Thanksgiving 2012 - Part I

As discussed in Thanksgiving Sometimes IS About Compromise, I said that I'd share some family recipes handed down to me from my grandparents. Here goes with Part I, about the turkey baste and "tenting" the turkey with foil. This one is fairly simple, but other Thanksgiving entries will be made about the 2nd most important part of that meal, stuffing! Now, back to the baste.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine softened/melted
• 1/2 cup dry sherry or apple juice (apple cider works well too)
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp marjoram
• 1/2 tsp savory
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp rubbed sage
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients
2. Brush/rub liberally on the turkey in the last 2 hours of roasting

 Recommendations

• Use a basting brush instead of your bare hands
• Use whatever you want (whiskey, vodka, gin, etc) as the liquid for the baste. Most of it will all be cooked off in the last 2 hours.
• Use Old Bay seasoning instead of the long list above, especially if from New England
• Use a large sheet of aluminum foil, folded in half, to provide a "pup tent" over the turkey as it is baked and basted in the last 2 hours. This prevents the baste from burning before it invades the flavor of the meat

Home Fries

Had a couple of potatoes in the pantry, so I decided to make home fries. Since it was just me for dinner, I only used 1 potato. Basically figure on 1 medium potato per serving.

Ingredients

1 medium potato (scrubbed)
Italian mixed spices
Garlic pepper
Black pepper
Butter

Directions

1. Pre-heat toaster oven to 400° F / 205° C
2. Poke the scrubbed potato a few times with a fork and wrap in foil
3. Bake in the toaster oven about 1 hour then put in the fridge to cool (about an hour)
4. Melt butter in a skillet over medium setting
5. Remove the foil, cut the potato lengthwise in half, then slice to 1/4" thickness
6. When butter is melted, spread the slices in a single layer in the skillet
7. Every few minutes, stir/flip the slices, add more butter if it is needed
8. Once they start to yellow & brown, sprinkle the spices on them, keep flipping
9. When they are the way you want them, serve

Thoughts

☮ For home fries for breakfast, bake the potato the night before & cool overnight in the fridge
☮ Use a medium setting with the skillet, otherwise you might set off the smoke alarm
☮ Keep an eye while they are cooking, they can cook fast & burn easy
☮ You can fit 3-4 medium potatoes in a toaster oven, so it keeps the house/apartment cooler
☮ To cut down the cooking time, use the microwave to bake your tater
☮  You can cube them instead of slicing

Coffee - More Important than the Alarm Clock

I mentioned in the Percolated Coffee entry how I make my coffee to enjoy it even just a little bit more than stopping at the coffee shop. Yes, I learned how to perk coffee at a very young age from my grandmother, and I was remiss in that entry to share with you some other suggestions about coffee. So here goes. For the first time ever, I'm going to share with the world a secret family recipe, and some other suggestions about coffee. I'm going to share the recipe as it was orally told to me, this is the first time it has ever been written down.

Ingredients

• 8-9 cups of water
• An egg
• Medium ground coffee
• Some cinnamon (ground or sticks, it doesn't matter)
• Saucepan, coffee pot, whisk, and cup
• Some elbow/wrist grease to make it happen

Directions

• Put about 6 cups of water in a saucepan, and bring it to a slow boil.
• Break the egg into a cup
• Crunch up the shell and toss that in the cup too
• Add 1/4 cup water to the egg and beat with a whisk
• Drop 4 TBSP ground coffee into the empty coffee pot, add 1/4 of the egg mixture to that, and slosh it around (save the rest of the egg mixture for tomorrow)
• If the water in the saucepan is boiling, pour it into the coffee pot (over the egg mixture)
• Put the coffee pot on a burner, set to LOW and simmer it for for 10 - 15 minutes

Suggestions

• After it has simmered for 10 - 15 minutes, add 1/4 cup cold water to settle the grounds, or take it off the burner for 10 minutes
• Pour it through a cheesecloth to filter out the grounds/shells
• Stick in the cinnamon stick or sprinkle the ground cinnamon to add flavor (saving calories)
• Drink it, and enjoy, finishes up a well prepared dinner on Sunday like you wouldn't believe

Yeah, there are more suggestions I could make, but I'll save them for another entry... Happy sipping in the morning to you...