turkeyed out.

What a fabulous weekend of hot home cooked food, vino, and good company. I hosted my first turkey dinner on Saturday preparing the works for a crowd of 12 with the help of my trusty assistant - aka... little sis, J. I cooked my very first turkey which turned out succulent, juicy, well seasoned and just lovely. And I normally dislike turkey. a lot. When we host Thanksgiving dinner at our place, someone else always brings the turkey. Sometimes, the turkey is soggy or just plain dry and bland, which I'm sure many of you have experienced. It's a turn off and most people prefer chicken over turkey any day. But I was determined to prove to my guests that turkey could be a delectable experience with the right methods and some tender love and care.

I started scouring some recipes online but in the end, I had to be true to myself. I hate following recipes step by step, measurement by measurement.... I don't have the patience for it most of the time because cooking, to me, is about experimentation and deconstructing good food that I've tasted in the past. I've gotten to a point where I can list out the ingredients in food I taste so that I can throw it together in my own kitchen.... all of which is why cooking is such a liberating experience. It gives you the freedom to apply your palette, test your skills and have a little fun while you're at it.

So I won't give you an exact turkey recipe but a brief run down of the important stuff:

Started with a frozen 16 lb turkey, defrosted it in the fridge for a day and then defrosted the rest of it in a tub of water for another 5 hours. * Afterwards, instead of brining (letting the turkey sit in a salt bath to season), I covered the turkey in coarse Kosher salt and fresh ground peppercorn inside and out. * I left it in the fridge wrapped in plastic for 24 hours. The salt draws the natural juices of the turkey to the surface and perfectly seasons while keeping it juicy. * After a day of chillin' in the fridge, I washed the turkey, patted it dry and applied a butter herb marinade (2 sticks butter, fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper) under the skin of the turkey. (I felt like a surgeon doing this as it was quite messy and in need of a steady delicate hand when separating skin from flesh while spreading the marinade.)



I placed chopped apple, mushrooms, garlic, and celery, with a sprig of rosemary into the cavity before tying the legs together and sewing the cavity shut. (This also required surgeon hands.) * Afterwards, I salted and peppered the skin again, layed the rest of the chopped fruits and veggies around the bird and poured 2 cups of turkey stock into the pan. * It went into the oven preheated at 325 degrees and stayed in for about 3 hours and 10 minutes, basting every 45 minutes or so. * When the thickest part of the meat reached 160 degrees, it was done and I took it out of the oven to lay to rest for about 30 minutes while the juices redistributed throughout the bird.


(Please disregard the random feet that loom above the delicious turkey.)

The result: Fantabulous. Moist. Tender. Seasoned. It was damn good.

Along with the yummy turkey, the meal consisted of mushroom gravy from the drippings, mushroom-rosemary-apple-cornbread stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, wok seared green beans with sesame seeds, corn and green bean casserole (made by J!), candied yams, cranberry sauce, sweet potato tempura, gaht kimchee (made by Mom)... all from scratch, all within a span of 4 hours.

some more action photos:


Above: Sister J (sounds like a nun, no?) taking pride in her casserole. Below: Photo of me taken mid jump/dancing for joy and blinded by the flash. I danced to techno in the kitchen the whole day. No incriminating photos, thankyouverymuch.


Happy neighbors!

It was a lot of great food with tons of leftovers... def. a lot to make with just 2 pairs of hands in the kitchen but it was worthwhile. The best part of cooking is being able to share the goodness with friends and family, never without a bottle of wine of course, and always over good conversation, sprinkled with lots of laughter. This recipe is fail proof. :-) Cheers!