Thanksgiving 2015: After-Action reports

[kayb]

Thought it would be appropriate to have a place to recreate successes -- and not-so-much -- from the Annual Celebration of Overindulgence.

 

Mine was mostly traditional Thanksgiving fare -- turkey, cornbread dressing, corn casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, broccoli salad, cranberry salad. I made a white chocolate cheesecake, had enough batter for a second, smaller one. The first one was topped with cherries, the second with a spread of Nutella, toasted pecans, caramel sauce and sea salt.

 

Neither were touched. I'm about to tear into the cherry one for breakfast.

 

 

I do have to report, though, that I cooked the best turkey I have ever cooked. It was a farm-raised bird, local from here in the region, but not a heritage variety. I picked it up fresh on Wednesday, brined it for about 12 hours in a brine containing salt, brown sugar, thyme, paprika, garlic and onion. Roasted at 350, started breast-down (per the NYT's cooking section, "How To Roast A Turkey," where I was looking to check recommended roasting times) with a stick of butter, salt, pepper, thyme, and a quartered orange.Chicken broth in the bottom of the roaster to keep the drippings from burning.

 

After an hour and a half, I donned oven gloves covered with plastic bags; turned the turkey over, breast-up, and returned him to the oven, where I overcooked him because I dozed off on the couch (had gotten up at 5 to start cooking). Thigh temp was near 185. I said, "Oh, s***!" and snatched the turkey out. He was a pretty thing, but I had little hope he would be tasty.

 

Wrong. I sliced into the breast an hour later, and could see the juices in the meat. That was without any doubt the juiciest, tenderest turkey I have ever cooked. Don't know whether it was the farm-raised aspect, the brine or the breast-down technique, but be assured I'll do it EXACTLY the same way next year.

 

My eldest daughter also contended it was the best mashed potatoes she'd ever had. Not sure why -- there was nothing but butter and cream in them, although they did whip for a while in the mixer while I got sidetracked doing something else. My dressing left something to be desired; some years it's good, some years it's not. This was a "not."

 

How was your Thanksgiving?

[Shelby]

Ours was good.  I always go into it tentatively.  You know, relatives and such (drama lol).  This year everyone was in a good mood.  I brought wine.  Most of the girls imbibed.  'Twas even, dare I say, bordering on fun ( minus one incident that I'm deciding to just put out of my mind lol).

 

I was in charge of the bread (I make a sort of easy "French" bread-not really and truly French, but it's shaped and slashed like that). They ask me to make it every year and it's SO easy ( I let them think it's hard lol) The secret is that I brush it with egg white and sprinkle Everything Bagel Topping on.  I brought two big loaves that I sliced, buttered, wrapped in foil and warmed in the oven.  My 40 something-year-old nephew really really likes it.  He ate NINE pieces.  Seriously.  In the end there were 6 slices left.  I noticed they were carefully wrapped back up in foil and were being guarded by my nephew so he could take them home lol.

 

I was also asked to do the sweet potatoes.  Toyed with doing something more savory (which I like better....don't get me wrong, the marshmallow topped ones are like candy, but are just kind of a shock on the plate next to all of the other food lol) but in the end I decided I better do 'em like Gramma does.  So, I tried.  I mixed some of the juices (I used canned.  Sue me lol.) with some brown sugar and a LOT of butter.  Cooked it down so it was thicker.  Poured it over the top, topped with large marshmallows.  Popped in the oven.  Came out and looked pretty, but too runny.  Dunno what I did wrong.  However,  a couple of people that don't care for sweet taters said they really liked them.  "Very good and buttery" was the main comment.  So *shrug*.  I guess not a failure.  The marshmallows were so good.  Nice and toasty and melty.

 

 

Don't have any leftovers.  I do have a turkey (domestic) in the freezer that I may thaw and brine for later this week.  

 

I have a nice prime rib that has been aging in my fridge for about 4 days.  Will make him either today or tomorrow.  Got a new popover pan so I'm going to try to make some Yorkies like Kim Shook makes.  I've never had one before.  Probably will make a green bean tart, deviled eggs, some kind of tater to go with.

Edited November 27, 2015 by Shelby (log)

[MelissaH]

Ours was wonderful. We celebrated with our next-door neighbors, as we have for the last few years. So it was the two of us, the two of them, their daughter and her husband and their 20-month-old children, and two friends who otherwise had nowhere else to go. One friend is a vegetarian, but the rest of us are omnivores.

 

Between our collective efforts, we had turkey and gravy, a batch of stuffing with sausage, mashed potatoes, wine, roasted butternut squash, a salad with roasted brussels sprout and shallots, a batch of vegetarian cornbread stuffing, green beans with mustard-maple vinaigrette, brussels sprout/bacon/gruyere gratin, roasted cauliflower seasoned with garam masala, broccoli slaw with poppyseed dressing, and rolls. We nearly forgot to open the cranberry sauce my neighbor made and canned at the beginning of the month. And for dessert, sweet potato pie, apple pie, and pumpkin cake. Nobody went home hungry or empty-handed.

 

Tomorrow, we'll eat leftovers and cook our own turkey; we plan to do the sous-vide breast treatment with the separately-cooked crispy skin from Serious Eats, and braise the legs in wine. The leftover green beans might get turned into a homemade riff on that casserole, with mushrooms and a can of yummy french-friend onions. We got the carcass from yesterday's turkey, so we can make soup, which might be my favorite part of the turkey.

 

I love this time of year.

[Okanagancook]

Up here in the far north our new friends who moved here from Winnipeg always celebrate American Thanksgiving so theyt had us over for a delicious southwest flavoured turkey; cornbread/Andouille sausage stuffing; green beans in butter; mashed potatoes with bacon and grated cheese on top with some herbs mixed in; a delicious slaw which had vanilla and honey in the dressing along with red cabbage, apple, celery and raisins; and gravy with chipotle and cream in it.  Everything went together so well.  I think she got the recipes from the Food Network magazine and the salad was from Michael Smith.   I brought the turkey stock which they swooned over.  It was very concentrated and was made from roasted turkey necks, herbs, carrot, onion, celery all cooked on the stove for two days then reduced to 6 cups.

 

We drank numerous bottles of local red wines and finished off with "chocolate bourbon balls" watching the last football game of the day.   This is going to be a tradition now.  So, we get two big meals, one in October and one in November, brilliant.

 

On the subject of turkeys I think if you buy a fresh turkey the likelihood of success is much greater..  They just seem juicier and definitely brining it is the way to go also.

[Lisa Shock]

My cabbage rolls were 'meh', the leaves were tough to cut and released a lot of water, so my pan had an inch of liquid in it -liquid that took some flavor and texture out of my filling. The filling was tasty, but pasty. Extra water did not help, wish I had used raw rice instead of par cooking it. The sauce, which I served on the side was great. I pureed a 12oz can of diced tomatoes, added 2T malt vinegar, 2T raw sugar, ½tsp dark molasses and just heated to a simmer and allowed to reduce a little.

 

I made a heaping 2/3 of a 4" hotel pan of bread stuffing, about 15 pounds of it, and that came out very well. I used two loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread and three loaves of sourdough -all made last weekend then cubed and staled in the oven on Tuesday (after I baked a pizza for myself). I brunoised onion, carrot, and celery which I tossed with the bread cubes, and I thought I was using so much veg that people would complain, but they cooked down nicely almost disappearing. I used a homemade vegetable stock made with mushroom, onion, celery, and carrot, and stirred in a ¼cup of pureed onion confit and a couple drops of liquid smoke.

 

Lime cheesecake was fine. I made them in cake pans two weeks ago, and froze them. I baked off shortbread bases yesterday morning, placed them on a plate and topped with the cheesecake. 6 hours later, when people were ready for dessert, they were thawed but still very cold. The host of the event appreciated the fact that he did not need to refrigerate them.

[Smithy]

It was just the two of us, and that may have been the main drawback. (Feasts are more festive with guests, don't you think?) We had prime-grade prime rib, seasoned with a Cajun-style blackening mix, browned on all sides, then roasted to an internal temp of somewhere between 110 and 120F. Perfection! The innermost interior may be a bit too bloody for either of us but will reheat nicely. Smashed potatoes. Green beans with bacon and a sundried tomato pesto. Cabernet sauvignon with dinner, beer beforehand. Sourdough bread and marbled dinner rolls of a rye/mesquite/whole wheat mixture.

The other, admittedly small drawback: doing all that with minimal counter space (3 loads of dishes before dinner!) and a single oven rack. The sourdough bread was cooked before the prime rib went in, but the rolls had to share the oven. They went on the baking stone on the oven floor, which objected with a BANG to the heat midway through the baking. The gap between the stone pieces let some of the rolls get, shall we say, too crispy and dark. 'sall right, there was still plenty of bread, and the wine eased the pain of the broken stone.

[stckciv]

I went to my sisters house at noon, nothing started and plan was to eat by 2. 

 

I spatchcocked the turkey and got it in the oven, then sat around for about 30 min. while her friend stopped by to look at her new house. My parents stopped by and we got started on everything. Hasselback sweet potatoes, dressing, corn cut off the cob sauteed in butter, breuusel sprouts sauteed with bacon, rainbow carrots baked in a honey glaze, mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker, giblet gravy, etc.. Only drawback was store bought rolls.

 

We did eat at 2 and she had the best idea after! She had bought small pot pie tins and we all took the leftovers and made pot pies. She had the pie crusts ready from the night before. It was a lot of fun and I think I will start doing the pot pies when I host in the future!

[ChocoMom]

Our Thanksgiving dinner was fun, as usual.  My sister in law hosted it this year. And, its always fun with Grandpa there, esp.since he doesn't come with a filter.       As for food, I was assigned the pies, and the green bean cassarole. The pies included apple (with apples from our farm plus some boiled cider), 2 pumpkin pies made with my dear New England Sugar Pie pumpkin, and a pecan pie- which I could probably have finished off myself. (Its always an exercise in self-restraint, ya know?!) There was also stuffing, mashies, sweet potatoe cassarole, gravy, salad, and stuffed mushrooms. Oh,...cranberry-cream cheese tartlets, too. darling little things!

 

My sister in law emailed me Thursday morning, and asked me to come over and spatchcock the turkey. It sounded amusing to her, so she had to see what it was all about.  Given that I raise turkeys and butcher them every year, its not a big deal to handle that stuff. But to my sister in law...no WAY would she touch that.  She, along with her daughter, were entirely grossed out by the whole process, squealing and "eeewwwww"ing the whole time.  To which I replied..."This ain't nothing. ....you should come over and watch me butcher a live one sometime."  And, by dinner time, no one seemed to care about the episode that morning....and  everyone said that the bird was the best she'd ever cooked!   

[Baron d'Apcher]

TG2015

 

 

Pickled mackerel. Garlic, lemon and rosemary

 

Roasted Virginia chestnuts

 

Smoked turkey consommé.  Smoked turkey neck, broccoli and carrots.

 

Sort of like root vegetable stuffing. Turnips, rutabaga, carrots, celery root, pearl onions and Brussels sprouts glazed in duck fat with some toasted bread.

 

Cauliflower Polonaise. In a white cauliflower and sweet onion soubise before being gratinéed with clarified butter and lemon-toasted breadcrumbs.

 

Turkey leg and liver ballotines with confit gizzards.  

 

Turkey leg ballotine roasting in gravy with Virginia chestnuts, Brussels sprouts and cranberries.

 

 

Turkey breast, roasted on the bone with sage.

 

Turkey pies.  Confit gizzards, black truffle, cranberries and pecans in savory brown-butter pastry

 

 

 

With spiked cider aspic.

[gfweb]

Can I like this twice?

 

Smashing photos and food, Baron.

[Shelby]

Well.  That was a show stopper.  WOW.  Just WOW.

[ChocoMom]

Baron....there are no words. Maybe, AMAZING²⁴ ...but that still doesn't quite cut it. 

[adey73]

how did you make the Turkey leg ballotine?

[kayb]

Baron -- Just absolutely stunning. I envy your guests.

[gulfporter]

Couldn't believe how fast the spatchcocked turkey cooked on the grill....under one hour!  It was a small bird, 10.5 pounds, but still....that's fast!  It was tasty, but I was disappointed in the skin.  Got a tad chewy, not crispy.  

 

Beautiful grilling weather here in FL....80 degrees, nice breeze.  After dinner we walked on the beach.  Life is good.

[Okanagancook]

Baron, to add my two cents worth:  stunning and thoughtful food!  Thanks for sharing.

[ElainaA]

We (husband and I) are just back from Thanksgiving in Massachusetts with our daughter. Just the 3 of us, nothing elaborate, just a nice family time. We started dinner with some seafood chowder she had purchased from the local 'chowda' house (the restaurant's spelling, not mine!). The main meal was pan roasted duck breast with cranberry mostarda, latkes (because we love them and will not be together for Hanukkah) with the mandatory applesauce and sour cream and green beans stir fried with lots of garlic and thyme. There was a lovely multi-grain bread from her local bakery, the Hungry Ghost.  Micaela (my daughter) had made an apple pie for dessert because it is my favorite and I had taken a pumpkin pie because it is her favorite. Luckily my husband likes both. 

 

I used my favorite duck 'recipe'. The ingredients called for are duck breasts and a full bottle of wine. The recipe begins" "Open the wine, pour and sip. We are not adding any to the duck. It's for the chef." I followed the recipe faithfully. 

Edited November 28, 2015 by ElainaA (log)

[btbyrd]

We didn't visit family this year, so it was Thanksgiving for two. We decided to have some fun with it and have traditional ingredients in unfamiliar preparations.

 

Thanksgiving taco: smoked confit turkey thigh -sweet potato hash - cranberry BBQ sauce - cranberry pickled shallots - radish - spicy turkey cracklins.

 

 

Served it with some parsnip chips and tempura green beans.

 

 

And a cocktail: 

 

 

Gin + Cranberry "Consomme" + Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup + Club Soda.

 

All was good. That cranberry consomme recipe is awesome. The yield is pretty low, but the juice is powerful. You can find lots of uses for it around this time of year. I bet the technique would work great with cherries as well.

[kayb]

We didn't visit family this year, so it was Thanksgiving for two. We decided to have some fun with it and have traditional ingredients in unfamiliar preparations.

 

Thanksgiving taco: smoked confit turkey thigh -sweet potato hash - cranberry BBQ sauce - cranberry pickled shallots - radish - spicy turkey cracklins.

 

IMG_3442.JPG

 

Served it with some parsnip chips and tempura green beans.

 

How fun!

[huiray]

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/152191-dinner-2015-part-6/page-12?p=2037586#entry2037586

[rotuts]

I thought Id post my Turkey&Stuffing experience here.

 

I have an upright freezer, it has 4 sheaves, and is generally 2/3 full.  Pre SV and Post SV and assorted other treasures.

 

in the past Ive gotten as many 22 - 24 lbs Turks as possible to fill it up until the next thanksgiving sale.  Turks in my area do not drop much at

 

Xmas.  This year Target has Turks at 69 c/lbs, and I didn't have to buy 25 $$ of stuff.  I was there for other reasons, as I was going to try to

 

'eat down' my freezer this year.  SV in the proper bags keeps for 'long time'.  just saying.

 

then Wow ! Fz turkey whole 'breasts' were also on sale for 69 c/lb.   I stocked up.  have about 9.  8 lbs +/-  

 

you say :   Blah, dry, flavorless etc.   Id agree pre-SV but carefully boned-out and processed  :  tender, moist  etc

 

far better than the turkey you get sliced at the deli.   that was my plan.  here is one of them getting ready to be processed :

 

 

note it has delicious neck skin !  it also has a 15 % 'flavor solution'  added.  also a Bonus  "" gravy packet ""

 

the gravy packet, if you've ever gotten these in your FzTurks, is a plastic bladder of  High Sodium awful tasting Pond Scum.  toss

 

it immediately and move on. I thought of weighing it to see the actual CostBasis of the breast I was dealing with, but thought id better

 

not.  nothing to be gained there.  so I wrote it off, and trashed it.   it probably cost 49 cents.

 

after thawing the Turk in the refrig, I boned out the two breasts, chopped up the carcass   

 

( that portion of the report is in the IP thread.   I used the 'Soup' button for the first time )

 

as you know, one turkey has two breasts and each has two parts.

 

the smaller muscle  ( sold expensively as the 'tender' ) is the Minor.  so the larger muscle is the Major

 

each has a tendon to attache to the wing.  its very important to remove these both.  its not hard, esp on the Minor.

 

this takes me < a minute on each side.  I didn't take pics, as I wanted to move along and not contaminate my camera.

 

the next one I do Ill try to take a few pics.  Im hoping everyone does this and removes these tendons in there entirety 

 

they thin out, require some scraping skills, but that thin tendon is in most of your TB's even your deli lunch meat.  you'll know its

 

there, no matter how thin.  its chewy.  why leave it in ?

 

I made my usual stuffing :  PepFarm Cornbread, Jones Sausage ( tube - raw ) toasted chopped pecans, dried cranberries 

 

chopped granny smith apples. here it is in the bowl :

 

 

note the 'stock' on the R w 1/2 stick of butter, and the GS apples ready to chop

 

 

here is the mix in its reusable cheap aluminum pan I line w parchment paper.  easy clean up

 

 

the reshaped TB w skin on  on top of the stuffing ready to go in the BVXL  this pan was too big for the CSB and I wanted to

 

see how the BVXL would do on this. here it is going into the BVXL so you can see the clearance :

 

 

here it is done :

 

 

looks pretty tasty, no ?  I did 350 loosely covered w foil then removed the foil 1/2 way through.

 

as you can see, the stuffing got a bit over browned, and that skin could look better !

 

here it is " Sur le Plate "

 

 

I took a page out of Aaron Franklin "BBQ" and show you the plate sans the gravy.  i.e. gravy covers mistakes

 

you bet it does.  the stuffing was a bit dry, and the Skin awful.  I didn't eat the skin  ( no big loss ) and with the added

 

" Made at Home " gravy   ( not that Plastic Bladder, noted above, please ! )

 

was superb.   Of note, the meat was tender, juicy , and tasted of Turkey.  it was delicious and a match to any SV Ive ever made

 

even better as it had some flavor from the stuffing under it, and some of the skin flavor, with a light dusting of Sawer's Prim Rib Rub

 

on that skin.  yep  that Rub is Tops on Turkey  ( and salmon, if you ever come across a really fresh piece you can afford )

 

Id like to take some of the credit for the tenderness, and I will.   I bulled the Turkey at a Thermapen temp of 135.  let it rest

 

and it came in on the Carving Board at about 145.

 

some of this juiciness and tenderness must have come from the 15 % flavor enhancers noted above.  I don't mind.

 

but because of my Cooking Acumen, Experience , and Fantastic Knife skills : take a look here :

 

( I guess I can't add more than 7 pics a post   -----   to be continued below  don't miss part 2 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

Part Two :

 

here is a pic of the TB partially carved, about 1/2 way through :

 

 

note the seam running down to the R from the middle top.  that's where the thin Major tendon, very thin at this point

 

was removed.  by scrapping all the way to its end.  makes for Tenderness through out the Bird.  no hidden and unexpectred

 

gnarley bits anywere in the the entire breast.  worth thinking about and doing.

 

so, finally, as CraigFurgeson used to say at the end of his show  ( the kitty actually said this ) :

 

What did we Learn Today ?

 

Final Exam Time.  this pic comes from a second Cook I did in the CSB  it was  'Split Cook '

 

stuffing ( with some generic bacon on top ) followed by the other breast, sans skin but wrapped in the same generic bacon

 

( Ill post this on the CSB thread )

 

Exam Pic :

 

 

Compare and Contrast this TB w the Usual ones you cook or the TB meat you get in the deli.

 

100 points.   Open Book.  take all the time you need.

Edited December 4, 2015 by rotuts (log)