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Thanksgiving Holiday Traditions

Smallville said:
That is cool that she wants to play. Definitely encourage that!
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Definetly. Back when she lived in Maryland she took golf lessons, so she already has a pretty good idea what shes doing.
I just need to teach her how to read greens and teach her all my little shortgame tricks. :D
Shes a very intelligent woman though, so Im pretty sure she will catch on quickly.
 
Bucky36 said:
Definetly. Back when she lived in Maryland she took golf lessons, so she already has a pretty good idea what shes doing.
I just need to teach her how to read greens and teach her all my little shortgame tricks. :D
Shes a very intelligent woman though, so Im pretty sure she will catch on quickly.
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But... she's dating you! :confused2:

(Sorry--couldn't resist)
 
Bucky's catching it from everyone! Well, two of us! hehe
 
We don't do the big family deal, this year my wife & I have reservations for a nice dinner at Essen Haus in Madison. It's a very nice German restaurant.
 
dynarider said:
We don't do the big family deal, this year my wife & I have reservations for a nice dinner at Essen Haus in Madison. It's a very nice German restaurant.
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Been there! Nice place. You gonna drink from the boot, Dyna?
 
Usually dinner with family and friends. Watch some football and just generally chill. This year I may try to get in a round of golf early. Several courses are having specials.
 
The poinsettias are here! The poinsettias are here! Six big ones!

Kevin
 
dynarider said:
That's one of my goals:D
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Mmmmmmmm! :D My girlfriend lives a few blocks away from the Essen Haus, so its one of our favorite hangouts.
Hopefully you will really be in luck and that Oompa band will be playing. That way you will get the total German experience! :bananadance:
 
Bucky36 said:
LOL...Wow, I guess that really says what you think of me, Claire. :confused2:
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What I think is that if you throw softballs, I'm gonna hit 'em.

So somewhere before 6:00 this morning, I'm in the kitchen, cubing my homemade stuffing bread. Hubby wanders down and announces that he really prefers stuffing made from Wonder Bread.

I have some ideas about where I'm going to stuff that loaf of Wonder Bread (which would never cross my threshhold in any event).
 
ClairefromClare said:
So somewhere before 6:00 this morning, I'm in the kitchen, cubing my homemade stuffing bread. Hubby wanders down and announces that he really prefers stuffing made from Wonder Bread.

I have some ideas about where I'm going to stuff that loaf of Wonder Bread (which would never cross my threshhold in any event).
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He's a lout, I tell you.

I just finished up what I needed to do in the office, and have two quick early afternoon appointments. Then it's time for some turkey wrasslin'. I need to get the 23 lb. Amish fatty out of it's plastic garment and into it's briny bath. I cooked up a nice salty slurry last night. I have never brined a turkey before, but I'm thinking this is going to work out fine. I've also never cooked an Amish bird before. I hope it doesn't have a beard, because I don't feel like shaving something huge, slippery, and unwieldy.

Doing that once a day is enough.

Kevin
 
Esox said:
I just finished up what I needed to do in the office, and have two quick early afternoon appointments. Then it's time for some turkey wrasslin'. I need to get the 23 lb. Amish fatty out of it's plastic garment and into it's briny bath. I cooked up a nice salty slurry last night. I have never brined a turkey before, but I'm thinking this is going to work out fine. I've also never cooked an Amish bird before. I hope it doesn't have a beard, because I don't feel like shaving something huge, slippery, and unwieldy.

Doing that once a day is enough.

Kevin
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I use a brine recipe that Alton Brown from TFN used in one of his shows. It's a mix of citrus fruits and spices that gives the turkey meat a wonderful flavor. I deep fry the bird too, so there's some carmelization going on with the skin. What do you put in the brine you use, and how are you cooking your turkey?
 
bonknhead said:
I use a brine recipe that Alton Brown from TFN used in one of his shows. It's a mix of citrus fruits and spices that gives the turkey meat a wonderful flavor. I deep fry the bird too, so there's some carmelization going on with the skin. What do you put in the brine you use, and how are you cooking your turkey?
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Salt, Peppercorns, brown sugar, allspice. It's an Alton Brown thing, too. I left out candied ginger. Trying to get it in the brine around 4:00. I want to get it out of the brine after 12-14 hours, then get it in the fridge in the roasting pan to let the brine distribute/drain. I'm stuffing and roasting. since I haven't roasted a brined bird before I'm kind of flying by the seat of my ample pants. I hear it cooks faster, but since it's stuffed that typically takes longer. Mrs. Esox if off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so I'm having her get me a new, good quality, instant read thermometer. I'm going with roasting instructions that say to start the bird at a higher temperature for a crispy skin end result.

I've heard the gravy can be salty with a brined bird, so I definitely want to do that draining thing. I'll be tasting the gravy before salting, that's for sure. I'm also not going to put much salt in the dressing.

If the bird crashes I have some frozen pizzas.

Kevin
 
You guys wont be disappointed with brining it. Ive done it a couple of times now with a turkey and I will never go back to the old way. I dont know about the Alton Brown stuff, he seems to always make everything more complicated.
 
TheGasman said:
You guys wont be disappointed with brining it. Ive done it a couple of times now with a turkey and I will never go back to the old way. I dont know about the Alton Brown stuff, he seems to always make everything more complicated.
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I usually go with the basic parts of his instructions and leave stuff out. Mine is just water, vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, and allspice.

Kevin
 
TheGasman said:
You guys wont be disappointed with brining it. Ive done it a couple of times now with a turkey and I will never go back to the old way. I dont know about the Alton Brown stuff, he seems to always make everything more complicated.
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I've used his brine for the past 5 years that I've been deep-frying turkeys for Christmas - it's not complicated at all. Just mix the ingredients together, bring to a boil, put into a cooler with the turkey and some ice overnight. Pretty simple.
 
Esox said:
I usually go with the basic parts of his instructions and leave stuff out. Mine is just water, vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, and allspice.

Kevin
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bonknhead said:
I've used his brine for the past 5 years that I've been deep-frying turkeys for Christmas - it's not complicated at all. Just mix the ingredients together, bring to a boil, put into a cooler with the turkey and some ice overnight. Pretty simple.
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I was just talking about all of his other stuff in general, the brine seems pretty basic and im sure it turns out great. All brines are pretty similar.

My problem with him is like with brining, instead of having you put it in a 5 gallon container in your fridge, he tells you that you should use a ice chest. Or when smoking something to use a flower pot and a hot plate instead of a smoker box. Or using a cherry picker for a turkey fryer. Or how he goes overboard with cross contamination. I get that it makes his show more interesting but I think some of the stuff might discourage people as well.

I will say that I read his book a few years back and it really helped me grasp cooking as a whole. I use it as a reference all of the time.
 
TheGasman said:
My problem with him is like with brining, instead of having you put it in a 5 gallon container in your fridge, he tells you that you should use a ice chest. Or when smoking something to use a flower pot and a hot plate instead of a smoker box. Or using a cherry picker for a turkey fryer. Or how he goes overboard with cross contamination. I get that it makes his show more interesting but I think some of the stuff might discourage people as well.
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In your example above, you'd prefer that he tell viewers to put a 5-gal container in their fridge as opposed to telling them to use an ice chest, and you'd rather have him tell viewers to to use a smoker box instead of the flower pot/hotplate?
 
bonknhead said:
In your example above, you'd prefer that he tell viewers to put a 5-gal container in their fridge as opposed to telling them to use an ice chest, and you'd rather have him tell viewers to to use a smoker box instead of the flower pot/hotplate?
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It was more of a rant. The ice chest makes sense but the flower pot one is the one that always drives me nuts. Like I said it makes for more entertaining tv and he obviously has a successful show and knows a lot more than I.
 
The ice chest isn't a bad idea. I was reading these posts, trying to imagine what I'd use to brine a 21 lb. turkey. Even our big ice chest might not be big enough. Not that it matters--I'm not brining this year--too much on my plate as it is.
 
ClairefromClare said:
The ice chest isn't a bad idea. I was reading these posts, trying to imagine what I'd use to brine a 21 lb. turkey. Even our big ice chest might not be big enough. Not that it matters--I'm not brining this year--too much on my plate as it is.
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The biggest turkey I'll deep-fry is about 15 lbs. - that size bird fits just fine in one of the ice chests we have. A bigger turkey would need more oil and a deeper frypot.
 
Oven roasting here. I have a convection oven, and that helps. Plus (just for G-man), instead of putting foil over the breast, I lay slices of bacon over it. Once the bird is cooked, I crumble the turkey and stir it into the stuffing.
 
ClairefromClare said:
Oven roasting here. I have a convection oven, and that helps. Plus (just for G-man), instead of putting foil over the breast, I lay slices of bacon over it.
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I've never heard of that - sounds like a great idea. Do you put the bacon the entire roasting time?

ClairefromClare said:
Once the bird is cooked, I crumble the turkey and stir it into the stuffing.
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So you crumble the turkey into the stuffing and just eat bacon and stuffing? :comp:
 
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