Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving, and is now enjoying plenty of leftovers!

We took the advice of 'boatbums', and did a dry brine for the first time - just salt. It turned out wonderfully, despite a near disaster.

We began with a fresh turkey, and my husband salted it a few days ahead, dried the turkey naked in the fridge overnight, and started it in the oven at 450 degrees on The Day.

A couple of hours later, the probe thermometer went off, and we stared at each other: something was wrong, and there was no way the turkey could be done!

It turned out that my husband had gotten busy and forgotten to cut the temperature down after the first half-hour! We took it out and it looked perfect; but we prepared ourselves for a pretty dry turkey.

This must be a very fool-proof way to cook a turkey, because it was fabulous: I've never eaten breast meat that had this texture, and the skin was done to crispy perfection.

I don't suggest that anyone do purposely what we did accidentally; but I think that we, too, will always do a dry-brined turkey from now on.

We used to do both a turkey and a ham on Thanksgiving, but we don't have that many people come nowadays, and we've learned the truth of the adage that 'Eternity is a ham and two people'. But when we do bake ham, the following is my favorite use for leftovers: it comes out just like the potted ham in the cute little paper-wrapped tin with the red devil on it:

Deviled Ham

1 1/2 cups cooked ham (about 1/2 pound), chopped

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons whole grain mustard

3 tablespoons onion, chopped

1 teaspoon whole capers, drained

3-4 tablespoons curly parsley

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (or your favorite hot sauce, to taste)

1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse in one second bursts, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Pulse until very well combined, but not quite a smooth paste (some texture here is good). Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour to allow flavors to meld. Serve on crispy crackers or on white bread.

-JT

[pugmama]

These look great as well.

http://www.cookinglight.com/entertaining/holidays-occasions/thanksgiving-leftovers-recipes/view-all

[Jamestown1630]

What Beast?

[JRandomFreeper]

Random Beast. Probably dead cow. ;)

/johnny

[Liz]

Cranberry-Glazed Chocolate Fudge Cake
Can be made day ahead. Store at room temp.

PREP Foil-line 8" round cake pan. Spray foil. Dust w/ flour, tap out excess.

CAKE Micro on HI a min 2/3 cup choc/ chips, butter and unsweetened chocolate. Stir smooth. Might need 30 sec more in micro. Add cranberry sauce and sugar; mix well. Add eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder; mix well. Bake in prepared pan 325 deg 40 min (center is set; use pick test). Cool in pan 30 minutes. Fridge an hour til cold.

ASSEMBLY Turnout cake onto server; toss foil. Spread glaze over top;
let drip down sides. Chill firm an hour. Garnish w/ sugared cranberries.

GLAZE Micro a min on HI h/cream and chocolate chips. Stir smooth.
Might need 30 more sec in micro. Add cranberry sauce; mix well.

=======================================

CAKE ING 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate 1 cup Ocean Spray Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce 1/2 cup sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

GLAZE ING 1/4 cup whipping cream 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/4 cup Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce

[Jamestown1630]

The samosas made from mashed potatoes look good!

Our local grocery store actually carries samosas in the Deli section now, but they don’t have them all the time.

-JT

[ptsal]

Please elaborate on the dry brine “mistake”.

[ptsal]

Yes yes ... what was the dry brine recipe??? ??

[Jamestown1630]

We accidentally left the oven temp at 450, forgetting to cut it back after the first 1/2 hr.

Except that the bony parts at the ends of the legs were black, it didn’t hurt the turkey at all; in fact it was the best turkey we’ve had. The story is in the first post of last week’s thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3365615/posts

We used only salt, for this first try.

We used the instructions in the article below, using only salt. We had a small, ~13-lb. turkey, and used about 3 T. kosher salt.

Just rub the turkey all over with the salt, and put the turkey in one of those oven-bags, in a tray, in the fridge. Do this early enough that it gets three whole days in the salt. The night before cooking, take it out of the bag, pat it dry all over, and put it back in the fridge with no covering, overnight.

Our plan was to put it in at 450 for 1/2 hour, and then reduce the heat to 350, until the probe in the breast read 160 degrees (we have the kind that constantly monitors the temp, and ‘dings’ when the pre-set temp is reached in the breast.) I don’t know how different it would be starting with a frozen turkey. We used a fresh one, purchased two days before we began the salting. Don’t rinse the turkey before cooking, and don’t add any more salt, just pepper. Hubby rubbed it with olive oil (not EVOO) and peppered it. He also tented it after 1/2 hour, with foil. (That was also the point where he would normally have cut the heat down to 350 for the rest of the cooking. It could be that things worked out despite our error, because we were doing a relatively small turkey.)

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/18/food/fo-calcook18

[V K Lee]

THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS
http://3boysandadog.com/over-22-ways-to-use-your-thanksgiving-leftovers/

Barbara Grizzuti Harrison............. I refuse to believe that trading recipes is silly. Tunafish casserole is at least as real as corporate stock.

[V K Lee]

A few new sites. Enjoy

FRAMED COOKS
http://www.framedcooks.com/
FOREVER AND A RECIPE
http://www.foreverandarecipe.com/
ERINS FOOD FILES
http://www.erinsfoodfiles.com/
ANNIES EATS
http://www.annies-eats.com/
THE KITCHEN SINK RECIPES
http://thekitchensinkrecipes.com/
FIVE AND SPICE
http://fiveandspice.com/
SUGAR BOMB SWEETS
http://www.sugarbomb-sweets.com/

*If god had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.* ― Linda Henley