Post Thanksgiving Comments

I think that I have recovered from my turkey tryptophan induced lethargy from Thanksgiving and ready to critique our holiday meal.  First, I had to research the effects of tryptophan and it turns out that it isn't the turkey alone that causes the sleepiness.  In fact, cheddar cheese contains more tryptophan than turkey.  It is the carbohydrates combined with tryptophan laden foods and the consumed alcohol that causes drowsiness.  Just thought I should not blame the bird alone.

Overall our T-dinner was very good.  Unfortunately, Mom's college roommate broke her leg a week prior to T-day and couldn't join us and our son's roommate decided to join a recently divorced friend for the holiday. Since preparations were already started when I learned that there would be only four for dinner I cooked for six anyway. which meant leftovers for Mom, son and the hubs and me.  I have made turkey soup stock from the carcass which has been frozen into several 2-cup servings. Prior to making the stock I trimmed most of the meat off the carcass and froze the meat in meal portions to save for later (we have one of those food saver baggy gizmos which the hubs is nuts about but it does save a lot of space in the freezer. A portion of the leftover beans, some turkey and all of the leftover potatoes were featured in a delicious soup with an added leek and thinly sliced carrot.  The remaining beans and more turkey were drenched with a quick gravy made from a portion of the stock thickened with cornstarch and topped with freshly made smashed potatoes (in my book - smashed potatoes are made with skins on vs. mashed potatoes without skins).

Will I repeat any of the recipes again? Some yes and others maybe not. The cheese and fruit plate came out at lunchtime and by the end of the first football game we packed up the cheeses but left the fruit and stuffing flavored potato chips out for game #2.  The potato chips tasted just like their name and were really good (thank you son!). The splatchcock turkey was just a bit over baked because I could not believe that it would cook in less than 90 minutes.  It was delicious but a touch dry.  Removing the backbone was a chore that took both the son and I to accomplish (I am sure that he could have done it on his own).  The beans with mushrooms and cipollini onions was good but in our small town I had to go to three grocery stores to find the onions and peeling them was a pain.  Plus the different sizes and shapes of the beans/mushrooms/onions made it a bit difficult to get a fork-full of all three ingredients.  The Hasselback potato casserole was delicious even though I didn't follow the recipe exactly (do I ever?) which was probably a good thing because I baked it with the turkey 50 degrees higher than the recipe called for.  I poured in all of the cream and cheese mixture into the casserole instead of immersing just half of the potatoes in the sauce.  I am sure that my error kept the potatoes from burning.  But they tasted divine. By the way, making sure that all of the thin potato slices were covered with the cream & cheese sauce instead of stuck together was another time-consuming hassle. The casserole was really scalloped potatoes gratin vertical instead of horizontal.  It looked cool but it was a chore to get all the thin potato slices standing upright around the dish. By the time dessert rolled around we could care less that it wasn't homemade.  I discovered that vanilla ice cream is really good with a good dollop of tart cranberry sauce!

Don't get me wrong - our dinner tasted great but was it hassle-free?  No.  I heartily recommend the cheese and fruit combination - easy and delicious.  Splatchcock turkey is a definite keeper (the son commented that I spelled "splatchcock" differently each time I emailed him, well it turns out that it is spelled numerous ways on the internet...  I guess that I am not the only creative speller!)

Coming soon - an idea (or maybe two) for homemade baked good gifts and a wonderful idea for a holiday party.  Plus I am already looking for Christmas dinner ideas.

Mary's Comments
Splatchcock - spatchcock...flattened bird by any other name.  Whichever spelling you use it sounds good!!  I'd probably have to borrow a chainsaw to remove the backbone, as I don't have a son with muscles handy.  Maybe I could try a small chicken to start.  I hear this is a great prep for a bird on the grill.  I will work on this and report back when some grilling weather appears.  Another variation on Hasselback potatoes that might minimize the stacking chore calls for slicing Idaho potatoes, but not all the way through, then drizzling oil or sauce between the attached slices.

Thanksgiving Menu

From Meg's Kitchen

Over the years I have occasionally had themes for our Thanksgiving feast - such as Mexican (spicy) or French (think Julia Child).  Other years I just looked for interesting recipes which is what my older son and I are doing this year.  There will be 6 of us for dinner and I do not want a ton of leftovers which are the usual result after even a small Thanksgiving dinner.  So we are pairing down the menu and trying some new dishes along with some old favorites.

Before I share our chosen menu I must share the story of our first Thanksgiving after moving north from the CA Bay Area.  By chance we landed in the town where my mother's college roommate lived.  We got lots of advice about where to shop from Mom's roomie including a referral to a computer engineer who also raised turkeys.  I had never tried a really fresh turkey and put in my order.  It was to be delivered on Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  Tuesday night I got a call from the engineer/farmer that he had run out of turkeys and would deliver our turkey the next day.  Big breath in and I hoped for the best.  This could be a roasted chicken or vegetarian Thanksgiving.  But the guy did come through with a turkey on Wednesday evening.  Turns out that freshly slaughtered and plucked turkeys are not finished with rigor mortis.  The legs were sticking straight up and there was nothing that I could do to get them to lay flat against the thigh bones.  Fortunately our new house had a large oven and by lowering one rack to the lowest level and removing the other rack, I could just barely fit the bird into the oven.  I had planned to rub a flavored butter underneath the skin of the bird but the skin was very tightly adhered to the meat, so I adjusted my plan and rubbed the butter mixture all over the skin.  It turned out to be one of the most unusual looking turkeys but it tasted divine - soft and juicy.  That was 20 years ago and I have never purchased another turkey direct from a farmer.

Thanksgiving Menu 2016

Appetizer

Cheese plate with 3 cheeses (brie, manchego & blue), fresh grapes & dried apricots with crackers

Stuffing flavored potato chips (our son is making these - he has 2 deep fat fryers so that when he is making the second batch of chips he can eat the first batch and then have homemade chips to eat while watching sports)

Drinks

Spiced apple cider with sparkling water 

Chardonnay

Red wine (something light)

Main and Sides

Spatchcocked turkey

Spicy cornbread and sausage dressing (recipe follows)

Hasselback potato gratin (click here for the recipe)
Sauteed green beans with mushrooms and caramelized cipollini onions (click here for this recipe) Cranberry sauce 

Dessert

Pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream - both store bought

I was planning on only one dessert since we will only be 6 people. My son wanted only vanilla ice cream, which I was going to make from scratch but forgot to bring the ice cream maker from our other home. The hubs wants just plain pumpkin pie and picked up a frozen one from his favorite market. Thus, the compromise.

Spicy Cornbread and Sausage Dressing (serves 8 to 10)

Savory Cornbread (for Dressing)
Make the cornbread ahead of time - the baking time varies by as much as a half hour.

3 cups corn kernels - fresh, frozen or canned
1 pkg Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix

1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup oil or melted butter plus a bit to oil the baking dish
2 eggs

8 ounces white Cheddar cheese, shredded

4 ounces poblano chiles, roasted, seeded and diced
Cornstarch

Grind the corn by pulsing batches in the food processor until coarsely crushed but not pureed. Set aside.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Follow the directions on the cornbread mix package and then fold the ground corn into the batter, followed by the cheese and chiles.  Butter a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish, and lightly dust with cornstarch. Pour the mixture into dish and bake for 30 to 60 minutes or until crust is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The extra baking time is a result of the added somewhat moist ingredients.

Sausage Cornbread Dressing

About 5 cups Note: this is the original recipe that I used for a large group. This year I am halving this recipe.  This recipe can be assembled up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated (covered) before baking.

4 cups coarsely crumbled cornbread (this will not use all of the above recipe for cornbread)
½ lb sweet or hot Italian sausage meat
4 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried tarragon

½ cup turkey stock or chicken broth

Salt and pepper

Place oven rack in the middle portion of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Butter a 2-3 quart shallow baking dish.  Spread cornbread-crumbs on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden and dry. About 15 minutes. Let crumbs cool and then transfer to a large bowl. (If not making ahead, leave oven on).  Cook sausage in a dry, nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring and breaking it up with a fork, until browned and cooked through – 6-8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to bowl with crumbs. Wipe out skillet with a paper towel. Melt 3 Tbsp butter in the same skillet. Add onions, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper, thyme, and tarragon. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until onion is softened – about 10 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to the bowl with crumbs and sausage and toss gently but thoroughly. Spoon dressing into prepared baking dish. Drizzle with stock and dot with remaining 1 Tbsp butter. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes more.

Turkey Trot

From Meg's Kitchen

Mary and I have decided that with the holiday season quickly coming up  we would start on a holiday series.  We have no real plans to create a series of whole meals (unlike my Brazilian series) - more hit and miss along with family and friend memories.

My memory of the worst turkey served...  Ninth grade,  our family's first Thanksgiving in Rio de Janeiro.  Mom wanted to host a typical Thanksgiving dinner for all the friends and neighbors who had helped us to adjust over the last 6 months.  The turkey was purchased as well as the ingredients for the sides and then the trouble began.  Our maid/cook - Giselda - insisted that the turkey should be marinated in wine for a really long time.  Unfortunately she lost the battle with Mom and we had the world's toughest bird for Thanksgiving.  A word to the wise, when you walk an animal to market be sure to marinate it well  before cooking.

OK - I have to admit that although I have always loved chicken I am not fond of turkey.  So over the years I have experimented with different ways to prepare turkey, in hopes of enhancing my fondness. I have grilled it, turned it 1/4 turn so that every part of the turkey was up, stuffed it, roasted without stuffing, brined it, let it "air dry" in the refrigerator and even made a dish that required layering slices of turkey with rice and mushroom duxelles plus other ingredients requiring the use of every pan and pot that I owned. I have baked a turkey in a holiday rental house in an oven that was on at 500 degrees or off. However, I have never tried  and I probably never will a turducken or deep-fat frying a turkey.

This year I plan to repeat spatchkocking a small turkey (we will be 6 for dinner).  Spatchkocking requires removing the backbone and breaking the breastbone to lay the bird out flat (it takes some muscle).  This way the turkey cooks faster and the skin crisps up nicely.  "Serious Eats" has a short video showing how to do this at http://www.seriouseats.com/thanksgiving#techniques and a step by step article at http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/how-to-spatchcock-cook-turkey-thanksgiving-fast-easy-way-spatchcocked.html. An instant-read thermometer is a necessity.  Please do not rely on those "pop-up" numbers - I way over baked a turkey one year trying to rely on it to pop-up. In fact, buy a fresh bird without the pop-up. I will brown the backbone and neck and then make some stock to use for gravy while the bird is roasting.

Mary's comment:

A quick note from the Southland, where just about anything is deep-fried. I have eaten, though not cooked, a deep-fried turkey. The result was juicy, tender and all around wonderful.