Cool
Tools For An Even Cooler Turkey Day!
Get
Your Spices Out! Everybody has that jar or two, (or twelve,) of spices in their cupboard
that should be tossed out. We like to go through the spice rack about twice a
year and get rid of the old ones and renew the stuff we tend to use
infrequently. Nothing is worse than cooking on the big day and you go to the
shelf to get the poultry seasoning and… oops! You either don’t have any or it
is so old it smells like musty gym socks! (Take a look at my recipe for “DIY
Poultry Seasoning” below.) Also, use some common sense when buying spices in
the first place. See my Spice Buying Guide for helpful tips later on in this
primer. Here’s a good rule on shelf life for spices: dried spices and spice
blends: 6 months, whole spices: 1 year.
Get yourself a “burr mill” coffee grinder and
designate it just for spices only. Why this special kind of grinder? Simple:
the standard blade coffee grinder works great for roosted coffee beans. You
don’t need to grind most drip coffee into a powder. However, they are lousy for
grinding spices! Melita makes a great coffee grinder that used a burr mill that
I use exclusively for spices. Okay, so what’s a burr mill grinder, anyway? It
actually goes back to the original coffee grinder – you know the one with the
wooden box and the big handle like they had on every chuck wagon on the range?
A burr mill system doesn’t cut the bean, or whole spice, like in the blade-type
grinder. It crushes the spice between two knurled surfaces. The less distance
between the surfaces, the finer the grind. Okay, so let’s say you’ve got an old
coffee grinder up in storage and want to convert it to grinding spices. But who
wants coffee-flavored turkey? Not me, dude! Run a little dry white rice through
the mill to clean off the grinding surface before running your spices through
it.
Also
no kitchen is complete without a good, heavy-duty mortar and pestle to grind
hard whole spices and seeds into powdered form. Remember, you don’t have to
spend a lot of money for either of these two vital kitchen tools. Not only will
they come in handy for this Thanksgiving dinner, but for countless family
dinners in the future. And, the added bonus is you can save a boatload of money
on therapy payments taking out all of your aggression on pounding on spices!
Ross, Tuesday Morning and Marshall’s stores usually have inexpensive but
quality items in their cook wear departments.
Spice
Buying Guide:
Why
pay all that money for something you’re going to use once or twice a month,
then after six months throw it away? I can’t understand why supermarkets don’t
get it – charging so much for so little a container of product. Probably it’s
because they can since they take the attitude that shoppers have nowhere else
to turn. But, all is not lost! On one recent trip to the Top Valu store I
conducted a little experiment. I was looking for ground cumin and new how much to
pay for it. I first stopped at the baking goods isle and spied the Shilling and
McCormick and Spice Island selections: a 1.75-ounce jar of ground spice? $3.99…
$3.49… $3.39… respectively. Then, I perused the Mexican spice rack: the same
amount of spice in a cellophane bag? $1.69… Finally, I rounded the corner and
checked out the Middle Eastern spice rack with the same plastic bags hung on a
hook: .69 cents! Okay, so what gives? Does the stuff from the .69-cent bag
contain filler? Paint chips? Free dirt? NO! The last time I checked it’s all
the same spice! You’ve got to just do due diligence when shopping for spices
and watch for the great sales and just buy what you’ll need. That’s it!
Play
it safe, though and buy the newest spices you can find. If a bottle of unusual
spice blend is suddenly on sale check the expiration date. Chances are there’s
a good reason why that bottle is on sale – because it’s about to go bad! The
same goes for the cheap stuff in cellophane bags at the Middle Eastern or
Mexican grocers. If you buy your spices from a store that has a good turnover
of inventory on their shelves there’s a good chance the spices will be fresh.
If you are looking at a Mexican spice rack in an upscale neighborhood then
beware! Those little bags could have been hanging there since before your first
date!
So,
why should I buy whole spices? Need ground cumin? Take some whole cumin seeds
and grind ‘em up, and PRESTO! Not only is it dead fresh but also it keeps a
whole lot longer in your spice rack. Recently, to make poultry seasoning for
roasting some chicken I discovered none pre-ground in the jar in my spice rack!
Not to worry, I just got out the old Melita coffee grinder I converted into a
spice grinder and measured out dried thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary and whole
peppercorns into the hopper on top. I set the grind to very fine and flipped
the switch. Viola! Not only was it ground to a fine powder it was mixed
in the same motion. I just grated some whole nutmeg into the mix and had enough
poultry seasoning for the recipe on hand and more for the jar. Just remember:
if you use an old coffee grinder to grind spice in you can’t really go back to
grinding coffee in it, again. And, so that your old coffee grinder doesn’t make
your new batch of poultry seasoning taste like Starbucks dark roast simply
process a couple of tablespoons of uncooked rice through the grinder, first.
That will create a neutral surface to introduce the whole spices to!
Homemade Poultry
Seasoning… and why?
Okay,
so why should I make my own poultry seasoning, anyway? Well, for one thing,
it’s cheaper. Go into your local supermarket any other month of the year and
you will find not-so-reasonably-priced spices. However, go into that same
supermarket a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and you would swear these
same spices have been dipped in gold! The poultry seasoning is the worst
offender, some stores charging as much as $5 or $6 for a puny 1.75 ounce
plastic container! The same is true for the pumpkin pie spices: cinnamon,
nutmeg, ginger and allspice! So, how do I get around this? Well, the answer is
simple – make it at home. Most people don’t know that all of the ingredients
that go into the average poultry seasoning are residing in your spice cabinet
as you are reading this! Follow the recipe below and you will not only save
money but also save a trip to the store, and best of all… do it yourself!
D.I.Y. Poultry
Seasoning
1½
Tbl ground thyme
1
Tbl ground sage
2
tsp ground marjoram
2
tsp ground rosemary
2
tsp finely ground black pepper
½
tsp ground nutmeg
Place
all the ingredients into a screw top glass container and shake vigorously to
combine. Keep unused spice blend in the same container. This recipe makes
enough for seasoning two 16-pound turkeys. Use this blend to season the stuffing/dressing,
too! Makes approximately four tablespoons of seasoning.
Rethink
Your Roasting Pan: The biggest mistake most people make in their Thanksgiving kitchen is
using too small a bowl or pan when they are preparing a dish for the meal. The
same could be said of your roasting pan; that is if you even own one! Some home
cooks simply buy one of those ugly, aluminum roasting pans you see showing up
in the supermarkets in early November. Resist the temptation of buying one of
these badly designed pans. Instead, look for a sale at your local Macy’s or
other department store and get yourself a great roasting pan. Preferably, one
that has a heavy bottom and a tight-fitting lid. Why? Because when you go to
make your gravy, (and you know you’re going to make gravy,) having a pan with a
heavy bottom where the drippings have collected makes heating those drippings
less likely to burn! Those thin aluminum cheapo pans don’t have this luxury.
The
second best pan to use is the same one home cooks have used for the last 100
years – the speckle-finished enamel-coated roasters. But be careful not to
scrub them too hard after a roasting session! Once you get a chip or crack in
the bottom, in other words once the enamel wears off in an area on the bottom
of the roaster, you will be introducing rust and metallic taste into your
gravy!
Okay,
so am I saying you need to go out and rob a bank to buy this pan? NO! I picked
up a stainless-steel, heavy-bottomed roasting pan big enough to hold a 16-pound
bird for about $40 at Macy’s. The nice thing about getting a roaster like this
is it can be used for roasting and poaching other birds like chicken throughout
the year. Recently, my Mom used the roasting pan to poach five bone-in chicken
breasts in, using the pan as a great double-burner device and making lots of
broth in the process!
A
recent find at Costco is the rack below from Circulon for $29.95! It is large
enough to roast a 25-pound bird and comes with a heavy-duty roasting rack, to
boot. The other good thing about the design of this rack is just the opposite
of the one pictured above. There are no high sides to the pan so the big bird
can get as much direct heats to the top and sides of the bird. Also, you might
even consider using this pan for more than just the Thanksgiving turkey.
There’s room enough to roast up three whole chickens, something we are
considering doing in the future. Nothing like roasted bird to make a Sunday
night dinner!
Circulon Roasting Pan with Heavy-Duty Rack
Stick Me With A
Meat Thermometer – I’m Done!
Okay,
here’s a great tip – get yourself a really good quick-reading thermometer. Go
out to your favorite foodie store and spend some money on this puppy – don’t
scrimp on this essential kitchen tool! Those pop-up timers – that cheap white
plastic doo-hickey they stick into the bird that pops up when the bird is
ready? I usually don’t buy a bird that has this stupid device in it, and if you
do find one in your bird yank this puppy out and throw it away! There is
nothing more important to home cooks than to know what the internal temperature
of your meat is while you are roasting it. Get this, get it NOW! (Okay, Pete,
remember your salt pills!)
So,
which thermometer should I get? For one thing get one with a big dial and is
easy to read. But remember not all thermometers are the same. Stay away from
the cheap ones you find hanging from a hook next to the gravy mixes in the
supermarket, they’re no good. You need something that shows exact temperature
and the cheap ones that simply say, “Rare… Medium… Well” are a joke! I have
invested in a Polder digital thermometer with a braided cable probe. It was $15
at Ross and it is my go-to thermo for Turkey Day. I insert the metal probe into
the thickest part of the thigh and have the alarm go off when the temperature
reaches the target heat. Okay, so do you need this fancy device? Not really,
but you will have to open up the oven to check the temperature of the bird with
a simpler thermometer. Not a big deal since this only happens at the end of
roasting time.
There
are two different types of standard meat thermometers: quick-reading and oven
safe. Quick-reading usually have a plastic “crystal” over the dial and should
always be used outside of the oven. Oven safe thermo’s are intended to be left
in the bird while roasting in the oven and you peer through the oven window to
see what the temperature is. I prefer the quick-reading thermo for a reason:
the oven safe ones have way to big a probe that leaves a ¼” hole in the thigh!
Yikes!
So,
let’s say you already have a quick-reading thermometer but you don’t trust it.
Get some water boiling and pour it out into a Pyrex measuring cup and stick the
thermometer into the water. If it doesn’t read 212°F at sea level then it
either needs to be calibrated or replaced! Now you know why having a good meat
thermometer is crucial to a successful Thanksgiving dinner, or any other
successful roasted meat. On the back of the round dial is a red lever that will
allow you to fine tune where the maximum and minimum levels on the dial starts
and stops. That is how you calibrate the thermometer.
Okay,
so where do you stick the dang thing? Well, you want to measure the temperature
of the white meat and you want to stick the pointy end of the thing into the
thickest part of the breast or thigh. The target temperature you are looking
for is 165° to 170°F in the breast, or 170° to 175°F in the thigh. If you are
roasting the bird breast-side-up it can be a little difficult to find the
thigh, (yet another reason to roast the turkey breast-side-down – see recipe
below). Remember to check the bird at about ¾ of the cooking time based on the
chart I have included below in the section marked, “Alma’s Thanksgiving
Turkey”. Always remove the entire roasting pan from the oven and check the
temperature, never try and do this with the oven door open – it lets too much
heat out and lowers the oven temperature too much. That’s another reason why I
like the digital thermometer with the probe on a braided cable. It has a real
Ron Popiel feel, you just set-it and forget it. And, when the meat gets up to
the temperature the alarm goes off.
Lift And
Gravitate! A Turkey Lifter?
Reading
in a recent Cook’s Illustrated magazine I came across the column where readers
send in a picture of a kitchen device that they have no idea what it’s used
for. Sometimes the staff is stumped and they have to show it to a kitchen
device expert. The hook below was a no-brainer for the staff at the magazine.
This device looks like some kind of Medieval torture device it has only one
use: lifting the roasted bird from the rack and placing it on the carving
board. Though it may make lifting the Thanksgiving turkey easy it may also be
used to lift any whole bird from a roasting rack.
Turkey
Lifter Hook
Moat and Gobble! Get Yourself a Big Carving Board
That’s right! There’s nothing like a big carving board – not cutting board – to cut up you turkey, properly! And what the heck is a “moat, anyway? Take a closer look at the picture below. That’s a carving board with channels around the edges and a deep reservoir to catch the drippings from the roasted meat. You can check to see if the juices are running clear, meaning the meat is done, or pink which means it hasn’t cooked enough. Also, the nice thing about this board are the channel running down the center of the cutting surface. That will add a little stability to the carving and allow more juices to pool. I usually add the drippings back into the gravy to give it some more flavor and richness. I look for a carving board that has a flat surface to it and avoid the ones with built-in spikes designed to hold the roasted meat in place. Remember, size does matter! If you are going to get a 25-pound bird you will need a carving board large enough to carve it! Too small a board and you’ve got a serious mess and don’t even think about carving the bird at the dinner table. Better yet, DON’T carve the bird at the table, do this difficult job in the kitchen and carry the cut up meat on a serving platter to the table. That way, all of expletives stay in the kitchen instead of educating the youngsters on the finer points of colorful language! Now, you just need to gather up your Macy’s coupons and get yourself a new carving board for this Thanksgiving, and future ones too!
You
Gotta Keep ‘Em Separated: You need a god Fat Separator!
I
really can’t stress this enough but if you want really great gravy you are
going to have to invest in a really great fat separator. So, okay, what the
%$#& is a fat separator? It looks like a regular measuring cup with a pour
spout, kind of like a watering bucket. There’s just one thing different about
this cup: the spout is attached at the bottom of the vessel. “Okay, so what gives?”
I can hear you cry… Well, the way a fat separator works is very simple: after
removing the roasted turkey to a carving board you pour all of the drippings,
liquid and fat from the bottom of the roasting pan through a strainer placed
into the top of the cup. This will capture all of the crispy bits from the pan
and keep them from getting into the juices and fat to be separated. The process
is now even simpler. The fat, which is lighter than the liquid in the meat
juices, floats to the top of the measuring cup. After about 5 minutes you
carefully pour the meat juices from the bottom of the cup back into the
roasting pan to make the gravy and discard the fat. That’s why the pour spout
is attached to the bottom of the cup. Just stop pouring when the fat begins to
come out – a little fat is a good thing for gravy. But be careful – too much
fat and you will have the gravy separate as it cools - yuck! See more on
making perfect gravy in the post, “Coming Off The Rails On A Gravy Train!”
You Masher!! Get yourself a decent potato masher…
This
kind of seems to be a silly addition to our “cool tools” section but it’s an
important one. Take a look at the section called, “Perfect Mashed Potatoes
Every Time” for more on using this simple device. The masher on the top is a
newcomer to the masher family and I call it a squiggle type while the one below is more like a ricer type. Make sure the handle is comfortable since
your hand will be doing all of the work and absorbing all of the stress on this
job. Either one, don’t mash your taters too much or they will get gluey!
Okay,
I think that’s enough cool tools… Now, keep your eyes peeled for the next post
all about knives and “twooks”!
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