Hot answers tagged thanksgiving
12
Gravy is supposed to be opaque and is a result of using flour as the thickener. If you want clear gravy, like what you would get in a Chinese restaurant, then you need to use corn starch or arrowroot as your thickener. But the opacity is considered to be a good thing. It's the canned stuff you buy in the store that is clear.
11
The other answers touch on the fact that its the release of water from the turkey that interacts with the oil, causes the oil to overflow, and then ignite the burner.
Generally, this happens pretty shortly after you put the turkey in (due do any moisture on the outside of the bird).
To do it safely don't bank on the fact that you've removed all the water - ...
7
It is possible to over brine meat. If you leave it in too long it will get too salty.
If you use a more dilute brine it won't get as salty but you will wash out more of the natural flavor into the water as well.
You could submerge your turkey in its packaging in ice water in a cooler for a day before brining. You could even thaw the turkey in this manner ...
6
I've spatchcocked our turkey the past two years and will never go back to the usual way. It just cooks so much faster. The spatchcocking itself isn't to hard, although you do have to be willing to inflict a little violence on the turkey.
I basically follow Mark Bittman's recipe. The video is located here. I do, however cook a larger bird. The time I did it ...
6
Capsaicin, the molecules that make chilis hot, is soluble in oil. So when you're cooking something spicy in oil - you're most definitely taking away a lot of the heat into the oil. This is assuming you're going to fry the turkey. If you're not...good luck ;)
So yes, the recipe isn't that insane, it should be reduced in heat. Like soegaard says though, ...
6
The purpose- as with any cooked meat- is to let the meat firm up so it doesn't release juices when you cut into it.
In the case of a turkey it also helps to let it cool enough to not burn you when you are carving and eating it.
Both of these goals will be met in 30 minutes to an hour.
I don't know why that chef would recommend 3 hours. At that length of ...
5
Make sure the turkey is completely thawed.
Make sure the outside of the skin is dry.
Make sure there is room for the turkey and all of the oil in the kettle.
The explosion is caused by steam causing the oil to boil over, which then ignites when it reaches the burner.
Alton Brown has a show on it:
Fry Turkey Fry (1/3), Fry Turkey Fry (2/3), Fry Turkey ...
4
I see three excellent questions here:
1- How to cook a turkey without drying it out.
How do you keep turkey from getting too dry?
The quick answer to this question is always brining. I love brined turkey but often the drippings are too salty to make a gravy which is a tragedy. For that reason, and because of the faster cooking time, I wouldn't brine a ...
4
Let's start with the assumption that Safety is never in the balance. Safety has to be taken into account for any method that we use and that means that we want to keep any food that is time and temperature sensitive out of the danger zone. The danger zone is the temperature range from 40 degrees F to 140 degrees F.
If you have plenty of time, letting the ...
4
A few things aren't quite right here.
1- a cooler full of water for 3 days.
A turkey will take 3-4 days to thaw in the fridge- between 35-40F. Quicker methods call for submerging in running water for some hours. Submerging the turkey in stagnant water- even if it started as ice water- will allow the turkey to rise well above 40F over the course of 3 days. ...
3
Alton Brown was on NPR's "All Things Considered" this week.
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/13/165039668/turkey-tips-from-alton-brown-dont-baste-or-stuff
He said he likes to thaw the bird in the cooler for up to a week in ice brine. As the ice melts it dilutes the brine. I am trying this myself this year, but only for 3 days. Alton claims he has not seen the ...
3
Ice or water meets 400-degree oil and voila, explosion. Once again I will direct attention to Alton Brown's Good Eats episode "Fry Turkey Fry," in which you can learn all you need to know about how to fry a turkey SAFELY and TASTILY.
2
Here is a great place to go to compare identified inards with what you have.
http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/11/offal-of-the-week-turkey-offal/
Personally, when making gravy, I just use the drippings from the turkey, sometimes I throw the neck in for a little extra, if I need to make some more. Call me squimish, but I usually toss the rest, but that's ...
2
I always make a tofu turkey by blending tofu with herbs and flavorings and then draining over night in a colander dressed with a kitchen towel. The next day I shape the tofu info a turkey shape with stuffing inside, wrap it in a soaked yuba sheat and bake it in the oven, brushing with butter and marinade occasionally.
This "turkey" will not have the ...
2
You can either get fresh or dried yuba, the dried one has to be soaked.
When I made a tofu turkey I soaked the yuba sheat for about 10 minutes in warm water before wrapping it around the "meat". The tofu turkey had already been baking in the oven for around 1 hour when I added the skin. After applying the yuba I rosted the whole thing in the oven until the ...
2
From my experience, there are no major differences between Canadian and Northern American dishes. We have most of the normal Turkey (or Goose/Duck), yams, potatoes, stuffing/dressing, pies etc... There are probably more differences with in the United States itself (southern vs northern), for example the cornbread you mentioned.
In other words, when I watch ...
1
You could also consider equilibrium brining. Since you sound like you want to leave it to thaw for several days, this may be a safer way to avoid over salting the meat. The basis of the idea is you want to weigh your bird, decide how much salt you would want in the final product (i.e. maybe 1% salinity) calculate that weight in salt (bird weight X salinity ...
1
This was the second year I brined a turkey and I accomplished the task in a bucket with brine and ice + water, just as I had the year before. I did this for two days this year because of a last minute issue that arose on the day I had planned to roast, pushing my roasting day back by 24 hours. I was really worried my bird was ruined, but not having a choice ...
1
The best way to deep fry a turkey is, to first buy some quality peanut oil. Using the wrong type of oil can cause a fire/explosion or cause your turkey to taste burnt. You should brine your turkey as well, helps out a lot. Make sure you dry your turkey out and off as much as possible, this step is important! Water and oil can also cause over boiling of your ...
1
In trying to size up this question I turned first to look at what Turkey replacements are considered viable as commercial products. A recent round-up of the top 5 retail products was composed of seitan, or vital wheat gluten constructed "meats."
Has the defined texture of turkey meat
Properly prepared, seitan can easily mimic, though not quite ...
1
If you want crispy skin on your bird, you have to make sure that you leave time for the water to come off the skin entirely, so the full drying time is recommended.
If your skin doesn't make much diffrence to you, use the full brining time to create optimium penetration.
That said, your bird should remain nice and moist after as little as ten hours in the ...
1
use them all. i make one gravy (often a jar-name brand is usually best) without the good stuff, and one, again using a jar, with the neck boiled for hours the rest fried and simmered for the last hour of turkey cooking, minus what i eat. to answer the question, the 2 soft dark red parts are most likely the liver. if they feel muscularly or hard, it is the ...
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