Four Foods on Friday #55

November 13th, 2008

Filed Under FFoF | 8 Comments

Aloha all!  It’s time for another installment of Four Foods on Friday.  As usual, I post a day earlier so those of you who would like to play along can go over to Val’s place to post your responses in time.  The more the merrier!  This week’s are Thanksgiving oriented.

#1. Stuffing. Boxed or from scratch?

I always use boxed because I’ve tried from scratch once and it wasn’t as good as I thought it should be.  I really want a good from scratch recipe that is like you find in restaurants.  It’s got a slightly wetter texture with big chunks of bread.  Maybe one of the participants will have some good recipes.

#2. If you were served the perfect Thanksgiving dinner what would it be?

Turkey, stuffing, grandma’s noodles and gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans for good measure and those little bake and serve rolls and of course a piece of pumpkin pie.  People have tried to use other types of rolls over the past few years and it’s NOT the same.  I told my mom this year she’d better bring the right rolls since others cannot be entrusted with the job!  LOL

#3. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving leftover?

My grandma’s noodles.  I mean I love all of the leftovers but we only get those twice a year so they’re a special treat-fresh or reheated.

#4. Share a recipe using turkey.

God love her, Grandma comes from the school of wake up at 4am, put the turkey in and let it cook all day.  The resulting bird requires something wet whether it’s gravy, ketchup or drink to get it down.  I made the mistake of bringing an extra bird last year since our growing family can no longer support a 22 lb bird and leftovers.  People RAVED about my turkey.  So my recipe is very basic but tasty. 

Separate the skin from the meat of the turkey to make pockets and rub butter in between the layers so it’ll be trapped by the skin but melt into the meat.  Now I use plain butter when I bring it for Thanksgiving but if I’m doing it at home I cut up fresh herbs like rosemary and sage, add black pepper and a touch of honey to the butter, mix it up and use that to rub in the pockets.  Make sure you butter the outside as well and put a little coarse black pepper and a sprig of rosemary in the cavity, follow the directions on the bird and you can’t go wrong.  For slight variations for the cavity stuffing you can put cut citris of your choise along with whole herbs and peppercorns.  If you want to go all “Martha” for the presentation you can tuck bay leaves in a pattern under the skin for flavor and wow factor.

 


Comments

8 Comments so far

  1. Typ0 on November 14, 2008 5:50 am

    It’s funny how the foods from our childhood are the best at this time of the year, like your grandmother’s noodles. :)

  2. Karen on November 14, 2008 11:18 pm

    I thought the noodles were a southern thing. We don’t serve them in our family but when I visit my sister in the south we always get them. Her mother inlaw always fixes noodles.

  3. clair on November 15, 2008 1:05 am

    I only recently learnt the trick to buttering the skin on the inside. I do it for roast chickens. No reason not to do it with turkey. It’s the best thing ever ;) .

  4. Sheri/Cookingmom on November 15, 2008 2:42 am

    I usually brush my turkey with olive oil before seasoning it, but putting butter between the skin and meat sounds heavenly!

  5. Charla on November 17, 2008 10:25 pm

    I didn’t know about putting butter between the skin and meat. I’m going to do that plus the herbs.

  6. valmg on November 17, 2008 10:45 pm

    ROTFLMFAO @ The resulting bird requires something wet whether it’s gravy, ketchup or drink to get it down!

  7. Fun, Crafts and Recipes | What I learned from Four Foods On Friday on November 17, 2008 11:24 pm

    [...] Anele shared instructions on how to make Thanksgiving turkey. [...]

  8. corrin on November 18, 2008 8:57 am

    that’s how my mom makes turkey, too, and we all fight over the crunchy skin. sounds gross, but it’s soo good.

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