Thanksgiving 2017

November 27, 2017

Thanksgiving is my holiday. I get up early, turn on the parade in NYC that's guaranteed to have terrible music, start getting dinner put together, and nip at the extra bottle of cheap red wine I supposedly bought for cooking.

This year was different though.

We had to travel to New York City to be with our daughter Marleigh. Luckily her ailment was caught in time and after a week in at Mount Sinai Beth Israel she was released, looking good!

Pretense aside, this is actually a happy story - watch, you'll see. The hospital staff was really good with Marleigh and when she was moved down from the MICU into another room she had to share it with another patient. She'll stay anonymous but I will say it was an experience to say the least. Ask me in person and I'll tell you. IT was straight up movie material. Back to the story.

Before we drove up to the city Marleigh (and us!) were lucky that she has a ton of friends up there to look after her. One of her friends from Richmond, Rachel, was great about bringing her food and spending time with her. Thanks by the way to everyone who helped Marleigh out while she was there, even those cute, young doctors (you know our daughter is single atm right?)

We stayed at Marleigh's place while were in New York and I contemplated whether or not we would do a Thanksgiving dinner. Everything I bought for it - turkey, sides, pans, etc..., was all in Virginia. The night before Thanksgiving after we visited Marleigh we decided we'd walk to Union Square a few blocks from the hospital to check out Whole Foods. It was close and open by the time we left the hospital. You could guess it was packed! Everyone was trying to get their dinner stuff in order and here we are just mulling over the idea of maybe making one (I'm chuckling right now as I right this.)

You might assume we did roast a turkey because of the header photo for the post and you would be correct! But you know how much we paid for the turkey?

15¢

That's right, $0.15, that much. "How!?" might you ask, Whole Foods stuff costs hundreds of dollars! Well, that's actually not true because our go-to Tuesday night drinking wine, Don Simon Tempranillo, is only $4 and it's does the job.

Back to the turkey.

We shoulder our way through the throngs of people picking through what was left on the shelves and spy a display freezer with some organic turkeys in them. They were priced on average about $35 which isn't bad for being labelled free-ranged and organic. As we dug around we pulled one up from underneath the solid, frozen birds that had us both raise our eyebrows.

It was about a 15 lb turkey priced at 15¢. We did a double take and then expressed awe. The weight was listed wrong and whoever was printing out tags didn't notice? I mentioned that maybe I could ask a manager about buying it at the marked price but Shelby said just go to the register and buy it. Duh, I over-think things sometimes. So I tucked our prize under my arms as if to protect it from anyone who might have caught a whiff of what was going on and went to the front of the store. This was a sign we were supposed to make dinner while we were up there and by god I was going to do it.

Sooo many lines! But I'll have to say the store handle it likes pros and had people out of the store quickly. We would have been out quick too if I hadn't stood in a shopping lane that I thought was a check out line.

Womp, womp.

Union Square BSOD, I had to take a pic lol

We get in the right line and finally to a register. The woman behind the counter grabs the the turkey and passes it over the scanner. What?! That's the look on her face if you can imagine. She swipes the tag again and comes up with the same price. A penny a pound. She looks up at us, gives a little shrug and says what we wanted to hear, "I'm going to go ahead and give it to you for that price." She then smiles and says something about the holidays and it was her birthday soon anyway. I said, "Mine too! November 28th!" We bonded and Shelby and I walked out of the store with the most inexpensive turkey we have ever bought from a store.

We picked up the rest of what we needed elsewhere and took the train home. Try to imagine the two of us carrying bags of groceries from Union Square to the train station to get back to Brooklyn - and it was freezing that night too! I mean it really wasn't that bad I think because of the score we landed. When we got back to the apartment I did some prep work and planned on getting up early the next day like I always do on Thanksgiving. It was queit otherwise and the whole place smelled that way it should when I'm cooking. It felt like home.

The next morning I got up, used Shelby's laptop to watch the parade, and got to work. I was able to manage using what Marleigh and her roommates had in the kitchen to put together a decent meal. Roasted potatoes, stuffing, spaghetti squash, stock for gravy, and of course, the turkey. They have a gas stove and it was nice cooking on gas again, it's been years.

We picked up containers for take-away and got everything packed up when it was done. After we got ourselves ready we took the train downtown. We walked Marleigh down the family day room and setup dinner. Marleigh seemed to like having a homemade dinner and it was nice to be able to spend time with her relaxing during a stressful time.

After dinner we went back to the room and relaxed a bit and watched some TV. Marleigh wasn't released until the next day which she was ecstatic about. She was going a little stir-crazy being stuck in the hospital, she wasn't allowed to leave the building the whole time she was there because she had an IV hookup. Apparently people used to be able to step outside but some patients were caught injecting stuff into their lines outside so they nixed that priviledge to prevent that from happening.

Once we got back to Marleigh's apartment she got cleaned up and we went out for a little dinner then returned to her place. I took the leftover turkey and carved up the meat and portioned it out for her with some gravy in baggies to freeze. All she had to do afterwards is take out whatever portion she wanted to eat and heat it up! I took the rest of the carcass and made turkey soup. Her roommates (who had returned to NY at that point) said it smelled good, that was nice. I told them to help themselves.

We meant to leave Saturday but we ended up going to IKEA Brooklyn and you know how that goes - hours of time browsing. It was fun though and Shelby picked up some shelving for Marleigh to help her organized her stuff. Shelby is huge into organizing and building stuff. I like to cook :)

The next day we got our stuff to leave and Marleigh was going to head to brunch with one of her best friends, Balin. When I went to get the car I notice that a car that looked similar to ours had it's driver's side window shattered. I thought, "Wow that sucks!" Then turned around and walked back towards our group. I turned around again and headed back to our car to pack our stuff. I went to the same car, because it was ours, and realized that our car had been broken into.

@#$%! Com'on man!

So our fairly new car had been broken into and the thief (thieves?) got away with about $4 in change and my old, ratty cheap sunglasses. It only cost us a $500 deductable to fix it. Nice. So we cleaned up what we could and packed the car then found a hardware store to tape up the window. I'll tell you driving 6 hours in a car with plastic taped to your driver's window is no fun. No fun at all.

After my initial pootiness and large coffees we made our way south. Shelby drove about halfway to let me rest a bit which I greatly appreciated. We made good time and I actually went out real quick that night.

This was definitely a trip to remember and we're glad Marleigh is bouncing back and hopefully will have this thing knocked out ASAP.

Driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel towards Virginia Beach

Thanksgiving Day Turkey resting before carving!

How to Roast a Turkey

November 23, 2015

How do you roast a turkey? Easy! Follow the instructions on the bag! Seriously though, it is pretty simple. Here are a few things to consider:

First, you'll have to get a turkey. These days there are so many options - but you have to think ahead. If you're looking for a locally sourced turkey you might be out of luck waiting a few days beforehand. Most places want you to order them so they can make sure they have the stock and can prepare it for you in time. I would definitely check with your local farmers and butchers first before giving up on the Buy Fresh, Buy Local route if you feel like you're late though.

Of course, turkeys are pretty big and most of them will be frozen. We usually cook birds over 20 lbs. and turkeys that size could take about 5 days to thaw! Take into account thaw time. Oh! Save the neck and giblets for the stuffing and/or gravy!

Clean off excess brine from the turkey after removing it from the bag

Second, if you're going to brine the turkey make sure you have everything you need ahead of time! If you're looking for a good brine recipe, use mine! I've been brining my turkey for a few years now and love how it turns out. There are some out there that think it is totally unnecessary or takes away from the natural flavor of the turkey. You'll have to determine that for yourself and do what you like.

Third, determine the the roasting time for the bird which is dependent on the size of the turkey, whether or not you've brined the bird and if you stuff the cavity. Check out Epicurious' page on roasting times here for some pointers.

Fourth, cook the turkey breast-side down for the first two-third of the way then flip it over to brown the breast. Approximately an hour breast-side up. This will allow the breast to baste in its own juices and you'll have crispy skin all around!

Let's get started!

I always stuff my turkey with dressing, but I do it lightly. The cavity is usually stuffed with aromatics too - citrus and herbs. I also don't tie (truss) the legs together. I know it looks pretty and some people swear by it, but I've found that my turkey roasts fine without it. I want as much of the skin exposed as possible and I believe the turkey will cook more even in those spots not concealed by the trussed legs.

Of course we use the drippings for gravy. I add vegetables, a little white wine, stock and butter to the pan before I place the turkey in it. I also use a rack to keep the turkey from sitting directly in the drippings while it's roasting. After the turkey is done I save the braised vegetables from the roasting pan for the gravy too. There is a good amount of butter in the pan for basting, I love how the butter cooks into the skin. Here's what you need for the pan before you put the turkey in it:

Ingredients (Roasting Pan)

4 cloves of Garlic
2 medium Carrots
2 medium Yellow Onions
2 stalks of Celery
Approx. 6 stalks/sprigs of Parsley
Approx. 2 sprigs of Thyme
Approx. 2 sprigs of Rosemary
2 large Bay Leaves
1/2 stick of Butter
1/2 cup Dry White Wine
1/2 Poultry Stock
Optional: 1 Orange and some Parsley for cavity

Directions

Preheat oven.
Wash turkey (whether it it's straight from it's packaging or from the brine bag) and pat dry and set aside.
Roughly chop the carrots, onions, celery, garlic and butter and spread them evenly within the roasting pan.
Toss in your parsley, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves, these will be picked out of the pan after the turkey is finished. Try not to break them up too much at the start. You can add more or less of these herbs according to your preference.
Pour in the wine and stock then place the rack on top of the vegetables and herbs.
Salt and pepper the turkey to taste. I like to add a quartered orange and parsley to cavity and before I stuff it - do so now if you like.
Note: If you brined your turkey it will already have absorbed salt from the brining solution. Lightly salt if this is the case.
Place turkey in middle of the oven so it will evenly cook.
Feel free to baste the turkey every 40 minutes or so.
When the turkey is done roasting (165°F internal thickest part of the bird) pull it from the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Coming up next is gravy!

Do not pour out the drippings from the pan or remove the braised vegetables in the pan. These will be used to make a delicious turkey gravy and a lot of it too! No need to list ingredients here because we have everything we need. If you saved giblets for the gravy or stuffing make sure they're available.

Note: In our house, I'll have the neck and giblets simmering on the stove the whole time the turkey is roasting. In the simmering pot I'll add the same mix of vegetables and herbs put in the roasting pan. Brown the giblets and vegetables before you pour in the liquids to simmers. This will make a flavorful broth, reduce it by half. When it's done, strain out the giblets and neck, keep these. Pick the neck for as much meat as you can get. Add this to the gravy later.

This takes anywhere for 15 to 30 minutes to complete. You can speed it up by adding a little bit of flour or a nice, dark roux.

Make a broth with the giblets and turkey neck

Directions

After the turkey is taken out of the pan, start removing the turkey fat from the drippings. I usually tilt the pan so the grease collects in one spot, making it easier to collect. Skim using whatever technique you like: skimming spoon, baster (with the rubber bulb), or whatever fancy device you get to use once a year. If you don't remove the fat you'll end up with a really greasy plate and miss out the concentrated flavors of the turkey seasoned turkey juices left in the pan.
After the fat has been removed from the pan, remove the herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley). You can leave them in but the rosemary might be a little overpowering if someone gets a good chunk of that.
Transfer all the contents of the roasting pan into a medium sized stockpot. If you made a broth stove top, add that to the stockpot too if you're not freezing it.
Bring contents to a low boil, about medium.
Take an immersion blender (one of the handheld wands) and puree the vegetables in the stockpot. This will thicken the gravy and give it a ton of flavor.
Let gravy sit and roll till it's as thick as you like it. Taste test and add whatever seasoning you like.

Post-Thanksgiving Blues

December 10, 2014

The day after Thanksgiving I meant to put together a big post about what I cooked for the holiday write a little about family but I didn't. Our son Chayce was home for the weekend and it was nice to spend time with him and kind of relax a bit. Before you know it the weekend is gone and Shelby and I are in the house alone again.

I was cooking when Chayce arrived at the airport on Thanksgiving Day. Shelby and Marleigh picked him up. It was great to see him walking up to the house and our dog Jasper didn't know what to do with himself. So he ended up running around in circles creating a wide circuit between the mailbox and Chayce. He eventually rolled over onto his back and piddled in the air.

Typical Jasper.

Shelby and Chayce. Marleigh is taking the photo.

Jasper aka Mr. Bighead, Mr. Weirdo, Mr. Poop, etc...

I've been working my turkey game and the past couple of years the turkey has been roasted upside-down. This been done by plenty of people for as long as turkeys have been roasted I'm assuming but it's new to me. After talking to someone last year I decided to try it and I think it turned out great. The breast meat is constantly basted in the juices and the skin on the bottom of the turkey is brown and crispy. Everyone knows crispy turkey skin is the best! The last hour of roasting was breast side up to brown it and then about 20 minutes resting. The brine could be tasted in the turkey and complimented the bird. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

We told the kids not to get tattoos. As you can see, they didn't listen.

I made our favorite mashed potatoes: heavy cream, garlic, Parmesan and a stick of butter. A little parsley is good too but I forgot to put it in while I was running around the kitchen. I was actually only an hour behind serving which is pretty good for me. We had 7 dishes or so, not including the pies Shelby made the night before, some easier than others to put together. The gravy is usually last to be made. I use the the braised vegetables from the turkey pan to make the gravy in addition to the giblets and neck stock.

Love it when Shelby makes me my birthday cake.

After we all ate dinner we celebrated my birthday--it was the next day but it's easier to do it while we have everyone in one place. Shelby made my favorite: yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Every since I was a kid this has been my favorite cake to eat. I think it was because we didn't get stuff like that often and seeing the typical yellow cake and chocolate frosting on the packaging looked really tasty. Luckily, anything buttery is good in my book; I love it every time.

We were able to do a little bit while Chayce was home but before you know it he's back on the plane and out of here. We'll be able to visit some more over Christmas and there is always something going on here, but it's nice when we have the kids home again.

Turkey Brine

November 26, 2014

It's Thanksgiving! One of my favorite holidays of the year and I love to cook dinner for the family. The smells, picking at what's being made and the thought of everyone home just feels good. Bonus for us: Our son will be home for the weekend from his training! Can't wait to see him.

I've only recently started brining turkeys, this being my third. I've browsed a lot recipes out there and picked what I liked from them. This recipe will produce a nice aromatic mixture that will add flavor to your bird. Another thing I like to do too is roast mine upside down and them flip it the last hour to brown the top. I can write about that later.

The following brine recipe will be mixed with approximately 2 gallons of water. Brine the fully submerged turkey for about 24 hours (12 in a pinch!) If you don't have room in the refrigerator to hold it, you can use a large, ice-packed cooler. Half way through brining make sure to flip the turkey.

Ingredients:

4 cups Apple Cider

½ bottle White Wine

1 ½ cups Kosher salt

6 cloves of Garlic, crushed

5 medium Bay Leaves

2 cups Brown Sugar

2 medium Onions, sliced

2 Oranges Worth of Peels (just the peel! No pith. I put the peeled oranges inside the turkey while it's roasting)

2-3 tablespoons of Rosemary

2 tablespoons Black Pepper Corn

2 tablespoons Coriander

1 tablespoon Mustard Seed

1 tablespoon Fennel Seed

A few sprigs of Thyme

Mix all ingredients in a stockpot and bring to a roll. Lower heat to a simmer for about 5 minutes, until the salt has dissolved. Cool before pouring in brining container with turkey. From what I've read it could cause problems with bacteria if you pour hot or warm brine on the turkey. You can use ice to cool down the brine if need be, just make sure you don't add as much water when you mix it all together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to Me!

December 1, 2013

Every so often my birthday falls on Thanksgiving--that's what happened this year! Shelby always makes my cake and I like them simple: yellow cake with milk chocolate frosting.

I want the same thing every year. I think it might have to do with those Betty Crocker box mixes I used to see when I was a kid. They had this great looking yellow cakes with a thick chocolate frosting, so good.

This year Shelby made my cake and frosting from scratch and it was amazing! She baked it the day before because--as I mentioned earlier--my birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. The kitchen was going to be locked up all day. After we had our Thanksgiving dinner she brought the cake out and there were 42 candles on it. So weird when I think about it...anyways, I blew them all out in one shot. Pretty good for an old guy.

Thanks for the cake baby, it was great :)

Thanksgiving Day

December 1, 2013

It's been a few days and I've been recovering from Thanksgiving Day!

I love Thanksgiving. The idea of being able to stay home all day and just cook that meal is a great feeling. I don't do a ton of planning and things are simple. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, and a couple sides.

When I get up in the morning I'll turn on the television to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Every year I do this every year and then I'll complain about how it's no good, but that's a whole other story. The past two years I've been brining our turkey, it's a cider brine with savory spices, seasonings and fruit. Quartered orange and a little lemon juice; salt, sugar, clove, sage, all of it soaks into the bird for close to 16 hours. Afterwards I wash it off and pat it dry.

I'll put the turkey on top a bed of carrots, celery, onion and various seasonings. I used to stuff our turkeys but now I'll fill it with aromatics: onion, thyme, citrus, parsley. The outside is sprinkled with a few dashes of Herbes de Provence, pepper and a little bit of salt. The brine had plenty of salt so no need to add much more. I'll roast the turkey breast side down, this allows the breast to be baste in the juices from the darker parts of the bird. When the pan fills with drippings, the breast sits in this and keeps it moist. The last hour I'll flip the turkey to brown the top. The whole thing has a nice, crispy skin. Everyone loves crunchy turkey skin!

While the turkey is roasting I'll make a stock from the giblets, these will be combined with the drippings for the gravy. I used to chop up the giblets by hand but I use Shelby's immersion blender to mix up the gravy and pieces now.

We gathered all the family we could in the area and had a great dinner. Shelby made me a plate while I finished in the kitchen. All in all, it was nice. Like it always is.

See what was for dinner here.

Stock and Broth

November 26, 2013

With Thanksgiving coming up I've been telling myself to get stuff ready before the big day arrives.

Gravy, stuffing…all kinds of things need stock and I'd usually bust out a box of store bought chicken stock. This year is going to be different though—I'm making my own stock!

Plenty of people out there have their own way of making a stock and broth. Technically what I'm going to spell out here is a broth. Stocks are made primarily from bones and some scrap—that's it! Broths will have more meat and seasoning in the pot. For my Thanksgiving stock (I'm just going to call it stock for the sake of simplicity) I won't add a lot of salt; a little goes a long way. I make a lot of soup stocks too. This is about the same, save for some seasonings I've omitted.

A couple of things to note before you begin:

Turkey necks are pretty cheap but are very meaty. The Herbes de Provence is something Shelby put together from herbs I clipped from our garden and dried in the kitchen. I used just a pinch to flavor. Careful with the salt and pepper; when I say add a little bit, I just mean a shake or two.

We're cooking here. We need a pot. Go grab a large stock pot, a 6-quart should do.

Ingredients:

2 packages of turkey necks
2 tbs olive oil
2 medium onions
2 ribs of celery
2 medium carrots
salt and pepper to taste
3 medium Bay leaves
Approx. 6 parsley stems, leaves on if you like
5 quarts of water, heated (stovetop, microwave, even hot from the tap)
Optional: Herbes de Provence

Preparation:

1. Chop up the turkey necks into chunks, about 2 inches.

2. Heat the oil a little over medium, we're going to brown the vegetables and turkey.

3. Brown the vegetables first, in batches if you have to. Add a little salt and pepper. I like cooking the vegetables first because any residual browned bits in the pot will mix with the turkey when it goes in. When the onions look a little translucent, you're good. Place the browned vegetables to the side.

4. Add the turkey pieces, brown in batches. Salt and pepper a little bit with each batch. They don't have to be browned all the way, I just heated up and a little done on the outside.

5. When the last batch is done, add the bay leaves, parsley and any other seasonings you're tossing in there. Put the vegetables back in the pot.

6. Add the water and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to about medium-low. Skim the foam off the top of the stock.

7. Simmer for approximately 5 hours, stir occasionally. Scrape the sides of the pot when you do this. Get the dried bits inside the pot into the stock.

8. You’ll know it's done when the liquid has reduced to about half of the original volume. I ended up with a little more than 2 1/2 quarts.

9. Strain out the turkey and vegetables. Keep this stuff, put it to the side.

10. Refrigerate the stock.

What I like to do after it has been in the fridge overnight is skim the fat off the top. It’ll be easy to scrape the hardened fat off and toss it away. I don’t use the fat for anything, but some people say if you want to keep your stock in the refrigerator the hard fat on the top will help extend its life.

You can see the fat has hardened on top of the stock

Scrape away at it till you get most of the fat off

The neck bones, meat and vegetables can be used to flavor dishes or as a thickening agent. You could just throw them away but that seems like a waste. Enjoy and good luck. Leave a note here with any questions or comments.