The Thanksgiving Cooking Advice Thread

Cafe Society
21

I also brine my turkey, but rather than an apple, I toss a bunch of rosemary and fresh garlic into the cavity. Rosemary and poulty go together wonderfully. The rosemary also then flavors the drippings for the gravy.
I use the Reynold’s cooking bags for my turkeys (be sure to get the Turkey Size, not the Large) and they never fail. You dump a tablespoon or two of flour in, add some chopped onions and celery and put the turkey in. It cuts down on the cooking time, and helps keep the meat moist.

Be sure to let the turkey “rest” for at least 20 minutes after it comes out of the oven.

I would make a bunch of the side dishes the night before (except the mashed potaotes!) and make them in microwave-safe dishes, so they can be reheated while the turkey rests and is being carved.

When you make the potatoes, make sure the milk you add is warm. Never, never, never add cold milk to mashed potatoes or they’ll get mealy. A sprinkle of fresh chives on top of the finshed dish adds a pretty touch.

22

I second Chefguy’s advice about the cranberry sauce. If you must avoid nuts and/or alcohol, try tossing in some fresh grated ginger. Gives it a nice kick! The cloves are good, too.

23

I’m another one that loves to brine my turkey. Last time I did it, I had the usual water/sugar/salt, but had added some red wine vinegar, a few sticks of cinnamon, a few tablespoons black peppercorns, a few allspice berries, a few cloves of garlic (crushed) and some bay leaves. I had a food service storage bucket with a lid and put the turkey in, breast side down, poured the cooled brine (done the night before and chilled–NEVER EVER pour hot brine on a cold turkey to let sit overnight. Salmonella poisoning is never fun on the holidays) onto the turkey, and put out on my porch in a metal tub packed with ice.

The next day, I took the turkey out of the brine, dried off the skin well and rubbed softened butter over the entire bird. A good sprinkling of salt and pepper, and I put the bird in a hot (450 degree) oven for about an hour until the skin turned a lovely shade of golden-brown, then tented the breast with foil and turned down the oven to 350 to finish out the cooking. I agree with investing in a meat thermometer (about $10) to test doneness. Your turkey is will be fully cooked when the meat registers at 165 degrees. Breast meat reaches 165 first, so your best bet is to stick the thermometer in the thigh portion. Those little pop-up things they stick in the turkey that tells you when it’s done? The epoxy used to hold the spring loosens at 180 degrees–your turkey will be totally overcooked at that point and the breast meat will be dry as bone. Again, it’s best to let your turkey rest for about 20 minutes before cutting into it. Just tent it with foil, and use the oven to reheat/finish off cooking your sides.

For gravy, I prefer to use the roux method, although I use some of the turkey fat rather than butter. A few days before, I make a roasted turkey stock by purchasing turkey wings, which I roast until dark brown, then throw into a stock pot with all the scrapings from the roasting pan, carrots, onions, celery, lots of thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns. I let that simmer for about 4 or 5 hours, strain and keep the broth. It’s incredibly tasty, and I’ll use any leftover for the inevitable turkey soup for the weekend after T-day. When using the roux method for gravy, it’s best to get your stock hot to when you’re ready to add to the roux. Add it in small amounts, whisking constantly–I can guarentee you’ll not have any lumps when it’s done this way.

Potatoes are best done the same day, but you can peel them and keep them in water (else they will turn black) overnight. I bought a cheap ricer at Cost Plus about 10 years ago, and it’s in use every single holiday–it makes the most perfect, fluffy potatoes. I don’t hold back the fat on potatoes on the holidays–heavy cream, butter–they make the taters taste heavenly. Don’t forget to salt them, either. Potatoes soak up salt, and need a good dose of it to taste really good.

My favorite way to do sweet potatoes is a way we do them at work (I work as a catering chef)–We cut them into ‘home fries’-style wedges, and brush them with a mixture of one stick melted butter, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon chili powder (trust me on this), and 1/2 cup maple syrup (this is for about 15 sweet potatoes, so you might want to cut this recipe down a bit). Roast in a 400 degree oven until they’re tender. It’s a nice break from those heavy, syrupy, marshmallow-covered things that people serve.

Cranberry sauce is probably the easiest thing to make for the dinner. One cup of water and one cup of sugar, bring to a boil, add one 12-oz bag of fresh cranberries, simmer until berries burst. Takes 10 minutes and can be done several days ahead. You can get fancy and substitue the water with orange juice, or such items as ruby port or marsala, and perhaps throw in a stick of cinnamon while you’re simmering the sauce or the grated zest of an orange.

I’m sure I’ll think of more things this week. I’m cooking a meal for 30 people this year.

Next year, I’m going to just go away for the weekend… :smiley:

24

Flodnak, I second your “interesting bread” rule. I like to use sourdough, either cheese or whole wheat. I don’t just let it go stale though, I cube it and toast them under the broiler. Do that in the roasting pan a day or two early, then pour them back into the bread bag to wait. It’s a wonderful rustic base for the stuffing, if you like it to resemble bread and not some shapeless mush.

25

The Mama TeaElle wonderous gravy-making method:

Simmer the gizards, etc. with onion, celery, bay leaf, sage, and whatever other aromatics float your boat. Use water, but feel free to spike it with chicken broth and/or white wine as well. Remove the solids from the broth and keep warm.

When the turkey is done roasting, remove it from the pan, and then pour the majority of the drippings off into a bowl or some other receptacle. Leave a bit in the pan, the really greasy heavy bits, especially. :smiley:

Put the roasting pan on your stovetop. Turn on medium heat beneath it. Drizzle oil across the pan, then sprinkle that with flour. (Roughly equal amounts of each.) If you prefer, use small chunks of butter instead of oil. Stir and cook this together, also pulling all of the cooked-on bits from the pan in the process, until it’s acheived a good nutty brown color. This is your roux.

Return your drippings to the roux, and stir together until everything’s fully incorporated.

At this point, add the warm broth from the gizzards and aromatics. As noted before, make it much thinner than you think it should be. Again, get it all fully incorporated and blended, then add salt and pepper, not a lot, just a bit, and leave it over low-medium heat to simmer and thicken. Serve it thinner than you think is quite right, as it will continue to thicken as it cools.

If it seems lumpy, just put it through a mesh strainer into a saucepan. No harm, no foul.

26

You guys are the greatest. I’m planning to brine the turkey, I bought interesting bread to make the stuffing, I’ve labelled my dishes (HUGE help!), and making gravy doesn’t seem so intimidating anymore. Yay!

I wish I’d had access to this thread over the weekend. I made cranberry conserve yesterday, and it does have nuts but I didn’t even think of using some brandy. And I even had some on hand! Rats.

Thanks again.

27

You can still throw in the brandy! It’s never too late for brandy!

28

Oh and something I learned the hard way…

The more roux you have = more gravy. I used 6 tablespoons both of flour and butter. By the time I got it thinned out, I have about 2 quarts of gravy. My dog was SO happy that night!

It doesn’t take much roux to make a gravy for 2 people. :smack:

29

:smiley: You know, those are words to live by. I’ll throw some in when I get home, and you know, taste it to make sure it’s OK. And of course I’ll have to taste the brandy first, to make sure it’s up to snuff.

30

Here’s a link to one of my all-time favorite tv chefs. I did the roasting method he described last year and woo-baby, we’re talking some good turkey! Most of what’s in the link has been mentioned, but if you don’t wanna spend turkey-day sifting through posts to find this advice again, at least you could print it out. :slight_smile:

31

Anybody looking for a sig quote? This one was just lying on the ground here… :smiley: