Thar she blows! The most delicious, crispy-skinned golden-brown turkey, roasted in about 1 hour 45 minutes. Does it not look as if it is crossing its legs to avoid wetting its imaginary turkey-pants? And also gesticulating for you to admire its plump and juicy breast(s)? As you can see, the bird portion of Project Turkey was a smashing success. There are, however, some bugs to work out. Here's the rub: the stuffing, which I made the previous day out of challah and sausage and minced fresh herbs, was in the roasting pan underneath the turkey throughout the roasting process, soaking up tasty drippings. HOWEVER: my guests did not like the stuffing very well, I suspect for the same reason my in-laws would not like it. It just wasn't Stove Top. That is to say, its flavor and consistency were entirely foreign to the palate of a family that has come to think Stove Top = stuffing. It did not get eaten. I am OK with making some Stove Top to go along with this bird, but the stuffing also serves a function here: it keeps the turkey drippings from burning in the pan. Remember, this turkey is being roasted at a high temperature. 450, to be exact. When I roast chicken, I put some stock in the pan underneath to prevent the smoke alarm from going off and to keep my drippings from getting black and crispy, but I'm worried that if I do that here, the resulting steam will compromise the skin-crispiness that is the turkey's best feature. What's a girl to do? I've thought of just putting a bunch of crappy damp bread underneath the bird as an ersatz-stuffing, but there must be a better way. Thoughts?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Turkey Triumphant!
Thar she blows! The most delicious, crispy-skinned golden-brown turkey, roasted in about 1 hour 45 minutes. Does it not look as if it is crossing its legs to avoid wetting its imaginary turkey-pants? And also gesticulating for you to admire its plump and juicy breast(s)? As you can see, the bird portion of Project Turkey was a smashing success. There are, however, some bugs to work out. Here's the rub: the stuffing, which I made the previous day out of challah and sausage and minced fresh herbs, was in the roasting pan underneath the turkey throughout the roasting process, soaking up tasty drippings. HOWEVER: my guests did not like the stuffing very well, I suspect for the same reason my in-laws would not like it. It just wasn't Stove Top. That is to say, its flavor and consistency were entirely foreign to the palate of a family that has come to think Stove Top = stuffing. It did not get eaten. I am OK with making some Stove Top to go along with this bird, but the stuffing also serves a function here: it keeps the turkey drippings from burning in the pan. Remember, this turkey is being roasted at a high temperature. 450, to be exact. When I roast chicken, I put some stock in the pan underneath to prevent the smoke alarm from going off and to keep my drippings from getting black and crispy, but I'm worried that if I do that here, the resulting steam will compromise the skin-crispiness that is the turkey's best feature. What's a girl to do? I've thought of just putting a bunch of crappy damp bread underneath the bird as an ersatz-stuffing, but there must be a better way. Thoughts?
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1 comment:
what about a layer of pots, onions and root veggies? i wonder whether they'd give off too much moisture, too, however.......i'll keep thinking.
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