Perfect Roast Turkey (Thanksgiving in January series)

I decided to hold Thanksgiving in January, and make a turkey with all of the trimmings.  The last time I made a bird, I had the same problem we all have - the breast came out dry, the legs started to burn, and the thighs were just barely done at the joint.  Sure, there are many workarounds for this - oven bags, brining, deep frying, basting, tenting - but they all have their downsides.  For example, I don't have a spare 5 gallon bucket that I can keep in a fridge for brining, and I want crispy skin, so oven bags are out.  And as for the other tricks, I just never can seem to get them completely right.  Time for physics to step in.

Exactly like my very first post ever, which is about perfect roast beef, the trick that I stumbled on for turkey has everything to do with heat transfer.  If you cook a bird at a high temperature, by which I mean anything 300 degrees F and up, you are exposing the outer layers of the meat to hot, dry air, while slowly forcing that heat down into the center of the bird.  So what do you think happens?  The breast gets way above the temperature you want it, and no many thermal probes you defile your bird with, you still have to make the best scientific wild-ass guess (SWAG) about whether there will be pink flesh at the joints, ruining the meal for everyone but the dog.  Now, a better approach is to cook the bird slowly, at a very low temperature.  This causes two things to happen: first, the temperature of the bird rises more evenly, ensuring that the meat at the joints is cooked without overheating the delicate breast meat.  Second, and possibly more importantly, the bird has time to let the marbled fat and connective tissues slowly break down, self-baste, and become meltingly delicious at the table.  And this is just from cooking at a straight 250!

One last component to this magic is the start to the cooking process.  It turns out that if you just cook at a low temperature, you get a somewhat soggy, boring skin.  The poor beast never has a chance to crisp up at low temperatures.  Once again, science can save the day.  If you start by blasting the bird at 450 for a while - say, 40 minutes - and then lower the temperature way back to 250, you will crisp the outermost layer of the bird, also known as "the delicious skin", without the rest of the meat having any idea what's going on at the surface.  It's exactly like making roasted peppers - char the skins on a hot grill before the flesh inside gets cooked.  Bring the temperature back down after the sear and you're completely safe.

I know that this is the way to go for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the compliments from my guests.  First, the skin is so good you almost want to just run off with it in a corner and eat it as your whole meal, irritating your guests and letting down the whole family.  Second, you get a better, richer mouthfeel for the turkey, which I believe is from the fat and some connective tissue breaking down in the meat while it cooks over such a long period, almost like a stew would do.  Third, due to the even temperature distribution of the bird, when you pull this out and start carving, the juices don't run all over the place the second you touch it.  This is a good sign that the meat isn't basically clenched tighter than a miser's checkbook after cooking, letting you skip that whole 'rest the bird' nonsense while things even out.  All you need is patience during cooking and a couple of extra hours in the oven.  And a turkey baster.

The world's most perfectly roasted turkey, in my opinion

Perfect Roast Turkey

• One turkey, 12-??? pounds.  I used a 20 pounder for this experiment
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper

For the love of all that is holy, thaw your turkey out before you start this exercise.  I had mine in the fridge for a solid week before even considering this.  Rinse and pat dry your turkey, leaving it on a v-rack for a while to start coming to room temperature, breast side up.  I hacked out the wishbone to ease carving later, but that's not necessary.  Get a long piece of butcher's twine and tie the legs together, and try to tie them to the tailbone to make a denser, less exposed set of appendages.  Meanwhile, set the oven preheating to 450 degrees F.  After a few minutes of air-drying, come back and sprinkle the salt and pepper on the skin and inside of the cavity.  The salt will pull a bit of moisture out of the skin, promoting crisping.  Leave this on for the remainder of an hour on the counter, and then brush the upper and side surfaces with a mixture of the olive oil and the butter, melted in the microwave.

Pop the turkey into the 450 F oven and leave it undisturbed for 40 minutes.  Then reduce the temperature to 250 F and cook until done.  Starting at about the 2 hour mark, every 60 minutes, open the oven briefly and suck out the drippings from inside of the cavity and from the bottom of the roasting pan, setting them aside in a fat separator to make gravy later.  DO NOT BASTE with this liquid, which is actually a terrible idea with this low and slow method.  The turkey will self-baste and can't possibly get dry during the process, and removing extra moisture will promote the dry heat that will keep the skin crisp on all sides of the bird.

That's really it.  I swear.  Start to finish, this took me over 6 hours for a 20 pounder, and it would have taken 7 if I hadn't boosted the temperature at the very end to accommodate my guests' arrival times.  The result?  Completely moist, delicious, fork-tender breast meat, perfectly cooked thighs all the way down to the joints, and the most crisp, most non-burnt skin I have ever made, possibly ever eaten, on a turkey.  Unbelievably impressed with the ease of this one.

Look at that skin.  Tight as a drum, and crisp like a potato chip.

Slice your bird just right, and you can get the breast off in one piece free of all bones, carving it tableside with ample crispy skin for everyone

Update: within a few hours, a whole bunch of people I know are asking about smaller turkeys and chickens.  I believe someone's trying 5 pound chickens tonight, and a 12 pound turkey tomorrow.  Without crunching any numbers, here's my assessment: for a 5 pound bird, try 15 minutes at the higher temperature (450 F), and then lower it to the same low temp - 250 F.  A small bird like that may only take an hour of normal cooking, so 15 minutes can do a lot to something that small.  For a 12 pound bird, I think you could get away with 30 minutes at the higher temp, maybe even more.  I could try to break out my heat transfer textbook, but I would rather rely on first-hand accounts of this.  Hopefully people will post results in the comments, so everyone can learn together (especially me).

Bircher Muesli aka Improved Overnight Oats

When I was in Australia in 2006, I kept running into a curious breakfast offering known as 'bircher muesli'.  I couldn't quite figure out what was going on - it was a delicious cold oatmeal dish with a nice blend of textures, from the slightly chewy oats and fruit to the crunchy nuts.  Garnished with fresh fruit, this became one of my favorites, and I brought the concept home.  It turned out that the secret was to not cook the oats, but instead to soak them overnight in the fridge with a mixture of other healthy breakfast items and fluids.  The oats absorb the liquid and become not only edible, but delicious and probably slightly more healthy than the cooked variant, although I would question their nutrient availability.

The other day I was talking about this dish with a food marketing friend, and she told me that the internet was currently flooded with prissy fitness instructors' recipes for "overnight oats".  Apparently a variation of this dish has caught on among American health-starved food fad folks, and they have stripped out some of the better elements and loaded it up with only the healthiest of liquids and additives.  I believe that the Australian version is far superior, as they like to add things like flavor and texture to their dish, and since they are very much a muesli and porridge culture, I trust their judgment.  So before overnight oats goes the way of the jello mold, let me see if I can reclaim the Australian flag here and rescue this dish from the fad category.


Bircher Muesli
By Flip Shelton (an actual Australian!)

"Tailor your flavours using any combination of dried and fresh fruit and nuts. If you don't like yoghurt, add more mashed banana and fruit juice. Double the recipe to make enough for several days' breakfasts - it tastes even better after a little time in the fridge." - Flip, proving that this is definitely not from America

Serves 1-2

• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup apple juice (or freshly squeezed orange juice)
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1/8 cup currants, or golden raisins
• 1/8 cup slivered almonds
• a sprinkling of ground nutmeg
• a sprinkling of ground cinnamon
• ½ Granny Smith apple, grated (skin on), to serve
• ½ banana, sliced or mashed, to serve
• seasonal berries and mint sprigs, to serve

Combine the rolled oats, apple juice, yoghurt, currants, almonds, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl and stir together. Chill overnight (or for at least two hours).

Te serve, stir in the grated apple and banana, put into a bowl and garnish with seasonal berries and mint sprigs.

I like the color contrast of the oats, the banana, and the green grated apple, so I don't stir to incorporate.

Now, the most important part - variations.  Here are a list of different things to add to this that I have come across, either from the Aussies or from the crazy health-conscious Americans.  See if you can guess who provided what ideas:

• Add passionfruit pulp
• Use dried cranberries instead of golden raisins
• Add dried apricots or dried pears
• Use pumpkin seeds instead of almonds
• Replace apple juice with almond milk
• Add chia seeds
• Replace apple juice with milk, add cocoa powder
• Add peanut butter or PB2
• Add maple syrup and blueberries

I also like the idea of serving this in a mason jar.  I'm going to try that and post more pictures soon.

Jambalaya Pasta

What do you do when you have a single andouille sausage, some cooked pasta, a big bag of okra, and a few leftover ingredients from making gumbo?  Probably nothing, maybe a sausage sandwich.  But I figured I'd throw everything in the fridge together to make a 'jambalaya pasta', which borrows the spirit of jambalaya but combines some other European flavors.  It's really a flamed tomato cream sauce pasta with a few other key ingredients added for good measure, but this turned out much better than I had hoped.


Jambalaya Pasta
by me

• 1 tbsp canola or light olive oil
• 1 shallot, sliced thinly
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 andouille sausage, casing removed
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 2 cups cooked pasta (I used campanelle)
• 1 cup okra, sliced
• 1 tbsp brandy
• salt and pepper, to taste,
• file powder, tableside
• 1 tsp chopped parsley, for garnish

Some (not all) of the ingredients.  Sorry, it was an evolving recipe.  But everything is in the list above.

In a heavy saute pan, heat oil over medium heat and crumble in sausage, breaking up into bite-sized chunks and stirring with a wooden spoon until nicely browned.  Remove to a plate, and reduce heat to medium-low.  Saute shallot and bell pepper for 2 minutes until shallot is translucent, and then add garlic and saute for 30 seconds longer.  Add tomatoes and okra and stir to combine.  Pour in brandy and allow to incorporate into the mixture for a few minutes - this will bring out aromatic compounds in the tomatoes that you can't get any other way.

Add cream, bring to a simmer, and reduce to low and cook for a few minutes longer.  When sauce looks to be at the correct thickness, season to taste, and add in the cooked pasta.  Toss to incorporate.

The only picture that emerged during the cooking process.

To serve, plate immediately and sprinkle parsley on top.  Pass a small bowl of file powder at the table.

Plated pasta, pre-file garnish.  Don't skip that, it's got great flavor

Moroccan Lamb and Chickpea Stew

I've been on a chickpea (garbanzo) kick recently, since they're high in protein and flavor, and low in fat and cost.  But I can't quite kick the habit of including a delicious meat with the chickpeas yet, so those tasty legumes are still more of an additive than a replacement.  But whether you're on the garbanzo wagon or not, this stew was incredibly hearty and delicious despite being a fairly low-fat dish, and it came together easily.

Invest in a good dutch oven to make this, and definitely start with dried chickpeas, not canned.  There's a huge difference in flavor.  And read the directions thoroughly before you start - you need to soak the chickpeas overnight and then boil them for an hour, and since the rest of the dish comes together very quickly, that needs to be done pretty much first thing.

Moroccan-Style Lamb and Chickpeas
Cooking Light, December 2011

Yield: Serves 4 (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

• 1 pound lean ground lamb
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups vertically sliced onion
• 1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diagonally cut carrot
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight OR 1 (15 1/2-ounce can) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• plain yogurt, to garnish

The day before, soak your chickpeas in a bowl of water and cover.  Approximately 1/2 cup of dried chickpeas will swell up to the same amount you'd find in a 15-oz can.  Before cooking, drain and rinse the chickpeas, and place in a pot of boiling, lightly salted water for an hour.  Drain, rinse, and have at the ready while you're getting the rest of this together.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add lamb to pan and cook for 6 minutes, stirring to crumble.  Remove the lamb from pan with a slotted spoon, and discard the drippings. Add the olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat.  Add onion and carrot to pan and sauté 4 minutes.  Add cumin, cinnamon, coriander, and pepper; sauté 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Add reserved lamb, broth, and next 5 ingredients (through chickpeas); bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat.

Saute the meat, then add the vegetables, then aromatics for 30 seconds, then everything else.  Pretty easy.

You don't cook this for very long - it's not a full braise, since the meat starts off ground and doesn't benefit from long cooking times.  Start to finish is less than 20 minutes after the chickpeas are ready.

Just before serving, stir in cilantro and lemon juice.  Garnish with a spoon of plain yogurt, and serve over long-grain rice.  In the picture we used a saffron-infused rice, which was delicious here, but you could probably manage basmati or just plain ol' white rice.