Cooking and Dining

[blackjack68]

I'm glad I'm only making pies for tomorrow.

First Thanksgiving "off" in several years.

Still have Christmas though.

[shafnutz05]

I am roasting my first turkey tomorrow...16 pounds. I found a recipe that involves stuffing butter between the skin and the flesh, so that seems promising. My wife is going to handle the sides.

#keeptheturkeyinthanksgiving

[tifosi77]

Unitasker.

They have utility outside the kitchen. Not uni-tasker.

[shafnutz05]

Here's the recipe I'm using:

https://natashaskitchen.com/2014/11/06/ ... ey-recipe/

Seems fairly foolproof...right? I am good at following directions, so I've got that going for me. Stuffing two sticks of butter under the skin sounds nice.

[columbia]

I brought the Husk cookbook to my parents, so mom could peruse between now and Christmas. She said her mother used to make watermelon rind pickles, so ill have to try my hand at that.

[columbia]

Raspberry/blueberry/strawberry/blackberry cobbler:

Oh my.

[Shyster]

The boiled chicken tits turned out very well. I deboned the breasts and then tied them together reversed and back-to-back so they formed a boneless roast of fairly uniform size from end to end. They went about 14 hours at 135 degrees with a coat of salt and sugar and sprigs of thyme, rosemary, and sage in the bag. Very tender and tasty, although I think I should have hit them with more salt.

[Miami Vice]

should i try searing it before roasting, or after? i just bought a torch, could that help?

All your steps are good. I'm so-so on torches, probably get better results using a griddle or cast iron thing. I'd suggest a light sear to start, cook via your preferred method, then a hard sear to finish. Maybe under the broiler for a few minutes.

Thanks for the help! Best Thanksgiving ever.

The larger fully stuffed one was preseared and roasted for about 80 minutes at 325. Most of the skin was good. I tried the torch but as you suggested it made it look better but didn't affect the texture much.

The smaller one was just stuffed with sage, shallots, garlic, and thyme. I rolled it longways and sous vided it for about 5 hours at 140. Then I fried it in a skillet with a about a centimeter full of oil, rolling it after 45 second on each side. That worked so well I touched up the larger one in the oil bath too.

[Miami Vice]

Here's the recipe I'm using:

https://natashaskitchen.com/2014/11/06/ ... ey-recipe/

Seems fairly foolproof...right? I am good at following directions, so I've got that going for me. Stuffing two sticks of butter under the skin sounds nice.

a little late now, but I read to use an oil instead of butter on/under the skin. reason being that butter has some water content in it that can stop it from crisping.

[mac5155]

I forget, do you have a vacuum sealer? If you do, and the brisket is sealed, I'd drop the holding temp down to more like 125F. The140 suggestion was being mindful of the 'danger zone'. The lower temp is less likely to impart any textural changes.

Brisket was well received, but a ton of juice came out of it in the bag, and it ended up a little dry. I am wondering if not brining it for long enough had to do with that, or cooking it too long. Either way the bag juices went into a BBQ sauce so they weren't wasted.

[shafnutz05]

Well, my first roast turkey turned out fantastic. Who would have thunk that stuffing two sticks of a butter concoction underneath the skin would make it turn out good

Absolutely hate carving though. After getting frustrated about 2 minutes in, I proceeded to "carve" it by hand, and just pull all of the meat off of the bones. Turned out fine.

[mac5155]

I am doing the chefsteps turkey breast. Worried that the suggested temp of 131 will not be appealing to everyone. Can I crank the temp up to 145 the last 3ish hours? I am doing the 24 hour cook.

[tifosi77]

If you're changing the temp, start high for 3-4 hrs. Honestly, we did 131 for the rents and they didn't say word one about it.

Had three circulators going at once yesterday. That's a first.

[tifosi77]

I forget, do you have a vacuum sealer? If you do, and the brisket is sealed, I'd drop the holding temp down to more like 125F. The140 suggestion was being mindful of the 'danger zone'. The lower temp is less likely to impart any textural changes.

Brisket was well received, but a ton of juice came out of it in the bag, and it ended up a little dry. I am wondering if not brining it for long enough had to do with that, or cooking it too long. Either way the bag juices went into a BBQ sauce so they weren't wasted.

Try cooking it in the brine. Don't pre-treat it. Just trying to think of alternative prep ideas.

#bagjuice

[count2infinity]

PSA: Trader Joe's Brioche bread is perfect for french toast.

We were at TJ's yesterday stocking up on some frozen stuff (their stuff is great for lunches and solo dinners), and I mentioned to my wife that I wanted to make brunch today, so I asked her savory or sweet. She said sweet, so I went over to the bread isle to take a look and the beautiful 1/2" sliced brioche just called to me. Ran over to the produce quick and there were some blackberries that looked good, so grabbed those as well. French toast, blackberry compote, and whipped cream... yowza. Made it all during halftime of the Southampton game today and sat and enjoyed two second half goals (so far...) with my breakfast.

Compote:
6 oz container of fresh berries
Couple tbsp of sugar
Touch of water
Let that cook down for about 5 minutes then add zest and juice of half a lemon and let it sit while you cook the french toast.

[eddy]

does anyone use an indoor herb garden like the one below? Any thoughts on them

https://www.amazon.com/Click-Grow-Cartr ... rden&psc=1

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Agreed re: trader joes frozen selections. their frozen stuff is generally affordable, generally tasty, and generally not quite as terrible for you as a lot of other frozen lunches and stuff.

[shafnutz05]

Agreed re: trader joes frozen selections. their frozen stuff is generally affordable, generally tasty, and generally not quite as terrible for you as a lot of other frozen lunches and stuff.

The chicken tikka masala is top notch.

[count2infinity]

Agreed re: trader joes frozen selections. their frozen stuff is generally affordable, generally tasty, and generally not quite as terrible for you as a lot of other frozen lunches and stuff.

The chicken tikka masala is top notch.

Without question. That and the veggie pad thai are my go tos.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Their ramen soup bowls are pretty good too.

[tifosi77]

Vitamix 5200 Blender, Black

Amazon Deal of the Day, $250 off a Vitamix. Basically half price. I'm a Waring guy, but I can definitely recommend the utility of an powerful blender like that.

[tifosi77]

ThermoWorks CyberMonday deal, 2-channel smoker thermometer

http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke?utm_so ... -Monday-cs

[shmenguin]

does anyone use an indoor herb garden like the one below? Any thoughts on them

https://www.amazon.com/Click-Grow-Cartr ... rden&psc=1

The LEDs are not strong enough to grow the plant you want to grow

[columbia]

[columbia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?ebc=ANyPxK ... DZof_RkZeY

For non meat boilers.