Two tips to add great flavor!

Food preparation for Thanksgiving is always an adventure and this year two things really vaulted the flavor of the gravy to a new level.

First we found a half gallon of turkey stock in the freezer that was made from last Thanksgiving's turkey carcass. After we finished the feast last year, I took the carcass and put it into a big pot and filled it almost to the top with water. This picture is of the 2013 turkey carcass cooking down to make next years's stock.

I heated the contents to a boil and then lowered it to a simmer and let it go all day. The result was a 64 ounces of turkey stock that I strained and froze. Jonathan put this turkey stock into a large pot and simmered it all afternoon, skimming the impurities that accumulate on the surface every hour or so. The result was about a pint of pure turkey flavor, which congealed into a gelatin over night. This concentrate evoked all of the flavor of the smoked turkey from 2012. We used this to make the gravy which allowed us to make the gravy even before the turkeys from 2013 were ready to take off of the grill where they were cooking all day outside.

The second flavor enhancement was the roux which was also made the day before Thanksgiving. Jonathan combined equal parts of flour and unsalted butter in a heavy bottomed pan and gently cooked this over low heat for 4 hours, periodically stirring it and checking the color that was developing.

Usually a roux is cooked just long enough to remove the flour taste, or longer to create a darker roux for some creole dishes. The aroma of this four hour roux reminded me of caramel. It was also added to the gravy this year.

Finally when beginning this year's gravy, Jonathan sauteed in butter the turkey liver, heart and gizzard which had been minced very finely. He also added minced shiitake mushrooms that were left over from his mushroom soup. Once these ingredients were cooked, the reduced stock, now a gelatin, could be added. The gelatin was warmed and a small amount was added to some of the roux to change it to a sauce like consistency and the roux was added to the giblet/mushroom mixture. Cream was added and this year's gravy was done. Normally when making a gravy one begins with the roux. Since the roux was already made, sauteing the giblets and mushrooms was the beginning.

Two turkeys were stuffed with an apple sausage suffing (also contains mushrooms, celery, onions, bacon, sourdough bread, cornbread, thyme and sage) and placed on the grill for 5 hours.

When they are done, they are a deep brown. 

Collards seasoned with salt pork, beer, cider vinegar cook inside. It is a challenge to put the lid on top of the pot with all of the collards inside. Even had to tip the beer to get it poured into the pot. As soon as the bottle was empty, the top was put on the pot and the collards cooked for about 4 hours. Even people who never liked collards love these!

Turkey day is done now and the next task will be cooking down this year's carcass to make the savory beginning for next year's gravy!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Brining the bird - an artful combination of spices and herbs!

This morning Jonathan, my youngest, is in command of the kitchen creating a combination of roasted herbs and spices to use in brining the turkeys. Yes, that is right, plural, turkeys.

Rosemary and bay are picked from the garden, the rest is in the spice cabinet. First he dry toasted the spices separately in a skillet on top of the stove. In the picture below beginning from the top left corner going clockwise are: whole cloves, black and szechwan peppercorns, whole fennel seed and star anise, mustard seeds, fresh bay and rosemary (not toasted) and coriander. Then he ground them using a mortar and pestle. He ground dry sage leaves with the toasted seeds in the mortar and pestle to release the oils in the sage.

In a large stock pot bring 3 gallons of water to a boil and then turn the heat off and add one box (3 lbs.) of Kosher salt and 1 pound of sugar.

Add the spices and herbs, including the bay leaves and rosemary, stir and add 1/2 bag of ice to cool the brine and a bottle of dry white wine. Then add the brine to the turkeys who are waiting patiently in the cooler, top it off with ice and cover to brine from Tuesday morning till Wednesday night. Add ice as needed.

We have been brining turkeys for years and are convinced it makes a difference in the taste of the birds. The turkeys will be stuffed and cooked on the grill on Thursday. They will be roasted and smoked and will be golden brown and succulent beyond belief!

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Play with your food! Chicken Pot Pie!

Roast chicken was on the menu this week and of course there were leftovers. Aside from making chicken noodle soup with the leftover carcass, for stock, and the meat, my next favorite leftover from a chicken is to make a chicken pot pie.

Saute some onion, carrot and celery in a little olive oil and butter, till tender, seasoning with salt and pepper while these are cooking. If your stock isn't low sodium, go easy on the salt. Add some flour and cook about 3 minutes to get rid of the flour taste. Then add stock and make a thick sauce. Add some frozen peas that were defrosted quickly under tap water and the cooked chicken and you have the inside of the pie.

Playing with food consisted of decorating the crust. I purchased decorative leaf pastry cutters to make Rose Levy's Designer Apple Pie and decided to decorate the crust with leaves. I used the large leaves around the outside and the medium and small ones in the middle. This was so much fun. Just 'glue' the leaves on with an egg wash after brushing the whole top crust with egg wash.

After baking, the crust is golden and delicious, and the pie isn't bad either!

Who says a chicken pie can't be as pretty as an apple pie!

More experiments with bread, this time brioche!

Ever since I started reading Rose Levy Beranbaum's book The Pie and Pastry Bible, I have wanted to try making brioche bread. It doesn't require any unusual ingredients, just the usual, yeast, water, eggs, flour and salt. The result is a buttery, flaky, light roll that is usually served for breakfast.

None of the individual steps in the recipe are difficult or time consuming, but the process begins on one day and you finish it the next. There is quite a bit of time for the dough to rise in between the steps. The directions for recipes in The Pie and Pastry Bible are very well written and easy to follow.

Other authors have slightly different recipes for brioche. Some require more flour and egg yolks and less overall time for the entire process. This recipe is the only one I have tried so far. Once I found that I could make the dough I bought the fluted pans that give the brioche its characteristic shape. You can also make it in a loaf pan and slice it like a loaf of bread.

On the second day, the dough emerges from the fridge. It is ready to knead a little and shape it. You can divide it into 16 pieces, place it in well buttered pans, and let it rise for the last time.

This dough has just been shaped and put into a well buttered pan,

After rising it almost fills the pan.

Brushing each pastry with a mixture of egg yolk and cream gives them a golden brown color!

They were ready at noon and made a great mid-day snack with honey or jam!

Light, soft, pale yellow, flaky pastry--oh my goodness! By the end of the day, there was only one left!

Go to Rose's blog for recipes for brioche.

Sourdough bread and starter

We love sourdough bread and after seeing an article in the Greensboro News and Record I decided to try making sourdough bread again.

SourDough bread and starter

Michael Hastings, Food Editor for the Winston-Salem Journal, has a Recipe Swap. You can reach him at mhastings@wsjournal.com. One of his readers, Dolores L. Barauskas submitted this recipe.

The recipe in the link above makes two loaves. They are great right out of the oven (do let them cool a bit for better slicing) and also toasted.

The starter is easy to maintain in the fridge and the recipe is simple. It has to rise two separate times for two hours each, but the results are worth it.

When I put it in the oven I sprayed a little water on the sides and bottom of the oven to create steam. This help make a nice crust for the bread.

Best part---the house smells great as it finishes baking!

Yummy!

Curry Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup may sound like fare for those with a fever, nourishing perhaps, but not exciting flavor. Forget that. This recipe begins with a whole fryer, although you could use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery. There are two reasons why I prefer to begin with an uncooked chicken: first the price and second and more important, the wonderful flavor you get from the pan drippings after roasting the chicken.

Wash and pat dry the chicken and season with salt and pepper.

Then stuff the inside of the chicken with one lemon cut in half. Squeeze the juice from each half into the cavity of the bird then put the lemon halves in too. Cut one head of garlic (that's one head, not one clove) and put both halves into the bird. Last cut a medium sized onion into quarters and insert. Hopefully you will have room for all of the onion. Then tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Drizzle olive oil over the bird and season the outside with salt and pepper.

Place the stuffed chicken uncovered into  a roasting pan that is just a little larger than the chicken in a 400 degree preheated oven. The pan should have sides to catch all of the drippings that will emerge from the chicken.

Roast for an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of the chicken, or until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees when inserted near the thigh.

When the chicken is done, remove it and place it on a plate to cool so that you can remove the meat.

Pour the drippings from the pan into a cup. When they have cooled in the fridge you can remove the layer of fat and discard it. What is left can be used.

Take the pan with its browned bits and place it back on a burner on medium heat. Add white wine or some chicken stock to deglaze the pan. While heating the wine/stock scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Once the pan has been scrapped clean you will have a brown liquid that can be reduced in volume by simmering for a few minutes. Then pour this into another small container and allow it to cool. Again remove the layer of fat that will rise and congeal at the top. This dark brown gelatin is packed with flavor and will be great for soups or gravy!

Remove the cooled chicken meat from the bones and set aside.

The cooked chicken will be added to the soup.

Now we make the chicken stock.
Discard the lemons and put the carcass and the remaining garlic and onions into a big stock pot with the following:

• another head of garlic cut in half
• 2 stalks of celery cut into quarters
• 3 carrots cut into quarters
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• a bunch of parsley tied with kitchen twine
• one onion cut into quarters, you don't even have to peel it

Now fill the stock pot with water to within 2 inches of the top and put it on the stove. Bring the contents to a boil and then turn down to simmer. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, 4 - 6 hours.

After the liquid has reduced by half and cooled, strain the liquid through a colander and discard the vegetables, they have given up all of their flavor by this point.

Then strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer to get the finished stock.

Cool in the fridge and remove the fat that will rise to the top. This will yield about 3 quarts of stock.

Now you have delicious chicken and stock for the soup. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but the resulting flavor is well worth it. You could roast the chicken and make the stock one day and finish the soup the next day.

To make the soup prepare the following vegetables:

• 3 carrots medium dice
• 1 onion medium dice
• 2 stalks of celery medium dice

Saute the vegetables in 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoons of olive oil.

Season the vegetables with 1 teaspoon of salt (I use Kosher salt) and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Since this is curry chicken noodle soup, add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of curry powder ( I used Madras Curry Powder) to the vegetables as they are cooking.

When the vegetables are tender, add the chicken stock (6 cups) and some of that dark brown liquid (concentrated flavor, fat removed) that you saved from the reduced drippings when the chicken was roasted. Add the chicken that you have shredded into the size you like for the soup. I like shredding instead of chopping the large pieces of chicken. Let this simmer in a large pot for an hour. 

Add the noodles, I used Mrs. Miller's Old Fashioned Medium Egg Noodles, and stir into the soup. Adjust seasoning, adding salt if needed. Adding the noodles will take up some of the salt flavor. I serve it with slices of the curry wheat bread. See the post from September 24, 2013 for this recipe.

This will definitely warm you up on a cold evening!

Inspiration for this recipe comes from Ina Garten's recipes for roasted chicken. See her recipes on Foodnetwork.com