November 2008
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Month November 2008

Entries 5 Total

Brined and Roasted Turkey

Nov 29, ’08

I’ll take pig any time over a turkey but this year, I thought I’d tackle most of our Thanksgiving menu because it was the first time our family was complete since my brother permanently moved out of the States. My new sister-in-law and our favorite adoptee, Cameron, joined in the festivities. With the homemade stuffing and gravy, I combed through the many turkey recipes online and decided to put two recipes together from Bill Telepan and Alton Brown. Here they are in one, tested with love.

The young twelve-pounder bird cost me almost $40 from Whole Foods so there was no room for mistake: for three days I carefully planned and participated in my first ever brined and roasted Thanksgiving turkey. I made the brine in a large glass pot where the turkey also fit; the glass pot fit in the refrigerator to brine for three days. You can definitely make your brine in a non-aluminum stockpot and just transfer it to a large container where the turkey can fit (also non-alumininum pail or basin) and just store, covered, in a cold place if it doesn’t fit in the fridge. New Yorkers who don’t have a basement can store it on their fire escape. On the day of cooking, give yourself at least five hours to prep and cook the turkey.

Ingredients:
1 12-pound young turkey, unfrozen
1 stick of butter

For the aromatics:
1 apple, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 bunch sage leaves
1 medium red onion, quartered

For the brine:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp juniper berries
1 tbsp allspice berries
1 small knob of ginger, peeled, crushed, chopped

1. Three days before serving, prepare the turkey in brine. Combine all brine ingredients in a large stockpot with enough water to submerge the whole turkey and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Set aside.
2. In the meantime, wash the turkey inside and out with cold water and let sit in a colander to drain.
3. Transfer the brine into a large non-aluminum container and submerge the turkey in the brine. If the turkey is not submerged fully, just make sure that you turn the turkey over 24 hours later to marinade the other side.
4. Early on the day of cooking, remove turkey from the brine into a colander to drain in room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 500º while you wait with the rack on the lowest slot.
5. Prepare the aromatics. Combine the ingredients with 1/4 cup of water in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Set aside.
6. Move the turkey to a chopping block and pat the turkey dry with paper towels, inside and out. Tuck back wings and drumsticks. Using your hands, rub butter and a palm-full of salt all over and inside the turkey. Add the microwaved aromatics inside the turkey. Transfer the turkey on a rack in an aluminum foil-lined roasting pan.
7. Set your alarm for these steps so you don’t forget: Roast turkey for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover the turkey with thick aluminum foil and continue to roast for 1 hour, lowering the temperature to 350º. Remove from oven and carefully turn over the turkey to cook the other side. (I used the aluminum foil as potholders to turn it by hand.) Cover again and cook for another hour. Remove from oven a third time, uncover, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes to brown that side.
8. A total of three hours cooking time later, remove the turkey from the oven, stick a meat thermometer in the thigh and make sure the thickest part of the bird is perfectly cooked. (My thermometer said turkey is 180º.) Set the turkey, still on the rack, on a chopping block and let rest for up to 30 minutes before carving and serving.

Related post/s:
I’ve been using this roasting pan with a rack. Buy it from Amazon.com.
More Thanksgiving turkey photos on Flickr
Use the leftovers for turkey portobello sandwiches

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Red Pepper Flake Cornbread

Nov 28, ’08

This was a last-minute addition to my Thanksgiving menu this year. I’ve been cooking for three days but forgot to plan for a carb–I didn’t know Cameron was going to bring homemade biscuits–so I made my brother run an errand to buy buttermilk and corn at the grocery store in the morning. Cornbread is easy enough to make, but I was intrigued by this recipe because of the spiciness. I didn’t really know how it would translate to bread form.

The final product tasted like regular cornbread–mine came out paler because I used white sugar–but the kick in the end was a nice surprise. It even made my dad cough the first time because it was so unexpected.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
1 cup white flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsps butter
1 1/2 tsps salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350º with the rack in the middle slot.
2. In a medium glass bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and corn together. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir until just combined. Set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Pour into a square baking dish. Top with the cornbread batter and level with a spatula. Bake for 45 minutes or until the edges are golden and the center is set. Remove from oven and let rest for up to 10 minutes before slicing into squares.

Related post/s:
egg in Brooklyn knows what to do with cornmeal
Corn muffins with bacon

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Peter Luger

Nov 26, ’08

178 Broadway, right under the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn
718/387-7400
about $350 for five, with a bottle of wine, with tip, cash only
♥ ♥

Our waiter spilled porterhouse juice all over my sister-in-law’s hat. She wasn’t wearing it at the time, but it still sucked when she realized it outside. It was windy and 30 degrees.

I’ve been to Peter Luger several times and like most New Yorkers, I go for the porterhouse and not for the service. Being old school is one thing but the restaurant staff can really use some manners. Our waiter was brash: he grunted and interrupted whenever we had a question and he splashed sauce and fat on our table whenever he served. The attitude could be part of the draw that makes Peter Luger “authentic”, but after paying over a thousand dollars the last six years, you’d think it would at least buy politeness.

The food also hasn’t changed. It’s still the best place to get porterhouse in New York City even though they push every customer to get more than they can eat. (We watch a group of four novices at the next table fall for their bit and order three steaks for two. Their bill was already guaranteed to be $240 before ordering any side dishes or wine.) The bacon is still to die for and the creamed spinach still a good match to a perfectly-cooked piece of meat.

Maybe when I return two years from now, I can finally tune the staff’s attitude out and just eat my steak in peace. For now though, one less heart from the last review.

Related post/s:
Peter Luger two years ago
Come on, check out the steak and the bacon: Peter Luger photos on Flickr

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Di Palo’s Fine Foods

Nov 24, ’08

Since I’ve been mentioning gift ideas with sausage and cheese in the same post recently, I can’t ignore Di Palo’s new online store, Di Palo Selects, as another option for the holidays. New Yorkers and die-hard Italian tourists know that they can get the best of Italy from the Di Palo family on Grand Street, but now they can get the same products without spending money on airfare. The Web site is powered by iGourmet.com but it’s less confusing because they’ve trimmed down the content to Lou Di Palo’s favorites. While there are the useful related items cross-sells, descriptions are not as overwhelming. I love the glossary page and the Ask Lou feature: you get both in person when you visit the store, which is the main reason why wait times are usually longer than my allotted lunch hour.

Some of my favorite meats and cheeses that I buy regularly from Di Palo’s:
- Piave
- Truffle cheese
- Crucolo
- fresh mozarella
- Prosciutto de Parma
- Prosciutto de Coto
- one of the sausages hanging from the ceiling
- spicy soppressata

I also restock on Di Palo’s olive oil, those glass-jarred tuna, marinated olives and artichokes, as well as Illy coffee. Lou’s brother, Sal, is my favorite. He sounds like Raymond from Everybody Loves Raymond and he makes sure that I always leave with a free treat. When it’s your turn at Di Palo’s, it’s really your turn and no one else’s. Now you can go online and every good thing is just a click away.

Di Palo’s Fine Foods is at 200 Grand Street corner of Mott in Little Italy, New York.

Related post/s:
Order your Di Palo’s goods online
And then pickle that soppressatta with herbs

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City Shuffle’s Diner’s Deck

Nov 20, ’08

At my last job, I ate lunch with a big group of people almost everyday. You can imagine how difficult it was to agree on a place that everyone liked, so one of the developers wrote a quick script where we could sort out our list of lunch places downtown and picked one for us with a click of a mouse, slot machine style. (We started with a pair of dice and each total was assigned to a restaurant, but we turned classy.)

It’s not technically food or drink, but a deck of City Shuffle’s downtown and Brooklyn Diner’s Deck came in the mail this week and I couldn’t stop showing them off because it reminded me of that story. The idea is that when you can’t seem to decide where to eat, you leave the decision-making to the cards. Each deck features fifty-two of the staff’s favorite restaurants. My deck included the ones below 23rd Street in Manhattan and some from Brooklyn. There’s also a Manhattan ($29.95) and a Bar and Lounge deck ($19.95).

They’re sleek and nicely-designed with the restaurant’s info including very useful cross streets. The best thing about it? Each card is also a $10 coupon you can use at the restaurant after you spend a minimum of $30 before alcohol, tax and tip. If a restaurant has closed, you can “swap” the card by sending it back to City Shuffle and you’ll get a replacement card to another eatery of their choosing.

They’re great as a stocking stuffer or a corporate gift to your employees.

Related post/s:
Buy your own deck at City Shuffle

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