The Finale

Today's entry will be short since we are visiting family, but I did not want to keep you in suspense as to how the turkey came out. 

Sorry I don't have more pictures of the prep, but it was 5 in the morning and I am NOT a morning person. I took the turkey out of the refrigerator at 4 am and let it set in a cool oven for an hour to bring it to room temperature. The turkey was then trussed, and stuffed loosely with a bit of the herbed butter from yesterday, lemon, onion, celery, and carrot. Then I used my hands to gently separate the skin from the body and put the remainder of the butter, in pats, all under the skin. Then I gave the bird a nice massage to make sure the butter was evenly distributed. The turkey was then placed, breast side up, in a v-rack in a roasting pan and into a 500 degree oven for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes I removed the turkey from the oven and reduced the temperature to 325 degrees. The turkey was flipped and I inserted my digital thermometer (with an alarm--one of man's best inventions) into the thickest portion of the thigh and put it back in the oven. Almost 2 and a half hours later she was done! We removed the turkey to an aluminum foil dress to set, poured the drippings into a glass dish and started on the gravy. First I made a roux mixing butter and flour.

Then the pinot noir was added to the pan that the turkey had been roasted in. The wine was cooked until it was reduced by half. One cup of the pan drippings and 4 cups of the broth that was made yesterday were added and boiled for 5 minutes.

And here is where my story ends for brining a turkey, as we packed it all up and traveled to my in-laws where we finished the gravy (mixed the roux and the reduced wine/broth until smooth) and then went on to devour the turkey along with many of the traditional Thanksgiving day dishes. I highly recommend using a brine with a turkey. The meat was full of flavor, tender and juicy.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and made some unforgettable memories.

Brine Part 2...Sort of

So...as I stated yesterday, I am only somewhat organized.  After further investigation I have found that it will be better if I let the turkey stay in the brine until this evening.  At that time I will be taking the turkey out of the brine, rinsing it (both inside and out) and then putting it back in the refrigerator to dry.  This method will yield a nice crisp, golden brown skin.  I...love...crispy...skin, so no turkey pics today.  Of course, this also means I will be getting up at some insanely early time tomorrow morning.  It is only once a year. I guess I can handle that for a good meal. I will be getting some other items ready today. In the works... turkey stock (for the gravy), herbed butter, and a pumpkin swirl cheesecake with brownie crust. 

I began with the stock, because the meat, carrots, and celery had to cook for 90 minutes.

Just to make everything make sense I will talk all the way through the stock...though I did a lot of the cheesecake while this pan was in the oven. The celery, turkey pieces (i.e. all the stuff I took out of the cavity yesterday), and carrots were put in an oven safe pan and roasted at 350 for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I roasted until I was sure there was some caramelization from the vegetables on the pan. You know, the brown stuff that is hard to clean off of a pan? Turns out  that when you add acid (i.e. wine, vinegar, etc.) to the pan, it scrapes right up and renders a most delicious flavor to the dish. After roasting the meat and the vegetables, the pan was put on the stove top and wine added until the caramelization was able to be scraped off into the wine. Then I added the chicken broth, herbs, bay leaves, and peppercorns and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. It was then poured through a strainer, cooled, and then put into the refrigerator for the gravy tomorrow.

While the veggies and meat for the stock were roasting, I started the cheesecake.Food & Wine's recipe for Marbled Pumpkin Cheescake with a Brownie Crust (www.foodandwine.com/recipes/marbled-pumpkin-cheesecake-with-a-brownie-crust) The first step was to make the brownie batter that becomes the crust. Here are the ingredients for the crust: bittersweet chocolate, butter, sugar, flour, egg, baking soda, salt and finely chopped walnuts.

The chocolate and butter is melted using a double boiler while the sugar and egg is whisked together. Add the salt and baking powder to the flour, and then add the dry ingredients to the melted chocolate mixture.  Fold in the walnuts, then pour and smooth the mixture into a prepared (I buttered and lined the bottom with parchment paper) springform pan. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. (Yes, that bowl on top of the picture would be the obscene amount of candy my kids got for Halloween.)

The stock is starting to smell good and I am not the only one taking notice...

Samson waits...not so patiently...

The next step is to make the actual cheesecake. First on this list... more chocolate...Yes please.

While the chocolate is melting the cream cheese is creamed with 

sugar. I could stop right here and eat the whole bowl.

Alas, I continue; eggs are added one at a time along with cornstarch and vanilla. One cup of this mixture  is removed and added to the melted chocolate. Though the heat is turned off on the burner, I allow this mixture to sit on the warm waterbath. The pumpkin is then added to the remainder of the cream cheese mixture, along with cinnamon, freshly ground nutmeg, and cloves. Yes, you do need to use freshly ground nutmeg; it is easy to do and makes a world of difference.

I followed the directions and poured 3/4 of the pumpkin mixture on top of the brownie crust, followed by the chocolate mixture and then topped with the remaining pumpkin mixture. I was then supposed to use a knife to make a few decorative swirls. Only, the chocolate layer almost immediately seized when it hit the cooler layer of the pumpkin mix. I wanted the swirls dog gone it! I improvise-- I grabbed the chocolate syrup out of the refrigerator, let a few blobs drop and swirled away. I think it turned out pretty good!

If you will remember, the stock was cooking up to this point and it smelled delicious. After the stock was poured through a sieve there was some meat left and guess who got to sample. He said it tastes pretty darn good.

Yes, I washed my hands!! Next on the list was the herb butter. I needed 1/2 cup of shallots. Shallots are in the onion family so they cause the same reaction that onions are so famous for: they make you get all teary eyed. Why? When you cut into an onion (or shallot, in this instance), a volatile sulfur compound is released into the air, when this compound mixes with the tears in your eyes it forms sulfuric acid! Yikes! The two best defenses I have found against this reaction are: chill your onions (cold always slows down chemical reactions) and cut next to an open flame (just another reason to have a gas stove top), the flames consume some of the chemicals before they can react with your eyes.

Okay, so you can now say you had your chemistry lesson for the day; let's get back to cooking. The shallots were cooked with 1 tablespoon of butter until soft and fragrant and then 1 cup of a dry white wine was added and cooked until completely evaporated. Fresh chopped parsley, thyme,and sage leaves were added and allowed to cook for about 2 minutes before being removed from the heat. I then once again had to improvise. I was supposed to put this mixture in a bowl and refrigerate until chilled. I cheated...pan on top of ice water bath equals chilled in about 3 minutes vs. hours in a bowl in the refrigerator.

This mixture was then added to the rest of the butter (two sticks minus the tablespoon I used to cook the shallots and herbs), put onto a sheet of parchment paper and shaped into a log. I will keep this in the refrigerator until tomorrow morning when I put this concoction under the skin of my bird. I suspect it is going to be a beautiful thing. 

Speaking of my bird...it needs to be pulled out of the brine. Good thing for me that my muscles have come home from the office.

Not only did he pull the whole weighty recipe out of the frig, he also rinsed it for me (while making it dance in the sink and saying some pretty darn funny things). He's a good man!

So now the turkey is rinsed, patted dry (any TSA official would have been proud), put on a rack and into the frig to dry out that skin. Tomorrow will be the true test though!

Adventures in learning to brine a turkey

I love to cook. I finally realized yesterday that it gives me the same adrenaline rush as skiing down a mountain or parachuting from a plane must give the more adventurous souls out there. So, I adore Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. There are so many new recipes to try and opportunities to bring out all the tried and true. This Thanksgiving I will be brining a turkey and thought it would be fun to share how the process progresses. Here we go!

I am using a recipe from Fine Cooking with a few alterations. The recipe is Herb-Butter Roasted Turkey with Pinot Noir Gravy. Just typing the title makes my mouth water. The recipe can be found at http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/herb-butter-turkey-pinot-noir-gravy.aspx .We are beginning with kosher salt, maple syrup, bay leaves, garlic, whole peppercorns, parsley, sage, rosemary, sage, and lemon. 

Here are all the ingredients mixed together and it smells divine. The recipe calls for me to put all the water in at this point, but being the only slightly organized person that I am, I am going to have to cheat so we can eat this beauty on Thanksgiving day. 

I added 2 quarts of water, brought to a boil and boiled for 5 minutes. Now here comes the cheating.

I added the remaining water (2 gallons) in the form of ice water. Now that my brine solution is cool it is time to introduce the turkey into the equation. I have to admit that I am an over-preparer when it comes to handling raw meat.

I have cleaned the sink where the turkey will set, made some fresh hot dishwater, laid my "meat only" (dishwasher safe) cutting board out, and have a bag ready to catch all my trash. This makes the job of  removing the wrapping, taking out the extras from the cavities, and rinsing the turkey easy and neat. I didn't take a picture of the naked bird in order to help it keep some sense of dignity. Don't worry, I will be sure to snap a picture when it has been completely dressed.

I do not have a 5 gallon stockpot, but Ziplock makes these extra large bags that will fit everything I need to make fit. It is from this point on that I strongly suggest having another set of hands. Having some extra muscles wouldn't hurt either--unfortunately my extra set was at the office today. A gallon of water weighs 8.35 pounds, so once you add 2 and a half gallons of water to a 12-16 pound turkey, plus the brine ingredients things start to add up!

I managed to finesse the turkey and brine solution into the bag without making too big of a mess. I pressed out all of the air that I could, placed all of it into a bowl and used packing tape to make sure the turkey would be completely immersed in the fluid. Having a 5 gallon stockpot would have made this easier, but this will definitely fit in my refrigerator a lot better. Now the waiting begins. 24 hours and then we will start the cooking process!