Show Us What You're Cooking! (SUWYC) - Volume 35, Autumn/Fall 2024

[HotSun]

Our Thanksgiving...


Not the cleanest looking pic, but two kinds of stuffing, a turkey wing section, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and roasted corn.

Not shown: gravy, turkey breast, roasted broccoli.

I've perfected mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker, so that was easy. The cranberry sauce was a recipe I developed with my DD that has served us well for the past few years. I used some maple syrup this year for additional flavor.

I have done smoked turkey the last few years with a wet brine. This year was dry brine for 24 hours, rubbed with Bell's seasoning, and roasted indoors at 325F. Results were different, not bad, just different. My dry brine had baking soda, which made the skin super crispy. The turkey cooked unevenly, but it was very juicy. The turkey was fresh and from a local farm, expensive, but worth it.

Everyone was super happy with dinner. My dad and stepmom are visiting for the week, so I took off the entire week from work to just spend with them. My dad loves cooking, so he and I did most of the work. It was great working with him.

I also did a couple pumpkin pies. They are only notable in that I made the crusts from scratch, which is something I haven't done for a very long time. They were all-butter crusts and came our perfectly (recipe from ATK). I think the crust is better for other types of pies, but I am very happy with the results.

No more pics, sorry about that. I just want to say I'm thankful for you all. I can't wait to start posting some more cooking now that the remodels are almost done.

[SheilaAnn]

HotSun I wanna hear about instant pot mashed taters!

[HotSun]

SheilaAnn ... dead simple, though my pressure cooker is analog. ~ 3 lbs medium size potatoes quartered. Trivet in the bottom of the pot with just enough water to get to the top of the trivet. 10 minutes on high pressure, quick release. Drain and let sit for a few minutes to dry. Mash together with heavy cream, butter, milk, salt, pepper to taste. Food mill works, too if you like. Sub half-and-half for the cream and milk, if you've got it. I'll post something to Recipes more formal than this.

[MBMorgan]

This year was a little strange ... we stayed home alone and focused on prepping a Thanksgiving meal for two ... specifically without generating a bunch of leftovers that would simply be discarded. SWMBO insisted that she wanted to do the cooking this time and I gotta say that she really delivered.

First was the decision that what really counts for us are the sides ... the turkey is really secondary. Second was the realization that no matter how many ways we have prepared turkey over the years ... it always really just tastes like ... turkey. Doesn't matter whether it's oven-cooked, smoked, bagged, grilled, or boiled (ok, forget that last one) it just tastes like turkey. So ... SWMBO decided to do the unthinkable ... toss it in the slow cooker with a bunch of veggies and herbs and see what happens. BLASPHEMY!!!

I gritted my teeth, made sure that there was sufficient wine on hand, and reluctently went along with the obviously delusional plan.

Into the crock pot went a small thawed turkey breast and three (3???) legs ... along with the usual array of fresh herbs and aromatics. After 6-7 hours, the results were removed to a cutting board, the liquid was sacrificed to an attempt at gravy, the sides were cooked, and the result was ...



... freaking awesome!!!

The turkey was tender, juicy, and tasted just like ... turkey (duh!), the sides (and the gravy) were excellent, and the wine kept me from "helping" too much during the process of prepping an awesome thanksgiving meal. Great job, SWMBO! (next year, it's my turn, though ...)

[fzxdoc]

Wow, that took guts to do a crock pot turkey. Your wife will inspire lots of people to give that a try. I hear from my daughter that CPTurkey is a TikTok sensation this year, so your wife is right on point with the rest of the influencers.

It looks nice and juicy, which is the main goal of good turkey cooking. Mission accomplished.

Kathryn

[Elton's BBQ]

Looks excellent!!

[tamidw]

Our thanksgiving dinner is complete. Everyone is stuffed. Brined, then smoked turkey, put compound butter under skin and citrus salt rub on skin. Turned out fantastic. I think I need a bigger smoker still. Haha! Also ham for those that aren’t fans of turkey. Tons of side: mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and bacon, loaded cauliflower casserole, spiced pickled beets, roasted Brussels spouts, roasted sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs.

Had cheesecake, apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan praline cheesecake for dessert.

[Clawbear57]

I should have invited myself. Sounds delicious.

[tamidw]

We had more than plenty to go around.

[fzxdoc]

Pretty turkey! And what a spread. You outdid yourself.

K.

[theroc]

Turkey on the Smoke Vault. Three day dry brine, Simon and Garfunkel rub. Short stick. MH's stuffing muffins, sweet potatoes with maple creme fraiche, green beans with shallots and vermouth.

[theroc]

Thanks SheilaAnn, but I can't take credit for the food styling. That is flyingpiglet 's plate. She did the arrangement.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

those green beans look amazing

[TWBarbecue]

Wow! Looks amazing 🔥

[dansha]

24 Hour Citrus Dry Brine

Kentucky Country Ham (hock removed)
30 minutes @300 with stuffing in separate pan while turkey rests
clove glazed

Herb Butter under the skin
3 Probes grill, Brest, thigh
lump charcoal place setter drip tray

indirect cook 2 Hours @ 350


Cast Iron Pecan Pie

Thanksgiving

Citrus Herb Dry Brine

Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy

Grand Marnier Apricot Stuffing

Herb Butter

Spatchcock Turkey

Country Ham

We had mashed potatoes, squash casserole, Mac & cheese and cranberry sauce

Cast Iron Southern Pecan Pie

[smokenoob]

I’m a sucker for pecan pie! Awesome finish to a great meal!

[STEbbq]

The pics are not the best this year, but the turkey was outstanding. We did Chef JP’s recipe in the oven (Amanda’s preference after cooking turkey many many different ways over the years) with a pound of butter (under the skin and injected). Turkey is really in three categories (outstanding, meh, and bad) given the bland nature of the meat and this was outstanding. I have had good luck with turkeys over the years and haven’t messed one up in a very long time. All of the meh and bad turkeys have been at restaurants. The Combustion thermometer was actually very helpful as it consistently gave better temps that the more volatile instant read being buried deep in the meat. I also rubbed sage and rosemary under the skin which is the “black” bits.

Our Mozambique student loved everything except the pumpkin pie. Cranberry sauce was okay, and “spicy”, and she preferred to eat it on the bread instead of everything else. Another successful Thanksgiving!

Oh. This turkey was 49 cents a pound! No need to overpay for turkey people!!!

[Carolyn]

I agree with you about the bland taste. The best part or the meal when I was a kid was pulling the crispy skin off and eating it while hoping I wouldn't get caught. Now, I think the sides and desserts are mostly what I look forward to. This year I only made 2 dishes, which turned out to be the right thing to do because I forgot my husband is going out of town tomorrow. I'd be stuck with a lot of food had I not kept it simple.

[barelfly]

Love you get to share this with your exchange students! Spicy cranberry? You must doctor it up a bit! But looks excellent my friend!

[jfmorris]

I too was happy with my 49 cent per pound Publix frozen turkey.

Looks great - nothing wrong with the oven. If you have room. I’ve had the nod for decades for turkey cooking outside as even when we had a double oven, SWMBO had 3-4 sides cooking in the oven.

[jhapka]

I had a great whitetail hunting season. Shot an 11 point 235 lb buck. Made a European mount a week later. Smoked my first whole neck roast used the leftover neck bones to make some stock and combined with some chilis and spices for barbacoa.

[jhapka]

Skip yes up by Crookston Thief River Falls area

[texastweeter]

Nice! Neck roast makes great carnitas too

[hoovarmin]

Flippin AWESOME!

[RickyBobby]

After gorging myself on turkey yesterday, I needed something completely different tonight. Braised black bear it is!

[RickyBobby]

Bear is one of my favorite wild game meats. Specifically bears that feed primarily on berries and grasses. This one was taken in West Virginia. Typically, bear that feed primarily on fish aren’t that appealing to me. They taste like what they eat.

[texastweeter]

It's hard to beat a blueberry fed bear. One of the best gae meats there is!

[hoovarmin]

texastweeter did you say "gae meat?"

[Mosca]

We go to the in-laws for Thanksgiving, but I make sure I get the turkey carcass, to make soup with stuffing dumplings.


Nice carcass. Lots of meat. There’s a thigh and both wings underneath, too.





I just break it down with my hands, and poultry shears on the spine.




It all goes into the pot to boil/simmer for an hour; that makes it easier to peel off the meat. There’s fresh sage, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf in there, too.




While that simmers, I chopped 6 celeries, 6 carrots, a parsnip, and 2 onions, one of which is off screen. Also not pictured is 5 cloves of garlic.




I make dumplings out of leftover stuffing, but I couldn’t take any photos there because my hands were covered with the goopy stuff. But the ratio is

1 cup stuffing
1 egg
3 Tbsp flour
salt & pepper

Whisk the egg, flour, salt, and pepper, then stir in the stuffing. Roll into dumpling shapes and cook in the soup. You can see one or two that rose to the top in the next photo, sort of in the middle.


Here it is! I add parsley last, because I like the way it looks, kinda rustic; I also added about a cup of frozen corn, frozen peas, and frozen green beans, for color and variety; and some tomato paste to deepen the color, and a few Tbsp of Heaven Made Products’ It’s Incredible!.

[HotSun]

Nice work, Mosca . I made stock from the turkey carcass the next day, which turned out amazing. I roasted celery, carrot, shallot, garlic, and leek, deglazed with pinot grigio. Pressure cooked with fresh thyme, fresh parsley, dried rosemary, fresh sage, and black and white peppercorns.

[Mosca]

HotSun that sounds like a great soup! I don’t do the pressure cooker though. It’s a PITA enough cleaning the cast iron Dutch oven by hand, I ain’t doin’ the Instant Pot, too!

[HotSun]

Mosca , I have three analog pressure cookers: 5 liter and 7 liter stainless steel, and an All American 921 pressure canner/cooker (21 quart) aluminum. The stainless steel ones are a breeze to clean, the 921 is just freakin' huge. I cooked in my sister-in-law's IP a couple years ago and it was a PITA to clean, so I feel your pain.

[bordercollie]

My sister bought a fresh turkey at the Flora Butcher here and I asked her to order it not brined. As soon as she picked it up and got home with it , it went into the brine . I use the Sausagemaker poultry brine and add a shot of liquid smoke. It sat there in the refrigerated brine for 36 hours. It was night time when I got home , I didn't want to ( too tired) but I dumped the brine water, and sat the turkey in the open container to air dry a bit in the fridge that night. ( It's a spare fridg that I brought over from the homeplace when I regretfully sold the place so no room worries there). The next morning, I spatchcocked it, slathered it with a mayo/ bbq rub and on the single sliding HB grill grate it went. I forgot to push down the breast portions but it did ok, Only used Kingsford charcoal with a couple of short pieces of oak splits now and then.
I used my Thermoworks Chef Alarm and monitored the temps and tried to keep it between 250 and 300. It went on the cooker about 2:30 (After we fed our 200 cows) and off at about 5:30 or 6. (Breast at 157 and thighs at 175.) I rotated the thighs to be nearer the heat but had adjusted the charcoal 's rack height during the cook a few times.
It came out well.. very moist and tender . My nephew carved it for me and said that with it being spatchcocked, the meat was easy to carve and there was much less waste. I do love the HB and the ability to smoke indirectly without worrying much about a flareup.

[jfmorris]

Beautiful! Well done!

[Elton's BBQ]

Very nice!

[PGH_RAM]

Picture perfect!

[wrgilb]

I spatchcocked and then parted out a 16 pounder and cooked on the Pit Boss Copperhead 7. I used a smoke tube (on the left below the breast) filled with Cookinpellets blend of hickory, cherry, hard maple and apple, no oak in this one. In the hopper I use Traeger Signature pellets. Wanted to cook at 325, but the Pit Boss goes from a 300 temp. setting to 350 setting, so the first hour I did 300 and then 350 for the next hour and a half.

Super moist, pulled at 150-153 in the breast. The thighs were 175. First picture is at the 2 hour mark.

[fzxdoc]

You nailed it. Congrats!

K.

[Elton's BBQ]

Looks great!

[hoovarmin]

Looking good, bro!

[Panhead John]

Now that it’s finally cooled off here in Hellville, I made a pot of red…please note exquisite display of crackers. 🥸

[Clawbear57]

You make a great looking pot of reds there my friend.

[Elton's BBQ]

Nice!

[bbqLuv]

Look at them crackers!
What a display.
You done good.

[barelfly]

Meal #3 as requested by the adult kiddos - bolognese

[hoovarmin]

one of my all time favs!

[klflowers]

Day after the day leftovers. Ham, collards with chow chow, cranberry sauce, pickled beets. No turkey this year.

[Clawbear57]

I want that 😀

[Elton's BBQ]

Looks really good!!

[Clawbear57]

I smoked a 20lb tuekey that my sister gave me.( it was a little dry, over cooked) bur it had good taste.Smoked mac and cheese. Mustard and turnips greens, green beans. My neice made dirty rice with ground turkey, corn pudding,. My sister cooked a roast and a friend made a yam casserole.

[klflowers]

That all looks pretty dang good

[hoovarmin]

Fine eats!

[bordercollie]

I love those greens especially !!