Turkey Day 2011 - What's On Your Menu

I will start by attempting to make elephant ears in the morning for the kids.  
 
For appetizers:
horseradish deviled eggs
holiday brie en croute with crackers
garden veggie pizza squares
cucumber sandwiches
 
Dinner:
Homestyle Michigander Turkey
Yummy Sweet Potatoe Casserole
Stuffing with Sausage and Apples
Loaded Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Pineapple Stuffing
Giblet Gravy
and at my mom's request:  Mac and Cheese
 
For Dessert:
Country Apple Dumplings w/ Vanilla Ice Cream
Tres Leches Cake
 

Selected Italian Sausages and Cheeses
Cider Brined Turkey w/ Star Anise and Cinnamon
Pan Sauce
Escarole and Portabella Dressing
Roasted Green Beans w/ Radicchio and Garlic
Boursin Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin Pie
 
 
 

My sister-in-law is holding Thanksgiving, but we are all bringing a dish. I am doing the stuffing, and a broccoli bake. As I am in a new job where we put out over 100 turkey dinners( all items are made by hand), I am happy not to have to make the whole dinner this year.

We have gotten into the habit of going to Copeland's in Southlake, TX for their deep-fried Cajun turkey dinner.  It is "off the charts" good and our bill comes in at well under $50.

I went and got a 10# "natural" turkey...
 
served along with the bird:
Russet potatoes
Broccoli
corn on the cob
buns
gravy
 
I'm a gonna cook the bird with NO stuffing...I'm trying it a way as seen on TV...
 
Alton Brown did a show called "Romancing The Bird" (or something like that) and it was just on the Cooking Channel (it used to be on the Food Channel)...
 
No stuffing, bird is brined, make a form fitting triangular foil tent (more like a breast plate) and cook at 500* for 1/2 hour with the LEGS IN FIRST to the back of the oven, then put fouil breast cover on and reduce heat to 350*, pull when breast temp is 161*, let rest under a tent...
 
So, that's my plan...and there is a possibility it could all work out, and if not...
 
PLAN-B is a tri-tip in the freezer...
 

BackRhodes


Alton Brown did a show called "Romancing The Bird" (or something like that) and it was just on the Cooking Channel (it used to be on the Food Channel)...

No stuffing, bird is brined, make a form fitting triangular foil tent (more like a breast plate) and cook at 500* for 1/2 hour with the LEGS IN FIRST to the back of the oven, then put fouil breast cover on and reduce heat to 350*, pull when breast temp is 161*, let rest under a tent...

So, that's my plan...and there is a possibility it could all work out, and if not...

I've used Alton's recipe for a few years, and it's very, very good. He went overboard with the brine though. I use Dave Lieberman's brine, and stuff the bird with apples, onion and oranges/lemons, then followed Alton's cooking method. You'll like it.
 
I'm lazy this year, and I'm only cooking for my mom and sister. Sadly, this is actually the refined list:
 
Brined turkey breast
Stove Top stuffing (I usually do a good sourdough one, but it's expensive and annoying to do, so I'll just doctor this up)
Tomato salad (Jamie Oliver's base one, adding onion and goat cheese)
Regular salad (homemade dressings at least)
Canned cranberry sauce "sandwiches" with cream cheese and walnuts
Fresh cranberry sauce with apples and orange juice
Mac and Cheese (Martha Stewart or Ina Garten recipe)
Green bean casserole with fresh beans
Corn
Some good bread, maybe chipotle corn bread too
Pumpkin and pecan pies (Marie Callender's)

Small group--just 3--maybe 4 of us--but i NEED leftovers!!!!so--i am smoking a turkey-sausage onion dressing with dried cranberries and pecans---sweet potato casserole--NO MARSHMELLOWS-but plenty of maple syrup---good ole lumpy mashed potatoes--salad-lots of giblet mushroom gravy-homemade cranberry relish-a relish tray-apple cranberry pie and maybe a lemon pie too and vanilla ice cream. Coffee and brandy and Football on the Big screen!! :) Hope you all have as good a time as we will!
 

Stop the presses!!!
 
And cancel all plans...  just saw a commercial that informed me that the Golden Corral is having a Thanksgiving Buffet.
 

Bone in country ham
Scalloped corn
green bean cassarole
Smashed 'tatos & Gravey
sweet potatos
Homemade caraway rye bread
Cranberry relish from scratch
Pumpkin marshmallow mini-tarts.
 
Rogue's Dead Guy Ale, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Home brewed cranberry wine.

MetroplexJim


Stop the presses!!!

And cancel all plans...  just saw a commercial that informed me that the Golden Corral is having a Thanksgiving Buffet.

 
That was going to be my plan, but they up and locked the doors to most of the cincinnati area GC's. 
 
We ended going to a local diner that had a turkey day dinner
 
$9.95
Turkey or Ham
Mashed Potatoes
Dressing
yams
green beans
yeast roll
cranberry sauce
gravy
pumpkin pie
iced tea - lemonade or coffee
 
It was good, potatoes were instant :-(
 
NO LEFTOVERS - I'M STARVING!!
 
Send leftovers to:
 
CajunKing
1313 Mockingbird Lane
Anytown, IN
47123
 
(kidding about sending leftovers but I Am dying for some turkey right now)

I have not ever done a turkey, at least I don't ever remember doing one.   So I decided to do a smoked turkey ... 2 turkeys ... But i didn't want to have to stand over the the darn thing while cooking.   This is what I done.
 

• Thawed out the self-basting turkey from Walmart; $0.74/lb
• Started the grill with about 16 pieces of charcoal and 2 pieces of pecan wood; about 4:00 pm Wednesday.   I set up the grill for smoking; charcoal & heat to one end.
• Put both turkeys on the grill at 5:30pm and laid the wood on the coals.
• Rotated the turkeys a couple of times; then removed from the smoker/grill about 8:30 pm.  The charcoals held the temp right at 200 deg and was starting to fall about at 8:30 pm.
• Put both turkeys in the electric roaster and basted; set the roaster at 200 deg.
• Went to bed!

The next morning, I started to basting the turkeys every hour. About 9:00 am I turn the temp down to 150 deg. I found that at 150 deg there was alot of condensation on the lid. These results in a self basting situation with the liquid dripping on the turkeys.
 
My basting liquid was: 3/4 cup of dark cane syrup, 3/4 cup of honey, 1/2 cup of Worcestershire sauce, 1 cup of apple juice, black pepper, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning.   I use a less than half of this;  I started basing with the drippings. 
 
This was easy!   ... pictures ...


 
Note in first picture, one turkey missing. ... We ate it for Thanksgiving Dinner/Lunch at the wife's Grandson's house, and I got plenty of compliments.   
 
This is a darn good way of doing turkey for a large group without having alot of work.
 
 

I cooked a small 10# turkey, plus 2 excellent Russet spuds (thanks to Luther Burbank) corn on the cob, brocalli, 2 types fo rolls / biscuits, gravy...and desert was cupcakes...the 10# turkey was just the right size for 2, and I still had LOTs of leftovers...
 
The turkey was cooked sans dressing...I took a few hints from Alton Brown's "Romancing The Bird"   (Good Eats) tv show...
 

Thanks Foodbme and 6Star, and 6Star your pics were exactly what I found at a restaurant supply place.  I was lucky, thy explained to me they usually sell by the case(400), but if they "break a case" then you can buy as few as you want.  After all that, I decided to wait until Christmas - fewer guests, more counter space, and room in frig, etc.
 
Everything went well, my brother pefectly duplicated my mom's recipes, with a few contributions from other guests.  It's nice to see the holiday dinner tradition continued.  My pies were good, and the store bought cake which was supposed to be a backup in case the pies didn't turn out , was disappointing, very dry and crumbly, unususal for carrot cake.
 
 
n