Thinking about Turducken for This Thanksgiving?
Introducing the TurduckenBy Mama Jade
Turducken: a chicken, stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey, often with stuffing placed between each layer.
Sounds like a monster, huh? In truth, I was hesitant when I first tried one. I was at an Orphan Thanksgiving celebration at a friend’s place and she mentioned she had purchased one. “Blasphemy” I cried, pointing at her viciously. Why would anyone do this? I was so very wrong. That meal was one of the most delicious, albeit strange, that I’ve ever eaten.
Image via Wikipedia
Centuries ago, the Romans did something very similar with pigs, goats, sheep, cows and other land animals, as well as waterfowl like ducks and geese. In the 1800s, the French had a meal called Roti Sans Pareil, or the Roast without Equal. It featured up to 17 birds, each being stuffed inside another, larger bird. They ranged in size from a Warbler at its smallest to a Turkey and Bustard at the larger end. Truly an aristocratic meal.
In more modern days, there are several companies that provide them for varying prices, often including different flavors of stuffing or even replacing it entirely with pork. I would not recommended attempting to make one at home the first time, as each of the birds needs to be almost entirely deboned for ease of cooking and carving, but if you have a butcher that is local and easily bribed, I would highly advise embarking on such an adventure.
Turduckens are shipped on dry ice in their own small coolers. They cannot be fried and this warning is apparent on every one I’ve ever purchased. Fire up that oven, make sure the birds are completely thawed and pop it in the oven. Follow the directions that are included with your birds. That’s really about all there is to it. Once completely cooked, remove it from the oven and let it sit for about 20 minutes or so. Being completely boneless makes them extremely easy to carve. Just slice it as you would a pork loin. Each slice will give you all three birds and the stuffing of your choice.
My household orders one every couple of years or so and we always make sure to invite new people over to try it. The expression on their faces when we explain what it is we have brought into our home and intend to feed them is priceless. Every one of them has gone home a convert to the Turducken ways. It is a truly unique experience that I think everyone should have. It certainly illustrates the creativity and fun that can be had with simple combinations of food. If we can’t have fun, what’s the point, right? Find your fun!
Roasting a Turkey
There are many methods used by Southern Cooks to cook a moist and tasty Roasted Turkey. Most methods rely on basting. The turkey can be basted every 30 minutes with a basting bulb, or covered with cheesecloth soaked in butter. Other methods include brining the turkey (soaking in a salt water solution for 8-10 hours), or injecting a basting solution into the meat. Whatever method you prefer, proper roasting is key to tender moist meat.
Image by due.chiacchiere via Flickr
- Completely thaw the turkey. Start early and thaw the turkey in the refrigerator or in a place where the air temperature is no higher than 40 degrees. A 20-pound turkey takes about two or three days to thaw completely. Be sure the turkey is thawed completely, until no ice appears in the inner cavity and the meat is soft. Be careful: If the inner cavity is still frozen or even partially frozen when you put the turkey in the oven, the outside of the bird will be done before the inside, and the inside temperature will not be hot enough to destroy disease-causing bacteria, or if it is the outside meat will be dried out before the center is done.
- Remove the neck and giblets from the cavities. If this is your first time cooking the turkey, be sure that both cavities are emptied. Reserve the neck and giblets for use in preparing the giblet gravy, if desired.
- Prepare the stuffing. If you are preparing the stuffing early, mix only the dry ingredients. It is recommended that you cook the stuffing separately, but if you do stuff the turkey, do not stuff it until you are ready to roast it. Stuff the cavity loosely. Do not pack it. If you choose to cook the stuffing separately, you can place a quartered onion and some celery leave and other desired herbs in the cavity for flavor.
- Prepare a basting sauce. I prefer to baste with melted butter to which I add fresh or dried herbs. You can also baste with a mixture of wine and butter. Baste the turkey with your sauce and place a loose tent of aluminum foil over the turkey to prevent the skin from burning before the turkey is cooked. This tent will be removed during the last 45 minutes or so of cooking. If you are using cheesecloth, soak the cheesecloth with the basting sauce and place over the breast and drape onto the thighs. When using cheesecloth, you do not need the foil tent. Baste the turkey every 30 minutes during roasting.
- Roast your turkey at 325 degrees for the recommended time for the weight of your turkey. These times are approximate and should be confirmed with a meat thermometer. Be sure to check the thermometer about 3/4th of the way through the time indicated so as not to overcook. Dry meat will result if the turkey is overcooked. The following table gives approximate times for roasting turkey at 325 degrees F.For safety and doneness the internal temperature must reach 180 degrees F in the thigh and 170 in the center of the breast. If the turkey is stuffed, the stuffing should reach 165 degrees F in the cavity. This temperature is essential to prevent food borne disease, and should be measured with a meat thermometer. The pop-up thermometer that comes in many turkeys serves as a good approximate of doneness, but should not be relied on as the ultimate authority. When placing the meat thermometer in the thigh or breast, it is important not to touch the bone. The bone conducts heat and will be hotter than the meat. Do not allow the cooked meat to come into contact with anything that has touched the raw turkey.
- During the last 30 – 45 minutes of cooking, remove the foil tent to encourage browning. If you desire to use a glaze, spread it over the turkey now with a pastry brush.
- After dinner, separate the stuffing from the turkey and refrigerate leftovers immediately. Within a few hours bacterial will begin to grow causing disease if the meat is not quickly cooled. Large chunks of meat will cool slowly, and therefore should be refrigerated immediately to begin the cooling process. Meat, stuffing, and gravy can also be cooled, then frozen for future use.
- Luke warm leftovers allow bacterial growth. Food eaten cold will not have the opportunity for further growth, however when heating leftover, they should be heated to at least 165 to kill bacteria.
| Wt. of Turkey | Unstuffed | Stuffed |
|---|---|---|
| 10-18 lbs | 3- 3 1/2 hrs. | 4 – 4 1/2 hrs |
| 18-22 lbs | 3 1/2 – 4 hrs | 4 1/2 – 5 hrs. |
| 22-24 lbs | 4- 4 1/2 hrs | 5 – 51/2 hrs |
| 24-29 lbs | 4 1/2- 5 hrs | 5 1/2 – 6 1/2 hrs |
The turkey must be roasted all at once. You cannot partially cook it ahead for later finishing. This method has been shown to increase the chances of food borne illnesses.
Nitty Gritty Grinders
July 1, 2011 by admin
Filed under Featured, quick and easy
Nitty Gritty Grinders
by Mama Jade
1 package sub rolls
1/2 lb deli roast beef (sliced thin)
1/2 lb deli turkey breast (sliced thin)
1/2 lb deli ham (sliced thin)
Swiss or provolone cheese (sliced thin)
1 sweet onion (diced)
1 green bell pepper (diced)
2 large tomatoes (diced)
condiments (mayo, mustard, etc.)
2 cans beef broth
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Slice your sub rolls in half without separating the halves. Put your condiments on the bread. Add 2 slices of the roast beef, turkey and ham to each roll. Add a small amount of the onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Arrange your sandwiches in a baking dish, side by side. Lay slices of cheese over each sandwich and place into the oven. Heat your beef broth until the cheese topping the grinders is melted and slightly browned.
Serve the sandwiches with a small bowl of beef broth for dipping.
Tips:
Any combination of lunch meat can be substituted in this recipe, as well as various vegetables and seasonings.
If you prefer your sandwiches warmed through, preheat the oven to 250 degrees and wait until the sandwiches are warmed and the bread is getting crunchy.
If you only want the cheese melted and browned quickly, use the broil setting on your oven instead.
Cold and Bold: Summer Ice Cream Hits the Spot
Summer is upon us and down here in the South, the temperatures have been in the 90s for over a month now. With school being out for the summer, keeping the kids both occupied and cool is paramount. Both a delicious treat and a wonderful munchkin friendly project, ice cream comes in countless styles and flavors. It can be made in individual batches or in large quantities and ingredients can be found to sooth any palette. A most delightful way to beat the heat, ice cream is the perfect treat for parents and kids alike.
Image via Wikipedia
Ice Cream
Vanilla ice cream still tops the charts as America’s favorite flavor, with chocolate and strawberry close behind. Ice cream is typically made in two ways: cooked and uncooked. In the cooked version, a custard base is made by heating milk and flavors and adding eggs until the texture thickens. From there, cold cream is added and the entire mixture is moved into an ice maker to set. In the uncooked version, the ingredients (sans egg) are added together until mixed and then added to an ice cream maker.
Frozen Yogurt
Frozen yogurt tends to be smoother in consistency than ice cream, due in part to a difference in the ratio of milk fats and proteins in the yogurt and part to added air incorporated while cooling. The original frozen yogurt was made with Greek yogurt, which has a strong, tart flavor in comparison to other yogurts or ice creams. Today’s yogurt is typically lower in fat but has a good bit of sugar mixed in to cut the inherent tartness. Though the battle rages on, frozen yogurt does offer something that ice cream does not: enzymes and beneficial bacteria. Frozen yogurt tends to be easier to digest for those that are lactose intolerant.
Sorbet and Sherbet
Sorbet is a sweet, often fruit flavored dessert. Unlike ice cream, it contains absolutely no dairy and does not have extra air whipped in. This makes for a very dense and extraordinarily flavorful dessert. In older times, sorbet was served between courses at dinner to aid in cleansing the palate In more recent times it is served as a low or no fat alternative to ice cream. Sherbet is a slightly different dessert, very similar but containing enough dairy to bring the milk fat up to between one and two percent (compared to ice cream, which is regulated at 10% or higher milk fat). This creates a smoother texture.
Gelato
Gelato, while similar to ice cream, is a completely different beast. Gelato contains many of the same ingredients: milk, cream, and sugars with various purees for flavor. While ice cream averages around 14% milk fat, gelato averages between four and eight percent. It also tends to have a significantly higher sugar content, between 24 and 30%. Instead of being frozen in one large batch, gelato is typically frozen very quickly in smaller batches. Churning adds a small amount of air, creating a dense, extremely smooth dessert with intense and often exotic flavors. They have a much shorter shelf life than ice cream and should be consumed within a few days or purchase.
Related Articles:How to Make Barbecue Sauce from Scratch
April 13, 2011 by admin
Filed under Featured, Grilling and Barbecue, Meats
Making homemade southern-style barbecue sauce is just a matter of combining ingredients and simmering it to blend the flavors. Choosing ingredients that combine well, with just the right touch of sweet, sour and spice, can be an art. Start with these flavor combinations and spice it up or down to fit your flavor preferences.
Image by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer via Flickr
Southern Barbecue Sauce Ingredients
With the exception of the mustard based sauces favored in South Carolina and the white sauces of Alabama, most American barbecue sauce begins with a tomato base in the form of ketchup. You can use pureed tomatoes or tomato sauce instead if you choose, but ketchup is the base most often used.
In addition to the ketchup, you will need to add a balance of sweet and sour as well as spices or heat to add interest. Let us look at each ingredient category.
For acidity or sour, some form of vinegar is commonly used. In addition, lemon juice and orange juice add additional tang and flavor, when included.
Balance the acidity with sweeteners in the form of molasses, honey, maple sugar or brown sugar. Some recipes even use cola or Dr. Pepper as a sweetener. The amount of sweetener used will depend on which sweetener you choose and how sweet you like your sauce. Start with less than you expect to need and taste your sauce as you add more to get the sweetness you prefer.
Spice It Up
Additional flavorings are common and depend on your preferences. Common flavorings include sautéed onions and garlic, mustard powder or Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper, minced chili peppers or dried chili flakes and liquid smoke. Do not try to overload the sauce with all of these flavors. Start simply with the ingredients that you like.
Simmer your sauce for 30 to 45 minutes to blend the flavors and thicken the sauce. You can thin the sauce with water, orange juice, lemon juice, or sherry if needed.
Basic Barbecue Sauce Recipe
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/2 cup of vinegar
1/2 cup of molasses
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 to 2 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of chili flakes
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce as desired
Mix all ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spice it up with and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce to taste. Add more or less spice to your own tastes. Simmer for 30 minutes to blend flavors and thicken the sauce.
Southern Style Sweet Barbecue Sauce Recipe
1/2 large onion
1 tablespoon butter
chili pepper, chopped and seeded
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
Garlic salt
Black pepper
Mince the onion and sauté it in butter for a few minutes until translucent. Add a chopped and seeded chili pepper and stir for another minute.
Add the remaining ingredients. Season the sauce with garlic salt and fresh black pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes to blend the flavors.
Buttery Peas and Zucchini
More Zucchini, photo by Merelymel
If your garden is like mine, you are probably running out of ways to use zucchini. This recipe is a quick and easy side dish for any meal. Cut the zucchini into thin sticks and it will cook very fast.
1- 10 oz pkg Peas in butter sauce, frozen
2 tb Water
1 med Zucchini- Cut into thin strips
1 tb Pimiento; diced
Cook the peas according to package directions. Pour into a serving bowl; cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a skillet, simmer 2 tablespoons of water and zucchini over medium heat until water is evaporated and zucchini is tender.
Stir in peas and pimiento.
How to Make Great Coffee at Home
September 15, 2010 by admin
Filed under Current, Featured, Know Your Ingredients
By Alex Ritter
Homemade Coffee, photo by javaturtle
If you are a coffee drinker, you may have noticed that the coffee you brew at your home never tastes as good as what you can get in restaurants or at Starbucks. This simple fact sometimes prevents people from brewing their own coffee at home, but going out of the house every day for your morning brew is both inconvenient and very costly. If you simply follow the tips outlined below, you can brew your own great tasting coffee at home and save yourself a lot of money.
- Use Fresh Coffee Beans
- Use High Quality Water
- Brew at the Correct Temperature
Fresh beans are essential to making a great cup of joe. Ideally, you should grind your own whole beans every time you brew a pot because coffee loses its flavor as soon as the beans are ground. Just think of the month old can of pre-ground Folgers or Maxwell House you have in the pantry. It smells amazing when you first open it, but it is all down hill from there.
Whatever contaminates, particles, or flavor agents are in your water will end up in your coffee. If you don’t like the taste of your tap water, why would you expect to like the taste of the coffee that your tap water produces? If you could afford to use bottled spring water every day, that would be great, but it wouldn’t be any cheaper than going to Starbucks. Instead, you should filter your water with a simple home water pitcher. Several brands of these filter pitchers are on the market for a good price. Brita, and Pur are two popular manufacturers of water filters that you can try.
Coffee beans give up their best flavors just below the boiling point of water. If your coffee maker doesn’t get the water hot enough, you won’t be able to extract the best flavor from your beans. Instead, you will get dull, bitter flavors that you won’t enjoy. To make sure you are brewing at the right temperature, make sure you have a good quality coffee maker. Higher end makers will come with a temperature setting feature. If your maker has this, be sure it is set at or around 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you follow these steps you will be making great coffee at home in no time, and yo will be saving yourself a few dollars every day.
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If you are still looking for that coffee shop experience at home, you might want to consider a Keurig single serving brewer. Keurig machines use single packets called k cups to brew the perfect cup of coffee every time. For k-cup reviews, and info on Keurig Coffee Makers, check out bestkcupcoffees.com.
More on Making the Perfect Cup of Coffee:
The Perfect Cup of Coffee- Tips and Tricks to Help You Make It
The Perfect Cup of Coffee – The Tips and Tricks to Help You Make It
September 14, 2010 by admin
Filed under Featured, Know Your Ingredients
The Perfect Cup of Coffee – The Tips and Tricks to Help You Make It
Make a Perfect Cup of Coffee, photo by javaturtle
The art of coffee making is actually very simple as long as you stick to a couple of fundamental rules. It is imperative that you stick to those rules though, because it can go catastrophically wrong if you don’t. If you do follow these steps, your coffee will turn out great every time. One fundamental rule is that you should always use the best ingredients.
Some of the materials you need:
• Water
• Whole coffee beans
• A coffee grinder
• A coffee filter
• A coffee machine
• Airtight container (storage)
• Baking soda (cleaning)
• Vinegar (cleaning)
The two most important materials are water and coffee beans. Water makes up approximately 98-99% of coffee, so if your water tastes bad, your coffee will taste bad too. It is important to buy whole coffee beans, because the fresher you grind the coffee, the better. What brand you want to buy is completely up to you. A copper filter is preferred over a paper filter because it lets through the coffee oils that the paper filter traps.
If you insist on using a paper filter, the brown paper filter is definitely the way to go. The coffee’s oil is essential to the taste of the coffee. The recommended way to clean your coffee pot is to use baking soda with a little water and vinegar. First, put ¼ of a cup of baking soda with a few drops of water and scrub the whole pot. Then add vinegar to the pot and let the pot bubble. After that, rinse the whole pot off with warm water. Some people prefer to do it twice to make sure they didn’t miss any spots in the first time. The resulting coffee pot should make better tasting coffee than a pot washed with dish washing soap.
When you are ready to brew your coffee, make sure your water is hot, but not boiling. The water temperature should be around 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. You should always make sure that you are using enough coffee for each cup, or else your coffee will be too bland.
The perfect ratio of tablespoons of coffee to a cup in my opinion is two tablespoons to one cup of coffee. After brewing a good cup of coffee, you can add any additional things you like. It’s all about trial and error; you just have to keep trying to get everything just right. Once you get everything right, the coffee will taste just great. The coffee will be definitely worth the time and effort you paid, and I am sure you will use that recipe for many many years.
More on Making Coffee:
Avocado Stuffed Tomato Salad
September 13, 2010 by admin
Filed under Featured, Vegetables
Avocado Stuffed Tomato, photo by olgucz
These avocado stuffed tomatoes are pretty and tasty. You could also stuff a teaspoon of the salad into scooped out cherry tomatoes for an appetizer. For another variation, use your favorite guacamole recipe for a stuffing. Serve as an appetizer or salad course.
4 Medium fresh tomatoes
1 Ripe avocado
Lettuce
1 tsp Lemon juice
1 pinch Chili powder
1 Handful of alfalfa sprouts
2 tbsp Chopped celery or green bell pepper
1 tsp Chopped fresh parsley
1 pinch Coriander
Salt
Cut tops off tomatoes & scoop out insides or slice the tomatoes into 6 wedges, stopping each cut before the bottom of the tomato so that the wedges are connected.
Place the tomatoes on a bed of lettuce.
Mash avocado & mix with the rest of the ingredients. Stuff into the tomato shells or scoop into the center of the tomato wedges.
Hot and Sweet Pepper Sauce
These small scotch bonnet peppers pack a lot of heat. Photo by Nicolas*
This pepper sauce takes its heat from the scotch bonnet peppers. If you like less heat, use milder peppers. Store the finished sauce in the refrigerator.
CAUTION: The oils from hot peppers will put a serious burn on if you get it in your eye! (Been there!) I advise you to wear gloves when working with hot peppers because even a good hand washing may not get all the oils off your hands. In my case, I washed my hands thoroughly after working with hot peppers, then hours later, touched my eye. I thought I was going blind. The pain was intense and my eyes watered so badly that I couldn’t see. WEAR GLOVES.
| Ingredients | |||
| 2 | each | red bell peppers, seeded and quartered | |
| 1 | each | green bell pepper, seeded and quartered | |
| 3 | each | scotch bonnet peppers, seeded | |
| 1 | head | garlic, separated into cloves | |
| 2 | sprigs | coriander, fresh chopped | |
| 1 | each | lime, juice of | |
| 1/4 | cup | malt vinegar | |
| 1 | teaspoon | salt | |
| 1 | pepper, freshly ground | ||
| 1/2 | cup | olive oil | |
| Directions: | |||
| Puree the red pepper, green pepper, Scotch Bonnet peppers, garlic, coriander and lime juice in a food processor. Add the vinegar, salt, black pepper and olive oil and process again.Bottle the sauce in hot sterilized jars. | |||
Related Articles:
Pepper Sauces: Southern Hot Pepper Sauce and Habenero Pepper Sauce
