Thanksgiving inspired recipes to get you cooking - The New Indian Express

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Thanksgiving inspired recipes to get you cooking - The New Indian Express

Thanksgiving inspired recipes to get you cooking - The New Indian Express

Posted: 28 Nov 2020 12:30 AM PST

By IANS

NEW DELHI: The American holiday promotes the idea of being grateful and something Indians love feasting. Chef Mariko Amekodommo, International Culinary Expert from LA, California shares recipes to roast turkey, fresh baked pies and spiced apple cider filling the air.

When cooking a turkey, there are always many things to consider such as the size of the turkey for the number of guests, will it fit in my oven and will I actually cook it long enough or too long. While I can't answer those questions, I can share my favorite marinades for cooking a turkey at home like a pro.

Brine

Brine preparation for turkey continues to grow in popularity each year, and once you taste it you will definitely know why. The process is simple, get a HUGE container big enough to fit the turkey and enough water to cover it, along with plenty of salt and spices.

When brining, the turkey absorbs extra moisture to help it stay extra juicy. Since it absorbs the salt and spices as well, the turkey meat gets extra seasoned deep inside the meat, not just the surface. The brine solution also breaks down some of the proteins in the turkey, making it more tender.

For the best results from brining, begin the process at least 48 hours before you plan to cook the bird. Before cooking, remove from brine and drain on a large towel. Drying the turkey before cooking assures for a crispy and evenly brown skin. Brined turkey cooks faster, so check often to make sure you don't overcook.

Here's the go-to recipe for the brine. Feel free to add extra herbs and spices such as chili, depending on your tastes.

Classic Turkey Brine Recipe (for a small 6-8kg turkey)

1 cup salt

1/2 brown sugar or jaggery

4L vegetable stock, warm

2 tablespoons whole peppercorns

1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped ginger

1 orange, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 cinnamon stick

1 bunch rosemary

1 bunch sage leaves

4L water

Combine all of the ingredients (except the extra 4L water) in a large pot and heat until the salt is dissolved. Allow to cool completely. Place turkey in large stock pot or bucket with the cavity facing up. Pour the cool brine into the bucket, and add remaining 4L water just until the turkey is completely submerged. Place bucket into refrigerator for 48-72 hours until it's ready to cook.

Fresh Herb Butter

Herb butter is my 2nd favorite turkey preparation when I don't have time to brine. It's essentially a full flavored fresh herb butter that is inserted underneath the skin so it's absorbed into the meat when cooking. The result is extra rich and flavorful meat and creates a fantastic gravy. This preparation doesn't need to be made ahead of time and you can follow your regular cooking times.

Fresh Herb Butter Recipe (for a small 6-8kg turkey)

1kg butter, softened (salted or unsalted. If you use unsalted, add 1 tablespoon salt)

1 bunch fresh parsley

1 bunch rosemary

1 bunch sage

1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper

20 cloves garlic

Add all ingredients to a food processor or large mixer grinder and blend until well combined. Prepare your turkey in a large roasting pan. Using a sharp knife, make slits in the skin of the turkey and use your fingers to separate the skin from the meat. With a spoon, take the herb butter and start placing inside the slits and use your fingers to spread it around from the top. At this point, you'll almost be massaging the turkey with butter so that it is spread evening. Continue the process until the herb butter is finished and the entire turkey has a layer of butter between the skin and meat. Now it's ready to cook following your preferred time and temperature.

Dry Rub

Lastly, if you want great flavor and don't have time to brine and fresh herb butter is too labor intensive, then I recommend a simple dry rub. It's ready in minutes, has great flavor and easy to customize with your favorite spices. And I always believe that a turkey can never be too flavorful, so feel free to use the dry rub with brine or herb butter preparations.

Dry Rub Recipe (for a small 6-8kg turkey)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Hint: If you don't have the dried herbs, replace with 5 teaspoons Italian seasoning

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Generously brush turkey with olive oil, then rub in the seasoning mixture. Cook following your preferred time and temperature.

What to Cook This Weekend - The New York Times

Posted: 27 Nov 2020 07:30 AM PST

Good morning. So how'd that go? Weird, right? Not unpleasant, I hope, plenty delicious and fun. But strange indeed to have years of tradition upended by the need to stay safe amid a pandemic, for sure. And boy howdy the leftovers. I wanted to cook a smaller bird. But I ended up with a 17-pounder and, well, I've got a lot of cooked turkey meat just now. It's time, this weekend, to do something about that. You may be in a similar position.

One thing I'd like to do for sure is make a couple of tourtières, heavy on the turkey, to freeze for use later in the winter. You'll see from the notes on the recipe that there are plenty of French Canadians who make a simpler version, with ground beef and pork. But I learned to make the dish at the feet of Hugue Dufour, the ambitious and large-hearted chef and an owner of M. Wells Steakhouse in New York, and know that it's an amazing pie when you load it with roast turkey and pork, beef marrow, mushrooms, puréed potato, whatever you like. So I'm going to do that.

But not only that. Sohla El-Waylly has some good leftovers ideas herself: a leftovers sandwich (above), for instance, as well as a stuffing panzanella and a stuffing dumpling soup. I might make that last one and eat it standing at the stove.

You could make and freeze a Thanksgiving leftovers enchilada pie. You could make and freeze turkey tamales, bring them out at Christmastime. And you should absolutely make a bunch of turkey stock for the freezer, for it will improve your soups and braises for weeks to come.

I like Thanksgiving leftovers in the moment, as well. Turkey silog for breakfast, say, with turkey pitas for lunch and bang bang turkey for dinner, anointed with chile crisp.

But let's say you were smart about your planning and execution, don't have too many leftovers, and you're eager to move on from the strange American feast. We've got you covered as well. I like this salmon fried rice, and these shrimp and mango tacos. I dig this creamy polenta with mushrooms. Also, these chapli burgers. And maybe a big pot of Rhode Island clam chowder would suit as well.

We have thousands and thousands more recipes to consider cooking this weekend waiting for you on NYT Cooking. Go see what you find. Then save the recipes you want to cook and rate the ones you've made. Leave notes on them, too, for your own benefit or for that of your fellow subscribers.

Not a subscriber? I'm sorry about that. Subscriptions are what make this whole thing possible. I hope you will subscribe to NYT Cooking today. (Thank you if you've already subscribed.)

And please do ask for help if something goes wrong along the way, either with a recipe or the code we use to support the site and apps. We are at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you.

Now, it's nothing to do with repurposing sautéed brussels sprouts or reheating gravy, but I loved The New York Times Book Review's list of the top 10 books of the year. Collect them all.

Here's Miley Cyrus covering The Cranberries' "Zombie" in October in Los Angeles, and you're welcome.

Hilton Als on Joan Didion and her "granite of the specific" in The New York Review of Books? Yes, please.

Finally, there's a new poem by Charles Simic in The New Yorker, "November." Let that take you into the weekend, and toward December next week. See you on Sunday.


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