Like (one of) Lada Gaga's outfits on the Grammys -- sheer, transparent, bumpy

Three important things came together in this dish:

1.  I prepared this dish, as instructed, for a “dinner club.”
2.  I bought a torch, took back a torch, bought another torch, took it back, and finally bought the right one. Then I learned how to use it.
3.  I tackled the finer points of a recipe written by one of the preeminent molecular gastronomy chefs in the country, Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago.

First off, I’ve never attended a dinner club, though I’ve heard about them. The husband and I were invited as the guest couple, and warned in advance that we’d be asked to prepare a very specific dish and bring wine to go along with it. I happily agreed, and a few days later got a fax of the recipe. It was a little tough to read, so I checked out a blogger who is working her way through the cookbook in question. Some of her first words were “…I made this dish over two days…” — ack! This will often scare me off a recipe, but I was committed.

My recipe was “Transparency of Manchego Cheese” from Alinea, Mr. Achatz’s cookbook for regular folks. He is a pioneer of molecular gastronomy — for those of you who are still scratching your heads, it’s cooking by chemistry, using science to inform choices about ingredients and flavors and to understand the underlying transformation that food undergoes when it is cooked or combined. For a great explanation and funny video, check out Chow. Now I’m not the most precision-oriented cook, nor am I terribly good at carefully following a recipe, and this doesn’t jibe too well with this kind of cooking. However, I bravely dehydrated olives, without a dehydrator and the wrong kind of olives. It does take hours, so plan ahead. I roasted peppers, garlic, dried out croutons, but then came the olive oil pudding — what?

What is olive oil pudding doing on a cheese course? What is olive oil pudding? Not only that, I couldn’t get any purchase on the recipe since it was written in grams. Yes, even the liquid measurements were stated in grams — that’s weight, not volume.

Yessir, 60g olive oil -- by weight! -- is in my world 1/3 cup

It’s all up in the lab, here. Well, I’d already bought a torch (later) and squirt bottles and dang it, I didn’t own a digital scale so I used my little postal scale — hah! Very cute but it took a couple of attempts to nail it just right. But I do have it down, and wow, olive oil pudding may just be the food of the gods. All questions or concerns about its presence on this dish are hereby settled.

That would be 525g whole milk, yep, 2 cups

On to the torch, though. I confess I’ve never torched anything. I’ve worked with hot grills and flames and experienced all kinds of incendiary moments, but no hand-held torch. I’ve wanted one, though. So I bought one for this recipe at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Cute but tame

Brought it home, juiced it up with butane, but the wimpy little flame would hardly hang on! So I took it back and exchanged it for another one. Much better…or so I thought.

I took this fun new purchase to the dinner club, along with all the other parts of the dish — the anchovies (okay not “white” anchovies), dehydrated Calamatas (sorry, they didn’t have pitted Niçoise!), garlicked-up crostini (well, croutons seemed so small), roasted peppers, and roasted garlic (with rosemary, because that seemed more…interesting), and the olive oil nirvana pudding (not in a squirt bottle, though, because gee, that seemed silly).

Well, the other couples were bringing their A-game to this dinner. We started off with a beautiful salmon carpaccio in a cone thingy, stuck into rock salt. A-m-a-z-i-n-g. Then a crab dish with a flavor-of-the-sea gel, a perfectly grilled tenderloin with an agar-thickened sauce, some foam thing somewhere, it was all fantastic. My turn. I assembled the dish, layered on the manchego and my poor little flamer pooped out on serving #2. Fortunately my hostess had the real deal out in the garage. Yes, folks, go for the industrial strength of a propane blowtorch. You’ll feel like a welder!

If you keep it clean it won't look like you brought it in from the garage

I have now made this dish a few times, each time tweaking the ingredients and the process. The dried-out olives and peppers are such breakthrough flavors for me that I’m considering a dehydrator. I think I’ve got it down, and with apologies to Mr. Achatz, I present my version of Transparency of Manchego Cheese.

Not Quite Alinea’s Transparency of Manchego Cheese | 8 servings

1 cup pitted Niçoise or other black olives (40 in all)
1/2 pound mini sweet peppers or mini bell peppers
Ciabatta or other crusty bread for crostini
Olive oil
1 garlic clove
8 anchovy fillets
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 pound Manchego cheese

For the Olive Oil Pudding:
2 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup olive oil

Preheat the oven to its lowest setting (mine is 170°F but some ovens go lower). Scatter the olives on parchment on a large baking sheet. Halve, seed, and remove the ribs and tops of the peppers. Scatter them with the olives on the parchment.

A colorful array

Place the baking sheet in the oven until the peppers and olives are very dry, approximately 6 hours.

Slice the bread into four large or 8 small 1/2-inch slices and toast on both sides. Brush immediately with olive oil on one side and rub lightly with the cut side of a garlic clove.

Brush one side with olive oil

Just a light rub of cut garlic -- raw garlic is strong, so one clove will be more than enough for 8 pieces

Cut larger bread slices in half for two servings -- make extra of this to serve on the side

Have the anchovy fillets on hand.

I found nice, mild anchovies packed in oil with peppers

To prepare the olive oil pudding: In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the milk to a boil over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, in a medium-sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt together until blended.

The mixture may be a little dry, but just scrape it out of the whisk with a knife and keep mixing until its blended

When the milk has just boiled, scoop out 1/2 cup of hot milk and pour it into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisking to incorporate the hot milk. This tempers the yolks.

Whisk in the hot milk quickly and vigorously until smooth

Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and whisk to blend. Reduce the heat to low and bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking almost constantly. This may take another 5 to 7 minutes.

If you whisk *too* constantly, you'll actually keep the mixture cooled off so that it won't come to simmer

When the mixture simmers, remove it from the heat. Pour in the oil, whisking constantly to incorporate and cool the mixture. Pour into a bowl.

Whisk in the oil, quickly and vigorously -- you're making an emulsion, so you want to do this with gusto

Allow the pudding to cool for about 10 minutes, whisking periodically to keep it from forming a skin. Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding and cool to room temperature.

You'll find you want to "taste" this pudding several times...just to make sure...of what, I can't tell you!

Chop the dried peppers and set aside.

This was my substitution for roasted peppers, and they are fantastic -- I'll be making these often, to add flavor to dishes and salads and pastas. Same is true of the dried olives

To assemble the servings: In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, reduce the balsamic vinegar until thickened, about 5 minutes. Drizzle this along the centers of 8 heatproof plates. Arrange a large spoonful of pudding, an anchovy fillet, 5 olives, and a crostini.

Very thinly slice the Manchego cheese using a sharp cheese slicer or a mandoline and arrange in one layer covering everything.

The saltiness of the anchovy and olives is perfectly offset by the pudding

Fire up the bad boy torch and broil away

Using the torch (or under a broiler or salamander), melt and scorch the cheese over the ingredients.

I recommend it -- don't know why I waited so long to get myself one of these, because the scorch has its own particular flavor

Sprinkle the chopped dehydrated peppers over the top of each serving.

Now that you know I won’t follow a recipe, you’re crossing me off your dinner club invite list, right?

Kelly McCune © 2011

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

It's breakfast and lunch -- just what you need on New Year's Day

This is one of those make-ahead casseroles, the ones you put together the day before you want to cook it. We made up this one on Christmas Eve this year, to meet a number of criteria. One, we didn’t want to wake up on Christmas day and cook. Also, we had some dietary restrictions including a gluten-free diet, so the usual egg casserole with bread was out. My niece suggested a cornbread-based egg casserole, and that’s what we riffed on. The result tastes a little like a tamale, the Christmas food we were most missing, so it filled that void, too.

Make this on New Year’s Eve — it’s easy to put together, and it goes into the fridge overnight to soak up all the egg and cream. On New Year’s Day you’re all set to have a piping hot blue plate special before the Rose Parade is over.

Egg Casserole with Cornbread and Green Chilies | 8 servings

Included here is a recipe for the cornbread, but cornbread stuffing will work as a substitute. This cornbread recipe, however, is gluten-free since it contains no flour.

For the cornbread:
1 3/4 cup cornmeal (I used Bob’s Red Mill Medium Grind and it makes a “toothy” cornbread)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon melted butter, plus butter for the baking pan
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

For the egg casserole:
Butter for the baking dish
1 pound pork sausage, casing removed (I used “hot” sausage)
8 eggs
1 cup heavy cream (1/2 pint)
2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 8 ounces
4 cups crumbled cornbread
7 ounce can green chilies, in strips

For the cornbread: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Butter a small baking dish, approximately 7- by 10-inch. Mix together the cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

This is a medium grind cornmeal, but regular will work well

In a measuring cup, melt the butter and whisk in the egg. Add the milk and beat. Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients.

Don't over mix -- stir just enough to moisten all the dry ingredients

Pour into the baking dish and bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Try a little warm cornbread with butter and honey

Cool slightly, and crumble the cornbread into bite-sized pieces. Let dry out in a paper bag overnight, or in a 250°F oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Reserve 4 cups for the egg cassserole.

Spread cooked cornbread on a cookie sheet and dry out in the oven, tossing it occasionally as it dries

For the casserole: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Generously butter a large baking dish, approximately 9- by 14-inch.

Brown the sausage until deeply colored.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the cream, milk and salt until well-blended. Mix in half of the shredded cheese.

Layer the crumbled cornbread in the bottom of the butter dish. On top of that distribute the cooked sausage and the chiles.

I just tore the chiles into strips as I arranged them across the sausage

Pour the egg mixture evenly over the meat mixture.

The egg and milk soaks into the bread, making it tender and moist

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the casserole.

This makes a nice bubbly crust on top

Bake the casserole in the preheated 325°F oven for 45 minutes, or until puffy and brown on top.

The perfect holiday breakfast

Serve with sour cream and salsa, if you wish. And Happy New Year!

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Thin, crisp on the outside, sweet flavors on the inside

The Husband is Jewish, so through marriage I’ve been pulled into the mystique of the latke. It is truly an irresistible food — so easy, really, but I was always timid about making them. After all, shouldn’t there be a bubbe somewhere in my kitchen, teaching me the ins and outs? Do I have the exact right grater? Flour or matzoh meal? I mean seriously! But the Husband has no demands latke-wise, and my mother-in-law lost the knack years ago in the shuffle of living in places like Seoul, Amsterdam, Manila, and Dallas. I’m on my own here.

I have made latkes in the past, but with regular potatoes. I have failed, however, to absorb the technique, so every year is like a new start — how long do you drain the potatoes? Well, Daughter #2 has been coming home every year from her school’s “Yam Festival” raving about the sweet potato latkes, so I decided to give them a try. Less pressure since they are less traditional. She was right, they are delicious, especially with some homemade applesauce and sour cream. And these are made with a lot less oil (shhh, don’t tell the bubbe!). So Happy Hanukkah, or heck, just make ‘em for any day of the week.

Granny Smiths and a couple of Honeycrisps

Homemade Applesauce | 2 cups

You may be wondering why in the world you’d make applesauce from scratch. The answer is that it’s fast and it couldn’t be simpler. You can season it, sweeten it, cook it down, leave it chunky, add herbs, add wine — all in under a half hour. Here’s the short version of the recipe: Peel, core, chop 8 apples, throw in a pot with sugar and seasonings and small amount of water, cook gently 25 minutes. Done.

8 tart apples
2 heaping tablespoons sugar or to taste
Cinnamon stick
1-inch chunk of fresh ginger
Small pinch of thyme (optional)
1/4 cup water

Peel and core apples and cut into large chunks.

I use a paring knife but if you prefer a peeler that's fine -- whatever is fast

I just cut the apple around the core into 4 hunks (rather than search the drawer for my apple corer)

Apple chunks, cinnamon stick, and ginger chunk (leave some peel on it so you can identify and remove it at the end -- !)

Put the apple pieces, sugar, cinnamon stick, ginger, thyme and water in a pot. Cover and cook gently for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender and mostly falling apart. Let cool, remove the cinnamon stick and ginger, and serve.

This is cooked on the shorter side to make a chunkier applesauce

Sweet Potato and Leek Latkes | makes 24 to 28 latkes

Might as well invite people into the kitchen to eat these as you make them — it’s more convivial, and they are so good right out of the pan!

1 large leek
2 large sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons chopped chives (about 12 long chive stems)
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup canola oil, more or less
Olive oil

Trim the root from the leek and cut off most of the green tops. Cut in half lengthwise and rinse between the layers. Drain well and pat dry. Cut the leek into a fine lengthwise julienne.

Grit tends to collect between the leek layers, especially toward the top end, so rinse well

Cut the leek first into julienne strips...

...and then chop it down a little further for a fine shred like this

Scrub the potatoes and pat dry. Halve and coarsely grate. Chop the chives.

I didn't bother to peel the potato -- the extra color and nutrients are nice!

Nice color and flavor in the latkes

Combine the shredded leeks, the grated sweet potatoes, and the chives in a large bowl. Add the salt a little at a time, mixing well as after each addition. Mix in the beaten egg. Sprinkle in the flour, tossing the mixture to coat evenly.

Sweet potatoes are "dry" enough that they don't require draining for latkes like regular potatoes

Make sure the egg and flour are evenly distributed throughout the potato mixture

Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line a baking sheet with a rectangle of a paper bag, inside facing up.

Heat a thin layer of canola oil along with a few drops of olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, form the latkes: on your hand, put a blob of potato mixture about the size of a golf ball. Flatten it against your fingers, and drop that right down onto the hot pan. Form another one and drop it in, repeating until you fill the pan. The latkes should sizzle but not smoke.

Cook the latkes on the first side until deeply browning and crisping, 2 to 3 minutes. The latkes cook fastest on the first side since there is more oil. Flip them carefully and cook on the second side until nicely browned, 4 to 5 more minutes.

They should hold together but be fairly thin

A nice, deep flavorful brown -- the sweet potato caramelizes beautifully

Place the cooked latkes on the paper bag-lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.

The bag keeps the latke crisp, and still absorbs the excess oil

This is a great way to keep latkes warm — that is, if you have any that haven’t been snatched right off your spatula!

Happy Hanukkah.

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Beautiful little buds clinging to the stalk

By “bring home the bacon” I mean not only are they cooked with bacon, they provide all the necessities of life — these little guys are nutritious. But let me take a moment on that bacon-larded idiom. It does mean to provide for, or earn the dough, but it is thought to have originated from the game of catching the greased pig, a popular county fair diversion in England and then in America. I guess if you snag and hold onto the bacon you can bring it home. Nice.

Brussels sprouts — from the broccoli family and yes, originating in Belgium — have both their fans and ardent foes. I’ll theorize, though, that those who hate them have not had them cooked properly. If overcooked, Brussels sprouts release a compound that to some smells sulfurous. They seem like tough, dense little cabbages, but in fact they cook rather quickly. Altogether, in under 10 minutes.

Brussels sprouts are very lovely in full stalk form. They are likely to be a little fresher that way, because you can see if the leaf bracts are wilting or not. They will last kept cool for a couple of weeks off the stalk, but they begin to get a woody flavor if kept too long.

Thanksgiving! These would be wonderful sidled up next to the bird.

Pan-seared Brussels Sprouts with Bacon | serves 6

A fresh stalk will yield 50 to 60 sprouts, and I usually allow about 6 per person as a side dish.

36 to 40 Brussels sprouts
3 slices thick bacon, diced
1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
Small pinch of dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chicken broth

Remove the sprouts from the stalk. Wash and drain, pat dry.

They snap off easily, but if one gives you trouble, use a small paring knife to cut it from the stalk

If you don't need all that the stalk yields, store the rest in fridge for up to 2 weeks

Trim the root end and pull off the outermost leaves, if loose or discolored. Halve the sprouts. Set aside until needed.

When you trim the root, the outermost leaves will pull off easily

I leave the garlic in the dish, but the halves can easily be removed before serving

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, gently cook the diced bacon until it is golden and crisp but not burnt. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain. Set aside until needed.

Increase the heat slightly and add the butter. Add the garlic, cut side down, and cook for a minute or two to release the flavor. Then arrange the Brussels sprouts, cut side down, in the pan.

You may need to work in two batches if they don't all fit face down

Cook the sprouts for 5 minutes, or until nicely browned on the cut side. Turn.

They bounce around a little on this side

Cook the sprouts another minute or two, and then sprinkle with thyme and season with salt and pepper. Pour the chicken broth around the outside edge of the pan, give it a shake to distribute the liquid, and cover the pan. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. The sprouts should still be a little resistant when pierced with a skewer. Add the bacon and toss over the heat to combine. Serve immediately.

This was my grandmother's beloved serving dish and is at least 100 years old -- perfect for the Thanksgiving table

You’ll change the minds of the most adamant Brussels sprouts-haters (I’ve seen it!) — a conversion that really brings home the bacon.

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Step away from the mashed potatoes

My last post was for Braised Short Ribs, which I pictured nestled on a cushion of puréed carrots. I really expected to show the ribs perched on a Half Smashed with Garlic Baked Potato, which is how I served them recently. But I was sidetracked by the impulse to bring a bright color to the plate, and as it turns out the carrots have a gentle sweetness that goes really well with the beef. This couldn’t be easier, and different, and flavorful, and good-for-you, so it has a lot going for it. An elegant base for roasted chicken, grilled lamb, a pork chop. I may have just caused a potato unemployment problem in my kitchen.

Silky Carrot Purée | 6 servings

10 to 12 large carrots, approximately 2 pounds
1/2 large white onion, minced
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 6-inch sprig fresh thyme or a pinch of dried thyme
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons heavy cream or half & half
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Peel the carrots and slice them into 1/4-inch rounds. Mince the onion and set aside until needed.

Slice the onion into thin strips lengthwise, hold the onion together and slice crosswise -- an easy way to mince

Bring the chicken broth and water to a boil and drop in the carrots and thyme sprig.

The chicken broth deepens the flavor of the cooked carrots

Cook the carrots until just tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and wilt the onions, about 5 minutes.

Cook until tender but not browning

Add the drained carrots and cook another 5 minutes.

Cook the carrots another 5 minutes, just to caramelize them a little

Put the carrots and onions in the bowl of a food processor and purée until quite smooth, adding only enough of the reserved liquid to get a smooth purée. Add the cream and combine.

Drizzle in the cooking liquid to get a nice smooth texture that's not overly wet

Season the carrots with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Step aside, potatoes.

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Taking the baked potato to a new level

I made short ribs the other day for guests, and was looking for an interesting potato preparation to go along with them. I considered mashed potatoes, then garlic mashed potatoes, then baked potatoes, and even scalloped potatoes. I finally landed on the idea of a combination of all of those things, a sort of deconstructed version of mashed, scalloped and baked.

Baking the potato allowed me to serve only half on each plate — with the creamy garlic sauce and the short rib that seemed rich enough. I’m starting with the baked potato here, and I’ll have the short ribs in the next post. This is so simple and low maintenance, but it raises the baked potato far above its humble station. By the way, everyone ate the potato skin, it was that good.

Baked Potatoes with Garlic Cream | 4 to 6 servings

This serves six eaters if everyone gets a half potato. There might have been a call for seconds if the main dish wasn’t rich. Russets are great for baking since the flesh becomes light and fluffy when cooked, perfect for the garlic cream.

3 large russet potatoes
4 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt
Minced parsley

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Scrub the potatoes and pierce them 5 or 6 times with a skewer.

Plain ol' russets make the best baked potato

I have a metal skewer that I always use for piercing potatoes, but any skewer will work just fine

Place the potatoes right on the rack in the preheated oven. Cook them for 1 hour and 15 minutes. This makes a nice crunchy skin.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the garlic cream. Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and peel away the paper. Trim the root.

This is an easy way to remove the paper -- it cracks away from the garlic clove when you give the side of the knife a good thump

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and cook the garlic cloves over very low heat for 30 minutes. They should not burn or even brown — only color slightly.

I bent an ordinary fork to make this task easy -- shows how often I cook garlic like this in my little saucepan

Smash the soft garlic with a fork or masher. Add the heavy cream and salt.

Sometimes heavy cream is just what works best

Mix well and continue cooking at a very low simmer over low heat for another 15 minutes. The cream will reduce slightly.

When the potatoes are done, slice them in half lengthwise. Mash them slightly with a fork and spoon some of the cream over the top.

Just three or four mashes to open the potato up for the cream

Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.

(Next time I think I’ll try them with chives…)

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Everything but the turkey, and you'll find out why

I set out the other day to recreate a delicious turkey I had made some years back, not on Thanksgiving, mind you, but 3 days after. It was my peevish response to a take-out turkey we’d had with relatives, and I just felt I had to flex my Thanksgiving dinner muscles or else lose ‘em. It was a de-boned turkey, restuffed into shape, roasted, basted, sliced, and enjoyed and it looked a little like this:

You can't judge a book by it's cover, that's for sure

This is the turkey I made the other day, and this is the turkey that was, well, inedible. Yes, I’ve gone to the front and I return with warnings about organic/natural/free-range turkeys. But I’ll get to that later.

I did make a flavorful stuffing for the bird with cornbread, dried sour cherries, fennel, almonds, sausage, and sage. That was not a horror story. But I’m still smarting over that turkey.

Cherry, Almond & Sausage Stuffing | 10 servings

This will make enough to fill a 12 to 14-pound turkey, plus extra for a casserole.

6 cups dried cornbread chunks, or one Cornbread recipe
4 cups good-quality white bread chunks, such as a ciabatta (about 1/2 loaf)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 pound sausage, or 2 Italian sausages
1 large onion, diced
1 fennel bulb, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3/4 cup coarsely chopped dried cherries
3/4 cup raw slivered almonds
Sprig of fresh sage, about 8 large leaves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups unfiltered apple juice or cider
1/2 cup chicken stock or turkey stock (for overflow stuffing)

Tear the bread into chunks.

I used half a ciabatta (left) and a recipe of cornbread (right)

Spread the bread evenly in one layer on baking sheets

Dry the bread in a 225°F oven, tossing occasionally to dry evenly. It will take no more than an hour to dry out.

While the bread is drying, prepare the other stuffing ingredients. Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a pan over medium. Remove the sausage casing and break up the meat in the pan.

With the tip of a sharp knife, make a long slit in the sausage casing

Pull off the casing and discard

Break up the sausage into small bits - I used 1 spicy and 1 mild Italian sausage

Cook the sausage until browning. While the sausage is cooking, dice the onion, fennel and celery.

Trim the top and root off the fennel and cut out the tough core

Slice the fennel along the grain

Holding the slices together, turn the fennel and slice against the grain

With a slotted spoon, remove the cooked sausage and set aside.

Scoop the sausage onto a small plate or into a bowl until needed

Add the diced onion, fennel and celery to the sausage pan and cook until wilted, about 10 minutes.

Sprinkle in some salt and pepper at this point -- it's important not to underseason stuffing

Measure the breadcrumbs into a large mixing bowl.

Generous cups because everyone love stuffing

My beat-up old stainless bowl works well

Add the cherries and almonds.

It's very hard not to snack away at the ingredients

Add the cooked sausage, wilted onions, fennel and celery, and sage, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Stuffing is really deceptively simple

You could really throw any flavors in here that you like -- green chiles or chestnuts or bacon or proscuitto or feta (you get the idea...)

Just before stuffing the turkey, pour in the apple juice, mixing well. Taste again and adjust the seasonings. The idea is to dampen but not soak the bread crumbs, since the juices from the turkey will do that.

Stop short of 1 1/2 cups of juice if the bread becomes too wet, or add more if it seems too dry

Note: Lots of stuffing recipes call for melted butter instead of apple juice, but in the interest of health I always use juice. I also like the slightly sweet note it adds, which brings up the savory flavors nicely.

Any extra stuffing can be piled in a buttered casserole (using the extra tablespoon of butter). Add the chicken or turkey stock and baste occasionally with turkey drippings. Cook, covered with foil, along with the turkey for 45 minutes, taking the foil off for the final 10 minutes if you like crisper top.

Overflow stuffing cooks nicely in a casserole but will be a little drier than the stuffing cooked inside the turkey

At this point I’d love to show you how I re-stuffed my de-boned turkey but I’d only be misleading you. So here’s my little word of warning:

Turkeat Emptor (Turkey-Buyer Beware)

We spend a lot of Thanksgivings wringing our hands over the safety of the bird — undercooked, bad, too long at room temp, bad. These are concerns, but really, it’s just a big chicken. Follow the same care you’d take with a whole chicken and you’ll be fine.

Where it’s possible to go astray, though, is in the brand and type of bird you buy and how you cook that bird. Not all turkeys are created equal. That’s what I found out with my…yes, inedible…bird.

We are seeing more and more “organic,” “natural,” and “free-range” birds out there, as well as “kosher” and “heritage” and the old standbys, Butterballs® and grocery store brands, and it’s now become crucial to know how to deal with them.

My turkey was a “free-range” turkey, raised locally, though I can’t immediately distinguish between the free-range and organic or for that matter natural. The website says of free-range: “These turkeys are raised on healthful grains and allowed to roam in areas four times the size of the average commercial turkey ranch.  Their high protein diet provides the optimum amount of nutrients for the turkey to grow into a bigger and more flavorful turkey than one typically found in the supermarket.  You won’t find any antibiotics, animal by-products, preservatives or hormones in a Mary’s Free-Range Turkey.”

For the organic it says: “Mary’s Free-Range Organic Turkeys are fed a certified organic high protein diet complete with the finest grains and vegetable proteins and grow naturally with plenty of open space on a certified organic ranch in sunny California. Because of cleaner living quarters, a healthier and happier turkey is produced having a better taste.  You won’t find any antibiotics, animal by-products, preservatives or hormones in a Mary’s Free-Range Organic Turkey.” Sheesh — what’s the difference? I can’t really parse it out. Maybe the organics have less space?

My turkey was de-boned, which presents the first cooking challenge. Though it was re-stuffed, it needed to cook for less time. I knew that, and watched that bird like a hawk. In taking its temperature (which I did frequently) I noted that the breast meat never got tender, and there was little thigh to test. Free-range birds are longer, less “plump” than the Butterball-style turkeys of our childhood. All in all, this turkey yielded less than 1 tablespoon of fat, and I had generously rubbed it with butter, both inside and out. Lean. Really lean.

So free-range, natural and organic turkeys can have very little fat, which would translate into moisture. To get that moisture they would benefit from being brined. Whole Foods sells different varieties of these, depending on the location of the store and their regional source, so a conversation with the butcher would provide further information.

Heritage is most like a wild turkey, and even leaner than the organics or the free-range.

Kosher turkeys have been brined, thus they are more moist but can be salty.

Butterballs have been injected with “up to 8% of a solution of Water, Salt, Spices to Enhance Tenderness and Juiciness.” Does make the classic Norman Rockwell turkey, but it’s a little watery.

Grocery store brands usually come frozen or have been frozen. This can give the turkey an institutional flavor.

This is the beginning of my serious examination into this turkey equality problem, but I have some early conclusions to share. I would recommend brining any organic, natural, or free-range turkey. Ditto for the Heritage turkeys. Russ Parsons, in his series of articles for the Los Angeles Times, likes the flavored dry-brine method: Sprinkle the bird with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt for every 5 pounds of turkey — and the salt can be mixed with “aromatics” (like fresh or dried rosemary, sage, citrus zest, etc.) — place in a sealed plastic bag, and refrigerate for 2 1/2 to 3 days. After a day or so there may be accumulated liquid in the bag, but that will reabsorbed by the turkey, giving it the moisture it needs. In the future I will lean toward the dry-brine since my refrigerator will not accommodate the large pot filled with salty liquid needed for wet-brining.

Maybe I overcooked my turkey, maybe not. But next year I’m going to dig deeper into this problem, because this year I won’t be making another turkey  (we’re going over the meadow and through the woods for Thanksgiving). Little did I know how prophetic this funny card that came my way would be:

Until next year...

©2012 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.