So here's the deal: The Rookie Thanksgiving Challenge isn't garnering a lot of participation, which is fine. We're all busy. But I'm going to keep going, and if you want to join in at anytime, I'd love it. I'm going to cook a full (small) bird this because I need practice, but you could grab a turkey breast at the grocery store if you want less food, too.
I'll be using this recipe for the Turkey and hoping that AllRecipes does me better than it did with the rolls.
Caroline was very concerned when she heard about my Thanksgiving challenge. She promptly delivered a copy of her Make-Ahead Gravy to my house. Now, I could actually do without the gravy at Thanksgiving - thick sauces aren't my thing. But I'm doing this challenge, so I'm going to do it right.
Here's Caroline's Make-Ahead Gravy (makes 5 - 6 cups)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup flour
Salt and Pepper
4 to 5 cups rich stock
Warmed turkey drippings and giblets (optional)
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add onion.
- Cook, stirring occasionally until onion is translucent (about 5 minutes).
- Spirnke the flour on the onions, stirring constantly, and cook until flour is golden to brown.
- Adjust heat so mixtuer does not burn.
- Gradually whisk in 4 cups stock until mixture thickens and is smooth (add liquid if it's too thick)
- Cool, cover and chill.
- When ready to serve, reheat mixture over low heat, stirring. Scrape bottom of turkey pan and add drippings and giblets to gravy if desired.
- Taste andadjust seasoning, then serve.
Pioneer Woman recommends this turkey recipe and this one also gets good reviews.
See you next week for Turkey and Gravy!
Ooh, I am so excited to see how this turns out! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteThe only suggestion I have is double check what temp you really want to cook your poultry to: I've always gone by the 165F value (which is what PW recommends), but I see that allrecipes recommends 180F. (.gov recommends 165F for food safety)
Maybe the brining solution allows for the higher temp?
I see that (despite different authors) both the allrecipes sources recommend the same internal temp, which makes me wonder if that was edited for liability reasons. Some cookbooks do that too [grr]. Remember, you can always stick the test bird back in the oven, so experiment away!
I'm interested to see how this goes for you! Making a turkey is on the agenda this Thanksgiving, but we are going to fry it! Good luck :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Emily! I'll probably have to bow out next week cause I'll be in Washington, DC. But, I may try to make it up later, because I have a great roasting pan that I hardly use and I've never made a turkey.
ReplyDeleteJohn does the turkey and gravy in our house (also the stuffing and cranberry sauce), so I'll have to pass this on to him. I'd just buy the jarred stuff then add seasoning...shh.
ReplyDeleteFun stuff!! Love turkey, prepping and cooking is the husband's primary job on T-Day... I'm not messing with 9 years of excellent turkeys anytime soon!! ;) Can't wait to see how yours turns out -- good luck!!
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