Imitation Liquor?
I was stocking up with alcohol for the proceedings and was checking out of our local booze superstore and I saw this at the checkout counter. The first thing that hit me was that they made an alcohol flavored like Stroopwafel. Long time readers and family members who live in Amsterdam of course recognize this cookie like treat. But as an alcohol flavor? Then I noticed the worlds 'Imitation Liquor'. Is that like faux alcohol? Or that the flavoring is imitation? I chose not to buy it and find out.
Successful Experiments
My biggest experiment involved the turkey. As I am sure you are well aware of, cooking whole turkey is a bitch because the white and dark meat cook to different temperatures to be at their best. So if you cook the white meat to perfection, the dark is not cooked enough and if you cook the dark to perfection, the white is dry and overcooked.
A classic way of resolving this is to cook them separate. For the small group we had, it would have made sense to by a whole turkey breast and a couple of leg quarters. HOWEVER, I have found over decades of experimenting that stuffing (cooked in the bird) is far superior to dressing (cooked in a pan). So that meant buying a whole bird and taking the legs off. I was a bit worried that by doing that my remaining carcass would have lost structural integrity.
Fortunately that was not the case. Since it was a small bird to begin with, I was able to brine the leg/thigh pieces in only a few hours and the remaining carcass for 8 hours. This meant getting this whole process done the day before. I just wrapped the carcass in foil and refrigerated it until the morning. I then on Wed, braised the turkey leg pieces in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, with the intent of finishing them in the oven.
Pieces ready to be brined
My now standard brine mixture (I use this for all my smoking)
Salt, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, cumin powder and coriander powder
I've found mixing these with an immersion blender keeps the flavorings dissolved in the water better
Turkey legs after braising
Love my pressure cooker!
The turkey carcass was totally able to hold the stuffing. I used half a package which was just enough for the small bird and did not leave many leftovers. I was about to take on the unpleasant task of sewing up (trussing) the bird when I had an idea so brilliant it even amazed me (and de-I is so accustomed to his own brilliance that that is not easy!). Why not just use wooden kebab skewers to hold the the whole thing in place. Presto chango in just minutes I had the whole thing done.
Post cooking, amputated bird tightly held by skewers giving it a nice 21st century punk look to it (or maybe a Christian Martyr look?)
The white meat was perfect and the legs finished off with the skin crisping nicely
Since I was on a roll with successful experimentation, I decided to do something else. I had everything cooked ahead of time. I had the turkey done hours before meal time so I had lots of time to carve it all up. Then in another stroke of brilliance I put turkey stock over all the sliced meat to ensure it stayed moist. Then the entire dinner went into a warming oven. Once our friends arrived, we were able to just socialize with them. When we were ready, we pulled all the food out and ate.
One last successful experiment involved the sweet potatoes. I have never liked the candied sweet potato dishes. I have always enjoyed a plain baked sweet potato. So I baked mine and took the meat out and mashed it. They came out naturally very sweet.
Failed Experiment
Alas not everything went as hoped. Inspired by our recent trip to New Orleans, I wanted to make my gravy with a real Louisiana style dark roux. I'd gotten instructions there (cook the time it takes to finish two beers) and looked on line for more advice. I stood there for around 40 minutes stirring away working on the concoction.
It really had the look of that authentic dark chocolate roux
Sadly when I made my gravy on Thursday with it, it turned out I had burnt it!!!!!!
SOOOO SAD.
Fortunately, I had plenty of stock, whipped up a more traditional short cooked roux and had acceptable gravy.
However, I will be back to try getting this right again.
Finale
My Mother always used to make Turkey Tetrazzini which is basically pasta with a stock/cream sauce and the left over turkey. I hadn't done it in as long as I could remember. But after breaking the turkey down, making stock and freezing stuff, I had lots of small pieces left over so I made that for our Sunday dinner
Turned out great and brought back all kinds of memories
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!
4 comments:
Happy Thanksgiving! Looks like a wonderful meal. We made Irma's schmaltzy potatoes and they were delicious and brought back great memories. We also made an America's Test Kitchen stuffing (dressing) recipe that calls for (seared) turkey wings to be placed on top of the stuffing mixture while it bakes- mimics cooking it in the bird.
I just made turkey tetrazini tonight and OH & liked it so much we both went back for seconds (and some of us for thirds) - something we generally avoid during the week. Thanks for the suggestion on what to do with all that gravy!
I really think, that in the name of science, you must try that Stroopwaffel liquor.
That Stroopwaffel IMITATION liquor. I suspect it will become like our infamous bottle of Aftershock - a family heirloom
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