Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 – Wang Family Recipes

Turkey

(adapted from 2009 Sunset Magazine)

Best turkey we have ever made!

16-17 lbs. fresh Amish free range turkey.

Brining plastic bag

Brine the night before:

Dissolve 1 cup sea salt (next time use kosher salt?) + ½ cup honey in 1 cup simmering water

(Next time add dried herbs?)

Add about 3 quarts cold or room temperature water

Cool pot of water on an ice pack

Put brining bag in the turkey pan without the rack

Put turkey in the bag, breast side down

Pour in water and seal

Use rubber bands to cinch the bag tight (so whole turkey covered by water if possible)

In the morning, flip the turkey in its brining bag.

Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before roasting.

Rinse off brine and place on rack in deep pan, breast side up.

Place quartered small onion and lemon inside turkey, pin legs together.

Rub turkey with olive oil and pepper.

Flip turkey breast side DOWN.

Do not cover turkey

Preheat oven to 350 F and remove all racks except bottom rack.

Roast turkey breast side down.

After 1 ½ hours, flip and baste turkey. Cover legs with foil (we did this since the legs looked really brown. I’m not sure what effect this had, but the turkey was perfect).

Roast another 1 ¾ hours. (Half way through, remove drippings and baste with oil from drippings)

Check temperature 15 minutes before it should be done: place thermometer into the fleshy part of each thigh (test both, close to but not touching the bone). When fully cooked, turkey should register 175F.

Let turkey stand at least 30 minutes. Temperature of thigh meat should eventually rise to about 180 F.

Cranberry Sauce

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

2 cups (1/2 pound) fresh cranberries, washed

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel

Combine cranberries and sugar in a small saucepan

Bring to a boil

Reduce heat to low, simmer uncovered for 4-5 minutes until the skins begin to pop

(Do not overcook to the point of mushiness)

Place into a 2 cup mold

Refrigerate 2 – 3 hours

To unmold, run a knife around the edge and dip the bottom in hot water

Oyster Stuffing

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

Mix 16 – 18 cups homemade bread crumbs

(2 loafs of bakery white bread – used Meijer Vienna bread in 2009 –

Toasted, broken by hand into fairly large pieces but not too big: they don’t shrink)

2 cups fresh chopped parsley

4 tablespoons grated lemon peel

Cook 1.5 cups olive oil (strong and grassy)

5-6 small onions (or 3-4 medium onions), chopped

24 ounce package of pre-washed spinach, wilted.

2 teaspoons black pepper (freshly ground)

2 teaspoons sea salt

Combine contents of pan and bowl

Add 2 lbs of fresh oysters (from Colony Market), not cleaned or drained, with juices

1.5 eggs (1 egg, 1 egg white)

½ of the turkey drippings (don’t add water to the drippings)

Bake 375 degrees

1.5 hours, uncovered. (Stir after the first 45 minutes)

Notes: Fill pans with a shallow layer of stuffing. If it’s too thick, it will have to roast longer, and then the oysters will overcook. Also, it’s hard to time everything to finish at once. If you only have one oven, you may need to roast one pan of stuffing in the toaster oven on toast/bake setting. I regret adding water to the drippings.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice

1 lemon’s squeezed juice

4 large sweet potatoes, cut into disks and then quartered

1/2 cup of sugar (slightly over) plus 1 packet Splenda (or 1 cup sugar)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons of olive oil (Pasolivo tangerine if available)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Dissolve orange juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar in Japanese ceramic pot

Put sweet potato disks in layers in the pot.

Simmer over stovetop, covered (constantly baste potatoes in the orange juice)

Continue to cook until almost done (30 minutes?) and finish in oven if juice won’t congeal.

After turning off the heat, stir in lemon zest

Gravy

(adapted from the Time-Life Holiday Cookbook, 1976)

Neck, gizzard, heart and liver of the turkey

1 tablespoon salt

1 medium sized carrot, peeled and cut

1 small onion, peeled and quartered

4 sprigs fresh parsley

3 dried bay leaves

4 cups water

1 cup of turkey stock

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Combine everything (except turkey stock and cornstarch) in a small saucepan

Bring to boil, and then simmer covered for 1 – 1 ½ hours

Remove everything but the broth

Stir cornstarch into a small amount of cold water, add mixture to gravy

Add turkey stock

Cook under high heat until the sauce thickens and is smooth

Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes

Brussels Sprouts

(adapted from Momofuku – GQ recipe)

Clean and cut stems off Brussels sprouts. (Next time, cut in half.)

Fry a slice of bacon from Colony Market, and remove.

Sear the Brussels sprouts in Le Creuset.

Roast for 8-12 minutes at 400 F

Toss with Sri Racha, lime juice and diced bacon

Also at the table in 2009

Mom, Dad, Missy, James, Tim, Steph, Henrika, Octavia

Challah bread, pumpkin pie and mini-apple pie from Zingerman’s.

Red wine