(Updated) Successful Turkey Day
Nov. 22nd, 2007 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quisletBefore all the tryptophan kicks in, let me see if I can crank out today's menu:
Sake-brined Roast Turkey with Gravy
Stir-Fried Vegetables
Mixed Rice
Baked Potatoes
Sourdough Bread
Some Cheap Shiraz
Martinelli's Cider
Pumpkin Pie Mochi
Pumpkin Nog
The real winners were the turkey, mochi and nog. The turkey was brined in cooking sake from the infamous wine stash (just a portion of the five-gallon box) with white miso and soy. The skin was sprinkled with sesame seeds, and starting at 500 degrees got their essential oils moving nicely. The sake was a little sweet, leaving the gravy sweet and bright with touches of ginger and citrus, but it'll be fine on Ginger Rose's traditional day-after pancakes in the morning.
The turkey skin was just slightly leathery, very reminiscent of chickens I've eaten in Singapore and Thailand. The oils from the sesame seeds infused nicely into the skin. Unfortunately, the high sugar content of the brine meant that 30 minutes at 500 degrees was too much for a nice golden brown. It was blackened, but not truly burnt. Flavor-wise, that was fine, but it hid the contrast that would have shown off the cut-nori kanji that my #2 made to lay on the turkey breast, proclaiming it to be "dinner."
The meat was succulent, as brined turkeys tend to be. My favorite is always the dark meat, of course. There was a definite brightness to the meat, all throughout, some from citrus and some from miso. It's not so different that it won't work in traditional Thanksgiving leftovers, but it's not your regular turkey. The gravy was even brighter, with the ginger, lemon and sweetness of cooking sake. That's probably the part that's the most different, the farthest from tradition.
This was the first time I'd ever made mochi, and we wrapped the rice dough around balls of pumpkin pie filling (scooped right out of a store-bought pie). The girls declare that it's better than the original pie.
Mochi is just cooked rice dough, and it's easier to make than chocolate chip cookies. You just need glutinous rice flour, water, sugar and whatever you're going to wrap the dough around. A favorite in my house is ice cream, but for my first try, I used pumpkin pie. If you've never had it, cooked rice dough is almost as squishy as raw cookie dough, but less sticky once you've dusted it in corn starch. When it's hot, though, it's about the consistency of Ghostbusters ectoplasm. You take this supernaturally sticky substance, dust it in corn starch, flatten it with your palm, and then wrap it around balls of ice cream, bean paste, whatever you're putting inside. It was marvelous! We served them straight from the freezer, so they were cold and chewy. We're doing a 2nd Thanksgiving tomorrow with friends near Annapolis, and that will definietly be one of the dishes I bring, along with my pumpkin pie flambe.
The pumpkin nog was my own twist on Alton Brown's cooked egg nog recipe, adding a can of pumpkin pie mix and pie spices. It's creamy, custardy, just what I was hoping for: pumpkin pie you can drink. Yaay!
This batch was thicker than I would serve to company, but perfect for me. It was about milkshake consistency, and it was exactly the liquid love that I was aiming for. Next time, I'll use half a can of pumpkin or use a tripled nog recipe, just to add more liquid. Or maybe I'll serve it warm... The spices and the mouthfeel were perfect. I definitely need to make this at Punkin' Chunkin' next year and serve it hot!
Sake-brined Roast Turkey with Gravy
Stir-Fried Vegetables
Mixed Rice
Baked Potatoes
Sourdough Bread
Some Cheap Shiraz
Martinelli's Cider
Pumpkin Pie Mochi
Pumpkin Nog
The real winners were the turkey, mochi and nog. The turkey was brined in cooking sake from the infamous wine stash (just a portion of the five-gallon box) with white miso and soy. The skin was sprinkled with sesame seeds, and starting at 500 degrees got their essential oils moving nicely. The sake was a little sweet, leaving the gravy sweet and bright with touches of ginger and citrus, but it'll be fine on Ginger Rose's traditional day-after pancakes in the morning.
The turkey skin was just slightly leathery, very reminiscent of chickens I've eaten in Singapore and Thailand. The oils from the sesame seeds infused nicely into the skin. Unfortunately, the high sugar content of the brine meant that 30 minutes at 500 degrees was too much for a nice golden brown. It was blackened, but not truly burnt. Flavor-wise, that was fine, but it hid the contrast that would have shown off the cut-nori kanji that my #2 made to lay on the turkey breast, proclaiming it to be "dinner."
The meat was succulent, as brined turkeys tend to be. My favorite is always the dark meat, of course. There was a definite brightness to the meat, all throughout, some from citrus and some from miso. It's not so different that it won't work in traditional Thanksgiving leftovers, but it's not your regular turkey. The gravy was even brighter, with the ginger, lemon and sweetness of cooking sake. That's probably the part that's the most different, the farthest from tradition.
This was the first time I'd ever made mochi, and we wrapped the rice dough around balls of pumpkin pie filling (scooped right out of a store-bought pie). The girls declare that it's better than the original pie.
Mochi is just cooked rice dough, and it's easier to make than chocolate chip cookies. You just need glutinous rice flour, water, sugar and whatever you're going to wrap the dough around. A favorite in my house is ice cream, but for my first try, I used pumpkin pie. If you've never had it, cooked rice dough is almost as squishy as raw cookie dough, but less sticky once you've dusted it in corn starch. When it's hot, though, it's about the consistency of Ghostbusters ectoplasm. You take this supernaturally sticky substance, dust it in corn starch, flatten it with your palm, and then wrap it around balls of ice cream, bean paste, whatever you're putting inside. It was marvelous! We served them straight from the freezer, so they were cold and chewy. We're doing a 2nd Thanksgiving tomorrow with friends near Annapolis, and that will definietly be one of the dishes I bring, along with my pumpkin pie flambe.
The pumpkin nog was my own twist on Alton Brown's cooked egg nog recipe, adding a can of pumpkin pie mix and pie spices. It's creamy, custardy, just what I was hoping for: pumpkin pie you can drink. Yaay!
This batch was thicker than I would serve to company, but perfect for me. It was about milkshake consistency, and it was exactly the liquid love that I was aiming for. Next time, I'll use half a can of pumpkin or use a tripled nog recipe, just to add more liquid. Or maybe I'll serve it warm... The spices and the mouthfeel were perfect. I definitely need to make this at Punkin' Chunkin' next year and serve it hot!
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-23 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-23 04:36 pm (UTC)Honestly, that's probably my favorite thing about Thanksgiving these days, too. I think I'm going to try a red wine brine again next year, this time remembering to add the salt. Last year's turkey was a disappointment due to that mistake, all purple and no flavor.
I still haven't gotten around to frying one, yet. I have the gear, and I've used it for everything but frying a turkey.
Stay tuned, as I have turducken planned for Xmas!!