Thanksgiving Recipes

[kenny911]

Sounds like we got some chefs in here. Throw out some recipes for Thanksgiving side dishes. I know I'll be using the corn bread one I found.

 

[vampz26]

You looking for traditional, non-traditional, or completely off the wall?

 

[kenny911]

traditional

 

[HD MM]

In the process of brining a 20b fresh, all natural turkey.


For the brine (x recipe by 1.5):

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
• 1 gallon iced water.

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions:

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.


*I had a circular cooler (apx. 5 gal). The bird fit perfectly in it, vertically. I then poured the brine and water to submerge the turkey and sealed the cooler and placed in the fridge to sit overnight.

See attached pics. (More to follow tomorrow after it's cooked).....

 

[SabresRule]

20 pounds?

Dang, that's impressive!

 

[vampz26]

Honestly, when it comes to traditional...I've often enjoyed an ethnic side dish with holiday meals. My family is rather diverse so we've seen everything from a thin layered lasagne, to pierogi, to tamales all part of the thanksgiving feast!

If your stuck, go through the family lore and make it YOUR traditional....

Seriously, there are recipes for sweet potatoes all over the web...if you want my advice, nothing is more tradionaly than what is part of the family...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

[HD MM]

20 pounds?

Dang, that's impressive!

We'll also be having a honey baked ham too. No one will be leaving the house hungry. :

 

[HD MM]

Here's a helpful demo that shows the proper way to carve up your bird. Good luck all...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjm_qxlp81s"]Turkey Carving Demo[/ame]

 

[HD MM]

In the process of brining a 20b fresh, all natural turkey.


For the brine (x recipe by 1.5):

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
• 1 gallon iced water.

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions:

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.


*I had a circular cooler (apx. 5 gal). The bird fit perfectly in it, vertically. I then poured the brine and water to submerge the turkey and sealed the cooler and placed in the fridge to sit overnight.

See attached pics. (More to follow tomorrow after it's cooked).....

Now for more pictures.

The precooked turkey shows the aromatics I used to stuff the bird. (Apples, Onions, fresh rosemary, fresh sage and a cinnamon stick). Microwaved the aromatics with a bit of water before I stuffed it.

Coated the Turkey with olive oil and cooked at 500ºF for an hour to crisp the skin and hold in the juices.

Reduced the heat to 350ºF and cooked for another 3 hours until the digital probe read 161ºF.

When you take the bird out, be sure to let sit for at least another 30 minutes before slicing.

The results were simply amazing! The brine and aromatics were tasted well throughout the turkey. The brine kept the meat moist and very flavorful. After tasting this, I can't imagine doing another turkey without brining. This is definitely a must for years to come....

 

[HD MM]

Sausage, Apple and Chestut Stuffing

For years, I've eaten Mom's stuffing recipe that was cooked inside a turkey cavity. And for years, I didn't know any better. Then, I started cooking on my own and realized how wrong this is. Think about it. A very porous bread mixture stuffed inside a raw poultry!? Yuck. Granted, I've never gotten sick from eating the stuffing like this, but I just think the inside of the turkey can benefit more from stuffing it with fresh aromatics, (as posted above in my Roasted Turkey recipe) instead of stuffing it with bread. Plus, you can make darn good stuffing without it cooking from the insides of a bird.

Now for my Sausage, Apple and Chestnut Suffing Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1lb sourdough bread, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 3/4lb bulk pork sausage
• 1/4 cup butter, plus extra for greasing
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 large celery stalks, chopped
• 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, quartered, cored and chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 3/4 cup Chicken Stock
• 1lb fresh chestnuts, roasted and peeled, then coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• Cranberries

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place the bread cubes in a large baking pan.
• Bake, stirring often until golden, 12 minutes.
• Transfer the bread to a large bowl.
• In a large frying pan over medium-heat, cook the sausage, crumbling with a fork until browned, apx. 10 minutes
• Transfer to the bowl with the bread.
• Add the butter to the drippings in the pan and reduce the heat to medium and melt the butter
• Add the onion and celery and saute until tender.
• Add the apples and thyme and saute. Add to the bread.
• Add the stock to the frying pan and bring to a boil, scraping the brown bits Add the bread.
• Mix in the chestnuts, cranberries and parsley and season with salt and pepper
• Mix in the eggs.
• Grease a 13" x 9" baking dish and spoon the stuffing into it and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes.
• Uncover and bake until the top is crisp, about another 30 minutes longer

Thoughts:

The pork, sourdough bread and apples made this dish. Quite possibly the best stuffing I've ever had. This will definitely be an annual recipe I'll carry on each and every Thanksgiving. Super Yum! BTW, the below pictures are prior to cooking. It was quite hectic when the turkey was done and I had several other dishes in and out of the oven. Regrettably, I didn't get many post cook pictures.

Pictures:

 

[HD MM]

Walnut-Praline Pumpkin Pie

Ok, now that I've shared my Brined Turkey with Fresh Aromatics recipe as well as my Sausage, Apple and Chestnut Stuffing recipe, I will let you in on just one more secret.....

A homemade, Walnut-Praline Pumpkin Pie! : The below recipe calls for a homemade pie crust. I won't bore you with the details. I'll leave the pie shell to you and instead share only the pie filling recipe.

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-2/3 cups pumpkin puree
• 1-1/2 cups half-and-half or whole milk

Nut topping:

• 1-1/2 cups walnuts or pecans chopped
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions:

• Beat the eggs until blended in a large bowl
• Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt and mix well
• Stir in the pumpkin puree and half and half.
• Pour into the pastry shell.
• Bake for 35 minutes at 375ºF
• For the topping, combine the buts and brown sugar and mix well.
• After the pie has baked for 35 minutes, sprinkle the topping around the perimeter of the surface.
• Continue to bake until a knife inserted into the center comes out cleat, about 5 minutes longer.
• Remove from the oven, turn the oven to the broiler setting and broil the pie for 30 seconds to caramelize the brown sugar. Watch the pie carefully to avoid scorching.
• Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Thoughts:

What a great way to end Thanksgiving night! A nice takeoff on a holiday classic. The nuts and caramelized brown sugar complimented the rest of the pumpkin filling wonderfully. I recommend this recipe highly....

 

[Skyhi]

HD MM,

That turkey looks delicious. I've never had a brined turkey, but I've heard nothing but good stories about them. I may have to do one in the next few weeks. I definately couldn't fit a large bucket in my fridge, so I would have to go the basement route (or garage). Did you do any temp checks of the brine after it sat for 6 hrs in your basement? I'm a little concerned about bacteria....(although you havn't posted of you/your family getting sick )

 

[HD MM]

HD MM,

That turkey looks delicious. I've never had a brined turkey, but I've heard nothing but good stories about them. I may have to do one in the next few weeks. I definately couldn't fit a large bucket in my fridge, so I would have to go the basement route (or garage). Did you do any temp checks of the brine after it sat for 6 hrs in your basement? I'm a little concerned about bacteria....(although you havn't posted of you/your family getting sick )

Skyhi,

After making the brine, I let it sit in the fridge until completely cooled down before pouring over the turkey. The turkey can be stored in anything, such as a food grade 5 gallon bucket or one of those giant ziplock bags used for clothing storage. I didn't have either, so I just used a cooler.

As long as the stored temperature remains below 40ºF, you are safe. This can be accomplished by either being kept in a cooler and storing outside on a cool winter night, or just placing the entire bucket/cooler in the fridge. (I'm fortunate enough to have a 2nd fridge in my basement that I only turn on during the holidays when I need the extra space). If you want to be extra safe, you could put the turkey in one of those giant ziplocks, pour the brine into the bag and store in a cooler with ice or ice packs to keep extra cool. Don't add ice to the brine itself as it will dilute the original brine recipe.

BTW, look out for great whole turkey prices this week. Typically after the holidays, frozen turkeys can be had for good prices. I may pick up one as I want to try and smoke one...

 

[HD MM]

Turkey Salad (Makes great sandwiches)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, looking for creative ideas of what to do with all the leftover Turkey? Here's a great Turkey Salad Recipe.....

Ingredients:

• 6 cups leftover Turkey, cubed
• 1-2 TBS Mural of Flavor (from Penzys Spices)
• 2 TBS water
• 1/2 cup Hellman's Mayonnaise
• 2 TBS red wine vinegar
• 2 TBS dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup craisins (dried sweetened cranberries)
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix the Mural of Flavor with water. Add the mayo, vinegar and mustard, then whisk to blend. Stir in the craisins, pecans and celery. Add the turkey to the dressing mix, toss to mix. Add sugar, salt and pepper. Serve at room temperture or refrigerate until ready to eat. Makes great sandwiches!

Pictures:

Attached.....

 

[dfergie]

Leftovers:
Eating a leftover ham sandwich for Breakfast right now... used the ham bone in a pot of pinto beans the other day... best beans I've had in a long while...(gave the turkey to the dogs... not a turkey person )

 

[StevenD]

After making the brine, I let it sit in the fridge until completely cooled down before pouring over the turkey. The turkey can be stored in anything, such as a food grade 5 gallon bucket or one of those giant ziplock bags used for clothing storage. I didn't have either, so I just used a cooler.

Back when I brined my turkeys, I would just cut about a gallon of water out of the brine and pour the warm brine over a bag of ice in the cooler. Its just faster that way.

Now I salt. I dont brine any more. I cover my turkeys in a salt mixture (with lemon zest rosemary, thyme, etc), inside, outside and under the skin for about three days.

I like the salting better because while it gives it about the same flavor as brining, you get a better texture and still get a very juicy bird.