I learned from a young age how to properly grill a turkey and have yet to put one in the oven myself. Ingredients - A turkey- less than 15 lbs. is best (bigger and they can't fit a typical kettle (Weber) charcoal grill) - A couple cups of mayonnaise (it works wonders) - Chicken bullion - Black pepper A word on the grill... we always use simple Weber 21.5" grills and a 15 pound bird plus roasting pan fits no problem. Any bigger and, well, there's issues. The key to the grill is using hickory chips. In addition to the charcoal, the wood will add tremendous flavor to the bird. Three fistfuls of roughly chipped up hickory is sufficient. Soak one fistful in water overnight, get one fistful wet right before you grill, and keep one fistful dry. You want to have wood burning evenly throughout the process, so some needs to be soaked more. Thaw the turkey and put it in a roasting pan with tall sides- including the neck and whatever goodies come with it. Liberally coat the bird in the mayonnaise. Dust the bird with the pepper. Add a couple of cubes of bullion to a cup of hot water and once it's dissolved, add it to the bottom of the pan. Add more water until there's a couple inches in the pan. The turkey is grilled via indirect heat, so arrange the charcoal around the sides of the grill and use plenty. Put a small foil pie tin in the bottom of the grill on top of the catch grate and put some of the dry hickory in it with 1/2" or so of water. Distribute the rest of the wood chips among the charcoal and light 'er up (but save about half a handful for later). Give it at least 20 minutes before putting the bird on the grill. Put the bird in the center of the grill and shut the grill. Keep the bottom vent fully open and the lid vent about 1/4" open- you want just enough air let in to keep the charcoal going. The bird will take about 1 hour for each 2.5-3 lbs, and bigger birds obviously take longer. Every hour or so, check the bird and throw in more hickory chips periodically. The bird is done when the internal temp is 180. When it's done, remove the bird from the grill and let it sit (whole) for about 20 minutes and carve it up as you please. My favorite part is picking the bird apart after the breasts have been removed... the dark meat is phenomenal with the flavor from the charcoal and hickory.
WARNING! Do not make the following recipe the night before. You will be unable to stop yourself from eating these forcing you to rebuy the ingredients to make some more. Apple N Onion Stuffin Muffins
For anyone who is going out this week and shooting a delicious Bambi deer. I can't recommend this Sweet wrapped bacon tenderloin recipe highly enough. God I wish I was back home to kill me a deer. http://www.food.com/recipe/sweet-bacon-wrapped-venison-tenderloin-139664
Thanks for the recipe, it was actually the best thing I ate today. The only change I made was to sprinkle some mini marshmallows on top.
My mother made almost exactly the same thing, after eating it at a Ruth's Chris a couple months ago. It. Was. Phenomenal. I will be making this and very soon and keeping it all for my own.
I suppose this qualifies as holiday "food." I need some help. We're doing the big xmas party this year, and it has an alcohol theme (my family, and the in-laws, are both closet alcoholics; it's a running joke). The highlight is, we're doing a white elephant gift exchange, except all the gifts are to be somehow related to booze. Everyone is also supposed to bring their favorite dish, or a drink. Well, my sister and I then had the idea of xmas-themed drinks. I have a great coffee maker (the kind that grinds the whole beans), a margarita/daiquiri/mudslide machine, two mini bars and a costco membership (bulk wine/champagne). Now, I need ideas for recipes. I'm thinking three drinks to keep it simple, like a coffee drink, martini, and a mimosa or something. Here's the ideas we've had thus far, and any tweaks on it would be appreciated: Spoiler - champagne mixed with apple cider, splash of grenadine - champagne, apple cider, butterscotch schnapps, crushed candy cane rim - kahlua, baileys, coffee, sprinkle cinnamon - coffee, peppermint schnapps, alcohol-infused whipped cream, crushed candy canes on top - vodka, peppermint schnapps, creme de cacao We'd lay out a bunch of candy cane stirrers, and cinnamon stick straws with crushed candy canes on top I'm not sure when the fireworks start going on sale around here, but I think it is before Christmas, and if it's before our party, I want to pick up a few of the big displays to light off as well.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again... the BEST Christmas drink is Moose Milk: Ingredients 40 oz. Dark Rum (Preferably Lamb's) 32 cup(s) Vanilla Ice Cream 26 oz. Kahlua 24 cup(s) Milk 2 tbsp. Nutmeg 2 tbsp. Vanilla Extract Instructions In large punch bowl or pail, mix the rum and the Kahlua with nutmeg and vanilla, and add the milk. Then start adding the ice cream, stir a bit and let melt. This is a Remembrance day special and it carries a punch. We used to have it all the time in the military, and it rocks. I also tend to do it up in a large cooler, so that it stays insulated and doesn't melt as fast.
12 large eggs 1 quart whole milk 1 quart heavy cream 1.5 cups sugar 2 cups 80 proof bourbon (use rotgut) 1.5 cups 80 proof dark rum (use rotgut) 1 pinch cream of tarter Nutmeg Separate eggs from yolks. Beat yolks in a mixer till smooth, then beat in the sugar a little at a time until all the sugar is dissolved. Beat in the milk and 3 C of cream. Stir in the bourbon and rum Grate in about a half teaspoon of nutmeg. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites at high speed with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Fold the beaten whites into the yolk/milk/bourbon/run mixture. Grate fresh nutmeg on top of each cup. Notes: Ideally, you make this a week before and let the alcohol denature the eggs; it makes for a smoother nog. In the old days, back in Maine, my great-grandfather would make this the day after Thanksgiving and let it sit in the sub-zero backyard for a month. Probably not safe these days. You can also set aside the yolk, sugar, milk, cream and booze mixture in the fridge for a day or so and add the beaten whites just before serving.
This: is this: PUPPY CHOW 1 stick butter 3/4 c. peanut butter 1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips 1 (12 oz.) pkg. Chex mix (I'd use the rice variety, def not the wheat) 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar Melt butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips in microwave for 3 minutes. Stir to blend. Pour over Chex mix. Stir well to coat. Stir in powdered sugar. Store in freezer or refrigerator.
Instead of stirring in the powdered sugar, take a gallon-sized Ziploc and load it with half of the bag of powdered sugar. Then dump in half of the mix and shake. Way easier and less destruction of the chex is involved.
Since we're on drinks, here is a recipe for Apple Pie. We typically drink this while ice fishing, but for us, ice fishing is one 5 month long holiday. Kind of like a really long Hanukkah, but with a lot of bacon, booze, and polka. Apple Pie 1 gallon apple cider 1 gallon apple juice (one gallon of each cider and juice is necessary) 1 liter of Everclear/moonshine/white lightnin' 8 cinnamon sticks a few dashes of nutmeg cloves vanilla extract Mix everything except Everclear together in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce slightly. Let cool. Once it's cool, add the booze. Bottle. Die. Don't let the innocent name fool you, this shit will knock your dick in the dirt and leave you as a drooling puddle of ooze if you try to be too macho. It's a bomb inside a teddy bear. You truly can't taste the booze. *Yeah, I used a similie and a metaphor in the same post. I got skillz like that.
Quarter pears, then halve those, put a little goat cheese on top, wrap it in bacon*, drizzle with olive oil and throw in the oven for about 25 mins. Delicious little fuckers. *I know - bacon. I'm cheating.
We're right in the middle of dungeness crab season, so Christmas dinner is going to be steamed crabs and butter with garlic fries, and pot de creme for dessert. Otherwise, I made some infused bourbons last week and made the best hot toddy I've ever had with the mint-infused whiskey. The Best Hot Toddy ever I made small batches of 10 different kinds of infused whiskeys, and the ones that worked best for the hot toddies were the mint, the cinnamon, and the pepeprcorn. All you do is boil some water, put a shot (or two) of the whiskey in a cup, a spoon of honey, pour in the water, and squeeze some lemon in there. My girlfriend can't stand whiskey and she had three.
I was watching The Food Channel this last weekend and saw this: Spicy Pumpkin Infusted Vodka Ingredients 2 cups raw kabocha or sugar pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch chunks 3 cups vodka 1 cinnamon stick 2 whole vanilla beans 3 large pieces candied ginger, cut into long pieces Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pumpkin on a silicone mat lined baking sheet and bake until just tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and set aside to cool. Pour the vodka into a bottle or large glass container. Add the pumpkin, cinnamon stick, vanilla beans and ginger. Let it sit for 1 week at room temperature, shaking gently every couple of days. Strain the infused vodka, through a fine mesh sieve and funnel it back into the original vodka bottle. Cap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Sounds weird but I bet it's good shit.
So I impulse bought a duck at the grocery store. I have never cooked a duck and have eaten it maybe twice in my life, thus I have no idea how to cook/prepare one. Anyone have any suggestions?
Duck is delicious but extremely fatty. You will want to wash it really good and poke small holes in the all of the fat/skin covering the duck. You can use a fork or a skewer or a really sharp knife. The idea is to get the skin nice and crispy and to get all the fat the render. On the breast side, you will actually want to score the fat with a knife. Cut a crosshatch pattern on both sides but be careful not to cut into the meat. Since the breast side fat is the thickest you really want to make sure you get it all so it renders properly and gets nice and crispy. You will want to keep the oven between 300 and 325 and put the duck on a v rack inside the roasting pan. The duck will take several hours. Throughout the roasting process, you will want to periodically check the skin and continue to poke small holes in the skin. Not all of it will render properly is you don't. For added food, quarter some potatoes and sliced onions and put them underneath the v rack in the roasting pan. Let the fat drip down into the potatoes while they cook. This is DELICIOUS. Chefs love duck fat. I personally don't like to make an orange glaze but thats just me. I generally only season the duck with some kosher salt and fresh pepper because the duck tastes so good naturally. Thats how I do it. The longer you let it cook, the crispier the skin. Towards the end, you could even turn the oven to broil and really let the skin crisp up. Enjoy!
Another good technique for roasting duck is to pour boiling water over it ever 45 minutes/hour or so. The water flows through the holes you made and literally melts the fat, and also helps to keep the fowl from drying out. Works well on goose, too.
I'm pretty sure everything can be made delicious with off-set charcoal grilling, beer, some kind of smoking chips, more beer, butter, garlic, and "season to taste." Just sayin'.
I cooked a 10 lb. spiral sliced ham for Christmas, and we've got a ton of it left over. Plans are split pea soup as well as ham salad. Any other good leftover ham ideas?