Like a turkey strutting his feathers: A cook on Thanksgiving Day.

Have you ever heard that there is something in turkey that actually makes you tired? I read an article today that said that although there is the chemical tryptophan in turkey that induces sleepiness, it has no more of it than chicken or cheese. So the concept is really a myth. Then why am I so tired right now?
A successful thanksgiving. Everything came to the table as perfection (actually, we didn't even bring the food to the table, the was no room!) and I did it all with my two little hands, and I loved every minute of it. Like a turkey strutting his feathers. Everyone oohed and aahhed over the food, and I sent all the leftovers home with the in-laws (save it some rolls, turkey and some pie). Thanksgiving is a good day. No presents, no parades, just a day to stay home, be with family a give thanks. I am very thankful indeed . . . .

Don't mash it, Rice it! : Day 6

Mashing potatoes, pretty standard fare. But have you tried using a potato ricer ?

KITCHEN TOOL OF THE WEEK, the Potato Ricer.

A potato ricer is a tool ( I got this one at target) that makes the potatoes lighter and fluffier. As I learned from Chef Kent Anderson, using a rice prevents over working the gluten in the potatoes which makes the potatoes heavy and starchy. After your potatoes are tender enough to easily poke with a fork, drain the potatoes and press the potatoes through the ricer. Put you butter and sour cream in the pot first (on low) and let them heat up as you rice in you potatoes.

Tips on good potatoes:

Don't over cook the potatoes, that makes them grainy

Do use, butter, sour cream, cream, or buttermilk (did I say or, I meant all!)

Do use plenty of salt in the water

No Fail Pie Crust: Day 6

So my mother taught me how to make a pie crust, it was good, but it was pretty painful, and it looked pretty ugly. I've watched Martha Stewart make a pie crust, and she used a food processor to cut in the cold fat which I thought was smart, but one false move, one extra drop of water and the pie crust becomes disaster. Hey, good things take effort right?

There is something about me that I am not proud to admit. In my own laziness, I tend believe that if its more expensive that is the better product, and if the recipe is arduous it probably produces the better result. Well tell that to the bargain shopper, and tell that to the woman who taught me this pie crust recipe! They will tell you I am dead wrong!

I asked my neighbor and friend Lori to teach a pie class in my home last year before Thanksgiving because she is famous for her pie. We had a packed house, and it was the night I threw Mom and Martha's pie technique out the window. So thank you Lori! She also makes awesome sweet rolls and bread!

No fail pie crust

4 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 T sugar

1 t salt

1 3/4 c Crisco (butter flavored)

1/2 c water

1 egg

1T white vinegar

Mix together flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Add Crisco and cut in with pastry cutter, fingers, or a couple forks (it will come together pretty fast) and it will be crumbly and and look like this

Next, measure water, drop the egg in the water and the vinegar. Pour into the flour mixture and mix it all up (easiest to do with your hands). Once its all combined, divide into 4 balls. With a nice floured surface, roll out into 4 pie crusts. To bake a shell (like for a cream pie) it takes 10- 15 min at 425 degrees. Put it in the shell and stab it with a fork all over. Then use pie weights (if you are Martha Stewart) or use rice or dried beans on some tin foil. You put tin foil on the pie crust and pour the beans on top of the tin foil so it weighs down on the pie crust. This prevents it from puffing up to much.

I have had more compliments on this pie crust and it truly is no fail!

Jump on the gravy train: Day 9

There are all kinds of ways to make gravy, there are tedious "french" ways and there just plain wrong ways. I do it the easiest, tasting good way. Now the foundation to a good gravy is the drippings to which your meat cooked in, and if you well seasoned your meat, your gravy will also be seasoned well.
Let it be known, my blog has become a family affair. I have a director and producer now, and I didn't even hire them. My husband, whom I call "coach" because he is always "coaching" me on everything, even when he doesn't know crap, has made himself the director. My friend Don, who is video producer by profession (see here) suggested I post a video on my blog, so he pulled out some serious gear at Sunday dinner last week. The director really wanted to do a second take, he had some serious issues with the impromptu script, but the food was done, it was time to eat. I have my priorities. So here is our youtube debut.






So your turkey might not have enough liquid in the drippings, and since you used a roaster, you will need to pour everything into a sauce pan, try to scrape as much of the brown bits and possible. Add potato water if you need more liquid, you could also add a little butter or cream. Make sure you taste it!

The stuff Thankgving is made of: Day 10

So I am feeling inadequate . . . .

I went to Chefs Table today for Certified Executive Chef (which is a really hard thing to be, I learned) Kent Anderson's cooking class on holiday cooking. That guy know his stuff! That's what happens when you throw down 100,000 dollars for culinary arts school. So he taught how to cook a lot of the things that I will be blogging about this week, thus I am humbled and feeling a little mortified really. . . .

Ok, I am over it now. His food tasted good, dang good. My food is also good, dang good. One thing I noticed about Kent Anderson, Certified Executive Chef is that he is very cocky about his food, that is one thing we have in common, I am cocky too! Anyone who considers going to one of his classes, I highly recommend it. Call me, I'll go with you.

So this is not my stuffing, but it will look like this . . .

POPE TURKEY STUFFING

I am sure you have heard, never stuff a turkey because it breads salmonella etc. This is true, but I still stuff the turkey, the difference is, I pull it out of the turkey and bake it again, ridding it of all possible disease.

Ingredients:

1 loaf of dried white bread (not cheap bread, good bread) dried out for a day and cubed

1 onion chopped

6-7 sliced mushrooms

2 stalks celery sliced

1 box stove top stuffing

1-2 cans chicken stock

pine nuts

1 clove garlic minced

butter

fresh or dried sage

bay leaves

First take tiny amounts of all the above ingredients and put it in some cheese cloth (maybe a 1/4 of everything) and stuff it in the turkey.

1 hour before the chow bell, saute the onions, mushrooms, celery, garlic and pine nuts in a liberal amount of butter (half stick at least). Till everything is aromatic and softened. Mix together bread and stove top together in a large bowl. Pull the stuffing out of the turkey (which should be pretty much done by now) and dump it in with the bread. Dump in the veggies and add just a little sage (1 t dried 2 t fresh) a little sage goes a long way. Add three bay leaves. Mix it all together and put into a baking dish. Pour the can of chicken stock ( if you want a little moister stuffing, pour in some more) . Cover and bake for 30-45 minutes at 400. Like it a little crispy? uncover for part of the time.

cooked a great meal tonight . . .

Made homemade french bread and everything. Don't worry, I will make it again and share the recipe soon. So keep reading, and have you be sharing my blog with your friends yet?

Day 11: Let's talk turkey

this is not my turkey, mine will be better, I am sure!

I am getting straight to business, how are you going to cook that Turkey! ( ok so this not my turkey in the picture, as a matter of a fact, my turkey probably doesn't look this good, but I can guarantee my turkey will taste better than this one!)

So in my journey of perfecting Thanksgiving dinner, I had to overcome a problem. I have two ovens (if you only have one you are really in trouble!) and I need to roast a turkey, bake the stuffing, bake the sweet potatoes and bake the rolls! Also, sorry mom, I am a white meat girl and I was sick of dry white meat. So through my journey of self discovery I have come up with a masterful, slow roasted thanksgiving turkey.

So first we must do KITCHEN TOOL OF THE WEEK

The roaster. Aside from thanksgiving, I use this all the time and they are not that expensive. Pick it up on one of you thousand trips to wallmart.
To warn you, this is going to be a looooonnnngg post. Its serious business, this turkey stuff.
Get a fresh turkey, don't mess around with the frozen ones. Go to costco, get a fresh turkey.
Before you roast it you will need to brine the Turkey. Get your cooler out. Here is the brine recipe:
For ever gallon of water you need a cup of salt
Every gallon of water you need a 1/2 c of sugar
Now this stuff needs to be dissolved, make half the water hot enough to dissolve the sugar and salt, then add ice cold water to it. The water must be cold, you are creating disease if your water is warm.
Next add liberal amounts of fresh spices ( sage, thyme, rosemary, peppercorns whatever you like), garlic and onions. Put the turkey in the brine for at least 12 hours. Put the cooler outside if its cold, or add ice if needed.
Take the turkey out of the brine and thoroughly rinse it off. Pat dry. Now we can't use the roaster yet because we need to brown the skin and the roaster will not do this properly. First we have to stuff it and tie it up. Ok, you are going to put stuffing in a cheese cloth and put it in the turkey, more will be explained on stuffing day. You have to tie up the turkey so all the limbs are in tight. Put your turkey on a cookie sheet, and give it a nice rub down with oil; salt and pepper (go light on the salt because the brine will already make it salty) Put the turkey in the oven at 500 degrees for about 30 minutes (watch it, I kind of burned the skin one year) till the skin is browned pretty.
Now transfer the turkey and all the drippings and brown pieces (that will be your gravy) into the roasting pan. Sprinkle the turkey with sage, garlic powder and dried onions. Add about 2 cups hot water, 2-3 T chicken base and 6-7 bays leaves, and anything else you like (carrots, onions, celery, more garlic, lemons let you creativity flow) Roast at 225 degrees for 10 hours or at 190 for 12 hours. Make sure the turkey reads 165 and the thickest part of the thigh with an instant read thermometer. Not done yet? just turn it up. Don't want to get up in the middle of the night to start the turkey( depending on when you eat) forgo the slow cooking and cook at a higher temprature in the roaster. My fingers are sore . . . . . tomorrow stuffing!

It's the big count down! 12 days till Thanksgiving!

I took over cooking Thanksgiving about 3 years ago. We take turns celebrating with my family or the in-laws ever other year, but I cook every year. The reason is, Thanksgiving must be done right, and I definitely have an opinion on how to do it right! So to get excited, I am doing a count down to Turkey Day. All the recipes you will ever need to do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner!

Today, out of this world rolls (that is their name, literally). These were brought warm to the Thanksgiving table ever since I can remember. We ate them on Thanksgiving, and only on Thanksgiving. I bust these out occasionally outside of turkey day, but next to the big bird, they define Thanksgiving to me. Luckily, if you are a baby to bread making, this recipe is for beginners and requires no kneading. Recipe makes about 3 dozen rolls, I always double it, but you need a big bowl and a big fridge to do that (or a cold back porch where to dogs can't reach!)

2 T yeast proofed in 1 c warm watter and 2 t sugar. set aside.

1 c butter melted

2 c warm water

4 t salt

6 eggs

4 1/2 c flour

1/2 c sugar

Mix together with a hand mixer in a huge bowl till smooth, add yeast mixture and blend till smooth. Add 4 more cups flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Dough will be very sticky! It will also be noted that my mothers original recipe called for a cup of sugar,  I reduced it to 1/2 cup. Cover with Pam sprayed wrap and put in the fridge overnight. The dough should almost double when its time to shape.

Begin to shape dough 3 hours before you want to serve them. You need to be working with cold dough, as warm dough will be too sticky! Take half the dough and turn it a couple times on a floured surface, then roll out into a circle about a 1/4 inch thick. Spread with melted butter. Cut into triangles and roll into crescent shapes.

Place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat with second half of dough. Cover rolls with a tea towel (the kind of towel that doesn't have fuzzies) and let raise till nice a puffy.

Cook at 400 degrees for 10-14 minutes, until brown and yummy looking. Serve warm.