It’s Thanksgiving again, and I have even more to be thankful for. I am especially thankful to be in a situation where I am able to support myself while working to create resources for survivors and families all across the globe. I am so thankful for the opportunity to do the work that I love and am so passionate about, and that opportunity is inspired by and afforded to me by you, my incredibly supportive audience.
For the past two years, I have written several paragraphs about this holiday with a focus on gratitude, something I find to be unbelievably important. But this year, I want to dish about something else that I also think is very important: food!
Two years ago, just the second Thanksgiving following my severe traumatic brain injury, my diet was still very restricted. My mom, stepdad and I, headed to Houston for the holiday with my aunt, uncle, and our friend Lisa. My aunt Debbie, who has some serious culinary skills, had spent all day putting together a delicious feast that had nothing in it I couldn’t eat. She had to get pretty creative in making sure that every dish was free of dairy, gluten, soy, nuts, or any other food capable of causing an immune response.
As Debbie slaved in the kitchen, we opted to stay out of the way at Lisa’s home a few miles away. My mom was the only one who was in communication with my aunt Debbie the entire day. At one point, however, my mother fell asleep and napped for several hours. Unbenounced to us, Debbie had texted over and over and finally called several times. John, my stepdad, heard my mother’s phone ringing for the second or third time and picked it up.
“Where are you guys?” She asked. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“Oh… We’re here at Lisa’s. Kris is asleep”
“What?!” She said sharply. “Well you wake her up and tell her that the bird is done and we are just gonna have a cold sad turkey for Thanksgiving.”
When we finally made it to my aunts place, the bird had been sitting on her counter in a tin foil tent for over two hours. My aunt remained as pleasant as possible, but you could tell she was steaming mad, and understandably so.
“Ok, it’s too bad this bird is all cold and sad now, because it was pasture raised and was tucked in every night and read stories before bed. I was hoping it’d be the best damn bird I’ve ever cooked, but what can you do?”
Yet, my aunt Debbie served up this bird, and it was THE BEST TURKEY she had ever had!
Looking back, we think that part of why it was so incredibly delicious was because it had the opportunity to rest for hours before being cut. It was incredibly good, but I like to brine the turkey first. So, Debbie and I are going to make a hybrid out of our respective favorite Thanksgiving turkey recipes, and hopefully THIS bird will be the best of the best!
Without further ado, here’s what we’ve come up with:
Ingredients:
The bird:
1 (14 to 24 pound) turkey
The brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1 gallon vegetable stock or bone broth
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water
The herb butter:
1 1/4 stick (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
The veggies:
2 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large stalks celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large onions, quartered
2 Medium rutabagas, quartered
BRINE TIME:
First things first: the kind of bird.
If you get a frozen bird, you want to thaw it either several days before or rapid thaw it in the bathtub. I don’t want to go through all of that, so I get a fresh bird or a chilled bird.
Combine the stock, salt, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
Early on the day or the night before you’d like to eat:
Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once halfway through brining.
BUTTER, BABY!
Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting.
Combine the butter, sage, rosemary, thyme, and parsley in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
We’re going to stuff it under the skin on either side of the breastbone. You can loosen the skin on either side of the breastbone starting with your fingers with the cavity facing towards you.
Once you start it you can use a small rubber spatula (or man up and use your hands) and just work it under the skin, in between the meat and the skin. It will loosen pretty easily, and don’t worry about tearing the skin, turkey skin is very tough. So get it down as far as it can go.
Then take half the butter and place it under the skin on one side of the breastbone. Just kind of shove it under there and use your finger to scrap it off the spoon. Once it’s underneath use your fingers and hand to spread it from the back to the front. Spread it evenly so you have the same amount across the surface.
Repeat the same procedure on the other side of the breastbone with the other half of the butter. Once you’re done you’re going to have butter on your fingers and in the bowl, so take any excess butter and spread it over the surface of the skin. the entire turkey with the herb butter and season liberally with salt and pepper.
THE ROAST:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
Season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper and fill the cavity with half of the carrots, celery, rutabaga, and onion.
Place the remaining vegetables on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Put the turkey on top of the vegetables.
Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for at least 30 minutes, but two hours is even better!
Pics to come…
Recipe combined from:
Alton Brown, also featured in Food Network Magazine
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe.html?oc=linkback
Butter under skin technique from:
Chef John Mitzewich for About.com: https://homecooking.about.com/video/Holiday-Turkey-Butter.htm
photo: FunnyWildLife
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