Ye Harvest Feast Day

[omimouse]

I am thankful for a husband with quick reflexes; as it meant that the minor burner fire *stayed* a minor burner fire.

I am thankful that, if I may indulge in some self-flattery here, I am a damn fucking fine cook if I do say so myself.

Addendum: I am thankful for the butter sale a few weeks ago, as it aided me in my tradition of stuffing three sticks of butter into the turkey as well as under its skin. We are not eating 'moist' turkey, we are eating 'dripping wet' turkey.

I am thankful for the countertop roasting oven that Louis' mom gave us for Christmas a few years back, as it quite literally cut the cooking time of the turkey in half.

Addendum: I am *very* thankful that I remembered that little peculiarity this year, and avoided the mistake I made last year. "It can't *possibly* be done already . . . (1 hour later) Okay, so maybe it is . . and damnit, now it's slightly dry."

I am thankful for my internet connection, as it helps me keep in touch with people that I would otherwise be missing much more than I already am missing them today.

Addendum: I am thankful for the entertainment of Wikipedia, as it lead me from looking up proper water pump and windmill placement in Dwarf Fortress through dijk building, to the Zuiderzee works, to peat bogs and polders, to the fact that the Dutch planned to *flood* part of their own country to slow the Germans down in WW2, to the reminder that Dutch politics is home to such animals as 'liberal conservatives', to a recording of the Dutch national anthemn.

Someday, I will find a recording of the whole damn thing.
PS: Thank you Elisabeth for the introduction to DF.
PPS: I hate Fire Imps.

I am thankful to be living north (even if only barely) of the Mason-Dixon line.

I am thankful that today is an utterly beautiful day out here. We have windows open, and while it is cool outside, the sun is shining, the air is soft, and the sky is that gorgeous shade of vivid blue that you only really seem to get in the fall.

And tomorrow, I will be thankful for the internet yet again as I go in search of a turkey carcass soup/stock recipe. (Okay, it's not exactly hard: Stick carcass in pot. Pour water over it. Cook down. Cool, then get it into whatever storage method you're using. I still like looking around for tips, tricks, and all the little things that make something extra tasty.)

Comments

[elisabeth.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* Fire Imps are a pain. Wait until you meet the land-walking zombie carp. :)

Glad the fire stayed minor, and that you guys are still upright and keepin' on.

*hugs* Happy Thanksgiving. :)

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Lemme tell you what I did to make my turkey stock this year. For the hardware I used my 2.5 gallon pot, one knife, one chopping board at the start, and my enormous metal bowl and my larger fine-mesh strainer later.

I'd cut up my carcass and had a backbone to put in, raw, so I did. Sine I didn't have space to cook my wings in the oven they went in the stock too. When the rest of the turkey came out I cut the meat off the bones, then it went into the stockpot. I added about a tablespoon or two of Kosher salt, one of yellow mustard seeds, a heaping teaspoon of whole peppercorns, a light sprinkling of dill, 2 bay leaves (could have used 3), several cloves of garlic, my remaining carrots and parsnips (3 and 2 respectively) and put in one of the uneaten sweet potatoes after supper. I also put in a couple of peeled, halved whole onions and the half a shallot that had been left in the fridge. I believe I crushed up some savory leaves and some marjoram too, but very little of each.

I started the water during cooking for supper, putting in the raw turkey when the water was fairly warm and adding things as I went. After about 3 hours I put the pot, covered, into a 230 degree oven overnight. I took it out about 12 hours later because I overslept and let it cool some for a few hours, still covered.

The beauty of a fine-mesh strainer is you don't have to put your spices into a teaball. Matter of fact, it'll strain out all but the tiniest bits of solids, which is good. I used to ladle out the soup into the strainer, getting as much solid stuff as I could until I needed to remove what was in the strainer to the garbage and start with more, but last year I moved to lifting the pot (I know, tricky) and pouring it into the strainer, which was positioned right in the metal bowl. Its much easier to pick out the solids then and get the last half-cup or so lurking in 'em.

Because I had some raw turkey in there with the cooked stuff, well... I reduced the stuff down in the pot some more after I cleaned it of solids, ending up with a few cups shy of a gallon. And in the fridge, well, the stock gelatinized. I couldn't ask for better.

You really want carrots or a yam to help with the color for the stock.

I hope you find this useful.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Oooh, one day I shall have a countertop roaster. Glad for the tip on how fast it cooks. :)

Lots of good stuff. Yay.:)

Carrots and onions are a wonderful addtion to stock. So's celery (and countless other things :) but I won't do stock unless I have the first two.