The bourbon gravy didn't quite happen. I made some rookie mistakes. I served Thanksgiving dinner on my coffee table, but fuck me if I didn't make the best turkey ever!
Yeah, last Thursday was Thanksgiving. I spent it with my gay + gay friendly friends, which is far better than spending it with family. And good friends are what I have to be thankful for.
3 comments:
Can you give the recipe? Thanks.
* My Recipe *
Step One: Brine the Turkey.
* Submerge the turkey in 8 quarts of water and two cups of kosher salt. Leave in frigerator overnight to soak.
Step Two: Make Stuffing.
* Cube an old baguette and set aside.
* Make wild rice -- one cup wild rice to two cups water. Bring to boil with salt, reduce to simmer, cover for 40 minutes. Wild rice takes longer to cook than regular rice. I suppose other varieties will do if wild rice is not available. When cooked, set aside.
* Cook about a half pound of spicy ground pork. Sliced up Italian sausages will do. When cooked, set aside and drain off oil.
* Chop up two stalks of celery and a medium sized onion. Cook until soft.
* Chop up fresh sage and thyme, about two tablespoons each. Set aside.
* In a large bowl, mix bread, rice, pork, cooked celery and onion, and herbs. Add salt and fresh ground pepper if needed.
* Melt a cup of butter and pour over mixture. Butter will soaked into bread as will the juices from the celery and onion. The consistency of the mixture should not be wet, but damp.
Step Three: Assemble the Turkey
* Remove turkey from brine and rinse. Make sure giblets and such are removed, perhaps for making gravy. Pat dry and place in roasting pan. Oven should be preheated to 500 F.
* Chop up about three tablespoons worth of sage.
* Take softened butter and rub the bird all over. Sprinkle chopped sage on so it gets in there with the butter. Making small slits between the skin and meat, insert pats of butter. If you're good at it, you can spend time deftly separating the skin from meat and rubbing butter all in there.
* Toss in some chopped onions and apples into the roasting dish.
* Spoon stuffing into the cavity. You will have extra, which can be heated up in a dish when the turkey is done. You'll have to moisten it with some stock though. Apparently the bird takes longer to cook when trussed, so I kept the legs untrussed. Try and tuck the wings under the bird.
* Roast bird uncovered for 30 minutes at 500 F. Then reduce to 325 F and cover loosely with foil. For every pound that the bird weighs, cook for 30 minutes. Not sure how hard and fast this rule is, but when the thickest part of the thigh reads 175 F (do not touch the bone!), then it's done. Make sure you baste a few times during the cook process. And keep a close eye on it when it seems within an hour of done time.
* When bird is done you'll need to let it rest for 45 minutes or more.
Thanks :o). I let you know how it turns with a french turkey.
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