Sunday, November 23, 2008
Thanksgiving recipes
Vivian was kind enough to post all of last year's Thanksgiving recipes on her blog. We'll likely repeat most of these receipes, although this year I plan to use Alton Brown's brining recipe for the turkey. Let me put in a special plug for the Martha Stewart chocolate pumpkin pie.
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7 comments:
You forgot the height of the Thanksgiving experience, Green Bean Glop. To wit:
Two cans green beans. I guess you can use frozen, but Zombie Jesus will hunt you down if you try to use fresh.
One can mushroom soup.
A can's worth of milk.
A can of french-fried onions. Don't you dare make your own, or you'll have to answer to the French's corporation.
Take all that and dump it into a baking pan. Then bake it at... screw it. Bake it at "hot" for a while. When done, it will look like a 15-foot-tall vegetarian puked into your baking dish, and it will quiver ominously. Remember: your glop is nonsentient and cannot speak. In the event that it does speak, you should disregard its advice.
Next, dump another can of Freedom Onions on top of it, all sprinkly-like. Bake it some more.
Allow to cool to blood temperature, then eat by sticking your face into the pan and making OM NOM NOM NOM noises. Pass to the left when your gastronomic rapacity knows sufficient satiety.
Also, the pasta with walnuts from the Frugal Gourmet's Italian cookbook is good for fall and winter.
im cookin the turkey this year and im muy nerviouso. any tips or pitfalls to look out for?
Eric, do not make the green bean glop. As for the turkey, I do recommend brining following the Alton Brown recipe above. But if you do that, be sure that you rinse off the turkey thoroughly with cold water and pat it dry after the brining phase. Otherwise, the drippings will end up too salty.
Some recommendations: mix up a bunch of herbs (sage, oregano, thyme, or whatever else you like) with a stick of soft butter and then just rub it all over the turkey, inside and out. Tuck some of the butter underneath the skin, too. Fill your roasting pan with lots of aromatic vegetables, like celery, oranges, and onions. (I also like to throw in the organ meats, although Vivian thinks it makes the drippings taste too acrid.) Stick some of those veggies and fruits inside the turkey, too, but loosely. Be sure to baste the turkey often after drippings start to accrue in the pan. When you're done, boil down the drippings to make a gravy.
Some folks recommend starting the turkey breast down and then rotating it to breast up about halfway through. I'm not sure if this matters or not, but you definitely want to end it breast side up so that you get a nice crispy skin.
Make sure you remove the organ meats from the bird before cooking!
Don't stuff the turkey. You can make great stuffing outside the bird, and cooking the turkey with stuffing inside dramatically increases your odds of killing your guests.
Start this whole process early in the morning (the night before, if you're brining). It takes a long friggin' time.
woof, thats a lot of advice. i think i'll just get some sliced turkey breast and russian dressing and make some sandwiches.
Eric, do not make the green bean glop.
EVIL! Evil, pure and simple from the eighth dimension!
the turkey is in the oven. god speed, little guy
it went great! thx for the butter under the skin trick. worked like a charm. people actually raved about my cooking. is it 2012? is the world ending?
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