Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was pretty quiet.  Since 2 of our family members were out of town, there were just the 4 of use left, with one other guest, it made only a gathering for 5 people.

We thought about going out to eat, but Thanksgiving's just not quite the same without the turkey and all its fixings at home.

I volunteered to cook the entire dinner this year, bought a small turkey (11.4 lbs.) and started out wanting to do something simple, but ended up being sort of so ... but the menu turned out to be:

Roasted Turkey
Stuffing with mushrooms and maple syrup sausages
Mashed potatoes with truffle shavings
Home made Cranberry sauce
Mushroom Gravy
Roasted Aspharages (white and green) with cheese and lemon juice
Green salad with apple slices
Beet salad
Roasted vegetables
Sweet potato cheese pie
Cherry pie
Ice Cream

I'll have to say ... while turkey turned out juicy and rather painless to make, the gravy was my favorite.  I happen to be able to get to a farmer's market the day before and scored a bunch of different kinds of fresh mushrooms, so ... sauteed chantrell mushrooms, roughly chopped, add in slices of brown mushrooms.  Stock, turkey drippings and flour to thicken ... ummm ...

Then there's the cherry pie ... D made it himself and I have to say it was awesome!

All in all, we were full, but not stuffed to the gill.

We didn't end up with too much left overs either.  I managed to take one turkey breast home and it's all gone by now.

I think we're doing it again this Christmas.

Wok Aroma

There is a saying in Chinese about Chinese cooking "wok aroma".  What is it really?  Hard to explain ... but we all know it when we eat the dishes.

Usually only happens in Chinese Restaurants ... maybe it has to do with the perfectly high BTU that their burners are able to achieve.  It may have to do with the balance of flavors, oils (animal fats, or other vegetable based ones) and spices, maybe it's the timing of when to throw in the ingredients and how long to keep it tossing in there so that it gets nicely caramelized without being burnt ...  maybe it's all of the above.

Ahhh ... wok aroma ... you'll just have to try it to "know" it.

Eggs

Eggs are these really amazing things.  Depending on what you do with it, results and texture totally differs.  It is also one of those rare ingredients that suites both sweet and savory dishes.

Apparently, the traditional chef's hat's pleats depicts the number of different ways that particular chef knows to prepare eggs.

So here are a few basic stuff I can do.  Care to add to my list and tell me how to expand my skills?

Scrambled
Sunnyside up
Over easy
Custard
in Lemond Curd
Flan
Creme Brulee
Poached
Egg Drop/Flower in soup
Steamed
Ice Cream
Pudding
Cake
Cookies
Bread
Pasta (though I haven't actually tried making this)
Mayo
Hard Boiled
Pancake
Waffle
Crepe
Salad Dressing
...

Very interesting stuff.  You can even give your soup a creamy consistency just by tempering your eggs first instead of throwing it in the hot liquid.  Same exact ingredients, totally different outcome.

Basic eggs, flour, sugar, salt, milk can yield all kinds of different things that feels and tastes totally different ...

Beer-can chicken

I've been very curious about this method of cooking a chicken for some time.  I heard about it quite some years ago.  Basically, after salt and pepper, etc ... you shove a can of beer (or half a can actually) up the chicken's bum.  Let it sit there in a roasting pan, or on the grill if you're going to barbecue it.  The steam from the evaporating beer is supposed to keep the chicken moist.

So, I finally made it last night/this morning.  I have to say the result was really good.  Of course, I've learned that the only way to cook chicken, or turkey too, for that matter ... is to stick a thermometer in it.  I used a Taylor digital one and set it to chirp when the internal meat temperature reaches 160 degrees.  I turn off the oven at that time and let it continue cooking with the residual heat.  As long as the internal temperature doesn't get pass 180, it should stay moist and not overcooked.

The end result was good, though I wonder why I bother roasting chickens when they sell whole cooked ones (very flavorful and moist too) at Costco for less than a dollar more than what I paid for just the chicken alone - RAW.

Oh well, another kitchen science experiment satisfied.

Poached egg

I've been attempting this off and on for a while now. It has never worked. I read somewhere that you're supposed to add a bit of vinegar in the water to help it "set". I've tried playing with the temperature settings ... egg always manages to separate and gets turned the water into egg drop soup-looking thing.

Watched Julie and Julia recently and started reading her blog. She tried poaching eggs too! Looks like it took her a few tries to get it just right. So ... I tried again last night. It was a last minute inspiration too. I got home really late and wanted a little something to eat without a big production. I actually thought about just going out to eat, but since my wallet wasn't particularly fat, I decided to stay home and heat up some "stuff".

In went a can of Campbell's vegetable and barley soup. Not exactly gourmet, but it's quick and easy. The can of soup's content looks so sad in the pot that I decided to add an egg ... and since an egg, why not just poach it in the liquid? Worst thing that'll happen is that I turn the soup into an egg drop veggie soup. No big deal. I turned the heat to low and very carefully slipped the egg's content into it. No simmer, no bubbles ... just let the gradual heat of the soup congeal and cook the thing.

I remember Julie talking about "gently coaxing" the egg white together to form a perfect soft egg pillow ... or something like that. I tried coaxing ... I guess I'm not exactly the coaxing type. I decided to just leave it alone.

It took longer than I would have liked. Neither Julie nor Julia said anything about needing patience ... I should have known!

Oh, anyways, the egg turned out very nicely. But unlike a traditional poached egg, it has bits and chunks of vegetables from the soup stuck to it. Too bad the phone rang just after I scooped the thing with some soup into a bowl. By the time I was able to get to it, the whole thing had cooled to room temperature. Egg's a bit over cooked, but I think it COULD have been just perfect had I devoured it when I scooped it out of the soup.

I'll have to try it again some other time. This poaching egg thing in soup's a keeper!

Bacone!

This came across from a friend of mine. A cone made entirely out of bacon. This guy put scrambled eggs, cheese, country gravy and a biscuit to top it all off.

Bacon ... Food of the gods.

Pancake in a can

Went to the grocery store and found this. OF COURSE I had to try it out. Basically a canister for whipping cream with pancake batter inside. The can itself cracks me up. Right there on the top ... it proclaim that it's ORGANIC.

Here goes my first try with the stuff. Wish me luck.
The outcome? Not too bad. I like the "normal" pancakes' texture. It's usually a little more chew, a little more "cakey" The canned stuff's really fluffy. A little too much so. Looks good, but mostly airy and foamy.

Meatloaf!!!

So weather's a bit cooler now that it's supposed to be winter ... though we've been having really nice summery weather in the 70s lately ... but still ...

I've been experimenting with meatloaf lately.

First batch consisted of ground turkey, sauteed onion, carrots, celery along with ketchup, bread, salt and pepper. That was yummy ...

For the second batch, I used ground beef instead of turkey. Along with the aforementioned, I added hungarian parika and dried fruits (raisens, dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried blueberries). That was even better ...

Third batch had added bread crumb, less regular bread, and the addition of crumbled up soft tofu. It worked!!! The tofu actually made an already tender meatloaf even more tender. Tasty too.

Next batch will have some toasted pine nuts in it ... maybe basil too.