I’ll chat today at 1 pm ET, and I’ve got two Insider posts up now, one on the Astros’ moves last week and one on moves by the Cardinals, Twins, and Rangers, plus a small Rays-Mariners trade.
With Thanksgiving approaching and cooking questions picking up on Twitter, I figured I’d throw some random thoughts and tips I’ve got for making Thursday’s meal successful and less stressful. (None involve drinking, although I am not averse to that as a solution.) I’m happy to answer questions in the comments or in the chat today too.
- Dry-brine and spatchcock your turkey. This is by far the easiest method I’ve ever employed of cooking a turkey, and it cooks more quickly and evenly than the typical Normal Rockwell-picture method. Plus the skin comes out salty and crisp. Serious Eats has the recipe with pictures. You will only need some kosher salt, a sheet pan with a rack that fits in it, and a decent thermometer for measuring the temperature of the meat. Don’t cook it by time, or by that stupid minutes-per-pound measure (that’s like looking at pitcher wins and saves). Cook by temperature.
- Season your gravy with soy sauce. I’ve started putting soy sauce in every sauce I make for any meat other than fish and for any strongly-flavored vegetables. It’s one of the most umami-dense ingredients in your kitchen, along with Parmiggiano-Reggiano and fish sauce or anchovies, and soy sauce adds all that umami without becoming a dominant flavor like those other ingredients do. A dash of fish sauce in a quart of gravy wouldn’t hurt either, and I have also started using white miso in many sauces too for the same purpose.
- While I’m talking gravy, yes, a flour-based roux is traditional and probably gives better texture, but if you use a cornstarch slurry you’ll get gravy without lumps and a faster, more stable thickening. Plus it’s gluten-free, which matters at my table this year.
- You’re probably used to having salt out in a bowl or ingredient cup so you can grab a pinch as needed. For large meal mise en place, I do the same with pepper: I throw a tablespoon or two of peppercorns in my spice grinder and then put the results in a second cup near the cooking area. That way I can grab a pinch as needed and don’t have to mess with a hand grinder.
- Choose side dishes that cook around the same temperature. Most of the sides I make cook at 350 or 375, enough that they can all go in at 350 and maybe cook a few extra minutes if the recipes called for the higher temp. Anything that requires a higher temperature can go in with the turkey near the end of its cooking time to take advantage of the already-warm oven; when the bird comes out, drop the temp, put in the sides that cook at 350, with the plan to serve everything when those dishes come out.
- I’ve said this before, but try to do as much prep or outright cooking as you can the day or evening before, and save Thursday for the turkey and for just the final cooking stages. The last few years I’ve started with a soup, which I made and chilled ahead, then reheated served while I was finishing the sides; and have assembled entire dishes the night before and just baked them after the turkey came out.
That serious eats link is broken.
It should work now.
But what about the most important part; the pies?
Soy sauce is a great idea for the gravy. I put some Worcestshire in on Sunday pre-Thanksgiving and that gave great flavor as well. When I’m making BBQ or Steak sauce, Soy is also one of my basic ingredients.
Real Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies, so you’re doing the same thing I’m suggesting (plus getting other flavors too). My wife avoids all seafood now because of her shellfish allergy, so we don’t keep that in the house, but I agree it’s a great ingredient for adding umami.
Do you dry brine before you spatchcock or do you spatchcock the bird, add the dry brine, and let it sit in the fridge for the 12-24 hours? If you dry brine after spatchcocking the bird, do you also dry brine the bottom cavity area?
I did that all at once – spatchcock, salt, put in fridge. That way the skin starts to dry out for you so it’ll crisp faster. I only salt skin and meat, so since the underside of the cavity is bones & … uh, stuff you don’t eat, I skipped that part.
Didn’t know that Worcestershire contains anchovies. Good to know.
My favorite TDay trick is stuffing waffles. Put your stuffing recipe mix of choice directly in a waffle maker. All the crispy goodness multiplied tenfold. Credit to Funk n’ Waffle as seen on Triple D.
It’s a fermented fish sauce, like nam pla or the ancient Roman sauce garum. That’s why it’s both fragrant and packed with glutamates (umami).
Do you use the same ratio of corn starch-to-butter as a traditional flour-to-butter roux?
It’s not a roux – you mix cornstarch with cold water, then whisk that into the warm gravy on the stove, and heat till it thickens (near boiling). Then whisk in butter after heating if you want the butter flavor/fat.
Got it. I’ve made a similar slurry for thickening sauces and stews in the past. Thanks.
Also, what pies are you making this year besides pumpkin? I’m going to attempt an apple pie using the pre-cooked apples method from Serious Eats. I’m curious as to whether it will work, or the final product filling will be an apple sludge.
Unsolicited update: the serious eats apple pie turned out great. The apples, which were golden delicious, held their shape and some bite after cooking on the stovetop first.
awesome!
My son Eric is a fan and sent me this link today. I’ve never tried a traditional or dry brine for a turkey before, but I’m curious and I’ve also been told that you are a “very smart guy”. So I’m going to try the dry brine and spatchcock technique. Wish me luck!
Good luck! It’s not as daunting as it sounds. The hardest part is cutting out the backbone (which you can save to make stock later).
Will a half sheet pan work for a 13-15 lb turkey?
absolutely. I’ve done an 18-pounder on a half sheet pan.