Brined Turkey

Notes

The real secret to a great Thanksgiving is brining the turnkey. A brined turnkey is moist and practically impossible to ruin. Plus it keeps the leftover turnkey from drying out. This came from Good Eats but it's pretty loosey-turkey.

Brining starts the night before Thanksgiving.

Brine

Ingredients

• 1C Kosher salt
• Lots of ice (you might need to stock up a bit the day before)
• Vegetable stock (recipe calls for 1G but you can get away with just a quart or two)
• ½C brown sugar
• 2C orange juice
• 1T black peppercorns
• ½T allspice berries (optional)
• ½T candied ginger

Directions

1. Thaw your turkey by placing in the refrigerator a few days before.
2. Combine dry ingredients with enough wet ingredients to dissolve. Boil and stir to dissolve. Let cool and refrigerate if you can but if you don't have the time, you will be combining with ice (that's why you only add enough liquid to dissolve instead of having to use a big pot).
3. Place turkey in a 5-gallon bucket (you can get them at Home Depot or Lowe's).
4. Pour brine into bucket, followed by a bunch of ice.
5. Fill up bucket with water and leave overnight.
6. In the morning, turn the turkey over and place back into bucket. Add ice as necessary.

Baking

Ingredients

• Apple
• Onion
• Cinnamon stick
• Sprig of rosemary
• 6 sage leaves (optional)
• Whole turkey, guts removed (but saved for turkey stock)
• Canola oil

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 500°.
2. Combine aromatic ingredients (not the turkey or canola oil) with 1C water and microwave for 5 minutes.
3. Remove turkey from brine and rinse. Discard brine.
4. Put turkey in roasting rack and place into roasting pan.
5. Stuff bird with aromatics (unless someone you're with insists they have to put stuffing in the turkey--you don't because you make dressing, instead).
6. Rub bird with canola oil.
7. Put bird in oven (you will likely need to move the rack lower than you usually have it) for 30 minutes.
8. Remove bird from oven, insert probe thermometer (set to 170°) into breast. Cover bird with aluminum foil, reduce oven heat to 350° and place back into oven.
9. When probe alarm goes off (should only take a few hours--not all day as some would lead you to believe), remove turkey from oven and let rest for 15 minutes. That's a good time to use the roasting pan drippings to make gravy. I use red wine to de-glaze the pan. Makes fantastic gravy (don't worry, the alcohol burns off).

Mashed Potatoes

Notes

Mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes. Minor variations here and there and you can mess them up but you pretty much have to work at it to do that.

My variation is using olive oil along with butter. It does make a difference.

The hip thing to do is to not completely peel the potatoes so there are little peely bits in the final dish. However, sometimes you marry a person who doesn't want any peely bits so you don't get to be hip.

Do not use an electric hand mixer to mash the potatoes. Use a potato masher and don't mash too much. It makes a difference.

Ingredients

• Some russet potatoes
• Unsalted butter
• Olive oil
• Whipping cream

Directions

1. Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. The smaller the chunks, the faster they'll cook. The more similar the chunks are in size, the more even they will cook.
2. Put the potatoes in salted water and boil until just done. Do not over-cook.
3. Drain potatoes into colander then place back into pot.
4. Cut butter into chunks then add to potatoes.
5. Start mashing until butter is just worked in.
6. Add olive oil and mash a little more.
7. Add whipping cream a little at a time and mash until you get the consistency you are looking for. Do not mash so much that it is too smooth. You want some chunkiness so the gravy has nooks and crannies to crawl into.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Notes

Super easy recipe from The Joy of Cooking.

All measurements are pretty loosey-goosey.

Ingredients

• Some sweet potatoes
• Salt
• ⅓C maple syrup -or- ¾C brown sugar (but it tastes better with maple syrup)
• 2T butter
• Marshmallows (optional).

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°.
2. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into chunks.
3. Place them into salted water and boil until just done. Do not over-cook into mushiness.
4. Drain and place into baking dish.
5. Add maple syrup and stir to coat.
6. Dot with butter chunks.
7. Cover with marshmallows and bake uncovered for about 20 minutes or until marshmallows are browned.

Southern Corn Bread Dressing

Notes

Got this one from Paula Deen. It's mostly as-is except for two very important changes.

Ingredients

• Corn bread, crumbled
• 7 slices of oven-dried white bread, crumbled
• 1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• ½ stick butter
• 7C chicken stock
• 1t kosher salt
• Pepper to taste
• 1T poultry seasoning
• 5 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°.
2. Make the corn bread the night before. Let it sit in the pan in the oven overnight.
3. Put crumbled corn bread, crumbled bread slices, crushed saltines, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper into a mixing bowl. Mix.
4. Sauté celery and onion in butter until transparent. Pour into mixing bowl and mix.
5. Add beaten eggs to mixing bowl and mix well.
6. Add non-stick spray to a large baking sheet.
7. Add stock to mixing bowl, mix, and immediately pour into baking sheet. Put sheet into oven.
8. The original recipe says this takes 45 minutes but I find that it takes at least one hour, up to 1:45. Keep an eye on it.

Roast Chicken and Potatoes

Notes

Let's face it, this dish is all about the potatoes cooked in chicken fat. BUT, it's also about turning the chicken carcass into soup stock later.

Ingredients

• A whole chicken
• Red potatoes
• Olive oil (I prefer extra-virgin)
• Garlic
• Salt & pepper

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°.
2. Cut red potatoes into small-ish chunks. How much? Enough for the roasting pan you use. Put in the roasting pan.
3. I use a couple of tablespoons of chopped garlic (like you can find at Costco). Food purists may sneer but I find it so much easier. You can use a bulb or two of garlic cloves, of course. Add to roasting pan.
4. Add some salt & pepper and pour some olive oil into the roasting pan. How much? Enough. Mix all ingredients together.
5. If you love your potatoes crispy, put them into the oven at this point. Cook for 30 minutes, turn over, and cook for another 30 minutes.
6. Take the guts out of the chicken (save for stock!) and set on the potatoes. Stuff it with ½ onion, some rosemary (if you have it--look in the garden), and even some garlic cloves.
7. Put thermometer probe into chicken breast, set for 170°, and place pan in the oven covered with aluminum foil.
8. When chicken is done (2 hours-ish), don't forget the oil in the pan. I pour some over my chicken slices. Yummy!

Buttermilk Corn Bread

Notes

This comes from The Joy of Cooking.

You will want to time things so that the batter is ready when the bacon is done. Pour the batter into the pan while it is still hot.

Ingredients

• 2 slices of bacon
• 1C all-purpose flour
• ½t baking soda
• 1½t baking powder
• 1T sugar
• 1t kosher salt
• ¾C cornmeal
• 1½C buttermilk
• 2 eggs

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425°.
2. Cook bacon in the pan in which you will be cooking the corn bread. I use a cast-iron skillet.
3. Remove the bacon and spread the oil around.
4. Eat the bacon.
5. Sift together the dry ingredients.
6. Whisk together the buttermilk and eggs.
7. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir until just combined.
8. Pour the batter into the pan and place into oven.
9. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

Notes

From my favorite episode of Good Eats.

Ingredients

• 2C all-purpose flour
• 4t baking powder
• ¼t baking soda
• ¾t kosher salt
• 2T butter
• 2T shortening
• 1C buttermilk

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400° (The original recipe says 450°. Alton's grandmother says 475° on the show. Alton Brown said 400° on the show itself. I find 400° works for me).
2. Sift together the dry ingredients.
3. Combine butter and shortening into dry ingredients. You can use your fingers. I use two butter knives.
4. Pour in the buttermilk and stir just enough to combine. Dough should be sticky but not batter-y.
5. Dust a flat surface with flour and place the dough on it. Fold the dough on itself several times (adding flour if necessary) until dough is no longer sticky and is 1" thick.
6. Using a biscuit cutter (about 2"), cut out biscuits. With leftover scraps, work together and make another biscuit or two.
7. Place biscuit onto cookie sheet. Either use a silicon mat or spray with non-stick spray. Each biscuit should be touching another biscuit or two (or three).
8. Using a thumb or a couple of fingers, indent the top of each biscuit. This keeps the biscuit from becoming too round.
9. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cranberry/Orange Relish

Notes

On the night you were conceived, your mother and I went to her company Christmas party at Chasen's, a legendary L.A. restaurant. They had this cranberry sauce thing that also had oranges and walnuts and it was so good! I scoured the net for recipes and engineered this. I seem to be its biggest fan because I really do enjoy it.

Make this the night before Thanksgiving. That will give the raisins time to plump up.

Ingredients

• 1½C orange juice
• ¾C sugar
• Dash of powdered ginger
• 1 bag (12 oz) cranberries
• 2 cans (11 oz) mandarin oranges
• 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple
• 1C golden raisins
• ½C chopped walnuts
• 1 lemon (optional)

Directions

1. Heat OJ to a simmer in a pot big enough to hold all ingredients.
2. Add sugar and ginger. Stir to dissolve.
3. Add cranberries and simmer until the berries begin to crack (listen for the popping sound).
4. Add raisins and wait for the simmer.
5. Add oranges with juice from cans and wait for the simmer.
6. Add pineapple and wait for the simmer.
7. Add walnuts, stir, and remove from heat.
8. This year I have added the juice of one lemon and stirred at this point. The jury is still out on whether it's a good idea or not.
9. Let cool down and then refrigerate overnight.

Pancakes

Notes

Another recipe from Good Eats.

Serve with Farmer John Original Sausage Links, the best breakfast sausage in the world.

Ingredients

• 2C all-purpose flour (I like unbleached)
• ½t baking soda
• 1t baking powder
• 1t kosher salt
• 2t sugar
• ½ stick unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2C buttermilk

Directions

1. Combine all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk together the egg whites and buttermilk.
3. Whisk together the egg yolks and melted butter (temper the melted butter so you don't end up with scrambled eggs).
4. Whisk together the whites and yolks mixtures.
5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Don't over-mix by trying to get it completely smooth.
6. Turn on your pancake griddle. By the time it has warmed up, your batter is ready.
7. If you want to add things like bananas, blueberries, and chocolate chips, I pour the batter on the griddle then put the additions right on top. Makes a little mess on the griddle but no biggie.

Croutons

Notes

I once read that the reason the French hate Americans is because we don't make our own croutons. Now you can do your part to help Franco-American relations.

I worked in a cafeteria during college. Eventually, one of the jobs I got to do involved making croutons. There was no set recipe so each of us made it up as we went along. Bread, butter, and lots of garlic powder were the common ingredients that we all used. I've added my own touches over the years and these croutons are pretty darned good.

As for the bread, nothing is going to be better than the 1# loaves of cheddar cheese bread made by Old Town Baking Company and sold at many SoCal farmers markets. If you leave SoCal, good luck finding its equal.

For garlic powder I prefer actual powder, rather than the garlic "powder" that is really granulated (more the texture of salt than a powder). I just find that it works better. You are going to need a big cookie sheet for this. You can always find them at professional chef stores but these days you can even get them (the good, sturdy ones) at Costco (sometimes).

Ingredients

• 1# loaf of cheddar cheese bread
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Onion powder
• Dried parsley
• Cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Slice the bread into crouton-sized bits (don't worry, it's not going to be perfect) and put in big mixing bowl.
2. Melt the butter in a liquid measuring cup so it's easy to pour.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 275°.
4. Pour just a bit of the butter over the top of the bread (you should be able to do this three more times).
5. Sprinkle garlic powder and paprika over bread then mix (I use a spatula).
6. Repeat the last two steps but also add onion powder.
7. Again but with parsley.
8. Again but with cayenne pepper. Careful! You only need a couple of sprinkles or the croutons will be too hot because a little goes a long way.
9. Put non-stick spray onto cookie sheet, spread bread onto sheet, and place in oven.
10. Turn bread over every 30 minutes (it's better to set a timer). Should take about 2 hours.
11. I then turn off the oven and leave the croutons in overnight. It makes sure they're nice and dry. Don't forget them in the morning! You can put them in a gallon-sized ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator.

Clam Chowdah

Notes

This was totally food engineering. Looking at recipes on the internet (and I think even The Joy of Cooking), cooking, adjusting, etc.

Ingredients

• 2 medium Russet potatoes
• 4 6½ oz cans of minced clams (not whole clams)
• 2 celery ribs
• 1 medium brown onion
• 4 cloves garlic/2T minced garlic (optional)
• 1 stick butter
• 4T flour
• 1½C half & half
• ½C whipping cream
• 3 turns pepper from grinder
• ¼t kosher salt

Directions

1. Peel, cube, and boil potatoes in salted water until just done. Do not overcook. Drain and set aside.
2. Drain and set aside clams. Reserve the juice for later.
3. Finely chop onion, garlic, and celery.
4. Melt butter and sauté onion, garlic, and celery.
5. Whisk flour to sautéed veggies to make roux.
6. Whisk reserved clam juice into roux.
7. Whisk half & half and cream into roux.
8. Add salt and pepper.
9. When it reaches a simmer you have a choice. You can add the potatoes now or use a wand blender to smooth out the chowder before adding the potatoes.
10. Heat until potatoes are cooked through (should be only a few minutes).

Chocolate Waffles

Notes

Straight from Good Eats. The only change is that the original recipe put some ingredients in ounces but I just go straight for cups.

Ingredients

• 1½C all-purpose flour
• 3T sugar
• ½C cocoa powder
• 1t baking powder
• ½t baking soda
• 1t kosher salt
• 3 eggs (but you can get away with 2 if that is all you have)
• ½ stick butter
• 1t vanilla extract
• 2C buttermilk
• ¾C chocolate chips

Directions

1. Combine dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) in a mixing bowl and mix them together.
2. Whisk together the wet ingredients, either all together or as I describe here.
3. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture, along with chocolate chips, and stir together until just mixed.
4. Turn on the waffle iron. This allows the batter to combine and rest.
5. Cook as appropriate for your waffle iron.

Waffles

Notes

This is straight from Alton Brown's Good Eats. However, on the show for this or pancakes (I forget), he does this thing where he separates the eggs. Then he whisks the whites with the buttermilk. Then he tempers just the egg yolks with the melted butter. Has to do with the yolks and butter being the same chemically. The he combines the buttermilk mixture and butter mixture and whisks them both together. You can give it a try. Or not.

Ingredients

• 2C all-purpose flour (I like unbleached all-purpose flour)
• 1t baking powder
• ½t baking soda
• 1t salt (kosher, of course)
• 3T sugar
• 3 eggs (but you can get away with 2 if that's all you have)
• ½ stick unsalted butter (real butter, of course)
• 2C buttermilk

Directions

1. Put dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix them up.
2. Whisk together the wet ingredients, either all together or as I described above.
3. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir together until just combined (i.e. don't use a mixer and mix the heck out of it).
4. Turn on the waffle iron. This lets the mixture mix together and rest a bit.
5. When the waffle iron is ready, cook as appropriate for the waffle-izer. Personally, I like waffle irons that have an indicator when the waffle is cooked.

Split Pea Soup

Notes

It doesn't get much simpler than this. I cook this all day in a Crock Pot. Not the junk they sell nowadays (I had bought one when my original wore out but the switch broke after a few months!) but something from the 70s or 80s with just low and high and no timers. Rival Crock Pot model 3154/1. You can find them on eBay sometimes. The nice thing about the Crock Pot is that you don't have to worry about over-cooking or burning things. It will happily simmer all day and when you come home, not only will the soup be ready but your home smells great.

As for Salt Pork, look for it in the pork section of the meat department in your grocery store. It comes in a square package. If you can't find it, ask for assistance. It's there. If not, you need to find a new grocery store.

Ingredients

• 16oz bag of split peas
• 32oz of vegetable stock/broth (I think Imagine is best. Pacific is next. Or you could make your own.)
• 32oz water
• 12oz pkg Salt pork
• 1T Old Bay seasoning

Directions

1. Cut the salt pork down to the size you want. It adds flavor but also all your salt. I would cut it just over half. Put in the crock pot.
2. Put the whole bag of split peas in the pot.
3. Add the Old Bay to the pot.
4. Add the veggie broth and water.
5. Turn the crock pot on high in the morning. I find this cooks the salt pork better than low.
6. When you come home, the soup is ready. Take out the salt pork (and give it to any dogs you own) and use a wand/immersion blender to turn the peas into soup.

Pennsylvania Chicken

Notes

This came from our 2008 trip to Pennsylvania. One of your aunts made this dish for us and we all loved it so much (and it was so easy to make) that it became a regular dinner as soon as we got back.

Ingredients

• Chicken cut into bite-sized pieces (I used three breasts when I was cooking for you kids. Two breasts would be enough (with leftovers) when you weren't around)
• Bottle of salad dressing (Start with Italian and experiment to see what you like. Don't use creamy dressings, though)
• Packet of onion soup mix (optional)

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°.
2. Brown the chicken a bit in an oven-proof pan (I like cast-iron). No need to over-cook it.
3. Pour the whole bottle of salad dressing in the pan.
4. If you are going to use onion soup mix, now is the time to add it. Your aunt did this but we found it didn't really add anything to the dish so I stopped doing it.
5. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
6. Serve with/over rice.

American Chop Suey

Notes

Seems to be an east coast thing, which means it came from your Grandpa Sullivan.

Ingredients

• Six handfuls of elbow macaroni (which works out to be 2 cups but I like using handfuls)
• 1# ground beef
• 1 big can (28 oz) of tomato sauce (not tomato puree)
• Frozen corn

Directions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. You don't have to wait for the boil to add the macaroni. In fact, you can put the macaroni in as soon as you put the pot on the stove. Just make sure you stir a few times before the boil to make sure the pasta does not stick together.
2. Brown the ground beef.
3. Add the tomato sauce to the browned beef and simmer with a splatter screen to reduce the moisture in the sauce.
4. Just before the macaroni is done, add the corn. I just eyeballed it so I don't know how much to add. ½ cup? You'll figure it out.
5. When the macaroni is done, mix it with the sauce.
6. Serve with parmesan cheese (the real stuff, not the crap most people use).