Thanksgiving Success! Rerun

This has been my Thanksgiving plan for three years in a row, so I thought I'd rerun the tips. I have changed this slightly--in that I bought the brining bags at the store instead of using a pail (Farberware makes them and they were in the aisle with the roasters and kitchen twine, etc.). I have had success every time I use this recipe. Buying a fresh bird makes life ten times easier, but I have in a pinch defrosted a frozen bird and then brined it.

(and as an aside, for those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, on Monday I posted a link to my blog and a friend who is a professional chef shared his tips for brining, so check that out!)

Thanksgiving was a HUGE success in my house. Brining the bird was DA BOMB and I highly recommend it. I mean, HIGHLY recommend it. I have never had a juicier, more delicious turkey--it was beyond simple to cook, and twelve people devoured nearly an entire 21-pound bird. Lots of going back for seconds and thirds that day!

Take notes if you want for next year, because here's how I did it (and managed to have a LOT of relaxation time on the big day, too):

Wednesday Night: Brine the Bird (in the fridge by 8pm)
Equipment needed: 5-gallon pail from Lowe's or Home Depot
Alton Brown's recipe for Brining from I'm Just Here for the Food
(which involves essentially cooking some water, brown sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and kosher salt, then cooling and adding to the bucket).
Plus: 3 gallons ice water and 1 1/2 cups kosher salt

Thursday Timeline:
7:00 a.m.: Remove bird from Brining Liquid
Preheat oven
Dry bird, stuff with an onion, celery sticks. Brush whole bird with melted butter, then tent with foil, stick a meat thermometer in it, then put the bird in the oven.

8:00 a.m.: Cook sausage for stuffing, chop vegetables for stuffing (celery, carrots and onions), then cook when sausage is done. Add dried cranberries, leave to cool and set aside

8:15 a.m.: Peel 8 pounds of potatoes and start boiling them for mashed potatoes

8:45 a.m.: Start simple syrup for kids' Floating Island Punch
Put Frozen raspberries, pink lemonade and sugar in bowl to thaw for Poinsettia Punch for grownups :-)

9:30 a.m.: Mash potatoes and put in crock-pot--done till 11:15 a.m. (take a nap, read the ads for Black Friday shopping...I do all my house cleaning on Wednesday, so I'm chilling for these two hours)

11:30 a.m.: remove foil tent from turkey, baste with more butter and turn oven temp up to 425 degrees
Start green beans (I made a healthy version, which I can post later)
Start Citrus-Glazed Carrots

12:15 p.m.: Assemble stuffing

12:30 p.m.: Remove turkey from oven and let set
Put rolls in oven
Put stuffing in oven
Make gravy

1:00 p.m.: Serve and eat ;-)

My MIL made the pies, and I had baked cookies on Wednesday night, so all the rest was done ahead of time. I usually make the pies a day or two ahead of time, but this time someone else did them, so I was saved that chore. This turkey was SO SO good, though. I just can't even tell you ;-)

How was your Thanksgiving? Was it a huge success? I do dishes as I go, and run the dishwasher about halfway through so that everyone can eat on real plates. Clean-up is still a lot of work, but it's not AS bad as it could be.

And if you want to read about my Black Friday adventures, I posted on RTB today about them!

Shirley

To Brine or Not to Brine

I posted my Thanksgiving Plan the other day, and since then have had lots of discussions on Facebook and by email about brining (BTW, that's not my turkey in that picture, just one I found on the Internet :-). Friends who haven't brined before wanted to know what the big deal is, and if it's worth the effort. I wholeheartedly say YES. It makes the meat so much moister. Last year, nearly the entire turkey was eaten--leaving me with almost no leftovers, LOL. But it was a huge hit around here, so it's a no-brainer to brine again this year.

I use Alton Brown's brining recipe. He has two of them--one on the Food Network that calls for a few ingredients that are hard to find here (allspice berries? Geesh, I have trouble finding shallots in my grocery store), and then this one, which is in his I'm Just Here for the Food book. That's the one I'm planning on using (though I have to admit to being tempted to try Anne Burrell's when I saw it on Food Network the other day).

I don't stuff my turkey, either. I used to, but have had great success putting aromatics in it--rosemary, garlic, onion, lemon and sage--and then rubbing butter all over it. I always worry about the food poisoning thing with stuffing the bird anyway. And I'm impatient enough not to want to wait for the extra cooking time ;-)

So tell me, do you brine your turkey? Are you going to try it this year? Or are you a deep fryer? Or someone who skips the turkey all together?

Shirley

The Thanksgiving Plan

Last year, my Thanksgiving dinner was a HUGE success. I'm doing the same thing this year, except making a few swaps. We just had a dinner party and had the carrots I made last year, so I'm doing Ina Garten's AMAZING Roasted Butternut Squash this year instead of carrots. And I'm making pecan bars instead of pecan pie. This year, I have a brining bag, which should take up less room in the fridge (and if it doesn't work, DH will be making a late run to Home Depot for a new bucket, LOL).

Anyway, here's last year's Thanksgiving plan...I HIGHLY recommend brining.

>> Thanksgiving was a HUGE success in my house. Brining the bird was DA BOMB and I highly recommend it. I mean, HIGHLY recommend it. I have never had a juicier, more delicious turkey--it was beyond simple to cook, and twelve people devoured nearly an entire 21-pound bird. Lots of going back for seconds and thirds that day!

Take notes if you want for next year, because here's how I did it (and managed to have a LOT of relaxation time on the big day, too):

Wednesday Night: Brine the Bird (in the fridge by 8pm)
Equipment needed: 5-gallon pail from Lowe's or Home Depot
Alton Brown's recipe for Brining from I'm Just Here for the Food
(which involves essentially cooking some water, brown sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and kosher salt, then cooling and adding to the bucket).
Plus: 3 gallons ice water and 1 1/2 cups kosher salt

Thursday Timeline:
7:00 a.m.: Remove bird from Brining Liquid
Preheat oven
Dry bird, stuff with an onion, celery sticks. Brush whole bird with melted butter, then tent with foil, stick a meat thermometer in it, then put the bird in the oven.

8:00 a.m.: Cook sausage for stuffing, chop vegetables for stuffing (celery, carrots and onions), then cook when sausage is done. Add dried cranberries, leave to cool and set aside

8:15 a.m.: Peel 8 pounds of potatoes and start boiling them for mashed potatoes

8:45 a.m.: Start simple syrup for kids' Floating Island Punch
Put Frozen raspberries, pink lemonade and sugar in bowl to thaw for Poinsettia Punch for grownups :-)

9:30 a.m.: Mash potatoes and put in crock-pot (NOTE; the link to my recipe is right on the blog under Most Popular Recipes) --done till 11:15 a.m. (take a nap, read the ads for Black Friday shopping...I do all my house cleaning on Wednesday, so I'm chilling for these two hours)

11:30 a.m.: remove foil tent from turkey, baste with more butter and turn oven temp up to 425 degrees
Start green beans (I made a healthy version, which I can post later)
Start Citrus-Glazed Carrots

12:15 p.m.: Assemble stuffing

12:30 p.m.: Remove turkey from oven and let set
Put rolls in oven
Put stuffing in oven
Make gravy

1:00 p.m.: Serve and eat ;-)

My MIL made the pies, and I had baked cookies on Wednesday night, so all the rest was done ahead of time. I usually make the pies a day or two ahead of time, but this time someone else did them, so I was saved that chore. This turkey was SO SO good, though. I just can't even tell you ;-)

How was your Thanksgiving? Was it a huge success? I do dishes as I go, and run the dishwasher about halfway through so that everyone can eat on real plates. Clean-up is still a lot of work, but it's not AS bad as it could be.

Shirley

Blogging on Writerspace with prizes :-)

I'm blogging on Writerspace today about the process behind writing my latest release, AROUND THE BEND. Stop on by and drop a comment for a chance to win a prize!

On the recipe front, I've been cooking from the Cook This, Not That cookbook (written by the people who wrote Eat This, Not That). I made a turkey meatloaf with a tomato chutney tonight that was fabulous. Forgot to take a picture (I was ravenous, LOL). I've also made the chicken marsala, which was okay (not as good as the full fat version, LOL).

Shirley

Turkey Burgers & Macaroni with a Twist

I love to try and jazz things up a bit by twisting a recipe or finding a new twist on an old favorite. In a recent issue of the Rachael Ray magazine, they had a bunch of apple recipes, and a few ground turkey recipes.

Well, just in time for that, one of my local markets put ground turkey on sale. And since I'm on this "forcing the family to eat healthy" kick (I know, I'm an evil mother), I decided to try this, along with a new mac-and-cheese, so I could ease them into the healthy thing (kind of like serving an apple with a chocolate cake ;-). But I did use low-fat milk and low-fat cheese in the mac-and-cheese, and no one noticed.


I tweaked the recipe of the Apple-Cheddar Turkey Burgers a little bit. It called for English muffins, which I didn't have, but I did have an overabundance of hamburger buns from a recent cookout, so we had those instead. It also called for Granny Smith apples, which I despise, so I had Golden Delicious instead. And I forgot the lettuce on the bottom, but it was good without. Everything else I followed to the letter, and we ate EVERY single one of these (FYI, this recipe made 8 turkey burgers for me. They must have been massive burgers in the test recipe, because I have no idea how they only got four out of it). I also used a different mustard because I knew that grainy mustard wouldn't go over well with the kids. Too much kick to that one.

So my turkey burger layers were:

Honey mustard on the bun (I didn't bother following the directions of mixing it with the cranberry sauce)
Whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 slice Golden Delicious apple (the recipe calls for three, but they must have cut them super thin, thinner than I could get mine)
1 slice sharp cheddar cheese
turkey burger (made as directed in the recipe, with parsley, scallions, grill seasoning and poultry seasoning)
all on a toasted hamburger bun :-)


I served it with a bit of a twist on mac-and-cheese that I came across in one of those ads for cheese. This one was good, but not kick-butt. I think it was the cloves that pushed it out of the realm of really good. If you took those out of the mix, which I think I will next time, I'd give it two thumbs-up. Since they don't have it on their website, I'll put it here:

Kerrygold Mac and Cheese

1 pound macaroni (I used penne), cooked and drained
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup onion, diced
pinch of sugar
4 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half because that's what I had )
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup swiss, grated
1 1/2 cups Dubliner cheese, grated (I didn't have that, so I just used more cheddar)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup breadcrumbs

Over medium heat in saucepan, melt butter, add onions and sugar, and season with salt. Cook until onions are translucent. Add flour and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in milk and cream, bring to a simmer, add bay leaf and cloves (again, I thought the cloves gave it a weird smell and taste, so I would skip them). Reduce burner to low, simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf. Add all but one cup of the cheese, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cheese sauce with pasta and spoon into a casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese, then breadcrumbs. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned on top.

That's it! They were both a big hit with my family (no one in my family said anything about the mac-and-cheese, and it was all eaten, so maybe it was just me on the clove thing). Anyway, the burgers were a huge hit. If you have apples you want to use, this and the upcoming recipes I have this week are a great option to use them up!

Shirley