FFF....Let's talk turkey and stuff....ing....

[snowleopard]

Fabulous and inspiring thread. I am salivating. And the sandwich I had planned for dinner just got upgraded to a meal, even though it's just me this evening.

Thanksgiving just sneaked up on me this year, and I have done zero prep. But now I'm looking forward to getting a little nutty.

 

[hossthehermit]

I 'm not a fan of the "X2" comment, but in this instance I have no choice. X2 on wicked good grub at Dysart's, don't fergit the bread puddin'

 

[jeromehdmc]

I have to ask, does anyone make oyster dressing? My wife thinks it's an abomination. For as long as I remember we've always had oyster dressing. This wouldn't be totally unusual but I grew up in Northeast Kansas about as far away from any oysters as you can be.....well there is the mountain ones but not for dressing. Anyone out there like it?

 

[BrotherBart]

I have to ask, does anyone make oyster dressing? My wife thinks it's an abomination.

Give your wife a high five for me.

 

[Fod01]

Brining the free bird... making the green bean casserole, along with turnips, potatoes, chestnut stuffing, stuffed mushrooms, and a mushroom chowder.

Cooking for 12 this year. I was a short order cook 30 yrs ago (wow), so no problem, just GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!
Mom will be making the salad with the 'no measurement' ingredients... some vinegar, some real good olive oil, salt and pepper.
Yeah - the best meal is the next day...on a roll.

Enjoy everybody


Gabe

 

[DAKSY]

Gettin an early start on the dinner. Travelling to Dine with Susan's Mom in North Adams, Mass.
on Thursday...Got 2 of Mama Mabel's 9" Sweet Potato pies in Graham Cracker crusts in the oven
as I type, along with 10 of those little Mini Keebler Graham Cracker crusts & 1 more 9 & 2 more
minis to follow...There's the bell! First round's done...& Here they are!

 

[fishingpol]

I just drooled on my keyboard.

 

[Dix]

I just drooled on my keyboard.

*hands ya some paper towels*

 

[Gary_602z]

Gonna try doing the bird French Farmhouse style. Figure about 60 cloves of garlic should do it. Clapshot(but I add parsnips also). The Dragon Lady makes a baked bean dish with about 5 different kinds of beans and I will probably make a cabbage casserole. We do have to be aware of open flames latter! :lol:

Gary

 

[lammi66]

I have fried 'em. smoked 'em, brined 'em, grilled 'em and roasted 'em in the oven. My favorite is probably deep fried, however I love turkey anyway, but dry! If presentation is not paramount when roasting, make sure you cook them breast down!! Yes contrarian to everything you know about roasting a bird. The dark meat has the most flavor and is the most moist. It really keeps the breast more juicy when the drippings from the dark meat falls down into the breast. I usually use a bag, but not critical. Even when smoking or grilling a bird I always cook it breast down. Try it, you will not be disappointed. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

 

[GAMMA RAY]

Looking good Daksy...don't you just love those lil graham cracker shells? I use them when I make desserts to take in to work.

This year I decided to go with a fresh turkey...my meat guy talked me into it. I have never had one. I know I know....some say there is no difference in the taste....but...
Some of us just have to learn some things for ourselves now....eh? :smirk:

 

[snowleopard]

Hit rewind to last year: up at 5 a.m. with my head in the oven replacing the igniter element (thanks to advice from the diy forum), and then on to the day. So far igniter is working fine, but should put a new oven light bulb on my shopping list.

Have a menu that will be a balance between the do-it-in-my-sleep tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, and a few ideas from this thread just to shake things up a bit. This weekend will probably see me taking on a few more house-repair projects, so I want to a) keep it simple and b) have lots of leftovers so that I don't spend much of the rest of the weekend in the kitchen. On the ambition list for the weekend: install a pressure tank (we shall see--may rethink this) and trim out the 6" vent that is a gaping hole in my ceiling. Last year I installed a new florescent light fixture, and trimmed it out with some oak that turned out to be too small to trim the hearth. Found a grill that would fit over the hole, now I just need to trim and install it.

Here's the KISS menu:
Butternut squash soup
Veggie tray (including celery w/cream cheese)
Turkey (try brining)
Stuffing--I always make this as a side dish, but this year I'll try adding the mashed potatoes--sounds good that way!)
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Cranberry relish
Sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Banana bread
Vanilla ice cream

DS's father is invited here for Thanksgiving dinner. It seems to mean a lot to the kids that we can be civil enough to celebrate holidays as a family. He proposed instead that since we had an invitation from an old friend of mine who has maintained more of a friendship with him since he and I separated, that instead of going over to her house, we invite her and her friends out to dinner at my place, and then go over to her house for dessert.
After careful consideration, I am declining the opportunity to spend my holiday feeling that uncomfortable. Should be interesting to see how this plays out. This might be just the boy and me. I'd be okay with that, but I think that will hurt my son. We don't have tv reception here, and I know he'd like to watch football on T'day, but can't think how to help him with that.

 

[jharkin]

We have a bit of a challenge here.... My family is mostly Italian and we season the crap out of everything (No such thing as too much garlic) - my wife's family is polish and consider pepper exotic.

At my moms house we've brined it for days, all kinds of seasonings, rubs etc. Homemade gravy, homemade assuage stuffing with real bread, homemeade cranberry sauce etc. Wiles family would just throw the bird in the oven w/ salt and pepper and eat it with jar gravy and stovetop.

Welll... Compromise this year with everyone coming to our house (having twin infants earns us a ticket to demand everyone travel to our house for a while). No brining, but we are going to do a good spice rub (The Mrs is reading a lot of Martha magazines lately for ideas). Im going to make my homemeade gravy. The moms (grandmas) will each make their version of stuffing. Plus mashed potatoes, my sisters sweet potato balls (sweet potato mashed, rolled around a marshmallow, rolled in brown sugar and double baked), roasted root vegetables, green bean caserole, brussle sprouts, cranberry sauce. Pumpkin rolls... and no and on.

Oh and a lot of booze.


We considered getting a fresh turkey this year from the turkey farm in town. But tose are almost $4 a pound! Way to much with 10 people to feed and half the income. SO a grocery store special it will be...

 

[woodchip]

Here's the KISS menu:
Butternut squash soup
Veggie tray (including celery w/cream cheese)
Turkey (try brining)
Stuffing--I always make this as a side dish, but this year I'll try adding the mashed potatoes--sounds good that way!)
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Cranberry relish
Sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Banana bread
Vanilla ice cream.

Although I'm over the other side of the pond, I will join you all if I may, and cook a Thanksgiving dinner here in honour of you all!!

Plus that menu looks rather tasty, and I really want to eat some pumpkin pie ;-)

 

[woodchip]

I like Thanksgiving dinner at the neighbor's. Nobody but me likes dark meat so I come home to a clean kitchen with a weeks worth of sandwich makins. :cheese:

Better watch out! I'm coming up to your side of town, and that's my favorite part of the turkey.

Best tasting part, it can almost be a bit gamey here if it's a Norfolk Black turkey.... ;-)

 

[fishingpol]

Woodchip, we should be thanking your ancestors that came over here on the Mayflower and broke bread with the Native Americans, and of course the Native Americans that brought food to the pilgrims. I hope my history is correct here.

 

[woodmeister]

dollar for dollar it's tough to beat a butterball with sausage and apple stuffing.

 

[Dix]

dollar for dollar it's tough to beat a butterball with sausage and apple stuffing.

Sausage, apple, celery, onion, mushroom. Plus old dried home made bread, with the appropriate seasonings. Some in Da Bird, some outside in seperate baking dish.

Delish

I'm being bold this year.. making my own cranberry sauce !

 

[woodchip]

Woodchip, we should be thanking your ancestors that came over here on the Mayflower and broke bread with the Native Americans, and of course the Native Americans that brought food to the pilgrims. I hope my history is correct here.

Spot on, apart from the fact that my ancesters were the stupid ones that stayed behind..... ;-)

 

[firefighterjake]

Woodchip, we should be thanking your ancestors that came over here on the Mayflower and broke bread with the Native Americans, and of course the Native Americans that brought food to the pilgrims. I hope my history is correct here.

Spot on, apart from the fact that my ancesters were the stupid ones that stayed behind..... ;-)

Ah, don't feel so bad . . . my ancestors ended up here in Maine and pretty much decided they didn't want to go any further west . . . only a little bit adventurous I suppose.

 

[piejam]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

According to the Barefoot Contessa(Ina Garten) a Kosher Turkey since it's already salted..Personally I like to brine a fresh one. Since I'm lazy and serve a smaller crowd I use the old rotisserie. If you want to go really nuts fresh killed(too many pinheads to remove) my mother used to do it that way. Some people like using a capon, but I love my turkey..I live near a turkey farm so I usually go fresh.

Gamma from reading the threads I know you are a talented cook so here goes..Mom would make a sausage stuffing that was great..She would render out breakfast sausage, saute onion, celery, hit of garlic..She then used unsalted saltine crackers 2 packs crushed, moisten with a stock made from the neck, gizzard etc..She just pan fried the stock meats but I roast mine..Add an egg, mix all ingredients together and voila ready for the oven..Seasoning, that's up to you parsley sage are great with this.. use some sage or italian sausage instead of breakfast works fine too..Never really used measurements just don't make it too loose when adding the stock to moisten the cracker meal. Sometimes dried cranberries are added..Anything goes..

Many ppl brine since it tenderizes the bird..a previous thread pointed to tvfn Alton Brown who's recipes have never failed me..To brine one takes many hours and need a lot of room in the frig so a kosher bird just may be a good short cut..

Your holiday diner sounds wonderful..It takes so long to prepare and oh my how fast it disappears! I'm sure whatever you do will be delicious..drooling already-Good Luck

 

[Flatbedford]

Mrs. Flatbedford picked up the fresh turkey from our local farm yesterday. It was not cheap, about $4/lb but the one we had last year was very tasty. The biggest difference was that it had a smaller breast and bigger thighs. I guess because it actually walked around a bit and wasn't pumped full of hormones.

Here's my menu advice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZb30xZjUZc

 

[woodchip]

We often have Turkey at Christmas here.

The family tradition is to bottle the sloe gin a couple of days before Christmas, and use the boozy sloes to fill the turkey.

That makes it really moist, and the gin/sloe smell whilst cooking is sublime (sloes are small wild plums which grow in our hedgerows in Dorset).

Not sure if it would work this early on, as sloes need 3 months soaking in gin to give the full flavor and color to the gin, but it's great at Christmas!

I like the idea of making stuffing using sausages, we make our own home made sausages here so piejam's recipe may well be the way to go... ;-)

 

[piejam]

Plums/Gin I know what I'll be doing for Xmas...This year I've decided to go it alone...Gonna debone & stuff a turkey breast with a dried fruit kumquat and pig out! Sure do like the recipe from across the pond, thanks woodchip..

Gamma forgot to mention we make an herb butter and use it under the skin of the turkey breast to keep moist..Some friends just top the bird with bacon for moisture . There are so many, many great suggestions here on this thread. The hardest part is to pick which one you'll use..Happy cooking...

 

[GAMMA RAY]

Plums/Gin I know what I'll be doing for Xmas...This year I've decided to go it alone...Gonna debone & stuff a turkey breast with a dried fruit kumquat and pig out! Sure do like the recipe from across the pond, thanks woodchip..

Gamma forgot to mention we make an herb butter and use it under the skin of the turkey breast to keep moist..Some friends just top the bird with bacon for moisture . There are so many, many great suggestions here on this thread. The hardest part is to pick which one you'll use..Happy cooking...

Ohhh....I have used the herb butter Piejam....yes a good addition....thanks for the tips and kind words...
Have a great holiday Piejam.....