All Day in the Oven
Oh yes, it should be thawing already. Did you put it in the bottom of the refrigerator this morning? It's gonna leak as it thaws, have the right tray under it. I used to set out a big one down in the cold room, and if you started this morning, that would work fine. If it's in the refrigerator and when you feel it on Wednesday night, it's still really solid, find something as safely cold as the cold room (but not quite as cold as where it's been) because it's really a chore to handle a big one on Thursday if most of it's icy. Can be done...
What's the whole day like, the old-fashioned way? Like this. I used to start really early, when serving time hours had to be like two pm dinner. Then wrapping a big one in a tinfoil tent, completely, allowed me to set the oven so much higher, like 425 and even 450. The point is, the cooking time's gonna depend on the weight of the bird, the temperature of the oven, and what time you absolutely have to be serving dinner. Have the bird out of the oven and cooling almost an hour before you sit down with the candles lit, because it needs to cool 20 minutes before carving.
So whenever you decide you should be up, you stand around with your coffee and use two goodsize heavy skillets to make the dressing. Slice up quantities of onion and celery, tear up bowlfuls of stale bread, and use actual Crisco in the skillets. Lightly saute onion, and any peppers or mushrooms you decided to use, and the celery, in both skillets; salt and pepper, and add sprinkles of Poultry Stuffing spice; keep spooning out veggies into a mixing bowl that has some of the bread crumbs in it, stir 'em up. In the breaks, fill a tall saucepan for the back of the stove with water, toss the pieces of celery, celery leaves, and onion that you don't chop for dressing, or reserve for appetizers, into the water as it heats, and salt it. Put a couple of carrots in it, too. Layer more breadcrumbs into the mixing bowls that the sauted veggies are going into; and when your supply or your patience has run out, start toasting breakcrumbs in the skillets, to absorb any scrap of oil or onion, and keep adding and stirring with more Poultry Seasoning, until at the end both skillets are clean and empty, and the mixing bowls are full and fragrant. More salt and pepper, probably.
Also in the breaks, you've staggered over to the sink with the trayful of turkey, balanced it in an immaculate sink, rinsed it thoroughly with cold water, and gotten the brown paper bags it was sitting on out of the way. Grapple through both cavities, front and back, to retrieve the giblets, rinse them separately and very well, and toss them into the tall saucepan which is now ready to simmer very low all day. Usually you rub some salt into the inside of the empty, cold, turkey now. Put it back on the tray, lug it over to the mixing bowls, and stuff until the mixing bowls are both empty. It's amazing how much bread stuffing goes into a big turkey. Long long ago, we used to be directed to lace the thing closed, or fasten its legs together, but really that's not necessary. Put tinfoil over the rack in the roasting pan, square up the stuffed turkey in place; put tinfoil over the top fastened onto the bottom pieces. At the very end, you'll probably have bent this top cover in and pulled it up to let the breast brown for an hour or so; and if your temperature is going to be higher than 330, let the tinfoil be a securely closed cover.
It's easier to make the pies next, because if you use the pastry recipe I do, you can roll the crust out without really totally messing up the counter space; but baking them will require the oven to be at 425 for at least 15 minutes before the crust can allow you to turn the heat down, remember.
Making the bread dough for rolls is going to mean dusting the counter with flour, for the first time, -- of course, it'll happen again a few times before the rolls are shaped and rising. Use a sweet recipe for good rolls; butter the top after you put it into the mixing bowls to rise, and cover them with damp tea towels.
Put sweet potatoes in a large saucepan to boil, and sit down to have a cup of coffee. What other vegetables were fresh and pretty? Cauliflower; beans; corn; broccoli; none of these have to be steamed or boiled this early, unless they're part of a presentation that has to be arranged and baked later, like the sweet potatoes.
Essentially, when you've come this far, you're free for hours. Setting the table, preparing appetizers, all fit in when you feel like it. The bread dough gets punched down, and rises again; the sweet potatoes get peeled and sliced and set into an oven dish. You do not have to put brown sugar and cloves (well, yes, you need cloves) into sweet potatoes; be sure to salt and pepper them. The pies come out of the oven and get cooled. If you whip cream for topping now, it may need a piece of wax paper over it in the refrigerator.
Shaping the rolls to rise is due to happen about three hours before sitting down to eat, or so; I like the kind that require three little buttered balls of dough in each slot of a muffin tin, or the fat ones with a buttered top and sesame seed on them; or twisted strips that rise on a cookie sheet. They can bake after the turkey's out, no problem about the high temperature then. Yes, the kitchen's going to get pretty warm, I leave the door to the back porch open all day.
Peeling enough potatoes needs that whole counter again. Make sure the pan they're boiled in is big enough to mash them! No, I didn't make cole slaw usually; we adore those cans of jellied cranberry from the store, why not? Check the gravy boats and butter dishes.
People have come in, been served drinks or served themselves, woken up from naps or been put down for them; the day's been smelling better and better. And the kitchen is warm!
When the turkey is resting, take it out of the roasting pan, back onto its tray; rinse the tinfoil by pouring giblet broth over it to take the drippings into the roaster pan; then rinse the rack, the same way. You can get tinfoil and rack out of the way, unless the rack's got quite a bit of turkey left on it. Pull out the neck from the saucepan and take all the tasty meat off, to toss into the roasting pan. Add flour to the dripping in the roasting pan, stir and brown, and then add more giblet broth and more flour that's already been stirred with cold water, expecting to use a huge amount of gravy altogether. With the roasting pan simmering on the stove, turn up the oven for rolls. Start taking stuffing out, putting it into serving dishes, and when you've got gravy, put gravy into that stuffing, too. Find whoever's going to carve, and supply really sharp knives, as well as the big spoon for stuffing you missed; scout the platter that the carver uses for "discards" for scraps that go into the gravy, simmering over there. One platter for white meat and one platter for dark? If it's really big, maybe a couple more platters. Is there a volunteer to mash the potatoes? Don't forget and leave the sweet potatoes in the oven too long! There's always fresh parsley in the garden for the platters. If not, some tiny leaves of kale.
Getting all the meat off the carcass allows you to dump it before the platters are served, and remember to put the last tiniest scraps into the gravy too. You diced the other giblets, and somebody ate the heart. Saving the wishbone is fun. Basketfuls of rolls can be covered with napkins. Having all the saucepans and mixing bowls cleaned and put away while the potatoes are being mashed means a clean kitchen for after dinner. The rolls only need about 15 or 20 minutes per pan, and several pans went in at once. Gravy bowls and butter, and sit down.
What a lovely day.
What's the whole day like, the old-fashioned way? Like this. I used to start really early, when serving time hours had to be like two pm dinner. Then wrapping a big one in a tinfoil tent, completely, allowed me to set the oven so much higher, like 425 and even 450. The point is, the cooking time's gonna depend on the weight of the bird, the temperature of the oven, and what time you absolutely have to be serving dinner. Have the bird out of the oven and cooling almost an hour before you sit down with the candles lit, because it needs to cool 20 minutes before carving.
So whenever you decide you should be up, you stand around with your coffee and use two goodsize heavy skillets to make the dressing. Slice up quantities of onion and celery, tear up bowlfuls of stale bread, and use actual Crisco in the skillets. Lightly saute onion, and any peppers or mushrooms you decided to use, and the celery, in both skillets; salt and pepper, and add sprinkles of Poultry Stuffing spice; keep spooning out veggies into a mixing bowl that has some of the bread crumbs in it, stir 'em up. In the breaks, fill a tall saucepan for the back of the stove with water, toss the pieces of celery, celery leaves, and onion that you don't chop for dressing, or reserve for appetizers, into the water as it heats, and salt it. Put a couple of carrots in it, too. Layer more breadcrumbs into the mixing bowls that the sauted veggies are going into; and when your supply or your patience has run out, start toasting breakcrumbs in the skillets, to absorb any scrap of oil or onion, and keep adding and stirring with more Poultry Seasoning, until at the end both skillets are clean and empty, and the mixing bowls are full and fragrant. More salt and pepper, probably.
Also in the breaks, you've staggered over to the sink with the trayful of turkey, balanced it in an immaculate sink, rinsed it thoroughly with cold water, and gotten the brown paper bags it was sitting on out of the way. Grapple through both cavities, front and back, to retrieve the giblets, rinse them separately and very well, and toss them into the tall saucepan which is now ready to simmer very low all day. Usually you rub some salt into the inside of the empty, cold, turkey now. Put it back on the tray, lug it over to the mixing bowls, and stuff until the mixing bowls are both empty. It's amazing how much bread stuffing goes into a big turkey. Long long ago, we used to be directed to lace the thing closed, or fasten its legs together, but really that's not necessary. Put tinfoil over the rack in the roasting pan, square up the stuffed turkey in place; put tinfoil over the top fastened onto the bottom pieces. At the very end, you'll probably have bent this top cover in and pulled it up to let the breast brown for an hour or so; and if your temperature is going to be higher than 330, let the tinfoil be a securely closed cover.
It's easier to make the pies next, because if you use the pastry recipe I do, you can roll the crust out without really totally messing up the counter space; but baking them will require the oven to be at 425 for at least 15 minutes before the crust can allow you to turn the heat down, remember.
Making the bread dough for rolls is going to mean dusting the counter with flour, for the first time, -- of course, it'll happen again a few times before the rolls are shaped and rising. Use a sweet recipe for good rolls; butter the top after you put it into the mixing bowls to rise, and cover them with damp tea towels.
Put sweet potatoes in a large saucepan to boil, and sit down to have a cup of coffee. What other vegetables were fresh and pretty? Cauliflower; beans; corn; broccoli; none of these have to be steamed or boiled this early, unless they're part of a presentation that has to be arranged and baked later, like the sweet potatoes.
Essentially, when you've come this far, you're free for hours. Setting the table, preparing appetizers, all fit in when you feel like it. The bread dough gets punched down, and rises again; the sweet potatoes get peeled and sliced and set into an oven dish. You do not have to put brown sugar and cloves (well, yes, you need cloves) into sweet potatoes; be sure to salt and pepper them. The pies come out of the oven and get cooled. If you whip cream for topping now, it may need a piece of wax paper over it in the refrigerator.
Shaping the rolls to rise is due to happen about three hours before sitting down to eat, or so; I like the kind that require three little buttered balls of dough in each slot of a muffin tin, or the fat ones with a buttered top and sesame seed on them; or twisted strips that rise on a cookie sheet. They can bake after the turkey's out, no problem about the high temperature then. Yes, the kitchen's going to get pretty warm, I leave the door to the back porch open all day.
Peeling enough potatoes needs that whole counter again. Make sure the pan they're boiled in is big enough to mash them! No, I didn't make cole slaw usually; we adore those cans of jellied cranberry from the store, why not? Check the gravy boats and butter dishes.
People have come in, been served drinks or served themselves, woken up from naps or been put down for them; the day's been smelling better and better. And the kitchen is warm!
When the turkey is resting, take it out of the roasting pan, back onto its tray; rinse the tinfoil by pouring giblet broth over it to take the drippings into the roaster pan; then rinse the rack, the same way. You can get tinfoil and rack out of the way, unless the rack's got quite a bit of turkey left on it. Pull out the neck from the saucepan and take all the tasty meat off, to toss into the roasting pan. Add flour to the dripping in the roasting pan, stir and brown, and then add more giblet broth and more flour that's already been stirred with cold water, expecting to use a huge amount of gravy altogether. With the roasting pan simmering on the stove, turn up the oven for rolls. Start taking stuffing out, putting it into serving dishes, and when you've got gravy, put gravy into that stuffing, too. Find whoever's going to carve, and supply really sharp knives, as well as the big spoon for stuffing you missed; scout the platter that the carver uses for "discards" for scraps that go into the gravy, simmering over there. One platter for white meat and one platter for dark? If it's really big, maybe a couple more platters. Is there a volunteer to mash the potatoes? Don't forget and leave the sweet potatoes in the oven too long! There's always fresh parsley in the garden for the platters. If not, some tiny leaves of kale.
Getting all the meat off the carcass allows you to dump it before the platters are served, and remember to put the last tiniest scraps into the gravy too. You diced the other giblets, and somebody ate the heart. Saving the wishbone is fun. Basketfuls of rolls can be covered with napkins. Having all the saucepans and mixing bowls cleaned and put away while the potatoes are being mashed means a clean kitchen for after dinner. The rolls only need about 15 or 20 minutes per pan, and several pans went in at once. Gravy bowls and butter, and sit down.
What a lovely day.
posted by Molly McJohn @ 7:53 PM
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