Just a little holiday humor…now on to the recipes:
This year we were warned that with smaller family gatherings, small turkeys would be scarce. So when I went turkey shopping, I was not surprised the smallest turkey I could find was about sixteen pounds.
I know for many, that IS a small turkey, but I’m used to buying a couple of twelve-pound turkeys, cooking one if Thanksgiving is going to be small, or both if it’s a larger crowd. I think they cook up better and are less likely to get dried out.
What to do with this large bird? I decided to slice it in half and cook it two separate ways. They cook up similar to a spatchcock bird.
One half, I made the traditional way: Roasted Spatchcock Turkey I deboned it and froze it into 1 lb packages for use in soups and casseroles later.
The other one, I had some fun with. I knew I was going to grill it, so I went rummaging around the spice rack and the refrigerator looking to take it up a notch.
I decided on a Peruvian Spice mix and Jalapeno Jelly. The flavors were a perfect complement to each other and created an amazing bird.
I first rubbed the half bird all over with the Peruvian spices. The mix is a combination of: cumin, chili powder, annatto, turmeric, aji amarillo, lime, Mexican oregano and cilantro.
Then I heated the Jalapeno Jelly in the microwave for about 30 seconds, just enough to make it easy to brush on the bird. I refrigerated the prepped bird over night and before grilling it the next day, I let it come to room temperature and brushed more jelly over it.
I roasted it on the grill at about 375 degree F and basted it with the jelly every fifteen minutes. It roasted for about 90 minutes, until the internal breast temperature was 160 degrees. Remove, tent with foil and let it rest for 20 minutes and that will bring the final temperature up to 165 for the breast.
I served it with Cranberry Apple Sauce (recipe here) and Garlic Mashed Potatoes and herbed stuffing.
For more not-so traditional sides, try Wild Rice Stuffed Mushrooms, Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Pancetta and Caramelize Onions, or Brussel Sprouts Potato Gratin
I haven’t done anything pumpkin yet this season, so I’m thinking later this week I’ll make a Buttermilk Pumpkin Bundt Cake
I hope if you can’t be with friends and family this Thanksgiving, you have good food and a peaceful day.
What are some of your favorite holiday sides? What are your must-haves for Thanksgiving (mine is stuffing)? Hit the comments with your Thanksgiving faves.
Immanentize
Peking Duck at my home. It takes a few days to do right, but mmmmm. I learned a year ago that the Immp does not like turkey (I do! But I can always make it when he is at Uni.)
chopper
i usually end up with a couple 20 lb birds, but that’s cause the local safeway does a “free turkey if you buy $150 worth of groceries”. so 40-60lbs of turkey get turned into a butt-ton of stock for the next year
Elizabelle
Wow, that’s a great idea to halve the bird like that. And the Peruvian spices/jalapeno jelly bird sounds scrumptious.
sixthdoctor
Staying at home, just me, the wife, and the goldendoodle, so I’m going to try Ina Garten’s herb-roasted turkey breast which seems simple and tasty. And if I screw up, hey, crap pizza’s just a phone call away…
Mallard Filmore
More holiday humor:
https://reductress.com/post/tofu-is-gross-says-mom-while-fisting-a-turkeys-ripped-out-asshole/
zhena gogolia
I got a 6-lb. turkey breast. We only like white meat. I have a simple Ina Garten recipe. I make the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce.
Last year I made a delicious stuffing from a New York Times recipe. But this year I’m too tired. Too much Zoom teaching. So (sacrilege on a thread like this) I’m making a package stuffing. We won’t care. We’ll Zoom with some friends while we have our smoked salmon hors d’oeuvres.
Next year maybe we can be in person. With a new honorable president and fabulous vice president.
zhena gogolia
@sixthdoctor:
That’s the one!
Benw
My go tos are:
Cheddar mashed potatoes
Apple-sage stuffing
Garlic-butter brussel sprouts
A big slice of cranberry sauce straight outta the can
We don’t do turkey cause vegetarian so we usually have a wild mushroom roulade or veggie pot pies. This year we’re not traveling to our fam in VT, so we’re skipping having a main course and just doing sides ‘n’ pies!
brendancalling
I’m a loner this holiday. I’ll likely make myself a pork tenderloin. Easy, not a lot of mess to clean up later.
my old housemate and I used to do a series called “Hobo Chef,” basically making good meals on an SSI budget. He had very serious health problems—Pentalogy of Cantrell is named for the doctor who delivered him and put him back together, but Chris always thought it should have been named for him, as he was Cantrell’s first patient—and a dark sense of humor.
So here’s <a href=“https://youtu.be/TA64R8HSMVE”>holiday surprise</a>, who was actually pretty good.
raven
I guess I’ll make the bird Friday. I found a 10lb’r and that’s fine because I love a stock from the bones and turkey gumbo is a killer.
sixthdoctor
@zhena gogolia: Awesome! Glad to see it’s field-tested. :-) What do you use for the dry white wine, or will pretty much anything do?
TaMara (HFG)
@zhena gogolia: See how there is no link to herbed stuffing…because, gasp, I love the boxed stuffing.
MagdaInBlack
I think I’ll be making that Buttermilk Pumpkin Pound Cake too =-)
debbie
Stores ran out of turkey thighs before I could snag a couple, but I found a couple frozen Cornish game hens. No idea what to do with them, other than just roasting.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
I pre-ordered an organic turkey from our local Coop for me and Dearest Husband, and the smallest ones (8-11 pounds) were almost all gone, but I got one! I wouldn’t do thighs or a breast because my husband loves breast for sandwiches, and I greatly prefer dark meat. At our house, traditional Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix with celery, onions, and walnuts is a must, along with mashed potatoes and gravy, plus freshly made cranberry sauce from the insanely easy recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray package. I insist on something green, so we will have peas. (Normally we eat a lot of broccoli, but Turkey day is not about greenery). One thing I don’t do, but my family did for years and years, was peach halves filled with mince meat, and baked or run under the broiler. I don’t know if my aunt made it up, or it was something from her Virginia youth, or where that came from. Anyone recognize this side? And then I will make wonderful Turkey Carcass soup with barley and wild rice early next week. Yum!
Bluegirlfromwyo
This year, we’re ordering meals. With the two of us, we’re not cooking a turkey. Under other circumstances, my Thanksgiving faves are mushroom stuffing and mashed potatoes made with cream cheese and butter.
Yutsano
@sixthdoctor: My go to cooking wine is pinot grigio. You could also do something nice like a sauvignon blanc or the Portuguese vihno verde. I would steer clear of something like a Gewürztraminer or moscato* as those tend to be sweeter wines. You could opt for a spicy note with a dry Riesling. Honestly your best bet is to go to a wine store and ask the people there what they recommend. You shouldn’t have to spend more than $10 I would imagine.
*While I wouldn’t cook with these, it shouldn’t stop you from buying then necessarily. Both are delicious as dessert wines.
O. Felix Culpa
I’m making a green chile lamb stew. Apple pie and creme fraiche for dessert. I make the stew the day before and reheat on Thanksgiving, which gives the flavors time to deepen and blend.
Delk
We are having ham. It’s just the two of us (we can make it if we try) and I just finished portioning it out. Some nice slices for Thursday and some smaller pieces to snack on before thanksgiving. We set aside and put in the freezer some for quiche and some for mac and cheese. The bone and some scraps are for soup. Everything left over went into a generic ham bag for future use.
sixthdoctor
@Yutsano: Thank you! Appreciate the info. I don’t cook with wine enough to know the ins and outs except the rule “don’t use what you wouldn’t drink”, which really doesn’t work for me because I’ve drank my share of swill.
And for a side, will do this mashed cauliflower, still have to decide on a dessert…
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize: Do you have an online source for your duck recipe? My ex and I once made a tea-smoked Chinese duck back in our grad school days. A highly involved process, but the outcome was delicious.
NotMax
A non-torrid tale of turkeys and sex.
;)
CarolPW
Ordered my turkey 6 weeks ago so I could get a smaller one than usual (10 – 12 lbs) because my sister will not be joining us. Having all the usual – creamed pearl onions, stuffing, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce. Zucchini gratin is this year’s green veg, will see how that goes.
As far as I am concerned, the only reason to cook a turkey is for the gravy and the stuffing. The meat is nothing special but I’ve spent decades getting the stuffing right for us and maximizing the gravy volume and flavor. Despite the size of this year’s turkey, I’m making enough stuffing for a 20 pounder.
NotMax
T Day will be eye of round roast chez NotMax. Gonna experiment with a coffee-chili rub and do the whole thing in the Instant Pot.
Meanwhile, a batch of honey-bourbon chicken is currently Instant Potting away for later tonight and the next few days.
Ohio Mom
Gravy. Thanksgiving must have gravy.
Pete Mack
We’ve got a 12lb-er lined up. May or may not visit sister, depending on whether BIL can get covid testing after reqd business travel. (It infuriates me that cheap instant testing isn’t available here the way it is in every other first world nation.)
Meantime, I cooked Samin Nosrat’s butternut and blue cheese (and caramelized onion) tart a couple days ago. Delicious and elegant!
You can’t go wrong with 1.3T butter and 2T heavy cream in every serving of crust. (Yes, really.) Plus plenty of olive oil.
First time I ever made a pie from scratch, BTW.
O. Felix Culpa
We are currently enjoying the cranberry upside-down cake that TaMara posted recently. Delicious and highly recommended!
Beautifulplumage
I’m going to try making turkey & stuffing meatballs to serve with mashed cauliflower & gravy. Probably the green bean casserole & salad. And pumpkin pie, my fave.
Just me & my sis, but joining a zoom group of folks I usually celebrate with. Sis has the palate of an 8 year old, so we my just eat turkey pot pies instead. *sigh
zhena gogolia
@sixthdoctor:
I have to admit that in the pan I use, the wine pretty much just dries up. I’m sure I’m doing something wrong.
I use whatever I have. I’m not really a gourmet cook. But it comes out tasty.
zhena gogolia
@TaMara (HFG):
Oh, I feel better!
Mousebumples
We’re doing ribeye and mushrooms and onions and asparagus. I’m debating if i should rice potatoes (Thanksgiving tradition!) or not bother this year…
TomatoQueen
Instead of a surfeit of lampreys, Aldi and Instacart between them have provided me with a Surfeit of Game Hens. Ordinarily I love the little goobers, but save them for holidays and usually buy a package of two frozen, one for Tgiving and one for T’Other One, but this time somebody pressed a little too hard on a key and I’ve got five of them, four fresh. Usually I spatchcock one on a bed of lemons or oranges and baste with a little melted butter and lemon juice, until there’s a nice glaze and a nice fragrance, about an hour and 15 minutes total. The other is stuffed with a quartered lemon, a sprig of rosemary, and a cinnamon stick, truss, then roast about an hour and 20 minutes, again basting. I like game hens because there’s very little extraneous fat and wonderful flavor in the meat, which is not for everyone so all the more for me. Sides are usually potato roasted, green beans steamed with a little dill, and foccaccia slices. Dessert when I were a lass was the big three pies, made by me, and always subject to long intense consideration and review at the end of the meal. Then I grew up, and I might order a couple slices of key lime pie.
There is a law about cranberry sauce. It is served from the can (clue, open both ends, and the whole mass comes out undisturbed) onto a flat plate, and you are a grown up if you can take your slice then pass the plate to the next person without dumping the remaining sauce in their lap. I have a silver plate service (Community Plate’s Bird of Paradise) that has unbelievable numbers and varieties of serving utensils, including a tomato slice server that does nicely with the cranberry sauce.
The wine was another bit of lagniappe, my choices failing to appear at all in the online order but yet there were both bottles packed nicely in the bag. As there is absolutely NO sign of any Beaujolais Nouveau within reach, the next best is the 2019 Villages from Georges DuBoeuf, who died in January goddammit at the age of 86. Xmas will be a tiny bit more grown up, a Mouton Cadet, something we used to drink happily in my college days and which I should probably maybe avoid. I’ve had to order a corkscrew.
Anonymous At Work
2 12-pounders here. I love a good roast turkey, with stuffing, mostly for leftovers.
I plan to brine and spatchcock both. One will get Pumpkin Pie Spice brine and one will get traditional (sage, rosemary, and thyme … plus garlic) brine. Ginger and nutmeg butter for hte former and rosemary-garlic herb butter for the latter.
Cornbread and sausage stuffing.
Turkey gravy (your recipe) made from the necks and giblets.
SectionH
Mr S bought a duck for Thursday. I’m fine with it, but he seemed to think it necessary to ‘splain that he really wanted it for the fat: he’ll have several months of duck fat to cook with. That’s true enough. And I say Yum, but roasted duck is good enough anyway.
We almost always were in transit on Thanksgiving Day, or setting up to work Fri-Sun, so if it’s not a bunch of apples, or Jack-in-the-box at noon, it’s fine. (Which is not to say we didn’t used to go to great lengths to have Wednesday dinner with my Mom until she died. I get the family thing, but I think I’m mostly thankful it’s not something we worry about.)
Mr S is a srsly good cook, and we did have wonderful Solstice Dinners back in the day. If we get through this mess, I think we’ll have a ginormous dinner. Invite people from all over, our fannish family..
eta: Our kids (my son, DiL, and granddaughter) are 10 minutes away, and also just being careful. Infection rates are getting terrible here. We can wait.
planetjanet
I have a new Thanksgiving favorite, pumpkin fluff. Well, new as I have only been making it the last five years, but it was not a family classic. It has that pumpkin spice goodness without all the calories. One 15 oz can of pumpkin, sugar free vanilla instant pudding, fat free cool whip and a lot of pumpkin spice. It is light and tasty and hits my sweet tooth.
Shana
Not something I witnessed personally, but a dear friend told me about it. We’re both pretty good cooks, like cooking, coming up with menus that mesh, having people over for dinner. She went to a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner at someone’s house many years ago. The wife took the turkey out of the oven, looking golden and smelling wonderful and promptly poured all the roasting juices down the kitchen sink. And then opened up a couple of jars of turkey gravy and warmed them up.
I stared at her aghast as she related this story. It’s still, far and away, the most horrible cooking related desecration in my experience. Not every person is a gourmet cook. I get that. People cook to survive and don’t care about food, I understand those people. This was something else, taking the elements of a delicious gravy and throwing it away to serve a processed, lesser version instead.
Dan B
Cornish Game Hens sound great! They’re a great bird because they are flavorful and moist with no extra processing. I ooked at Pheasant at our local butcher shop. I’ve never had it. The price tag was $33 for something the size of a petite chicken. I may try crushed fennel seed, Bay leaf in the cavity with a quarter lemon. Cinnamon and curry powder is tempting with a dusting of powdered sugar like Bastele. And a dark sauce from an over extracted California red. I’d like an Asian style Caesar salad and maybe a vegetable but simple is sounding good. So a pie with Marionberrys may be more than enough or simple the awesome Roquefort and Manchester with black garlic I just discovered.
Pastafarian
This is a tried and true “old lady” recipe. Lay a bed of celery stalks, carrots and thick sliced onions in roasting pan and sit bird on top. make a herb butter of rosemary, sage & thyme. (Lots of herbs). Place it under the skin. Prick skin all over with fork. Cover bird with slices of thin fatty bacon. Take two yds cheese cloth folded in 18″ square and soak in 4 C. of chicken broth. Place on top of bird. Pour remaining broth in roasting pan. Cover cheese cloth with foil. Roast in 350 oven approx. 2 1\2 to 3 hrs (for 12 !b bird) until breast register 140 deg. (I live at 7200 ft above sea level so my cooking times are different) Remove bird and increase oven to 425. Remove bacon, cheese cloth & foil. (Save foil/feed bacon to dogs.) Brush bird lightly with melted butter. Roast bird another 40 min to 1 hour until it registers 160 for breast and 175 for thighs.The butter really browns the bird so after the breast gets really brown I loosely cover the breast w/foil.
This is a no brine bird recipe and no baste. The bacon is basting the bird for you and results in a moist juicy turkey breast. I pour the contents of the roasting pan (the veg you laid the bird on) into a colander set over a bowl, pressing on the solids. I use a grease separator to get rid of the fat and use this to flavour my my gravy.
cope
10 pound bird for me and my wife and her sister. Then leftovers and carcass for soup. Sides will be cranberry Jello mold with sour cream/marshmallow sauce, dressing and sweet potato casserole.
Pete Mack
@Shana: This kind of thing is why Thanksgiving is *the* number one busiest day for plumbers. Usually it’s in-laws, though, pouring grease into an older plumbing system.
Sister Golden Bear
Since it’s just me this year, I ordered a dinner for pick-up. But I’ll also make some sides, specially the fantastically decadent creamed corn au gratin that I usually had with my late mother. I tend to use a bit less cream than in the recipe, to give it a thicker texture.
Jeffery
I bought an 11 pound turkey a week ago knowing the smaller birds would go fast this year. I do Julia Child’s deconstructed turkey. Made changes over the years to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt_QOpmYgwg
SectionH
@Jeffery: Well, My chef basically thinks Child is IT. She’s the best.
Yes we can has most of her books
I can bragg on being at one of Emirile”s restaurants – fuck it was NOLA. And we were there because actual friends read the Picikyune… so when NOLA oprned, 3rd night, when all the important ppl were there, r and me were with our local guys. And it was Amazing, And we were just hanging out and then Ken said, Um DON”T LOOK, that’s Julia Child over there.
Yes it was. And the same team were serving the 12 restaurant WANNABES who were serving us. That was when NOLA, the resturany – got my resperct. Because our service was just as good.
Which is exactly how it should be done, Srsly, you want a restaurant rec from me? It’s about experts doing their best jobs.
Mo MacArbie
@chopper: You’ve given me an earworm.
Just Dad and I. I’m already crashing at his place, so we’ve been quarantined the whole time anyway. No special virtue though, since it would probably be the same pandemic or no. All the fixins are in place, so I’m staying out of the stores next week save to pick up a couple pies at the local bakery.
As to the best side, the answer is butter. Whatever you may think you prefer, the reason you like it is butter.
Anonymous At Work
Anyone have opinions on DUCK vs. GOOSE? (Yes, planning Xmas already)
Miki
@sixthdoctor: Late to the party, as usual, but we made that last year – it was easy and tasty. Hope you enjoy it!
NotMax
@Anonymous At Work
Personal opinion.
Goose is okay as a novelty. Duck is a better choice when it comes to both taste and texture.
debbie
@NotMax:
Also, goose produces surprisingly less meat than you’d expect.