So today is test turkey day, where I practice making the turkey for the big day. What I am trying out today is mixing the juices that come out of the bag and a can of chicken stock in the bottom of the pan, and have the bird upside down sitting in the stock mix, to soak up some of the moistness, and then let it evaporate from the pan as it cooks.
Wouldn't that prevent the skin from ever getting crispy and possibly make the meat chewy by essentially boiling at worst (poaching at best) the breast meat? Not trying to be critical, just trying to understand the process here. I thought a rack was a pretty essential component of roasting the bird to put a little air flow between the juice/stock and the bird. As for myself, I will be brining overnight and then doing the bacon wrap for the last 30-45 minutes and take the bacon off for another 15 minutes to crisp up. I will have a white wine, celery, onions, herbs, garlic, carrots, and chicken broth in the pan and baste every 25-30 minutes. Did it last year and it was a damn juicy bird.
I like to experiment with random shit and i came up with this for turkey breast. 1 Four to six pound turkey breast 1 package chipotle marinade powder 1 bottle barbeque sauce (I just use the cheapest original i can find) 1 half stick butter melted Tonys seasoning Preheat oven to 375. Dump marinade mix in coffee cup, use recommended amount of oil than top off with water. Inject all over breast till about half the marinade is gone. In a bowl mix bbq sauce, butter, marinade and a liberal amount of the tonys. Put enough on turkey to just cover the skin. Bake in oven till thermometer reads 175 (about 2 1/2 3 hours). Baste with remaining sauce mix every 20-30 minutes. Turns out amazing.
Just picked up a pound of bacon to make our first bacon-wrapped turkey on Thurs. I think I'll try your approach.
Chocolate Bundt Cake This is my own recipe... I modified one I found online years ago. I leave off the glaze (and keep it warm) until the cake is sliced and plated. It's deliciously moist and dense. CAKE 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup water 1/2 cup Kaluha (can be omitted but increase water by 1/2 cup) 6 squares (1 oz. each) semisweet baking chocolate 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 large eggs CHOCOLATE GLAZE 2 squares (1 oz. each) semisweet baking chocolate 3 tablespoons butter 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted 1 teaspoon water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract CAKE: PREHEAT oven to 325° F. Grease 10-inch Bundt pan. Mix flour, baking soda and baking powder in small bowl. Bring water and Kaluha to a boil in small saucepan; remove from heat. Add 6 squares chocolate, stir until smooth. BEAT granulated sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat on high speed for 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture alternately with chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared Bundt pan. BAKE for 60 to 65 minutes or until pick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes. Invert to cool completely & turn out. CHOCOLATE GLAZE: MELT 2 squares chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar alternately with water until of desired consistency. Stir in vanilla extract. Pastrami Dip This is a family favorite except we eat it with Nacho Cheese Doritos, not the bread. I dislike almost all the ingredients but together they are awesome. The amount of pastrami is up to you, depending on how 'meaty' you want it. I recommend trying it with Doritos. 1 cup Mayonnaise 1 cup sour cream 1 1/2 teaspoon minced onion 1 1/2 teaspoon dill weed 1 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley 1/4 - 1/2 lb thin sliced pastrami, chopped Mix all ingredients and chill before serving. Hollow a round bread loaf and serve dip in the bread bowl. Cube the bread you remove & reserve for dipping. (or put it in a bowl and eat it with the Doritos like I told you to) Corn Casserole An easy side dish that we always have at Thanksgiving. 1 tsp butter 1 med onion, diced 1 cup sour cream 1 egg 16 oz. can creamed corn 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1 box corn muffin mix (Jiffy) 1/3 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon salt Saute onion in butter. Add sour cream, salt & 1/2 cup cheese. Set aside. Mix muffin mix with egg, milk & corn. Spread into greased 9x9 pan. Cover with sour cream mixture. Tip with remaining cheese. Bake 25 - 30 minutes @ 425° F There are over 80 cookbooks in my house. I have a recipe for everything.
Here's a nice non-traditional side dish for Thanksgiving that I figured the alcoholics on the board might enjoy. I tried the recipe and liked it. Creamy Beer Soup: Ingredients:1 (750-ml) bottle Achel Extra (about 3 1/2 cups) or your favorite Achel or Rochefort beer 2 tablespoons sugar 4 large egg yolks 6 tablespoons crème fraîche or heavy cream 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper Methodour the beer, 2 cups water, and the sugar into a large soup pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat. Beat the yolks, crème fraîche, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Slowly add 1/2 cup of the hot beer mixture to the egg mixture, whisking until well combined. Pour the egg mixture into the pot of beer, stirring constantly, and cook for a couple more minutes over low heat without bringing to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Just wanted to say I made this and it turned out fantastic. The girlfriends entire family loved it. It was very juicy and flavorful. Thanks for the suggestion.
The Cajun Sausage stuffed mushroom caps Opel gave the recipe for are amazing. Made a double batch (48) and they lasted all of 10 minutes. I modified the recipe slightly and only chopped up half of the stems since there was too much stuffing otherwise. Very tasty recipe that I'll be using again come Superbowl time.
This is a recipe that I've found to work great for the weekend after Thanksgiving when I'm trying to clear room out of my fridge. This is fairly easy as most of the prep work on the food has already been done. Also, this is a great morning cure for a Sunday hangover. Potato Cakes with Fried Eggs and Turkey-Red Pepper Hash Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes, at room temperature 1 large egg, plus 4 more for frying 1/4 cup milk 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped sage Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 small onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 1 small red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped 8 ounces diced leftover turkey meat, about 2 cups 1/2 cup leftover turkey gravy 1/4 cup leftover cooked corn kernels 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley Directions: Preheat the oven to 200degrees F. In a bowl, mix the potatoes, egg, and milk together until combined. Add the flour, season with salt and pepper, and mix until smooth. Heat 2 teaspoons oil on a non-stick griddle over medium heat; pour about 1/3 cup of the batter onto the warm griddle, gently spread it to a circle about 4" wide, and cook, flipping once, until golden brown, 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to the oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a small skillet over medium low heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the red pepper and cook until softened, about 4 minutes more. Add the turkey, gravy, and corn and cook, stirring, until turkey is heated through. Season hash with salt and pepper, stir in the parsley, and keep warm over low heat. Heat the remaining teaspoon of oil on the griddle over medium-high heat. Crack the eggs onto the griddle and cook until desired doneness. To serve, put a warm potato cake on each of 4 plates; top the cakes with a fried egg and divide the hash evenly among them.
Hey guys, I guess this is the most suitable part of the forum to pose my question. Does anyone have a link to the recipe of the 'baconator.' I recall on TMMB, everyone raved about this 'baconator' (not the Wendy's burger, or at least I think it was called a baconator.) I can't remember if that was the exact name or anything specific about it, but literally it involved a shit load of bacon...and cheese? It looked awesome, anyone have the recipe or a link?
Food Porn of the Day: Pork belly braised in black mole. Paired with a delicate quince sauce and served with semolina gnocchi. The mole effectively sucked out whatever fat was left of a well trimmed piece of pork belly that left the sauce incredibly rich while making the pork belly incredibly lean with a butter like texture.
Cheese Stuffed Piggies in a Blanket I'm not exactly sure if this is the kind of thing for this thread, but I fucking loved it and maybe some of you will. This was the product of my roommates and I getting baked and needing something to eat at 3 am but having a very limited fridge. We opened the fridge to find only a bag of shredded cheddar cheese, a package of hot dogs but no buns, assorted condiments, and Pillsbury Crescent rolls. We were able to turn that into awesomeness. Make a slice down the middle of the hot dogs. Stuff cheese inside. Wrap inside the crescent rolls, one or two rolls per hot dog, depending on how big the hot dogs are and if you want them completely covered or with the ends of the dog sticking out the sides. Place on a cookie sheet and cook according to the Pillsbury instructions. Eat with mustard, ketchup, and whatever else your barren fridge holds. Enjoy. Just be careful the cheese can get super hot sometimes. Now that I think about it more, I think I might have read this as a tip on the Pillsbury package a couple years ago and I guess it stuck with me only to be used in a time of need.
Food Porn of the Day: Lobster ravioli. The difference of this ravioli and the kind you'd buy is that the pasta "shell" of the ravioli is actually lobster meat that was liquified and made into dough with a little bit of egg and flour. Inside the ravioli is also nothing but pure lobster that has been made into a thick puree' that gives the illusion of being cheese. The lobster tail itself was slow braised in olive oil and then chilled in a vacuum to pull out any oil of the fish while keeping it moist. The white sauce on the bottom is lobster and chardonnay foam.
I've got a Christmas party tomorrow and I need to bring a dessert of some sort. It will be the type of party where everyone will be standing up with paper plates so ideally I want something that won't require any utensils to eat. The past two years I've brought the same 7-layer snack bars and I'd like to change it up. If anyone has any good recipes I'd appreciate it.
I am hosting a Christmas party for about 10-15 people later this month. Problem is, there is a very diverse group of "can't haves" in the crowd - some Jewish/Kosher, others Indian/Hindu, etc. My wife is anti-lamb as well. In the past, for my red meat eating, Italian and Irish friends, I would just pump out a big 'ol prime rib or pork roast. That's not going to work here, nor will my standby Baked Ziti with meatballs, hell, I can't even make my regular tomato sauce because I cook it with meatballs and pork sausage. Any ideas here? Roasted Chicken? Turkey? Kinda boring but I can do it pretty well. Any recommendations to keep people from having Thanksgiving flashbacks would be appreciated.
\ Simple. Bittersweet chocolate mousse topped with fresh raspberry and shaved sweet chocolate. A lot of novice cooks are intimidated by this dish as many consider it to be "too fancy" for them to make. That is a lie. Chocolate mousse is fucking easy as hell to make, this is a simple recipe that anybody can make with a little bit of effort and a little bit of knowledge. INGREDIENTS: 5 1/4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 14 ounces cold heavy cream 3 large egg whites 1-ounce sugar 1/2 ounce of fresh raspberry 1 Hershey's bar Directions Place chocolate in a large bowl set over a bain marie or in a double boiler at a low simmer. Stir chocolate until melted. Turn off the heat and let stand. If you don't have a bain marie or a double boiler that is no problem. Here is what you need to do. In a big deep pot, boil water about 2/3rds deep. Then take the chocolate and put it in a smaller handled pot and put the smaller pot into the deep boil so that the entire bottom is halfway submergered. The chocolate will melt without getting burned and you've just made a simple double boiler. Otherwise, use the bain marie. Beat the cream over ice. I'd use a mixer if you have one. Beat the shit out of the cream until it becomes whipped cream. Set aside and hold at room temperature. With a mixer, whip egg to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar and continue whipping until firm. Remove the chocolate from the bain marie and using a whisk, fold in the egg whites all at once. When the whites are almost completely incorporated, fold in the whipped cream. Voila, you've made Chocolate mousse. If you think the mousse is too bitter mix in a bit of sugar to taste. To answer your quandry about service, use cheap plastic champagne cups to serve the mousse in and buy some plastic spoons. People can hold it in one hand and scoop in the other. Once you've plated, put some plastic over the mousse and refrigerate for approximately 1 hour or until set. AT THE PARTY: You want to impress? When you serve, take out the raspberries and place three of them on top of the mousse. Then take a hand cheese grater and shave a little bit of the Hershey bar over the mousse. If the people at the party are used to a 7 layer cake, this will add a nice touch of class (preparing their dessert as they wait is fucking choice). This dish is both bitter and sweet and has loads of texture while adding a nice undertone of raspberry. If you nail this recipe it will go over well. If you want to take it one step further, buy some Grand Marnier and either 1) pour a 1/2 shot on the dish before you shave the Hershey's bar. 2) sautee' the raspberries in Grand Marnier with a tea spoon of sugar before the party and then serve on top of the dish 3) give them a full shot with the dish. Up to you. Good luck, I hope it turns out well for you.
I wasn't going to post this after seeing MisterMiracle's suggestion for the dessert, but what the hell - in case it's a hot dogs and beer sort of party: Smores cups - makes about 40 mini muffin liner cups 12 oz semisweet chocolate (or milk chocolate if you prefer) 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (don't crush them too fine, leave the occasional chunks) 40 jet puffed holiday mallows (or 2-3 mini marshmallows per cup, whatever you prefer) Line up mini muffin cups, sprinkle a layer of crumbs on bottom of cup. In small pot melt chocolate and butter until smoothly combined. Spoon enough chocolate on top of layer of crumbs to cover. Sprinkle a dusting of crumbs on top. Place marshmallow(s) on top and gently press down. Chill in refrigerator until firm.