Brined and cooked to perfection!

Around this time last year, I posted a guest feature from one of my favorite professional chefs, Chef Ryan, on how to cook the perfect turkey. I have now used this recipe several times and, without fail, each turkey turns out amazing. If you’re looking for the perfect turkey recipe, don’t look any further! Please note, this recipe takes some prep time, so be prepared to get started a few days before T-Day. It’s worth it, though. Your guests will most definitely be thankful.

See below for the original post!

My Special Guest, Chef Ryan, trained at and graduated from Johnson & Wales Culinary School and has been a professional chef for over 12 years. Chef Ryan has worked at a number of 5 star hotels and restaurants, including the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. After years of working in fine dining establishments, Chef Ryan is now applying his culinary expertise and experience to restaurant development and operations in the Central Coast and Los Angeles area.

The Best Thanksgiving Turkey…EVER!

First of all, I wish people would cook turkey more often than just on Thanksgiving. If you choose to prepare your turkey using my method you will see that you don’t need to cook your bird for 8 hours, taking up the entire oven, and  basting it every 20 minutes. It also doesn’t need to take up all the room in your fridge for 3 days. I gave up cooking whole turkeys many years ago because I hate dried out white meat that needs cranberries and gravy just so you can swallow it. I also decided a few years back that, as much as I love cooking Thanksgiving, I also enjoy spending the time with my family rather than only in the kitchen. Along with everything else included in my Thanksgiving menu, my turkey is prepared a day or two before, and only needs about 2 hours to cook. The trick is cooking the legs/thighs separately from the breast. This turkey carves easily, presents beautifully, tastes amazing, and guarantees success.

One Week Before Turkey Day: Order a fresh turkey from your butcher a week before Thanksgiving (note from Aimee: I buy a Mary’s Organic Turkey from Whole Foods). It you decide top buy a frozen turkey, make sure it has not been brined or has had any added water. If you’re not experienced in butchering birds, ask your butcher to separate the leg/thigh quarter from the breast and remove the rib cage from the double breast. Make sure to leave the bones in and skin on. Also, make sure the butcher saves the neck bone and rib cage (cut in 4 pieces). He can keep the liver, heart, and other trimmings.

Two Days Before Turkey Day: Soak your bird in an extremely flavorful liquid called a brine (recipe below).  Through the power of osmosis (two liquids trying to be equal) your plain, dry, flavorless bird will absorb some of the brine, making it moist and delicious. I suggest that you place your 2 leg quarters and double breast in a large heavy duty trash bag, cover it in the cold brine, remove all the air you can, twist the bag tight, then use 2 zip ties to seal the bag. Place that bag inside another bag and repeat the process. Refrigerate. This process ensures that the turkey will come in complete contact with the brine without taking up a huge amount of space in the fridge.

Turkey Stock: Quarter 2 onions, peel and chop 3 carrots, chop 3 stalks of celery and toss in a bowl with the neck, rib cage bones and just enough oil to coat. Roast in a 400 degree oven on a foil-lined cookie sheet for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Place everything in a pot and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Over a low flame, slowly bring the water to a SIMMER, and cook for 4 hours. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Strain and place in the fridge.

Turkey Day: Remove your bird from the brine, pat dry, and rub with seasoned butter (recipe below). Place the pieces on a roasting pan with a rack, and roast in a 350 degree oven until cooked. I can’t tell you for how long, so don’t even ask. Cooking time depends on many factors: When was the last time your oven was calibrated? What temperature was the turkey when it went in? How many times will you open the oven while it’s cooking (don’t do that!, by the way)? What else is in the oven with your turkey? What type of pan is the turkey in? Etc…  The turkey is done when a kitchen thermometer says it is done. Use a thermometer like this one, which allows you to run the cord outside the oven so that you can monitor the temperature without opening the oven door. The breast is done when the center of the breast meat is 160 degrees; the leg/thigh meat is done when it reaches 170 degrees. This may or may not happen at the same time. Don’t worry. You will need to rest the bird anyways, so just pull the pieces out when they are done and tent them in foil.

While the turkey pieces are resting, pour the melted butter and drippings from the bottom of the roasting pan into a pot and place over a medium heat. Simmer until the fat stops splattering (water is cooked out of the oil) and sprinkle with flour 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until you get a something that looks like wet sand, otherwise known as a roux. Be sure to add the flour slowly to avoid lumps. Continue to cook until the roux is golden brown, then whisk with a wire whisk and slowly pour in the cold turkey stock that you made two days earlier. Return to a slow simmer. If the gravy is too thick, pour in the drippings from the resting turkey or a few drops of water. If the gravy is too thin continue to cook for a few more minutes. Season the gravy with salt and pepper to taste, then add some fresh chopped parsley for color.

As for serving, I like to pull the dark meat off the leg and thigh bones into nice chunks, removing all those little bones. Then I remove the entire breast from each side with the skin on, so you can slice it across the grain. This way, if people want dark meat, they don’t look like Fred Flintstone munching on a whole leg or need to deal with a lot of people trying to share only a few pieces of dark meat. Besides, the breast meat will be so moist that, once the dark meat runs out, people gladly will take seconds on the breast meat.

This may seem like a little more work than just sticking a 22 lb. bird in the oven, but trust me it’s not.  The bird will cook in far less than time, and will taste so good that you might even cook a turkey more than once a year.

Good luck, and Happy Turkey Day!

- Chef Ryan

Poultry Brine Recipe

• 64 oz apple cider or juice (non-alcoholic)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup salt
• 1 tsp. chili flakes
• ¼ cup pickling spice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 12 black peppercorns
• 1 thumb fresh ginger, smashed
• 1 head fresh garlic, split
• zest and juice of 1 orange

Boil 4 cups of the cider, and chill the remaining cider.  Add all the ingredients to the boiling cider, simmer for 2 minutes while stirring until everything is dissolved.  Add the rest of the cold cider, then marinate the bird for approximately 48 hours.  Do not begin marinating the poultry until the brine has completely cooled.

Turkey Butter Rub

• 3 sticks butter, soft
• 10-12 fresh sage leaves, torn into small pieces
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• a pinch of cayenne powder or chili flakes

Place the ingredients in your food processor and process until well-incorporated and smooth.  If you don’t have a food processor, chop the sage finely by hand, then incorporate all the ingredients in a bowl with a wire whisk or spoon. This can be made days or weeks ahead and stored, but bring it to room temperature before rubbing onto the bird.

This lamb ragu and spinach fettuccine dish is one of my favorites, especially since the Dude and I only make it a few times a year. It has now become a tradition for us to prepare it every New Year’s Eve. If you give this recipe a try, I assure you, this pasta dish will quickly become one of your favorites.

SPINACH FETTUCCINE

This recipe for spinach fettuccine is actually a combination of two recipes we discovered from Chefs Mario Batali and Thomas Keller. After several attempts to make the perfect pasta dough, we’ve come up with this recipe. Why spinach fettuccine? Well, there’s never anything wrong with throwing a little green in your food. Spinach is one of the world’s best foods for you and we think it adds a delicious touch to pasta dough.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) semolina flour (you can use all purpose, but semolina is better)
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• A handful of spinach (baby or regular)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon milk

Try to use organic and local ingredients. I also prefer to use cage-free, local, and organic eggs.

Start by sauteing a handful of spinach with a touch of olive oil and minced garlic. Saute until wilted.

(Click on pictures to expand)

Add the sauteed spinach to the “wet” ingredients (egg, egg yolks, olive oil, milk) to your mixer and pulse. This mixture can easily become mayonnaise, so just use the pulse setting until evenly mixed.

Instructions on how to create pasta dough comes via the French Laundry cookbook by Thomas Keller:

Once the mixture is complete, mound the flour on a board or other surface and create a well in the center, pushing the flour to all sides to make a ring with sides about 1 inch wide. Make sure that the well is wide enough to hold the mixture without spilling over the sides. Pour the mixture into the well. Use your fingers to break it all up. Still using your fingers, begin turning the mixture in a circular motion, keeping them within the well and not allowing them to spill over the sides. This circular motion allows the mixture to gradually pull in flour from the sides of the well; it is important that the flour not be incorporated too rapidly, or your dough will be lumpy. Keep moving the mixture while slowly incorporating the flour. Occasionally push the flour toward the eggs; the flour should be moved only enough to maintain the gradual incorporation of the flour and the eggs should continue to be contained within the well. The mixture will thicken and eventually get too tight to keep turning with your fingers.

(Side note about these pictures – no, I do not have the hands of a 13 year old boy. Those hands belong to my 13 year old half-brother. He and my 9 year old half-sister LOVED preparing the pasta dough and ragu, so if you’ve got kids around, let them enjoy all the work fun!)

When the dough begins thickening and starts lifting itself from the board, begin incorporating the remaining flour by lifting the flour up and over the dough that’s beginning to form and cutting it into the dough. When the remaining flour from the sides of the well has been cut into the dough, the dough will still look shaggy. Bring the dough together with the palms of your hands and form it into a ball. It will look flaky but will hold together.

Knead the dough by pressing it, bit by bit, in a forward motion with the heels of your hands rather than folding it over on itself as you would with a bread dough. Re-form the dough into a ball and repeat the process several times. The dough should feel moist but not sticky. Let the dough rest for a few minutes while you clean the work surface.

Dust the clean work surface with a little flour. Knead the dough by pushing against it in a forward motion with the heels of your hands. Form the dough into a ball again and knead it again. Keep kneading in this forward motion until the dough becomes silky-smooth. The dough is ready when you can pull your finger through it and the dough wants to snap back into place. The kneading process can take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. Even if you think you are finished kneading, knead it for an extra ten minutes; you cannot over-knead this dough. It is important to work the dough long enough to pass the pull test; otherwise, when it rests, it will collapse.

Double-wrap the dough in plastic wrap to ensure that it does not dry out. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour before rolling it through a pasta machine. The dough can be made a day ahead, wrapped and refrigerated; bring to room temperature before proceeding.

We prefer to make this dough into fettuccine using our Kitchen Aid pasta attachment to our mixer. It’s important to run the dough through the attachment a few times to create the perfect texture. If you don’t have one of these tools, just flatten the dough thinly by hand and use a knife to cut thin strips of dough.

Looks so good, you’ll be tempted to eat it raw. Please don’t. Salmonella isn’t kind.

Chef Ryan’s Lamb Ragu

This recipe comes courtesy of Chef Ryan. Remember him from This Ain’t Yo Mama’s Turkey blog post? I have a side-note about that turkey – I’ve now prepared that turkey recipe twice, for over 20 people, and every single person has told me that the turkey and gravy is the BEST they have ever had. I give full credit to Chef Ryan.

Chef Ryan gave us this lamb ragu recipe about 4 years ago and it’s one of our favorites. I feel like I’m in Tuscany every time I eat this masterpiece. Try it for yourself and you’ll understand.

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 lbs. lamb shank meat, 1” dice (3 lbs if you buy it on the bones)
• 1 onion, small dice
• 1 carrot, small dice
• 1 rib celery, small dice
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 stalks fresh rosemary
• ½ cup chopped and seeded nicoise olives
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup heavy cream or beef stock (cream adds richness)
• 1 cup beef stock (or 2 cups total if you do not use the cream)
• 4 cups canned tomatoes (2 28oz cans of whole peeled)
• salt and pepper

Again, it’s best to use local and organic ingredients. For the lamb, organic, free-range, and grass-fed is best. Another note about lamb – for those of you who have never cooked lamb, it’s not the most pleasant smelling piece of meat to cook. It tastes fantastic though, so just remember the end result is better than the process.  Also, we prefer to have the butcher remove the lamb off the bone since it cuts down on butchering it yourself. And, let’s be honest, butchering lamb meat is kinda gross.

Heat the oil in a large pot. Dice and season the meat, then brown it very well. Add the mirepoix (onion, carrot and celery). Lightly brown the vegetables. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, rosemary and olives. Cook for 15 seconds.

Add the red wine and reduce by half; then add the cream and reduce by half; then add the stock and reduce by half. This takes a while. I won’t tell you how long because it just depends. Just hang in there. It’s worth it!

Add the tomatoes and salt/pepper.

Cook covered for approximately two hours on a low heat. It’s done when the liquid has reduced by about 80%. Mash with a potato masher or large spoon to break the meat and tomatoes, into a chunky ragu.

We like to combine the pasta and lamb ragu together and then serve. Now this is what I call pasta perfection!

Mangia, Mangia!

I don’t usually gloat about my cooking. In all honesty, I fail just as many times as I succeed. But, thanks to Chef Ryan (my guest chef for Foodie Friday last week), my Turkey Day was a hit!

My immediate family is spread out far and wide, from Hawaii to Boston to Afghanistan.  Needless to say, we miss quite a few holidays with everyone. But, fortunately this year, I was able to have a wonderful Thanksgiving with my mom, my mother-in-law, the Dude, and the Monkey. It might have been small, but it was lovely. For that, I am thankful.

I ate so much that I didn’t even leave room for dessert. That’s a first! But we’ve got leftovers for days. Weeks even. I may even have to extend Foodie Friday over the weekend to discuss some great tips for all those Turkey Day leftovers.

Hope everyone had a great holiday, even if you couldn’t be with everyone you love.

Thanksgiving at Ain’t Yo Mama’s House (click on pics to expand):

My tablescape, complete with felted fall produce created by my mother-in-law. How cute are they? I wish I was that crafty.

Another view of my tablescape, including the pumpkin pie I didn’t touch. I’ll get you tomorrow, pie.

Right out of the oven! This 15lb locally grown, all-natural, and fresh turkey cooked in only 1.5 hours. It was brined for 2 days and then coated with a sage, paprika, and brown sugar butter rub. It was perfect.

The pan drippings, moments before I slowly sprinkled in flour and turned it into a roux. After the flour was added, I added the turkey stock that I had prepared a few days earlier.

Roux  + Turkey Stock = Delicious Gravy!

This is a sourdough, apple, and chicken apple sausage dressing mixed with sage butter from Bon Appétit magazine. I eliminated the raisins because raisins do not belong in my food. It was very tasty.

After cooking we removed the breasts, which allowed carving against the grain. It presents beautifully, too.

Dinner is served and promptly devoured. I also served roasted Brussels sprouts, my mom’s delicious sweet potato pie with candied pecans, and a wonderful cranberry relish made by my mother-in-law. I think I need to go hit the fridge again.

This turkey dinner was EASY to prepare and cook. Seriously. The best part of all? The Dude not only helps cook but he washes dishes, too.

I’ll make that man turkey every day of the week.

Chef Ryan to the rescue!

My Special Guest Chef, Ryan Gromfin, trained at and graduated from Johnson & Wales Culinary School and has been a professional chef for over 12 years. Chef Ryan has worked at a number of 5 star hotels and restaurants, including the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. After years of working in fine dining establishments, Ryan is now applying his culinary expertise and experience to restaurant development and operations in the Central Coast area of California.

The Best Thanksgiving Turkey…EVER!

First of all, I wish people would cook turkey more often than just on Thanksgiving. If you choose to prepare your turkey using my method you will see that you don’t need to cook your bird for 8 hours, taking up the entire oven, and  basting it every 20 minutes. It also doesn’t need to take up all the room in your fridge for 3 days. I gave up cooking whole turkeys many years ago because I hate dried out white meat that needs cranberries and gravy just so you can swallow it. I also decided a few years back that, as much as I love cooking Thanksgiving, I also enjoy spending the time with my family rather than only in the kitchen. Along with everything else included in my Thanksgiving menu, my turkey is prepared a day or two before, and only needs about 2 hours to cook. The trick is cooking the legs/thighs separately from the breast. This turkey carves easily, presents beautifully, tastes amazing, and guarantees success.

One Week Before Turkey Day: Unless you insist for other reasons, flavor doesn’t require that you buy an heirloom or organic turkey for $4.00/lb.  But nor should you use one of those free turkeys you get for spending $100 at the grocery store. Order a fresh turkey from your butcher a week before Thanksgiving. It can have been previously frozen, but just make sure it has not been brined or has had any added water. If you’re not experienced in butchering birds, ask your butcher to separate the leg/thigh quarter from the breast and remove the rib cage from the double breast. Make sure to leave the bones in and skin on. Also, make sure the butcher saves the neck bone and rib cage (cut in 4 pieces). He can keep the liver, heart, and other trimmings.

Two Days Before Turkey Day: Soak your bird in an extremely flavorful liquid called a brine (recipe below).  Through the power of osmosis (two liquids trying to be equal) your plain, dry, flavorless bird will absorb some of the brine, making it moist and delicious. I suggest that you place your 2 leg quarters and double breast in a large heavy duty trash bag, cover it in the cold brine, remove all the air you can, twist the bag tight, then use 2 zip ties to seal the bag. Place that bag inside another bag and repeat the process. Refrigerate. This process ensures that the turkey will come in complete contact with the brine without taking up a huge amount of space in the fridge.

Turkey Stock: Quarter 2 onions, peel and chop 3 carrots, chop 3 stalks of celery and toss in a bowl with the neck, rib cage bones and just enough oil to coat. Roast in a 400 degree oven on a foil-lined cookie sheet for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Place everything in a pot and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Over a low flame, slowly bring the water to a SIMMER, and cook for 4 hours. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Strain and place in the fridge.

Turkey Day: Remove your bird from the brine, pat dry, and rub with seasoned butter (recipe below). Place the pieces on a roasting pan with a rack, and roast in a 350 degree oven until cooked. I can’t tell you for how long, so don’t even ask. Cooking time depends on many factors: When was the last time your oven was calibrated? What temperature was the turkey when it went in? How many times will you open the oven while it’s cooking (don’t do that!, by the way)? What else is in the oven with your turkey? What type of pan is the turkey in? Etc…  The turkey is done when a kitchen thermometer says it is done. Use a thermometer like this one, which allows you to run the cord outside the oven so that you can monitor the temperature without opening the oven door. The breast is done when the center of the breast meat is 160 degrees; the leg/thigh meat is done when it reaches 170 degrees. This may or may not happen at the same time. Don’t worry. You will need to rest the bird anyways, so just pull the pieces out when they are done and tent them in foil.

While the turkey pieces are resting, pour the melted butter and drippings from the bottom of the roasting pan into a pot and place over a medium heat. Simmer until the fat stops splattering (water is cooked out of the oil) and sprinkle with flour 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until you get a something that looks like wet sand, otherwise known as a roux. Be sure to add the flour slowly to avoid lumps. Continue to cook until the roux is golden brown, then whisk with a wire whisk and slowly pour in the cold turkey stock that you made two days earlier. Return to a slow simmer. If the gravy is too thick, pour in the drippings from the resting turkey or a few drops of water. If the gravy is too thin continue to cook for a few more minutes. Season the gravy with salt and pepper to taste, then add some fresh chopped parsley for color.

As for serving, I like to pull the dark meat off the leg and thigh bones into nice chunks, removing all those little bones. Then I remove the entire breast from each side with the skin on, so you can slice it across the grain. This way, if people want dark meat, they don’t look like Fred Flintstone munching on a whole leg or need to deal with a lot of people trying to share only a few pieces of dark meat. Besides, the breast meat will be so moist that, once the dark meat runs out, people gladly will take seconds on the breast meat.

This may seem like a little more work than just sticking a 22 lb. bird in the oven, but trust me it’s not.  The bird will cook in far less than time, and will taste so good that you might even cook a turkey more than once a year.

Good luck, and Happy Turkey Day!

- Chef Ryan

• 64 oz apple cider or juice (non-alcoholic)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup salt
• 1 tsp. chili flakes
• ¼ cup pickling spice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 12 black peppercorns
• 1 thumb fresh ginger, smashed
• 1 head fresh garlic, split
• zest and juice of 1 orange

Boil 4 cups of the cider, and chill the remaining cider.  Add all the ingredients to the boiling cider, simmer for 2 minutes while stirring until everything is dissolved.  Add the rest of the cold cider, then marinate the bird for approximately 48 hours.  Do not begin marinating the poultry until the brine has completely cooled.

Turkey Butter Rub

• 3 sticks butter, soft
• 10-12 fresh sage leaves, torn into small pieces
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• a pinch of cayenne powder or chili flakes

Place the ingredients in your food processor and process until well-incorporated and smooth.  If you don’t have a food processor, chop the sage finely by hand, then incorporate all the ingredients in a bowl with a wire whisk or spoon. This can be made days or weeks ahead and stored, but bring it to room temperature before rubbing onto the bird.

Bon Appétit!