Let's talk Turkey!

Since it’s the completely fictional holiday made up in the late 19th century known as Thanksgiving here in the colonies, was wondering how many of you out there are spending the day cooking and what you’re planning.

So, how about a recipe thread?

THE BIRD

I actually started my prep of brining the turkey on Sunday. Most recipes say to brine for 8 to 12 hours using a really heavy salt water, but those involve too much salt and a thawed turkey.

I like to start my brine from a frozen turkey thawing it in the brine slowly over several days. This lets me drop the turkey in a pot when I buy it on sunday and forget about it until today.

My brine mixture goes thus:

1/2 cup Kosher salt
1/2 gallon orange juice
Fill with water until turkey is completely submerged.

I let that sit in the fridge overnight the first night, which typically thaws it just enough to pull the neck and giblets bag out. I reserve those for soups and other goodies like dirty rice by putting them in the freezer. (they should still be pretty solid so no re-freezing issues)… I then put a sealed freezer bag of lead shot in the cavity to keep it submerged and put it back in the fridge.

Big thing about this long a brine is to make sure the temp stays below 48F… most recipe’s say 40F because like any good engineer you’re a wee bit conservative on paper… as such a good refridgerator thermometer isn’t a bad idea.

Today the plan is thus. I will drain the bird, allow it to drip/air dry for about 40 minutes to an hour while I prep my stuffing. In my large pan I will be dumping in two pounds of frozen baby carrots (getting too lazy to peel) under the grate which soak up a lot of the yummy goodness dripping off the turkey. Working from frozen also means they can sit in there for the 3-4 hours with the turkey, and the juices they add to the drippings help give you a nice golden color while basting. The slow cook under the turkey often make them so tasty your guests end up fighting over the CARROTS. (which is kinda funny!). I then dust the bird generously with onion powder and black pepper. Avoid adding extra salt, there’s no reason if you brined it!

I like to cook my bird at 350F covered for about 3 to 3 and a half hours, until a meat thermometer is telling me 160. the ideal internal temperature is 165, which is why once it hits 160 I jack the temp to 400F, and uncover to crisp up the outside basting every three to five minutes until it’s that perfect crispy brown… by which time the center of the meat AND the stuffing should have reached a nice uniform 165+. (Be sure the stuffing hits that temp too if putting it in the bird!)

At which point you take it out, allow it to sit and cool for 20 minutes before cutting (prevents it from drying out from flash-evaporation) during which time the remaining drippings can be transferred to a pan to make gravy.

For gravy I do it simple. Oil separated drippings, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, milk and a light dusting of sifted flour as a thickener. I like to slowly stir the sifted flour into the milk before putting it into the pan with the drippings and slowly heat the pan while stirring. If you shock it you get not only lumps, the whole thing can turn into a pan of glue.

STUFFING
One tablespoon Bells Seasoning. (NOT the stuffing mix, just the seasoning)
1 loaf day old toasted bread. (literally toast it and then let it sit out for 24 hours)
2-4 long stalks celery
4-6 mushrooms
1 large vidalia onion
2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary leaves (if unavailable use 3 tablespoons of dried, but soak it overnight in water… not AS good though)
1 stick butter.
Cold water as needed.

Thin slice mushrooms, dice celery and onion, and sauté in butter. Break up day old bread into tiny bits and mix in the bell’s seasoning, pour butter/veggie mix over it, stir in water to desired consistency. If stuffing a bird make sure you leave it a bit on the dry side since it will soak up a lot of the bird’s juices.

Simple basic stuffing, but it gets huge compliments compared to the crud that comes in a box.

SPUDS

4-6 large russets peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon diced garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk

Boil potatoes until completely cooked, drain off most of the liquid but not all (you want at least a quarter a cup still in the pot). Over low heat stir in the other ingredients and start mashing. Strange as it sounds once broken up the potatoes will start soaking up the remaining water and milk.

Simple, but effective… it gets the job done.

Brown Sugar Butternut Squash

1 peeled and cubed squash (about four cups worth)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar (you can substitute 3 teaspoons of truvia for low sugar version)
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 stick butter broken into half-tablespoon slices.

Mix together dry ingredients in a shaker. In large casserole lay down one layer of cubed squash, sprinkle with sugar mix, put in some of your butter slices. Lay down another layer, lather, rinse, repeat… covering the top with the last of the sugar mix OVER the butter slices.

Bake covered at 350 for an hour… let cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

The cooling time is important as it can rip someones mouth off. You can substitute a full half cup if you don’t want the alternative sweetener… and it beats the living tar out of the Yams most people serve around the holidays.

Cranberry Squares

This recipe is loosely based on Jiffy’s “raspberry bars” one. I’ve made it three years in a row and it’s usually gone by 4pm.

1 package Jiffy Cranberry bread
1/2 cup corn flakes (NOT THE FROSTED ONES!!!)
1 cup quick oats
1 egg
1/2 stick room temp butter.
1 can cranberry sauce (preferably the ‘whole cranberry’ type).

Pre-heat oven to 350F, Mix together dry ingredients, then add egg and butter. The mix will seem REALLY dry, that’s ok. DO NOT use a electric mixer, do yourself and your batter a favor and use strongarm tactics with a nice big fork. Show that batter who’s the boss. Spread into greased 8.5x11 square pan (use shortening, not butter! butter will burn where it touches pan at 350F) with a silicone spatula. (Mix will not stick to silicone).

Put cranberry sauce in blender or food processor to make it spreadable (or just beat the tar out of it with a fork), and spread it over the batter to within a half inch of the edges. (Do not let it reach pan, it will burn to the pan).

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. (until visible batter at edges is golden brown and cranberry sauce bubbles), allow to cool for at LEAST an hour, cut into squares and serve lukewarm or at room temp.


So what’s with all the kosher salt? – non iodized so it lacks that bitter aftertaste.

Paula Dean version – triple the amount of butter in every recipe.

Rachel Ray version – substitute Extra Virgin Olive oil for butter, even on the snack squares – gag on how disgusting it comes out.

So… anyone else care to share their plans of attack, helpful hints, or outright tasty goodies?

Of course I’m sitting here waiting to start at 7AM with my thumb up my backside aiming for a completion time of 1PM

It was no longer fictional after 'ol Abe Lincoln declared
Thanksgiving a national holiday back on 10/3/1863…

There is historical evidence available to prove the early
settlers were actually friendly with native Americans so
the Thanksgiving tradition is a meaningful one. Good
reading on this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States)

Besides, it’s not a bad thing to set aside a day
of rest to be grateful for all the good things we have.

Here’s what Brother Abe had to say…

Proclamation of Thanksgiving
Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders similar to this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the “day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.” She explained, “You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution.”

Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. President Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale’s request immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, who ignored her petitions altogether. In her letter to Lincoln she mentioned that she had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book.

The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln’s secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

Sorry, back to Turkey Talk…

.

It was no longer fictional after 'ol Abe Lincoln declared
Thanksgiving a national holiday back on 10/3/1863…

Well, that agrees with the original sentence then?

Since it’s the completely fictional holiday made up in the late 19th century known as Thanksgiving here in the colonies

Made up, created, in the late 19th century… 1863 fits in there. : )

Everything was “made up” at one point or another…

I mean, like how do you think holidays get started in the first place?
That’s right, somebody looked up one day and said “Hey, lets start Thanksgiving!”

Sure seems like lots of people these days are ungrateful
and object to giving any thanks whatsoever, oh well…

Sure seems like lots of people these days are ungrateful
and object to giving any thanks whatsoever, oh well…

Sure except it’s not new. Just like every generation says "kids these days… " : )