a fashionable 21h30. Delicious. We were chuckling about it, already before we finished dinner.

We'll never deny ourselves our ex-pat Turkey Day in future. And I promise you all a better menu next year! Really.

Geo

aschie...May I ask what stuffing recipe you use? I like do do a sausage dressing with sage as well and am always interested in comparing recipes.

Mhays...I think your pie looks terrific! I agree with SteveZ. There are some things you just don't mess with and pecan pie is one of them.

Seebee...My grandmother also had pecan trees in her backyard...in Georgia. There was never any discussion of chips of any variety being added to a pie. I also have several Savannah Junior League cookbooks from the mid-50's and chips are never mentioned. Perhaps pecan pies differ state to state just like barbecue does.

Geo wrote:We'll never deny ourselves our ex-pat Turkey Day in future. And I promise you all a better menu next year! Really.

Amen to that! Along those same lines, I just got back from a trip to Mexico (post to come) and today, while everyone was trying to figure out an excuse to eat something other than turkey, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the Chow Poodle and I. For some reason, everyone I invited over politely declined the invitation.

As is my Thanksgiving custom, I cooked my stuffed turkey Martha Stewart Style, using cheesecloth for the majority of cooking time.

Thanksgiving Turkey 2007


Since there were just the two of us (and the fact that we just got back to Chicago last night), we couldn't go too crazy with the menu, but in addition to the turkey, we had Greek stuffing (both in and out of the bird), cranberry sauce, and mashed Yukon Golds...oh, and The Poodle's chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert.

P.S. This was the first turkey cooked in my new convection oven. It seemed like the turkey cooked 20 - 25 minutes quicker than I expected and, as you can see, browned very nicely.

Steve Z--What's "Greek Stuffing"? It sounds promising.

That's an AWful nice lookin' bird, stevez! What your new oven all about?

And I second A's query on "Greek dressing"...

Geo

Ive updated my blog (link below) with a majority of the recipes (except my ethnic/asian ones) along with lots of pics...

Posting for the historical record:
Thankfully it was just the immediate family unit and one old-friend/associate/T-day orphan.

Because, though all was well in the end, the journey was the sort of near disaster that will be re-told over the years at hopefully better-coordinated celebrations.

We often do turkey, but are in no way enslaved to it as a tradition. So, this year we decided to grill a marinated butterflied leg o' lamb. While we had many practical-logistical as well as gustatory reasons for the choice, it proved nearly fatal.

First the thinking: We are currently in a small, temporary rental apartment with very little work space in the kitchen, no real dining room, and a severely underpowered range.

However, one of the few advantages of this FEMA trailer-esque abode, (aside from its being 1 block from Spoon) is that it has a small, neat back yard just out the back door which is nicely sheltered from the alley traffic by a garage. In summer it was a little patch of virtual countryside. In addition, it is now hugely enhanced by the generous gift from my sister-in-law of a monster Weber gas grill. (Gas wouldn't be my first choice, but there it is, and frankly, I've been enjoying it.)

So, our thought was: let's grill some red meat, thus freeing the kitchen for the heating of sides, plating, and stacking of dirties. No smoke or lingering smells, no huge dirty roasting pan, no muss, no fuss. And we can drink some good red wine.

Well, when the big evening arrived, the temp. had significantly dropped and the wind whipped itself into a freezing, whirling, motiveless malignity, channeled by the neighbor's fence, the house, and the garage.
As a neophyte gas griller, it had never occurred to me that my big honking metal machine with its heavy frame and lid and propane tank could simply be puffed out. But so it proved.

After the nibbles, soup, and first course (descriptions below), I went out, turned on the behemoth and lay the meat upon it to a satisfying snap and sizzle. I then went back in the house, set the timer for the half-way point and went to work on the sides.

Twenty minutes later I went out into the frigid, blustery night to turn the meat and found it lying there, slightly seared on the bottom, and practically frozen, with no sign of fire anywhere.

I was nonplussed, but sanguine, figuring that our general conviviality could easily absorb a 15-20 min. pause. So I fired her up again, tried and failed to see just where the wind was hitting the thing to extinguish it, then rotated it 90 degrees and tried to improvise a windscreen out of the vinyl cover.

In addition to cold and wind, another difficulty we had failed to consider was that in summer, when grilling, it stays light throughout the cooking period. Now, in late Nov., it was pitch dark. I couldn't see either the grill or the meat, except as ominous shapes looming at me.

Meanwhile the wind appeared to die down, so I went back inside feeling that this must have just been some crazy fluke, and suavely announced a "small delay, but no matter, just time for a bit more wine and conversation."

Went back out as the sides finished up, and found the fire out again, and the meat refrigerator cold and raw.

I considered just walking out onto Western Ave. like James Mason into the waves at the end of "A Star Is Born," but instead decided that the only way to survive this Fawlty Towers "Gourmet Night" was to confess all and find a new plan, since we didn't want all the sides to whither while waiting for the meat. There was a cheerful consensus that we could pretend to be vegetarian and eat all the sides together as if they were intended to be dinner. Then, we could have the lamb itself as either a palate cleanser, or dessert, depending on how you chose to look at it.

Privately, I was experiencing deepening concern that alternately searing and chilling a lamb leg over and over again might not be the surest route to juicyness ever devised by the mind of man. At this point I decided to remove the meat, close the lid till we hit 400 deg. or so and do some high heat roasting or this thing would never catch up. Que sera sera.

While wife, guest, and son chatted, I stayed out in the freezing dark to guard the flame. After 15 min. of roasting, I had an internal temp of 100. (About 45-50 deg. short of med. rare.) I roasted some more, then opened the top, turned the meat, and stood there with it for another 10-15 min. while the other side grilled. My internal temp. never got beyond 135 (at least according to my thermometer), but I decided that surely I could get 3 portions off of either end before hitting the undone center.
I was more concerned that my avant garde grilling-chilling-grilling-chilling-roasting-grilling technique had likely produced something more like medieval weaponry than dinner.

In from the howling wind I came bearing what turned out to be, once inside, a fragrant and attractive looking platter. In the end, it was a perfect med. rare, unaccountably juicy and delicious.

Frazzled as I was by the adventure, I found myself giving heartfelt thanks for good company and good wine, and the fact that we hadn't invited 8 or 10 or 20 and had a much larger mass of meat to deal with.

The menu:
Starters
* Salmon mousse and truffle pate (bought ) w/ toasted baguette rounds
* White bean/yogurt/thyme/lemon dip w/ crudites
* Champagne
Soup: Butternut squash, sage, parmesan, cream
First course: mushroom ragu on browned polenta triangles
(Accidentally) Vegetarian main course:
* Duchesse potatoes gratin in individual ramekins (This was an old Gourmet recipe I tried, and while it was fine, I wouldn't say that all the effort of ricing, beating in cream, eggs, butter, etc. and then re-baking for 40 min. made for anything more wonderful than standard mashed.)
* Carrots agro dolce (courtesy of a link provided by LAZ) This involved simmering in a combo of wine, cider vinegar, and water, then tossing with oil, garlic, and fresh basil/oreg./parsely and allowing to sit a bit. The sweet/tart/herb balance turned out well nigh perfect and a great compliment to the rich creamy things around it.
* Balsamic glazed pearl onions: dead simple and very good. Browned in butter, balsamic added and slowly cooked down to a syrup.
FINALLY: Leg of lamb from Pauline Mrkt. heavily larded with garlic slivers and marinated 9 hrs. in red wine, olive oil, rosemary, thyme.

Actual dessert: Standard pumkin pie, whipped cream, partially whole wheat crust.

Wine: we started with a white that was brought. It was Spanish, but I forget what exactly.

Switched to red for the meal: '98 Gattinara. For me, this was just right with the lamb. All the nice earth and autumnal qualities of Piedmont wines with the overall body in scale for a meal, and pretty much at peak.

mrbarolo,

Thank you for unburdening yourself on these pages. I am sure your considerable acting skills helped bolster your guests as well as your spirits as the meat cooking saga unfolded.

I am glad it all turned out well in the end. Your efforts were appreciated by your guests as this saga was appreciated by your tribe.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Regards,

Geo wrote:That's an AWful nice lookin' bird, stevez! What your new oven all about?

And I second A's query on "Greek dressing"...

Geo

Thanks Geo. I get pretty consistent results using the Martha Stewart method. In terms of the oven, it's a 30" GE range with 5 burners on top and a convection oven. I don't remember the model number offhand, but I got it at ABT last summer. I've been very happy with it so far.

The Greek Stuffing is one of those "family secret" type recipes handed down from Julie's Grandmother. It's basically a modified chestnut/sausage stuffing, using ground beef instead of sausage. It also includes almonds and diced sweet potatoes and the addition of cinnamon and cloves to the seasonings. I imagine it would be quite good with the substitution of Loukaniko for the ground beef, but The Poodle is a girl with simple tastes.

The dressing sounds both exotic and delicious. Beef instead of sausage is definite interesting twist.

I know the range well--GE Profile: I've got it in black in KC; and the cheaper little brother version, also in black, in Montreal:

http://tinyurl.com/ypa8ru

Great minds think alike, eh?! : )

Geo

Geo wrote:The dressing sounds both exotic and delicious. Beef instead of sausage is definite interesting twist.

I know the range well--GE Profile: I've got it in black in KC; and the cheaper little brother version, also in black, in Montreal:

http://tinyurl.com/ypa8ru

Great minds think alike, eh?! : )

Geo

Mine is similar, but differentthan the picture you posted. It has a center oval shaped burner, which worked well for making gravy in the roasting pan, and doubles as a griddle using the supplied cast iron insert.