1 cup lard (Or shortening!)
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg + enough liquid to make 1/2 cup (cold water, milk, cream, soured milk, apple juice, orange juice, whatever you have on hand)
Mix together the dry ingredients, then blend in the shortening. Add the liquid and mix until smooth. Add flour as necessary to make a crust that feels the same as your earlobe (yes, really). Don’t over mix or it’ll be tough.
Tip: chill the dough before rolling it out. The shortening will stay in little solid pills that melt and leave holes later, for a flaky and airy crust.
Mom makes an incredible chocolate silk pie, this recipe being closest, though I remember 4 eggs, 5 minutes beating each. The melted chocolate is semi-sweet squares. You crunch the sugar when you eat it; amazing. I’ve had trouble with it in that the environment has to be just right for the eggs to stand up and be full. Cold eggs and probably a cold bowl helps. Chilling the pie solidifies it into a wonderful consistency.
I’m a fan of this one. I didn’t make it last year but I did the year before. It’s not overly sweet and sugary and people found it was a refreshing alternative to all the sweets that were about.
Ginger Thanks for the crust recipe. Last year after years of baking, for some reason I could not seem to make a crust worth a damn.
I will give yours a shot, looks yummy.
After the scorn over in the Green Bean Cassarole thread, I hesitate to post this, a lowly lowbrow Cool Whip recipe. But by all that is holy, this is a fabulous pie. I’ve made it for numerous Thanksgivings. Last year my sister-in-law told me she hates pumpkin pie, and she loves this one.
So, here is the recipe (with brand names deleted) (and link).
Double Layer Pumpkin Pie
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed, divided
1 HONEY MAID Graham Pie Crust (6 oz.)
1 cup milk
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) vanilla instant pudding
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
MIX cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. milk and the sugar in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Gently stir in half of the whipped topping. Spread onto bottom of crust.
POUR 1 cup milk into large bowl. Add pumpkin, dry pudding mixes and spices. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. (Mixture will be thick.) Spread over cream cheese layer.
REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until set. Top with remaining whipped topping just before serving. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.
Clarification to the OP
A couple of people over here were unclear on my method.
:eek:
:smack:
I guess I did not make myself clear there. After the bird has warmed up, and before you place it in the oven ice the breast for 20 minutes. This will bring the breast temp down by about 10-12 degrees F.
This will make the breast and dark meat get done at the same time.
Plastic ice packs in the oven would not be a good idea.
In that same thread mentioned by Rick I attest to the skills possessed by Rick as the god of cooking birds. I have used his techniques for brine and cooking (to great success I might add) and highly recommend it.
Ok, Rick. I have the turkey and it’s thawing as we speak. I have sent my hubby out to buy a clean storage tub to brine the bird in, which we will ice down in a cooler overnight.
It’s on your head if it doesn’t come out right! Just kidding. I’ve also decided I won’t stuff the bird, even though I love the juiciness of the stuffing cooked in the bird. I’ll just add more broth to the “dressing.”
Here’s my mom’s recipe for pecan pie. It’s a creamy custard pie with crusty sweet pecans on top. Yum.
Buttermilk Pecan Pie
1/2 c butter
2 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
3 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
1 c pecans (halves or pieces)
1 unbaked pie crust
Preheat oven to 300° F. Cream butter and sugar together, then add vanilla and eggs, one egg at a time. Add flour and salt. Add buttermilk. Sprinkle pecans on bottom of crust. Pour buttermilk mixture over the pecans. Bake at 300° for 1-1/2 hours.
My parents buy organic apple cider from Trader Joe’s or Whole Paycheck or wherever and dump it in the crockpot with cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, black peppercorns and chunks of fresh ginger. It’s usually the first thing we do Thanksgiving morning.
It is very potent and spicy. I think my dad would put mirchi in apple cider if my mom didn’t grab the spice tin out of his hands.
Another drink you could try is something of my own invention that I call the “Jersey 75”.
2 oz. dark rum (I developed the drink using Ron Zacapa, but something like Mount Gay would be more realistic)
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
a little simple syrup (up to about a sugarcube’s worth if you have a sweet tooth)
Mix and strain into a drinking vessel.
Add 2-3 oz good hard cider (I like the Eric Bordelet hard cider from Normandy, though I suspect sweet cider would also work well, either cold or hot).
It is a highly concentrated mixture of herbs and spices and is used as a drink and food flavoring.
More here
When you go to the market, go to the liquor department and look near the mixers. Look for a small bottle with a label that is too tall. (did marketing ever talk to purchasing before they printed the label?)
Brining the bird is definitely paramount for this or any other poultry. Duck and goose come out unbelieveably juicy using this method. BUT, and it’s a big but, you don’t have to use so much salt nor brine for so long. 1/2 cup for a few holurs in the fridge is quite enough, in my experience.
Here’s my mulled cider recipe, its very good and seems to hit the spot.
1 gal.- apple cider
2 tsp.- whole allspice
2 tsp.- whole cloves
5 to 6- cinnamon sticks
4 to 5- orange slices
Extra cinnamon stick for garnish
Tie allspice and cloves in a small piece of cheesecloth and place in a large pot. Add cinnamon sticks.Add apple cider. Heat mix on medium heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to stir up spices. Remove spices and cinnamon and float orange slices on top. Serve hot with extra cinnamon stick.
::: shrug:::
All I can tell you is that I have tried different levels of salt and sugar, and different times over the years. What I posted in the OP is what I (and my guests) like the best.
YMMV of course.
BTW 1 cup of salt in 2 gallons of liquid is about 1/2 of what many brine recipes recommend.
Just kidding. I’ve also decided I won’t stuff the bird, even though I love the juiciness of the stuffing cooked in the bird. I’ll just add more broth to the “dressing.”