Food TV

Thanksgiving was a success. Bewteen Alton Brown’s brined turkey, and stuffing (granted with a few modifications)and Garlic Mashers, Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Roll Cake, Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Apple Pie, Broccoli, Cauliflower Carrots, with Parmesan Bread crumbs, and a plain old fashioned Turkey Pan Gravy, we had more than enough to eat. Especially adding in the frozen pumpkin & Pecan pies, brown & serve rolls, and of course, Ocean Spray Cranberry Jelly… Oh yeah, and the ham and yams that the Hubby made. Wow, that’s a lot of food. I know that I said all of the recipes would be from Good Eats, but as it turns out, the show didn’t provide the full variety of dishes that I wanted to serve, but the Food Network Website has an amazing selection of dishes, and a wonderful recipe box feature. Each of the recipes were put together in one place, easy to find, and follow…

So, how easy were the recipes to prepare? And how did they turn out? And most importantly, what did the family think? Well, here’s a recipe by recipe review, of all of the savory dishes, and the review or the desserts is next!!!

Of course, we’ll start with the brined Turkey. The brine itself was really easy to prepare, although I’m sure I didn’t use enough salt. The recipe called for a callon of vegetable stock, but I used water instead and forgot to compensate for the sodium in the stock. Nonetheless, the turkey came out really moist and delicious, and here even 2 days later is still tender and flavorful. Once I got it out of the brine and rinsed, I got to put in the stuffing.

The stuffing that Alton made on Good Eats, when he finally conceded that stuffing, perhaps, is not evil, looked pretty good, so I used that as the base for my recipe. I did make a couple adjustments though. Mushrooms creep me out, and nobody in my house is a fan of bell peppers, so I replaced them. The mushrooms were easily replaced by the heart, liver, and neck meat of the turkey. And instead of a traditional “trinity” with the bell peppers, I switched it up to a mirepoix, using carrots instead. As for the bread, the recipe called for Challah bread, but I couldn’t find that, and my whole family loves sourdough, so I used that instead. For stuffing, I have to sat it turned out pretty darn good. Although I am not a super huge fan of stuffing, the whole soggy bread thing grosses me out. But those in my family that are fans of stuffing loved it. They said it was the best stufing they had ever had, and that’s saying a lot…

The roasting of the turkey couldn’t have been easier. Although I did place the probe of my new, fantastic, probe thermometer a bit too close to the surface and it claimed it was done after only an hour and a half. I proclaimed it a liar, and put it in deeper into the breast meat. A more reasonable couple hours later and it was really done. And while it was resting I put in the veggies.

The broccoli/cauliflower/carrots with parmesan bread crumbs was really easy to make. It only took a couple minutes to brown up the bread crumbs and cheese, and put it all on the veggies that were all nice and steamed. Even better, I forgot about them in the oven and left them in for at least 10 minutes longer than I should have, and they didn’t burn or overcook or anything. It’s almost like the crumbs worked as a protectant for the veggies. Hooray!!!

The Garlic Mashers were AWESOME!!! Although, next time I make them I am going to crush the garlic first. Whilst I really enjoyed munching on whloe cloves of garlic, I can’t say the same was true of the rest of my family. Plus the act of crushing the garlic will release a lot of it’s flavor. The gravy, on the other hand didn’t turn out really well at all. Well, the flavor was awesome, but I didn’t follow through on the directions. Turns out it REALLY IS necessary to seperate out the grease from the drippings. So instead of gravy, I got a really tasty turkey oil soup… It still went well on the potatoes, as I said the flavor was fantastic, but it was by no means gravy. Heehee, live and learn, I suppose.

So, how did the family like it? My mom has crowned me the Queen of Thanksgiving. My dad said the turkey was better than any he had ever made. I was showered in compliments all evening long. I couldn’t have wished for it to turn out better. Next year though, Dad and I will be working together. Now that my family has the confidence that I can do more than peel potatoes, Dad and I can put out a feast to end all feasts next year!!!

We have officially entered into Let’s Talk Turkey Month on the Food Network. How can I tell you ask? Well besides the endless ad’s on the Network itself proclaiming it as such, every show I have watched in the last week has featured turkey. From Throwdown with Bobby Flay, who challenged a 20 year Butterball “call girl”, to Iron Chef America, where Too Hot Tamales challenged … Bobby Flay.

Thanksgiving is a Flay heavy time of year it seems to me. I like him and all, but good lord, his grinning mug was on virtually everything I saw. And Rachael … I loooooove Rachael, but good lord how many different thirty or maybe 60 minute Thanksgiving meals are there really? And are we going to see each and every one of them every single year?

I am really enjoying them though, even though I make fun. The Food Network All Star Thanksgiving Feast is always fun to watch, although I was disappointed at the absence of my favorite … say it with me now friends … Alton Brown!!! On the plus side we have the re-play of the very same Feast we have seen every year since 2005. I have seen people say that that particular feast was slightly awkward and weird, but you have to love Emeril hand feeding Paula Deen his Bruschetta… It was strange and slightly erotic in a really twisted kind of way. I love every minute of it.

I have been torturing my family with all of the random Good Eats episodes that have been on this month, featuring the things I will be serving in our home on Thanksgiving. Stuff It is a funny episode where Alton finally breaks down and admits that stuffing is perhaps, maybe, possibly, if done properly, not evil. And that is the stuffing I will be using for Thanksgiving, although not with mushrooms … cause Ick. Romancing the Bird features the finer points of brining the turkey, and The Bulb of the Night is humorous, as well as educational. Because who doesn’t love garlic, and we’ve all burned it, or overpowered a recipe at least once. Not anymore friends!!!

The new Iron Chef, Michael Symon, will be starring in an all new Thanksgiving Iron Chef America!!! Although, so far this week we have seen Battle Turkey, with Bobby Flay, and Battle Cranberry, which featured 2 Iron Chefs each competing with a special guest star. Giada DiLaurentiis and Rachael Ray guest starred in that episode, and it was an absolute BLAST!!! I am really looking forward to seeing Iron Chef Symon’s first battle, it should prove to be exciting!!!

OK, now I’m off to go to bed so that I can get up early and prepare this delicious recipe for my hubby in the morning!!!

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