turkey trio

Happy New Year!

This is my 400^th blogpost, a habit I kicked off 10 days short of 4 years ago.  I think I’m getting my money’s worth from WordPress.  Today’s post, as befits my recent trend, it’s about food.  Christmas dinner, to be exact.  But you don’t need to wait till a holiday to make this.  It’ll make any day a special occasion.

When I asked my wife Kathy what she wanted for Christmas dinner, she said  “oh, just a turkey”.  I’d been fond of taking on slightly more exotic birds (1), but knew we had a 12 pounder in the freezer taking up space. A lot of space.  I agreed, and vowed to make the most out of that boring old bird.

the  bird

I decided to brine the bird.  I had time.  I’d had good luck with turkey breasts and duck(1).  By the miracle of osmosis, more juice enters the turkey muscle than exits in the salt bath.  Plus, you can include all sorts of things to influence the ultimate flavor of the bird.  The process is a little complicated, so here’s how it goes.

Of course, it took a little research. Who’d a thunk ol’ Martha Stewart would be the best contributory?

A 15 quart Playmate cooler is a good resting place.  Helps that keeping the temp below 41⁰F during brining process is essential.  Bought ice from the store and multiple frozen cold packs wrapped in a Ziploc kept things cool.

Here’s what it looked like (before bird landing):

Later, see our bird in repose. Here’s the recipe:

After a night or two in the tank (I read that after 18 hours, the bird gets too salty), it’s time to retrieve the bird, rinse it, and pat it dry.  To make that skin scrumptious, you rub it with brown ghee (brown clarified butter) (2), maybe 3-4 TBSB, be generous!  Place the bird in a baking pan and cook at 500⁰ (convection) X 30’.  The bird will look beautifully brown and almost done!  

Can we eat it now?

But 2 hours in the Pit Barrel smoker will finish the job.  It’s just a 55 gallon oil drum fitted for BBQ (3).  One of the best investments I’ve ever made.

See here the turkey panorama.

That’s a magnificent thing you’ll have there. Any appendage will be moist and sumptuous.

But in the interim has been cooked the gravy!  That exquisite treat requires only a little extra attention.  By cooking the bird mostly hanging in a smoker, you miss out on the brown bits in the roasting pan that contribute so much to a good gravy.   That pan the bird sat in for its half hour 500⁰ shock will have some stuff.  Here you just are using those useless bits that come in a bag inside the turkey.  You neglect them at your peril.  Watcha got is a neck, a gizzard (stomach), heart, and liver.  Simmer these for a couple hours and you got some good juice you can turn into the piece de resistance of any turkey dinner, the gravy!  Here’s how it goes:

Trust me, it was exquisite.  I had some mashed potatoes waiting for it, but my glycemic eschewing sweetie whipped up some sauteed cauliflower rice for the occasion.

Then comes the end of it all.  Gather up the few bits of leftovers for later.  You’d think with a 12 pounder and 2 people there’d be more.  We tore away the breasts for later sliced delights.  But the bones and carcass sat there and we decided to put it back to work.

Here’s how you beat that turkey carcass into submission.

Ah, man.  That’s some dandy soup.  Sure didn’t last around here.

I don’t know if when ol’ Ben Franklin was proposing that the turkey to be our national bird he was thinking of all the great ways we could eat it.  Knowing what a bon vivant Ben was, I’m sure that eating, drinking, and other pleasures of the flesh factored into his considerations, so who knows.  Regardless, we’re saluting the eagle and not eating it, but we love our Mr. Turkey in all its guises.  God Bless America!

References

1. Ike B.  dem bones.  WordPress 12/17/23.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2023/11/06/ghee-whiz/

2. Ike B.  ghee whiz.  WordPress 11/6.23.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2023/11/06/ghee-whiz/

3. Pit Barrel Cooker.  https://pitbarrelcooker.com/?sscid=00_0&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAv8SsBhC7ARIsALIkVT0im8_CeaHrqO4W9Q-DJ5j4YTJeb2-bSIlWP9Z7-Uqctl-bK0kjc5EaAqAkEALw_wcB