New Tradition

Today is Turkey Day, otherwise known as Thanksgiving, in Canada. In celebration of Thanksgiving, Douglas and I decided to make a turkey dinner.

OK, so I’m the one making the dinner, and he’s the one cleaning the house. Seems fair to me.

In any case, having never prepared a turkey dinner by myself before, I called my mother for directions. Now, some of you may think you know my mother on some level, but very very few of you know her on that level, the cooking level. A few things. First, my mother is a very good cook. Problem is, she doesn’t pay attention. So my directions have been changing from one day to the next. And they’ve been kind of incoherent. Except that I know my mother, so I know what she means.

The first three pictures in this post are of my recipe pages for today.

The scribbling is because my mother, she kept changing her mind. And my father kept adding his input, picking up the phone to tell me the right way, and she’d pick up the phone and say “don’t listen to your father”, only to have him pick up the extension and say “don’t listen to your mother.” It’s so funny when they argue about things like this, cause I know they don’t mean it in a mean way, they both just think they know best. It’s difficult to know who to believe, because they’re both excellent in the kitchen. So, of course, I asked the Internet.

I have no idea how they manage to cook together.

In any case, these pages include the super duper secret awesome delicious recipe for the magical gravy. I really hope it turns out. It’s seriously the best gravy I’ve ever had anywhere, so… you know.

But I digress. Allow me to walk you through today. With more pictures!

11:00AM
OK, time to get cracking. The turkey will not be cooking itself! Ahem. First up, stuffing. Since I am cooking a 12-lbs turkey (smallest I could find!), I am frying 4-5 medium sized onions in butter, adding half of a celery stalk, chopped, then once the onions are clear, adding half a loaf of stale, cubed bread.

Aside. Let me tell you something, Internet, it takes no time at all for bread to go stale in Calgary. So dry is the air that it takes 2 hours. For real. Not necessary to do the overnight thing, which I did anyway, but still. Just for reference’s sake.

After this, season with summer savory. Some people use rosemary, which my mother mentioned explaining why it appears on the recipe pages above. The use of rosemary, it is wrong. Is is travesty. It must be summer savory. SUMMER, my mother insisted seven times on the phone yesterday. SUM-MER savory. I didn’t know why she was so insistent until I saw that savory is quite different from summer savory, which I also have.

Anyway, yes. Add sav– SUMMER savory, and salt and pepper. That takes about 20-30 minutes. (The cooking bit, not the seasoning.) Then, give the stuffing about 15-30 minutes to cool down before you stuff that stuffing, so you can handle it without saying “ow-ow-ow-ow!” the whole time. Trust me.

12:00PM
The turkey has now been cleaned, the neck and insides that were thoughtfully placed in the hollowed out stomach have been removed and stuck in a pot with the celery bits to be used later.

Yummy looking, eh?

Anyway, now time to stuff the stuffing into the turkey’s cavity. Be careful not to over stuff, because it might not cook evenly otherwise. At least, that’s what the Internet says, and you know, I don’t think the Internet wouldn’t lie about turkey.

And now, we sew.

This is not as easy as it seems at first, let me tell you.

But it’s doable. Struggling with this part, and wondering something,I made my first inevitable day-of call to my mother. This is how it went, Doug holding the phone to my ear while my hands, still disgustingly inside a bird, continued to try sewing its butt shut.

“Ma, how tight am I supposed to sew this thing?”
“(Laughing) Just sew it closed. It’s not a dress.”
“Yeah, I know that Ma, but I’m asking you if it’s OK if some of the stuffing is exposed, what do I do?”
“Sew it shut.”
“But it’s hard, I can’t quite do it.”
“(Laughing) Cherie, just stretch the skin. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It’s a turkey.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh… OK, I think I get it. Ah! I think I’m getting it!”
“Just cover the exposed bits of stuffing with a bit of tin foil so it doesn’t dry out.”

That’s what I wanted to know. Sigh. My mother likes to make me feel a bit silly before giving me the information I want. Well, if it pleases her, I don’t mind so much.

And so, my first turkey is artfully sewn.

The turkey goes in the over for 20 minutes, at 400F.

After those 20 minutes, the oven goes down to 350F for another 3 hours.

The leftover stuffing, I will deal with by sticking in the over one hour before the turkey is done, in a casserole dish. I have no idea how this will turn out, but again, I am trusting the power of the Internet.

So now, left with 3 hours, time to plan the rest. Potatoes, carrots, corn nibblets, cranberry sauce, steamed broccoli. That’s a lot. OK, nix the broccoli.

Oh, dear. Doug and I are going to be eating this for a week and a half. I hope there’s room in the freezer.

Anyway, moving on. This morning, while I am doing all of this, Doug has been cleaning, and finishing the making of the ice cream he started last night. Homemade ice cream. Belated birthday present. Happiness!

Notice that I’ve tasted it, and believe me when I tell you that it is, simply put, divine.

At this point, there is some waiting happening. I mean, it’s now about 1:10, and you don’t want to start making things only to have them ready at 2, when your turkey won’t be ready until 4. So I wait. And I blog.

2:00PM
While we’re waiting, how about we chop up some carrots?

I’ve always thought of carrots with big leafy greenness attached to them as more credible somehow. Might have something to do with cartoons as a child, and Bugs Bunny, but I really can’t say for sure. They’re much prettier that way, too.

Well, off with their heads. And chop them to bits.

Don’t forget to keep the carrot butts. These are added into the mystery pot I’ve been preparing.

We don’t waste any part of this meal! All is used. Add about half a pot of water, and boil. This mixture will be boiling gently in the background all afternoon.

If only I had a dog. A dog would enjoy a turkey neck, I think. Ah, sigh. For another year, that. Are you wondering about this mixture? You can wonder, sure, but don’t worry. Big difference. You’ll notice that I didn’t stick the carrot tops in this mystery pot. This is because they’re just too big and my pot is just too small. Plus, I just don’t feel like it. I really don’t think I’ll miss the flavour.

Carrots take about 10 minutes to do, start to finish, so we’ll leave them cut up and ready to go for now. The next thing will be potatoes, and I’ll wait another half an hour before doing that, because that is how I roll. Plus, I’m told that potatoes take about half an hour, so I’ll be doing those before the carrots, and cranberry sauce. Being in the kitchen then will also remind me that the casserole-stuffing needs attention.

But again, I wait.

3:00PM
Vegggggies!

I am starting with the boiling of the water, while Doug peels the potatoes. You see, it takes forever for things to boil at this altitude (so different from cooking at sea level, like back home), so I am starting with that.

Having peeled the potatoes, Doug then gives me the potatoes, which I cut in quarters to speed up the boiling process, then plunk in the almost-boiling water, which I then salt. I cover the potatoes, even though I’m not sure if that makes a difference or not. I just don’t want the water splashing me. Potatoes are messy, you know.

While the potatoes boil, I’m preparing the carrots. 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 cup of water, and some butter to taste. Boil mixture. Add previously chopped carrots. Cover, and let boil for 10 minutes. Then, remove carrots, and boil water to half its quantity. This will be the carrots’ glaze and it is delicious.

Meanwhile, potatoes are boiling, and the smells in the air are so divine, I’m in turkey-day heaven. While you’re thinking of potatoes, scoop in a couple of cups of the potato-water into the mystery pot. Mmmm.

Cranberries, now. I wonder how long those suckers take to do. Oh! Oh! Longer than I thought. Oops. OK, so I’m following the package, because I’m using fresh cranberries (mmmm!), and the instructions are clear. One cup of sugar and water each (holy sugar, Batman!), boil, add cranberries, watch them explode and splatter at you as you once again bring to boil.

Lower heat, then let boil gently for 10 minutes. Inhale deeply because my goodness do they ever smell yummy, those cranberries. Once that is done, transfer to pretty dish. Let cranberries cool to room temperature, then stick in fridge until din-din time. Listening to “Linger” and “Ode to my Family” and chuckling at irony.

Potato mashing time! Time to call Doug. While Doug mashes away, I watch and take photos of things.

Taking stock, I now have finished the carrots, the potatoes are on their way, so is the cranberry sauce, which is now cooling near an open window.

The table is set in eager anticipation. Carrots and potatoes standing by.
Some of the candles are lit. Oh la la. Romance.

4:00PM
Turkey is almost done! Time to go watch the last ten minutes tick on down in my turkey-day outfit, which reads “I [heart] Aquamarine the Movie“. I’m telling you because due to the slouching, it isn’t legible.

Quick panicked phone call to Dad. Confirm that turkey has to cool down, covered in tin foil, for half an hour before touching it. Only then will the stuffing will be unstuffed, and the turkey carved. I didn’t know about the tin foil thing.

4:10PM
Turkey is done, and Doug pulls it out, because he’s lovely that way.

Look at my turkey. It’s so… beautiful.

Out of the pot, and into our ghetto cookie rack to cool. Cover in tin foil.

I now commandeer the roast pot, because now? Now, it’s gravy time.

Add one or two tablespoons of flour to the grease in the bottom of the pan. Cook. Mmm, grease. Make sure the blackened bits are mixed in very well, before transferring the whole mixture to a medium-sized saucepan.

This is where the mystery pot comes in. Add water from the pot into the gravy mixture.

Whisk. Strain with cheesecloth because Doug and I have no strainer. Are you surprised? It isn’t very appetizing looking, I know, but trust me. It makes for the most delicious gravy.

5:00PM

I remove the stuffing, Doug carves a tiny bit of the turkey cause it’s just the two of us, and it is time for us to eat.

Looking at the table, all set and delicious and inviting… well, it’s time for me to go. I’m off to go eat my portion of Doug and Thérèse’s First Thanksgiving dinner.

And if you should try any of the recipes above, well… enjoy and bon appetit!

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Addendum: Two days later, I made Turkey Stew. Just going to quickly note the recipe so I don’t forget the essentials.

Turkey Stew

1. Remove turkey carcass from fridge, boil in enormous pot of water, salted, for at least 3 hours, to make good tasty and turkey-flavour-rich broth.

2. Remove carcass from water, take meat off bones, then discard bones (except for the wish bone).

3. Cut up carrots, turnip (peel first), potatoes (peel first), turkey leftovers into bite-sized pieces. Add any other veggies that you think you might enjoy to the mix, but these are the base ones when it comes to Mr Picky Pants.

4. Season generously with rosemary, thyme, basil, salt & pepper. (Cook’s discretion on quantities, but I was most generous with the rosemary and thyme.) Season to taste.

5. Let the veggies boil gently on medium heat for about an hour, an hour and a half. Test/taste at intervals to make sure they don’t get too mushy, you’re not overcooking, and you’ve seasoned it correctly.

Note that turkey stew is better the next day, once the flavours have all marinated and mixed and it’s been cooled and reheated. Note also that it is better still the following day. Delicious.