Thanksgiving--Dinner, Part 1: Turkey and Gravy

Above: "My first turkey!" Laurie.

Ahhh. Now on to the main course! Thanksgiving dinner! Now, when it comes to Christmas and Thanksgiving, the dinners are pretty much the same. Some years, we do the dinner twice (once on Thanksgiving and once on Christmas). Other years, we only do one or the other.

So, a lot of the recipes I am going to share here are also favorites for Christmas as well.

Oh, and I must apologize that because of how hectic it was to get dinner on the table, we didn't take many pictures!

Perfect Roast Turkey

If your roasting pan only fits sideways in the oven, turn the pan every hour so the turkey cooks and browns evenly.

Ingredients:

Serves 12 to 14

1 twenty- to-twenty-one-pound fresh whole turkey, giblets and neck removed from cavity and reserved
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 750-ml bottle dry white wine, or 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Stuffing
1 cup dry red or white wine, for gravy (optional)
Giblet Stock (recipe below)

Directions:

Rinse turkey with cool water, and dry with paper towels. Let stand for 2 hours at room temperature.

Place rack on lowest level in oven. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine melted butter and white wine or chicken broth in a bowl. Fold a large piece of cheesecloth into quarters and cut it into a 17-inch, four-layer square. Immerse cheesecloth in the butter and wine/broth; let soak.

Place turkey, breast side up, on a roasting rack in a heavy metal roasting pan. If the turkey comes with a pop-up timer, remove it; an instant-read thermometer is a much more accurate indication of doneness. Fold wing tips under turkey. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper inside turkey. Fill large cavity and neck cavity loosely with as much stuffing as they hold comfortably; do not pack tightly. (Cook remaining stuffing in a buttered baking dish for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.) Tie legs together loosely with kitchen string (a bow will be easy to untie later). Fold neck flap under, and secure with toothpicks. Rub turkey with the softened butter, and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and pepper.

Lift cheesecloth out of liquid, and squeeze it slightly, leaving it very damp. Spread it evenly over the breast and about halfway down the sides of the turkey; it can cover some of the leg area. Place turkey, legs first, in oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Using a pastry brush, baste cheesecloth and exposed parts of turkey with butter and wine. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. and continue to cook for 2 1/2 more hours, basting every 30 minutes and watching pan juices; if the pan gets too full, spoon out juices, reserving them for gravy.

After this third hour of cooking, carefully remove and discard cheesecloth. Turn roasting pan so that the breast is facing the back of the oven. Baste turkey with pan juices. If there are not enough juices, continue to use butter and wine. The skin gets fragile as it browns, so baste carefully. Cook 1 more hour, basting after 30 minutes.

After this fourth hour of cooking, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. Do not poke into a bone. The temperature should reach 180 degrees (stuffing should be between 140 degrees and 160 degrees and the turkey should be golden brown. The breast does not need to be checked for temperature. If legs are not yet fully cooked, baste turkey, return to oven, and cook another 20 to 30 minutes.

When fully cooked, transfer turkey to a serving platter, and let rest for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the gravy. Pour all the pan juices into a glass measuring cup. Let stand until grease rises to the surface, about 10 minutes, then skim it off. Meanwhile, place roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup dry red or white wine, or water, to the pan. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the pan until liquid boils and all the crisp bits are unstuck from pan. Add giblet stock to pan. Stir well, and bring back to a boil. Cook until liquid has reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add the defatted pan juices, and cook over medium-high heat 10 minutes more. You will have about 2 1/2 cups of gravy. Season to taste, strain into a warm gravy boat, and serve with turkey.

Source: Martha Stewart website

Giblet Stock

Ingredients:

Makes about 3 cups.

Giblets, (heart, gizzard, and liver) and neck reserved from turkey
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice (or halved and sliced)
1 celery stalk, with leaves, stalk cut into 1/4-inch dice, leaves roughly chopped (or roughly chopped)
1 small leek, trimmed, washed and cut into 1/4-inch dice, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken broth

Directions:

Trim any fat or membrane from giblets. The liver should not have the gallbladder (a small green sac) attached. If it is, trim it off carefully, removing part of the liver if necessary. Do not pierce the sac; the liquid it contains is very bitter. Rinse giblets and neck, and pat dry.

In a medium saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add chopped onion, celery and leaves, and leek. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper, and cook 5 minutes. Add 4 cups water, bay leaf, gizzard, heart, and neck (do not add liver; it needs to be cooked separately or it makes the stock bitter). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a high simmer. Cook for 45 minutes, or until gizzard is tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.

Meanwhile, chop liver finely. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add liver, and cook, stirring constantly, until liver no longer releases any blood and is fully cooked, 4 to 6 minutes. Set aside.

After the 45 minutes of simmering, the liquid should reduce to about 3 cups. If it has not, increase the heat, and cook 10 to 15 minutes more.

Strain stock. Chop gizzard and heart very fine, and add to strained stock along with chopped liver. Pick meat off neck, and add to stock. Set aside until needed for gravy.

Source: Martha Stewart website

Notes: I simply put the onion, celery, neck and giblets into a pot with 4 cups of chicken broth. I did not saute the onion and celery first. Then I added the salt and pepper, bay leaf, and butter. I simmered this on low the entire time that the turkey was cooking. I did not reserve the liver to add to the finished gravy. I removed the neck and giblets, strained it and used the broth to add to the turkey pan drippings to make the gravy.

Perfect Turkey Gravy

Do not use a non stick pan when cooking your turkey. This way, there will be more crispy, cooked-on bits, which add flavor to the gravy.

Makes 3 cups

Ingredients:

Giblet Stock (recipe above)
Perfect Roast Turkey (recipe above)
1 1/2 cups Madeira wine (see notes)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (see notes)
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary, optional
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Make giblet stock while turkey is roasting.
Transfer roasted turkey to a large platter. Pour juices from the pan into a fat separator. Set aside to separate, about 10 minutes.

Strain stock, discarding solids, and return to saucepan; warm over low heat. Place roasting pan on top of stove over medium-high heat. Pour Madeira into measuring cup, then into pan, and let it bubble; scrape bottom and sides of pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge cooked-on bits.

Make a slurry: Place flour in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Ladle 1 cup stock into jar, and close lid. Shake until combined. Slowly pour into roasting pan; stir to incorporate. Cook over medium heat, stirring until flour is cooked, 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly stir in remaining stock.

Raise heat to medium high. Add the dark drippings that have settled to the bottom of the fat separator to roasting pan. Discard fat. Stir in rosemary. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 10 to 15 minutes to reduce and thicken. (For thicker gravy, add 1 more tablespoon flour and 1/2 cup less stock.)

Strain liquid from pan through a very fine sieve. Adjust seasoning. Keep warm in heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water until ready to serve.

Source: Martha Stewart website

Notes: I did not use the wine. The giblet stock and the pan drippings made a ton of gravy anyway. Extra liquid was not necessary. But if I had, I would have used half water or chicken stock and half red wine vinegar as a substitute. I am pregnant, after all, and I don’t usually cook with alcohol anyway. Also, since the combined drippings and giblet stock made a ton of liquid, 3 tablespoons of flour was not nearly enough to thicken the gravy. In fact, I probably used about a cup of flour mixed with some of the giblet stock to make a slurry. Even that didn’t thicken the gravy enough. I then added about 1/3 cup of cornstarch mixed with the gravy to make another slurry. That still didn’t thicken the gravy enough. At that point, everyone was hungry and we didn’t have time to work on the gravy any longer. So, it didn’t turn out as thick as I would like, but it tasted fantastic! Don’t feel like there’s a specific amount of flour or cornstarch that is needed for the recipe. Use as much as you need to get the thickness or consistency of gravy that you want.

Directions for Carving a Turkey (Martha Stewart)

Step 1—Preparation

Before carving the turkey, let it stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes to allow the juices to saturate the meat; then transfer the turkey from the roasting pan or presentation platter to a carving board (use layers of paper towels or two clean kitchen towels to protect your hands from the heat). The best way to hold the turkey steady is to use your hand -- a carving fork doesn't provide the same grip and will pierce and tear the flesh.

Step 2

Cut through the trussing with scissors, taking care to remove all of the string.

Step 3—Remove Drumsticks

Remove the drumsticks first. Place the knife against the thigh, and cut down to expose the leg's second joint.

Step 4—Sever Drumsticks

Apply pressure at the joint with the knifepoint; twist the knife, and cut through to sever the drumstick. Repeat with the other drumstick.

Step 5—Slice Neck Cavity

Slice open the neck cavity with an oval incision that allows you to remove the stuffing while leaving the skin intact.

Step 6—Scoop Stuffing

Use a long-handled spoon to scoop out the stuffing from the body cavity; transfer it to a serving bowl.

Step 7—Slice Thigh Meat

Slice the thigh meat from the bone (the dark meat should be tender from resting in the juices).

Step 8—Slice Breast

Place the knife horizontally at the bottom curve of the bird's breast, and slice in toward the rib cage to create a "guide cut." Then make a slice from the top down alongside the rib cage. Be sure to cut carefully.

Steps 9-10—Create Slices

Cut vertically through the breast meat to create medallion slices, being careful to preserve some of the skin on each slice. Repeat steps 7 and 8 on the other side of the breast.

Step 10

Place the knife at the first wing joint; insert the knifepoint, and twist it to sever the wing. Repeat with the other wing.

Tools and Materials:

To prepare for carving, have the following equipment ready:
Warm serving platter
Pair of kitchen scissors
Flexible and sharp 10-inch slicing knife (a serrated blade will tear the meat)
Carving fork for arranging and serving the meat

If you would like instructions including pictures, go to: http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/turkey-carving-101

Brining a Turkey

This year was the first year I, Laurie, made a turkey. See picture above. Like my sister, I also used the martha recipe for gravy, which was very delicious and very flavorful. Also like my sister, I had to add quite a bit more flour to get it to thicken up, but otherwise it was just perfect.

Also, like my mother and sister, I am now a believer in the cheesecloth basting method. It worked really well and gave us a nice juicy turkey, and even the leftovers were moist. The only thing I did differently then my other foodie family members was that I brined my turkey for 24 hours before cooking it. I got this recipe from a Martha Stewart cookbook. Now the key to a moist turkey, after my reading various sources is a few key points:

• Let the turkey sit at room temperature for 2 hours before cooking. This goes for roasting a whole chicken, only it doesn't have to sit as long to get to room temperature.
• Don't rely on the pop up thermometers that come with the turkeys. They will give you an over cooked bird. As my sister stated above, use a meat thermometer!
• Last, Let the bird rest at least 20 minutes after removing from the oven before carving. This locks in the juices and results in a more tender, moist meat.

The brining method also helps to lock in the moisture, and gives the turkey a nice flavor. I am sure there are numerous variations of brines that would give different flavors that would be worth trying. Here is the recipe I used:

6 quarts water
1 3/4 cup course salt
1 cup sugar
3 medium onions, peeled and chopped
3 leeks, white and pale green parts only, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 dried bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
6 sprigs parsley
1 T whole peppercorns

Combine 2 quarts of water with remaining ingredients in medium saucepan. Bring to Boil. stirring until salt and sugar are dissolved completely. Transfer to a large pot ( at least 5 gallon capacity) and add remaining 4 quarts of water. Let cool completely.

Lower defrosted or fresh turkey into brine. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Remove from brine, pat dry and let stand at room temp 2 hours.

Source: Martha Stewart Cooking School ISBN 978-307-39644-0

The only thing I did differently was I used a brine bag, which I got at bed bath and beyond for $5 because I didn't have a large enough stock pot.