Cooking...

[birdguy]

I've never seen anyone post favorite foods or recipes here before.

This afternoon I am baking a small (10 pound) turkey. I have an almost foolproof way of cooking it that leaves the meat moist and tender and the skin nice and crispy. And no, I don't use aluminum fold or cover it in any way.

If anyone is interested I'll post the recipe here. Otherwise forget I mentioned it.

Noel

[Elaine Dixon]

A man of many talents.  From your Posts and Topics you obviously love the birds  

 

Go on post the recipe   

[caaront]

Please do

[birdguy]

OK. Roasting a turkey.

I'll leave the stuffing to you because there are so many different favorites.

Take the neck out of the body cavity and cut off the tail. Put them in a pot of water and simmer on a very low flame for as long as it takes to roast the turkey. Check from time to tme and add water if necessary. This will be your gravy stock.

Cut up the heart, giblets, and liver and add to either your gravy or stuffing after sautéing them in butter.

Season the outside of the turkey with seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, thyme, and sage. Rub it in with your fingers.

Melt a cube of butter and liberally baste the skin of the turkey with a pastry brush.

Pour a cup or more of water into the bottom of the roasting pan (just so it comes to the bottom of the rack.) This is very important.

Place the turkey into a 325 degree F oven. Roasting time will depend on the size of the bird. 3 1/2 hours for my 10 pound turkey this afternoon. Roasting times can be found on the internet or in any cook book.

Now every 30 to 40 minutes brush the turkey with melted butter with the pastry brush and add water to the roasting pan. Make sure the pan doesn't get dry.

The turkey is done when the temperature reaches 170 degrees F with a thermometer stuck into the center of the thigh or breast.

Remove the turkey from the roasting pan and set aside and let cool for 20 to 30 minutes.

Strain the drippings from the roasting pan and add to the pot where you have the neck and tail simmering after removing and discarding the neck and tail.. Add salt, pepper, thyme, and sage and thicken with corn starch.

I like to serve mine with mashed potatoes and steamed mushrooms, celery, and carrots.

Cooking is as favorite a hobby of mine as flight simulation and I cook something every weekend. I always make enough to freeze so we get at least a half dozen meals. Sometimes more when I make Mulligatawny soup or Jumbalaya in the crock pot.

Noel

[chumley]

I wish 'birdguy' hadn't been encouraged to post his recipe.

I spent the last couple of minutes reading through his follow up post whilst wiping away the excess drool from the corners of my watering mouth.

It's nearly dinner time so i better warm up the toaster and open the can of beans.

[Mickel]

Yum, turkey. My uncle used to do one for Xmas lunch. Started cooking at dawn... My 'cooking' tends to be quite utilitarian. Now that it's 80*F in the evenings it's BBQ time for ~6 months. Got one of those flip top things. Need to learn how to use it!

[Matthew Kane]

Just deep fry them turkeys in the backyard, this is the best way to eat a turkey and you won't know until you have tried it

[lawrence aldrich]

A man of many talents.  From your Posts and Topics you obviously love the birds

 

Go on post the recipe   

He doesn't love birds as much as he loves to eat........

[birdguy]

You might be right Lawrence. That's why I'm 10 pounds overweight.

For me good food is one of the joys of life. I live to eat as opposed to eating to live.

I really miss pheasant. I haven't had a taste of one since I gave up hunting. To me it's the most delicious bird on the planet.

Noel

[Mark Abdey]

I'm a curry guy myself, and cook one at least once a week... though the base gravy/curry's are often big enough to last two days [sometimes three].

I'm not sure I could post a recipe as such as I never measure or weigh quantities, and I try to change things so the flavours change and we don't get bored with eating the same thing over and over. Its a kind of free-improve cooking that relies on my taste buds, and experience. Often they are lentil/dal based, so using red lentils, onion, garlic, ginger, sometimes with tomato, sometimes coconut and a myriad of spices depending on what we have in the house. I don't eat meat, though I do eat fish, so they tend to be seafood based, or more often Paneer/Halloumi (acid set) cheese based... this might sound strange, but it has a very firm texture and mild salty taste that can resemble meat (chicken) if pre-grilled... it is nothing like most people would think of as 'cheese' [it does not melt]...

During the summer we also grow our own chillies, so have a good supply of the hot stuff to add a little zing

[pilottj]

I have a favorite winter soup for the crockpot, called Ski Soup AKA Sausage Bean Chowder.  The original dish was done with a stew pot, but it can be done very nicely with a crockpot.  It was invented by a mother of a family who would often take winter skiing trips to ski lodges.  It is hot filling dish that will serve many, is easy to make, and easy to transport & reheat.  Think of something kind of halfway between Chili and Minestrone Soup.

 

Take a pound of ground sasuage, brown it in in a skillet.  While that is going, take your crockpot, throw in;

 

a chopped onion,

a chopped potato or two depending on their size,

a chopped bell pepper,

(throw in a chopped Jalepeno if you want some heat),

then add two cans of kidney beans,

a can of diced tomatoes,

a bay leaf,

1 1/2 tsp salt (lately I have been using 1 tsp salt and a half tsp of tumeric to cutdown on the salt and add in the tumeric's medicinal qualities.),

1/2 tsp thyme,

1/2 tsp garlic powder,

sprinkle in some black pepper.  

 

By this time the sausage should be browned and can be added to the crockpot.  Add 4 cups water.  Run on High for about 5hours or low for about 8 hours.   Zing it up with hot sauce if you like.

 

Ground Turkey can be substituded if you would like it on the leaner side.

 

Cheers

TJ

[birdguy]

If you like soup and curry here's another one from East India.

Mulligatawny Soup

An East Indian recipe.

2 chicken breasts sliced lengthwise and then cut into half inch chunks

1 large onion - chopped

4 celery stalks - chopped

4 carrots - chopped

1 medium green apple - chopped

1 package sliced mushrooms

6 whole cloves

4 tsp curry

2 tsp seasoned salt

2 tsp seasoned pepper

2 32oz packages chicken stock

4 cups water

Brown the chicken a bit in a skillet with butter.

Put all ingredients into a crockpot, mix well, and slow cook for 8-10 hours.

Optional - Cook a couple cups of rice and add to the soup when done.

NOTE: I have a large crockpot. If you have small one adjust accordingly.

Noel

[Jim Robinson]

No recipe needed but you haven't lived until you've tried chopped fresh cilantro on a BLT!

[sightseer]

my cooking right now is really basic.  I either bake some chicken breasts or put either a Boston butt and/or pork loin (they cook good together) in my stock pot and bake it.

 

my mom likes/needs simple basic foods like plain rice and 'just chicken'.

 

I used to be into trying to make sauces with Anchos and such but now I gain weight to easy and I just haven't had time.

 

Anchos, roasted garlic, sautéed onion, Mexican oregano, cumin, salt, pepper and chicken stock make a good sauce. add in some chipotle if you like.

 

I also like incredibly simple deserts: put some cocoa powder and some sugar in a small bowl and add a small amount of half and half and stir to a thick paste.  then add more half and half to thin it out to desired consistency. add a dash of salt and a little vanilla and stir and then just add some cashews.  real simple and real good.  peanuts, pecans and sliced almonds can also work.  I had a version of this that used 1 oz unsweetened chocolate squares that was really good.  I cooked the ingredients over low heat and then dropped spoonfuls onto a non stick cookie sheet and then you freeze them (they don't freeze).  I wanted to make chocolate from scratch but I have yet to figure it out.

 

and something else really good:

  I make these quick pizzas using these really thin crusts...the flavor that's best is called 'spicy Itailian'.  you bake them two minutes on a pizza pan with holes in it and then put on a thin layer of taco sauce (I like Ortega medium) and then put on some taco meat, fresh green onions and some shredded cheddar cheese and bake until the cheese melts.

[Penzoil3]

Dang, good thing the chicken enchiladas are in the oven !   This is making my mouth water !

 LOL

 Sue

[Bassman]

I highly recommend Mullagatawny Soup as this is one that I often make. It is to be noted that it is however not authentic Indian Cuisine, but originally concocted by the ladies of the British Raj ( meaning when Britain occupied India) in India using available ingredients. Think I will make a batch tomorrow hmmm.

[Taph]

cooking is another hobby of mine. will eat anything that comes out of a wok, also cook a lot of curries and side dishes.

 

stir fried liver, with baby sweet corn, red and yellow peppers, onion, sugar snap peas chillies, turmeric, fennel seed, ginger and banana.

 

stir fry the veg except  the sugar snap peas and the spices with minimum  oil, if getting a little dry add water to stop sticking

 

when veg almost ready  add the liver and chopped banana  and sugar snap peas cook on high heat stirring continuously till meat stops bleeding then serve on a bed of rice.

 

Mark you can swap liver out and substitute prawns

[Penzoil3]

What type of chilis Taph ? Sounds good..

 Sue

[birdguy]

The small turkey I made last Sunday is now turkey soup.

On Thursday I put all the bones and the carcass in a stock pot and simmered them all day. I also cut the remaining turkey carved off the bones into small chunks. After about 10 hours of simmering I removed the carcass and bones from the stock pot and gleaned a lot more meat from them. I poured the stock into some pitchers and put them in the refrigerator until the next morning.

Friday morning I poured a large can of tomato sauce into the crock pot. Then I added 4 teaspoons each of thyme, sage, seasoned salt and seasoned pepper and mixed thoroughly.

Then I peeled and cut up a half dozen medium sized carrots, a half dozen celery stalks, a white onion, and put into the crock pot along with a box of sliced mushrooms. I cut up 4 Roma tomatoes into small pieces and added them along with all the turkey meat I had to the crock pot.

Added enough turkey stock to fill the crockpot to the rim and stirred it all well after adding a couple cloves of cut up garlic. I set the pot on high and let it cook for about 4 hours. Then I turned it to low and let it cook another 4 hours.

We had the soup that evening and I put the left overs into plastic containers and they are now in the freezer. We'll get another five meals out of it.

Noel

[Taph]

Hi Sue, I use small red birds eye chilies as I like it hot, (have also done with just one scotch bonnet finely chopped, then when cooking add two teaspoons of sugar it gives you the heat but not the fierce bite)

[Penzoil3]

Hmm,  Mexican chile tepins, or Thai red birdseyes ?  Different flavors...  I can find chili tepins easily, but Thai birds eyes would take some oriental market hunting.

 LOL

 Sue

[Taph]

We're lucky as fresh birds eye chilies are easy to find here, have more difficulty and need a specialist shop to find the Mexican, but there is a great chili place in Borough Market,  London where you can pick up freeze dried

[Bassman]

Ok, I had to "google"  Scotch Bonnet; don't know it's Heat scale but looks really nice. Maybe a hotter version of a Capsicum??

[Bassman]

Think I have answered my "heat" question. There is no swearing in this video but brings into question the English preoccupation with chillis and hot curries etc.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReOxsuYAyVE&feature=youtu.be

[caaront]

Sorry I have not contributed to this wonderful thread, but I get 2 minutes in, get hungry, and being single with no food in the house I have to go to town and eat.

[jsapair]

I went from the boring, traditional baked bird to the Cajun fried turkey, after an injection of melted butter, honey, apple juice and a rub-down of Cajun spices. Delicious. Then my kid bought me a Bradley electric smoker. That's what I use now. I soak the bird in a brine of water, sugar, and salt overnight...removes the blood and makes the skin crisper. I still prepare it as above and smoke it for 10-12 hours, depending on weight, at around 250 degrees, basting occasionally with a baste of melted butter, honey,spices, and apple juice. The Bradley takes brisquettes of different wood flavors. For the turkey I use a combo of Alder and Maple. For ribs I use mesquite.

   You just load them in a tube and they feed into the smoker automatically.You can set the smoke engine separately from the oven. Say you want smoke to be applied for six hours. You set that and add enough brisquettes to cover the time. Then you set the oven temp and the oven time. Then you go in the house and have a few cocktails and only have to baste it every few hours. Turkey comes out falling-off-the-bone done and mouth-watering good. Some home-made mac and cheese is a good side dish, or some cheesy baked potatoes and salad.

 

                                               jsapair

[Adam Howarth]

Heres one that always goes down well. Get:

 

* Proper Italian prosciutto

* Proper cultured butter European not salted

* Proper in shell fresh Scallops. Not the frozen and tiny ones sold at the supermarket. You want big, fresh, in shell huge scallops.

* Proper virgin olive oil

* Fresh thyme

 

Now on a *HOT* pan, cook the prosciutto in a splash of virgin olive oil so its nice and crispy. Not burnt, not raw and soft...Crispy. This is important for texture and flavour. Dont let it sit for ages, time it with the other pan going which is the scallops.

 

Time it with another *HOT* pan, cook the scallops in a splash of virgin olive oil and the thyme. Just stuff the thyme in there. They should develop a lovely bit of brown, but not black, and not be overcooked! When your about 40 seconds away from being cooked, put a huge dollop of butter and let it melt, gathering all the scallop and thyme flavours. Theres an art to the heat control and the butter, you want to brown the butter but not burn it.

 

Serve it in the shells, with the prosciutto in thin strips, then the scallop, and drizzle on the oil/thyme/brown butter

 

If that isnt one of the most delightful and complex combinations of flavours and textures, you have no palate and should be eating dog food!

 

Frequent friends make regular "suggestions" for continued servings

[Penzoil3]

OMG fresh scallops!  I wish, not in Arizona. Back in Baltimore, yeah, but not here. Haven't seen a fresh scallop since 1963 ! DROOL!

 LOL

 Sue

[birdguy]

I'm with you Sue.  A seafood lover stuck miles from the sea.

 

I grew up in San Francisco and Friday lunches at Fisherman's Wharf consisted of a cracked crab and a loaf of sour dough French bread.

 

Ever eat at  crab at Obrycki's in Baltimore?  I understand it's closed now as is Bookbinders in Philly.  But Scomas is still working in San Francisco.

 

Noel

[Penzoil3]

Moved  to Arizona when I was 12. My memories are of dad cooking fresh scallops and crabcakes at home.  I've heard of Obrycki's, but never ate there.

 Sue

[birdguy]

This weekend I'm making Italian style meatloaf.

 

2lbs ground beef

1lb Italian sausage...Hot

2 eggs

1 6oz can tomato paste

1 cup Progresso Italian Style bread crumbs

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup coarsely chopped mushrooms

1 medium onion coarsely chopped

1 Tblsp minced roasted garlic (I buy mine in a jar)

2 Tblsp seasoned salt

2 Tblsp seasoned pepper

4 Tblsn sweet basil

 

In large bowl crack the two eggs, add the seasonings and tomato paste, and mix thoroughly with a whisk.

 

Add in the meat, chopped mushrooms, chopped onion, bread crumbs, and Parmesan cheese.  Combine and mix the ingredients thoroughly. 

 

Put in meat loaf pan (three pounds will fit into a 9 1/2 inch meatloaf pan).  I prepare the meat loaf the day before I am going to bake it to let the flavors and seasoning settle in.

 

Bake at 350 degreesF for about 70-80 minutes or until your meat thermometer reaches 160-170 degreesF.

 

Allow to cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

 

For a smaller meat loaf adjust the ingredients accordingly.

 

I serve mine with twice baked potatoes and steamed mushrooms, carrots and celery.

 

 

Noel