I pit my Mom's turkey.

The BBQ Pit
41

I laugh at your complaints about stuffing, gravy, and potatoes.

We had:
[ul]
[li]No stuffing.[/li][li]No gravy.[/li][li]Mashed potatoes blended with pureed steamed broccoli. (And no gravy, butter, or salt. Just potatoes and broccoli.)[/li][/ul]

:eek:

Dinner was also eaten in under 20 minutes. I was one of only two people who took seconds (err…not the time kind, the kind that comes after firsts).

Thank goodness the turkey was brined, and very moist and yummy and good with cranberry sauce. Good homemade dessert too. And the company was enjoyable, if short-lived. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate them having me over and cooking for me. They are really nice people. It’s just so un-Thanksgiving!

42

I have always wondered about the true value of brining. I have a personal theory that the main benefit is the physics, not the taste. Most people don’t get a turkey completely thawed, and have to overcook it to get the still frozen center done. The more efficient transfer of heat in liquid helps them get the damn thing thawed before they start. However, if they are using a never frozen bird and still getting dry, they I don’t know.
On the other hand this year I got invited to a $75 a plate Country Club thanksgiving dinner this year, and damn it was good :slight_smile:

43

I’m of the firm opinion that’s it’s the onion and rosemary that do that. Rosemary just does something to the bird when it roasts.

44

Gasp… my heart… I believe I’m going to faint…

I do believe he is mistaken. Aside from juiciness, there is the seasoning. Getting the salt into the flesh helps make it much tastier, that’s what salt does, after all. I also infuse my brine with herbs boy boiling a quart of the water, taking it off the heat, and dumping a cuple fistfuls of herbs into it to steep for an hour or two, then I complete the brine with that water added. (Rosemary, sage and thyme, primarily)

He’s right about the drying and the high heat. I do that in addition to the brining, which makes for perfection. Brine overnight two days prior, rinse and dry very thoroughly with a towel, then leave in the refirgerator exposed for another 24 hours, roast at 475 until it is the right temp. Also, no stuffing inside the bird, and ideally you should let the bird come to room temperature before roasting, it will cook that much more quickly.

And that whole stuffing issue? I have never appreciated stuffing the ay most people eat it, which is WET. Gloppy wet bread is completely disgusting to me.

I do make stuffing, though, and everyone who has eaten it has declared it among the best versions they have ever had:

lots of all of the fllowing:

Cubbisons dressing
celery, raw chopped
onion, raw chopped
sage, fresh chopped
parsley, fresh chopped
and tons of melted butter. Really. 1, 2, 3 cups, whatever it takes to thoroughly moisten however much you’ve made. It’s the holiday, don’t be stingy. Taste the raw mixture. The butter should be pronounced.

Put it in a big casserole or roast pan, covered. Cook alongside the turkey, stirring about every 20 minutes. The vegetables will release their liquid as they cook, moistening the dressing. When the veges are soft and the stuffing is pretty moist, take the cover off and continue cooking. This will crisp the top. Depending on how much moisture - to- crisp ratio you like, continue to cook and stir as needed. the more you stir and expose it to the oven, the less gooey, which is what I prefer. It also has the effect of browning and crisping the onion, which is delightful.

The resulting stuffing is buttery, flavorful, and not at all gooey.

45

Oh, and the single most offensive and horrible Thanksgiving food I was ever served was at a groovy Beverly Hills restaurant.

It was the cranberry sauce. I took a bite, and looked at everyone…“What the hell is THAT?” was the generally consensus. There was some extremely WRONG flavor coming out of what should have been a perfectly friendly little sauce. It was so wrong, so out of place in every way, it took me ten minutes to figure out what the hell it was: CURRY!!! They had added CURRY to the cranberry sauce!!! GAH!!!

46

To be honest, I’d never even heard of brining until last Wednesday. I just roast my turkey in a pan with a lid and in comes out juicy, cooked, and hot.

47

No, I tried that once. The car still ran and the potato tasted terrible.

48

My dad always barbeques the turkey. I’m a vegetarian, but my parents love it. Wouldn’t really work in colder climates though. (My parents live in CA.)

49

And look what she did to her baby…

(No idea where this came from, sorry. Blame my cold)

Eli

50

I followed AB’s recipe this year, too, only I added a lemon to the aromatics.

In the past, I’ve gone citrusy with my brine and aromatics (oranges, lemons and limes) to great applause, including the gravy (made with fresh turkey giblet stock). It was not too salty. My guess is that Mr. McGee just used salt water, without much in the way of additional flavors. I could see how that would result in a salty gravy.

Barbarian, the lid helps steam the bird, which will help keep it moist. Do you brown it before lidding?

51

Put down the Triaminic and step away from the keyboard.
:wink:

52

Amen! I like my smashed potatoes to have lumps. My mom-in-law beats her potatoes to an inch of their lives (yes, beats - she uses a hand-held mixer), and yeah, they’re smooth, but I can’t say they’re great. I use an old fashioned potato masher, I have lumps, and I loves my smashed potatoes. They’re great.

Of course, the garlic, sour cream, chives, and cheddar I add to my smashed potatoes can’t hurt either.

53

I find the classic, back-of-the-can recipes comforting for Thanksgiving. They seem so nostalgic. Thanksgiving isn’t the time for wild experimentation.

My Thanksgiving disappointment was the lack of green bean casserole. My mom made asparagus instead. I love asparagus but it’s just not Thanksgivingy. Neither was the sweet potato casserole with chipoltes or the fancy organic wheat bread in place of crescent rolls. I think I’m gonna make some green bean casserole tonight…

54

I haven’t hosted my own Thanksgiving yet, but when I roast a whole chicken I use a clay roaster. You soak it in cold water before you roast the chicken and the moisture keeps the bird juicy. You just take the cover off for 15 min or so at the end to brown the skin. I usually put half a lemon and an onion in the cavity, I wonder if it would work equally well with a turkey?

55

[sarcasm]Who do you think you’re talking to here? “The lid helps steam the bird” :putz: [/sarcasm]

I brown it at the end, if I feel like browning it. Since I rarely make a presentation of the bird, browning the skin’s not that important to me. But if I buy MrsB a brulee torch, I’ll have a neat way to brown my next bird :wink:

56

[hijack] I ate at Sonny’s for the first time on a trip to S. Carolina last spring. Oh-my-god. It was awesome! I want to start one here in CT. I wonder what the franchise fee is…[/hijack]

My mother is a bleh cook. She immigrated here fro E. Europe, so she makes the same Jewish holiday foods for thanksgiving too. She thinks it’s wonderful. I think cabbage and farfel have no place on a thanksgiving table. ;j
I made mashed sweet potatos for thanksgiving, because I had too! We needed soemthing else at that table! However, we’re doing our own dinner tommorow, and we’re doin’ it right!

57

Bell’s Seasoning – It’s what Thanksgiving stuffing needs!

Well, it is if that’s what you grew up having. Along with decently moist turkey, rich flavorful dripping-based gravy, buttery mashed potatoes, pearl onions, and sweet potato/apple casserole. Followed by pumpkin, apple, and blueberry pies.

I thought about those meals of yore yesterday as I plowed through the meal at the assisted living place where my Mom lives now. I could have gone to my brother’s for a gourmet Thanksgiving but then Mom would have been alone in an almost deserted dining room (we can’t get her motorized wheelchair into my brother’s house). So I had a slab of heated-up deli turkey breast with bland gravy, overspiced squash, probably mix-made mashed potatoes, from-a-mix stuffing, and no cranberry sauce, not even the canned kind. (Which I like, having grown up eating it.)

Could have been worse, though. One year the cook wanted to make the stuffing look festive so he added diced green and red pepper. The taste was… Words fail me.

58

Actually, it does work in colder climates (I think you have to consider Denver a colder climate than Calif.). We always do the T-day and Xmas turkeys in the BBQ and they are wonderful. The gravy can be a little smoky (and requires extra planning). I do not mind the smoky taste to the gravy but for those who do, I also get a gravy mix.

If it happens to be snowing or very cold, which it has been, that might affect the cooking time, but we address that by adding extra coals, both in the beginning and on the hour. (Usual: 25 briquettes on each side to start, 8 per side per hour.)
The timing can be a little tricky but that is also what I remember in the old days when we cooked it in the oven.

Also this method frees up the oven for the parkerhouse rolls and the apple pie!
.

59

Seeing as your mom’s turkey is now a year old, it’s little wonder it’s so dry :wink:

60

I was sniffing around my parents’ pantry yesterday to look for a nosh, and I saw a box of gasp Stove Top Stuffing. I had to ask my father if they’d sunk that low. He said he was planning to use it to stretch the bread for stuffing. (He did.)

I feel relieved.

Robin