mktye

if I go with option (a), any guesses on how much extra cooking time I should build in?

My gut feeling is that won't take much additional time, if any. (And my in-house mechanical engineer concurs.) However, I have no real-world experience with this particular situation, so you'll probably want to take my opinion with a grain of leftover-from-brining salt.

Hopefully another DR.com member will have a more definitive answer for you.

Time to make the apple pie!

My vote is also for option A. And if it looks like they are not cooking evenly, you can spin each bird 180 degrees around in the pan about midway through roasting.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bacon Blog

Just wanted to bump this up to the top in case anyone has any cooking emergencies tomorrow. A number of DR.com members who are experienced cooks have subscribed to this topic, so even if they are not checking the board itself, they'll still get an email notification if anyone posts a question in this thread.

The "bread in a box" are the famous Parker House rolls. They are served with the main course. They are baked off for each table. They are not meant to gorge on. They treat them like gold there for a reason.

For clarification: these rolls are not the "regular" bread service at CityZen. Throughout the meal they will bring you as much bread as you like (we've tested this extensively) from an assortment of various breads (usually sourdough, bacon and one other... I think it was rye the last time I was there).

Since I am a bread-fanatic, I really like the fact that Chef Ziebold has taken something that most people see as mundane and put it at-or-above the level of the amuse-gueule or the mignardises. And has done so in style... I've been known to trade 1/3 of my Wagyu steak for a couple of those Parker House rolls.

Okay, I'll step down off my bread-box now.

I think if you rinse the turkey real well before putting it in you shouldn't have a problem with the drippings being too salty.

I second this. In the 10 (?!?) years I've been brining the Thanksgiving bird (with a traditional wet brine, not a dry "brine"), I've never had the dripping-based gravy turn out too salty. I use unsalted (or low-salt) stock and don't add anymore salt until I've tasted it (but I do always end up adding salt to the finished gravy).

I don't know about the effect on the stuffing. I gave up stuffing the bird at the same time I took up brining because it was also the start of our grilling-the-turkey tradition.

Wasn't there an identical thread about a year ago with quite a few suggestions on it?

Was it this thread?

is there a reason this thread is mispelled, other than to provoke the French grammar police in my head?

We've been through all of this before... click.

Anything chocolate. Especially cake. If I make something for someone that requires tempered chocolate, it really is a labor of love.

And I'll second the turkey. By the time I prep it, cook it and carve it, I am tired of that big dead bird. I only make it for the gravy.

Pie Crust Cookies.

Washington Post article on dry vs. wet brining: click

Last year, Trader Joe's was selling packages of three fuyu persimmons for a reasonable price. All the persimmons I've seen so far this year have been at least $2 each.

I went to the Bailey's Crossroads TJ's yesterday -- no persimmons to be seen. They've rearranged the store a bit. The veggies & fruit are now over by the dairy. And the tortillas have continued their game of hide-and-seek.

They (not sure if it is chain-wide or just the Bailey's Crossroads store) are also holding a drawing to win a free bag of groceries for those who bring in their own shopping bags.

This reminds me. Can you post your recipe for olive oil oatmeal cookies?

I was just thinking yesterday that I'd promised someone(s) I post that and I'd never done it. But then the piano tuner showed up... Thanks for the nudge!

The recipe is now here in the Cookies thread.

These are rwtye's current favorite take-to-work cookies. Occasionally, I'll run out of pecans and/or dates and substitute walnuts and/or craisins/raisins without receiving any complaints.

Flourless Oatmeal Date Bars

Makes ~2 dozen two-inch squares

1/3 cup olive oil (or vegetable oil or unsalted butter, room temperature)

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2½ cups old-fashioned oats (not “quick oats”)

1 cup diced dates

1 cup nuts (I like to use pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper (or grease it well). Beat together the oil and sugar, then add the eggs, salt cinnamon, baking soda and vanilla extract and beat until well mixed. Add the oats, dates and nuts and mix until incorporated.

Press the mixture into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until just starting to brown around the edges. It won’t look completely done in the center, but that is okay. If you prefer the cookies to be more crisp, bake an extra 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool in pan before cutting.

Recipe adapted from "The King Arthur Flour Cookies Companion"

Here it is (From Shirley Corriher, but I've seen some other food science type give the same advice):

"Precooking potatoes at 140-160° and then cooling swells (gelatinizes) and recrystallizes the starch, making it no longer soluble in water, therefore you have fluffy mashed potatoes."

In other words, you cook the potatoes in two stages. Like 15 minutes at 160, cool and then cook again until done. It does make a difference, but I'm generally satisfied with potatoes cooked once and run through a ricer.

I learned by accident how well this works. A few Thanksgivings ago, it was the typical zoo at our house with the in-laws visiting. I'd boiled the potatoes as usual (peeled and chopped into ~1" chunks, cooked until easily pierced with a knife), drained them and then got distracted with something else (most likely the perennial battle with my mother-in-law as to exactly who is in charge of my kitchen ). By the time I got around to ricing the potatoes, they had completely cooled to room temperature. Riced them anyway, added copious amounts of boiling hot butter and cream and ended up with the best mashed potatoes ever.

For special occasions, I've made them this way ever since.

For everyday mashed spuds, I mash them hot in the kitchen aid with the flat beater. However, mixed as little as is necessary because you can still make them gluey that way if you mix them long enough (although a food processor is the most efficient means of rupturing the cellular structure and making potato glue).

Whip in as much butter and cream as you possibly can.

Ditto.

In "Happy in the Kitchen", Richard calls for 16 Tbsp. (8 oz.) and 7/8 cup heavy cream per 1 pound of potatoes. (Caution for those trying this at home: he does warn that the butter/cream must be added slowly so it will all fully emulsify!)

Not to be completely wishy-washy, but it will really depend on your cookie recipe and the type of icing.

For this type of cookie, I usually use a recipe that is closer to shortbread than sugar cookies. In other words, a recipe that will produce a crisp cookie. The less moisture you have in the cookies, the longer it will take them to get stale. And don't forgot that your icing can also be a source of moisture, so if you can swing it, bake the cookies on Sunday, keep them as airtight as possible and decorate on Wednesday.

Here is my favorite recipe for decorated cookies:

Butter Cookies

Makes ~7 dozen 2-1/2" cookies (rolled 1/8" thick)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at cool room temp.

1 cup superfine sugar (or granulated, pulsed in a food processor for 30 seconds)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 whole egg plus 1 yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour

Cream together butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk, beat well, then add whole egg and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour and mix until it is just incorporated. Divide dough, form each half into a 1/2" disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

Roll chilled dough 1/8" thick and cut into desired shapes (you can re-roll the scraps a couple of times, but after that, the resulting cookies will be noticeably tougher). Bake on parchment-lined sheets at 375 degrees until evenly golden brown. 6-8 minutes. Cool on rack. Store air-tight.

Recipe adapted from "Cooks Illustrated", Nov '96

What are some good ways to enjoy turkey leftovers without getting tired of turkey and without having it spoil? I'm planning on Hot Browns and turkey reuben sandwiches. Also gonna make a batch of turkey rice soup to freeze.

Scroll up for previous answers to this yearly question.

I may be getting my basic italian red sauces mixed up, but I think this is Marcella Hazan's recipe.

Yes.

Thanks mktye. Some other titles I noticed (they may be recent arrivals outside the Gastronomic Sale) that others may want are Corriher's Cookwise and Kamman's The New Making of a Cook.

You're welcome. (I try to limit my visits to that site to once every six months or so. )

I ended up buying A Baker's Tour by Nick Malgieri, Mediterranean Street Food by Anissa Helou, The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant by Leslie Brenner (for only $3.74, I could not resist) and Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly and Romulo Yanes (a present for a friend).

Also at BookCloseouts.com for $14.99 is Lynne Rosetto Kasper's The Splendid Table which is one of my favorite Italian cookbooks. But there is only one copy so if you want it, get it soon!

BookCloseouts.com is currently selling this for 77%-off: $7.49

Coincidentally, Michael White's Fiamma cookbook is also on sale on the same site for $9.74.

(They are having a "Gastronomic Sale" with 1000 food/wine-related books reduced an additional 25%. Mainly diet books & celebrity books, but there are some steals on quality cookbooks if you take the time to search for them.)

Hmmm. Since we seem to have missed doing this after holiday 2006, perhaps we could do it pre-holiday 2007? I'd volunteer the kitchen at maison Miller and make a batch of my own for comparison sake.

Maybe we could combine it with tortilla making, which also hasn't happened.

Sounds like a floury dream come true! I'm definitely interested!

My olive-oil-lady (nee cheese-lady) sister and her husband were visiting from California and they are big into Mediterranean food, so the choice of places to take them to eat was pretty obvious -- we braved the high-heeled racing crowds last Tuesday to have a marvelous dinner at Komi.

Opting for the degustazione menu was also an easy choice and one that was not regretted. I've been to Komi a number of times and it still somehow manages to exceed my very-lofty expectations every time we go. Everything was wonderful with the highest of the highlights being the gnocchi. They were in a spinach sauce, topped with a Greek yogurt sauce and Osetra caviar. The accompanying sauces were excellent, but the gnocchi themselves were perfection and stole the show. Really. Absolutely faultless in taste and texture. If you go to Komi and see a gnocchi dish on the menu, order it!

Other standouts were: the initial mezzethakia, a radish topped with sweet butter and trout roe that was simple but delicious and a great way to start the meal; a crab salad mezzethakia with just the right amount of lemon and acidity; and the other pasta course dish that contained an earthy trio of eggplant, snails and rabbit (my sister had previously never had snails she considered worth eating).

Of course, all the other dishes (including the perennial favorites -- the stuffed dates, octopus, foie gras balls, gyros and roasted goat), the well-composed cheese course, the desserts (donuts and pumpkin ice cream!) and the wines Derek recommended were exceptional. Not a mis-step the entire night.

Lastly, a special shout-out to our server, Sean, and to Derek for answering all of our zillions of questions and being such sweethearts.

The Dairy Godmother in Del Ray has pumpkin frozen custard today!

ETA: They will also have it as the flavor of the day 20-21-22 November.

membership as it stands today:

37% of members live in DC

36% of members live in VA

20% of members live in MD

7% of members live outside of the area

24% of members are industry professionals (given our rather loose definition)

The most popular first letter for a display name is "M" with 148 members (yay "M"!) and the least used, with 4 for each, are "Q", "X" and those starting with a number.

It has been a while since I've figured these out and thought an update was due with membership now topping 2000.

36% of members live in DC

37% of members live in VA

20% of members live in MD

7% of members live outside of the area (including members in: Canada, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Greece, Japan, Spain, Sudan & Qatar)

26% of members are industry professionals (given our rather loose definition)

The most popular first letters for a screen name are "M" & "S" with 183 members, second most popular is "D", 161 members, and "J" is third with 158 members. The least used letter to start a screen name is "Q" which is still standing at 4 members, then "X", 5 members, and "U" & those starting with a number are tied at third with 9 members.

Just returned from TJ's where I saw something I'd never considered combining... Dark Chocolate Edamame.