Strictly for the birds ....for your Happy Thanksgiving

Your Right Wing Chef | Oct. 29 2001 | Carlo3b

[lowbridge]

Hey Hunters, what do you bag for Thanksgiving??

Usually a female (Ok, I haven't succeeded yet, but I try.)

My friends always take me snipe hunting, but I haven't caught anything yet.

[Howie]

Looks like a good turkey plan but I still haven't tried my kink kong deep fryer. I have the lard, all I need is the fire-permit.

P.S. 1800 degrees F. is the melting point for a standard oven, Carlo.

[kaylar]

Forgot to mention : Multiple game hens are cheaper than one turkey! Unless we're talking HUGE family.

[Howie]

"I haven't caught anything yet."

lucky guy!

[Hugin]

Times are based on fresh or completely thawed frozen birds at a refrigerator temperature of about 400F or below.

I thawed my bird for 2 days in a 425F refrigerator. Is it still ok to cook it?

[Peter W. Kessler]

This is starting to remind me of the old Wilfred Brimley gag that Imus used to do.

Talk about Barf Alerts... Blech!

As I don't listen to Imus anymore, I wonder if he's still doing that schtick.

[discostu]

Here is my "family" tradition for Thanksgiving:

The day before go to your favorite "next day" pizza place (ie place whose pizza tastes best the day after you get it). Order 2 large pizzas for every person who will be enjoying Thanksgiving at your house, plus breadsticks. Get 1 or 2 six packs of beer for each person.
Go home, eat the breadsticks Wednesday night.
Get up, watch the days sports and/ or sci-fi marathon (which ever tickles your fancy) eating left over pizza and drinking beer.
Be thankful that, along with all the other reasons to be thankful, you didn't have to cook.
And, because you got so much pizza, you even get to share in the find Thanksgiving tradition of leftovers, generally if you store your pizza properly you should still have some for Sunday's normally scheduled football, probably will need more beer though.

That been our household tradition for 6 years. And for 6 glorious years we have NOT shared in the rest of our families Thanksgiving tradition: the holliday fight (both of our families have matriarchs that are obsesses with making the holidays "special", which I learned very early in life is the fastest way to ruin a holliday).

[Billthedrill]

You may as well change your nick - you're never gonna hear the end of this one!

I am surprised by the number of FReepers who use the old-fashioned method of washing their turkeys under a faucet. My oven has a "clean" setting which works perfectly well...

[WhiteGuy]

I'm sure this is good, however, even if I make it, I'll never know....

If you see my bird cooking post, you'll see that I claim that the meat falls off the bone, It's true.

I then pick apart the meat and make a nice platter,

I Also stockpile a generous portion of Dark meat, and a whole drumstick

screw the veggies, screw the stuffing and smashed potatos

I eat meat until I'm full, the other stuff is for leftovers

[MozartLover]

Got any ideas for our Christmas pork roast??

I have the stuffing figured out.....the first step involves soaking dried fruits in bourbon.........

[carlo3b]

Here is a suggestion, for a Christmas Roast Pork Dinner

Rustic Pork Roast with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

This entree is spectacular, complete with my favorite mashed potatoes, and my great uncles' favorite stuffing!!

Pork Roast

• 4-6 lb. pork roast
• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 2 Tbs.. fresh parsley, minced
• 1 tsp. oregano, dried
• 1 tsp. thyme, dried
• Fresh - ground black pepper
• Kosher salt to taste

Potatoes

• 1 dozen red bliss potatoes
• 1 head of garlic
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 stick of butter, softened
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 Tbs.. olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degree.
2. Cut the top off one of your garlic heads, to expose the individual cloves. Place on the center of a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzled olive oil over the garlic head.
3. Wrap foil to close securely and bake for 50 minutes. Set aside.
4. Boil red bliss potatoes with skins on. Test with fork for doneness, and drain potatoes.
5. In a mixing bowl, thoroughly mix all ingredients. Serve with Pork roast.

Pork Roast:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degree.
2. Blend minced garlic, parsley, oregano and thyme.
3. Using a sharp knife, cut holes in the roast, approximately 1 inch deep, every couple of inches in the entire roast.
4. Fill these "pockets" with your garlic mixture.
5. Place in a roasting pan, with about 1/2 inch of water and season with salt and pepper.
5. Cook for 10 minutes at 425 degree and then lower the oven to 350 degree to cook for an additional 40 minutes. Baste your roast about every 15 minutes.
6. When done, remove roast from pan and let sit about 10 minutes before carving. You can make a gravy using the drippings from the roasting pan.
Serves 4

[carlo3b]

Uncle Joe's Favorite Stuffing

This stuffing is for a big bird, not to be confused with stuffing"Big Bird", or as a side for any roast. It will easily stuff a 24 pound bird and have a little left over. If you are using a smaller bird, you can halve this recipe, or else freeze the extra. One of the best things about this stuffing is how well it freezes. Take any extra stuffing and place it in a foil lined casserole dish.  Bake like normal and cool to room temperature. Freeze for a day or two. Remove your casserole dish and you will  have a nice package of frozen stuffing for whenever you need it.

• 2 cups diced dried apricots
• 1 cup diced dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup amaretto liqueur
• 1 cup pear or plain brandy
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 2 large yellow onions, chopped
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced
• 6 stalks and leaves celery, chopped
• 8 cups day old egg bread cubes
• 2 pounds bulk pork or turkey sausage
• 2 cups chestnuts, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3 pears, cored and chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 3 beaten eggs
• 1 cup apricot nectar
• 3 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper

Soak the apricots and cranberries in the amaretto and brandy overnight. Saute the onions, scallions, and celery in 4 tablespoons butter until soft. Once cooked, transfer to a large bowl. In the same pan crumble the sausage and cook until browned. Add the sausage and bread cubes to the onion mixture. Add the chestnuts, pears, apricot mixture (including soaking liquid) and rosemary to the stuffing mixture. In the same skillet heat the rest of the butter, apricot nectar, and chicken stock until the butter is melted and pour over the stuffing. Salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Loosely stuff the turkey if desired. Bake any leftover (or all of the stuffing) for 40 minutes along with the turkey.

[CathyRyan]

I preparing Pork Roast this year...OBL in honor of you.

[riley1992]

Oh my God, that sounds like heaven.

Have you ever had a deep fried turkey?

[riley1992]

My brother in law made one up north about 10 years ago and he did it in this humongous fryer. I have never, ever had a bird like that before in my life.

[carlo3b]

I might suggest calling Howie, and if you can get a fire permit, he'll let ya borrow his!! It's still new.....LOL

[MozartLover]

Wow! This looks great. I'll run it past Mr. ML.

NO I WON'T! I'll TELL him this IS what we are having!!! :^D