Stuffing And Gravy Issues

Don’t worry, both were good…really good. But there was a stuffing incident that will forever change how I make it. No, it wasn’t food poisoning. I’m still stuffing the turkey, unlike the rest of America.

It had to do with my wonderful best friend A, you know the one I visited in Paris, before she had the nerve to move away. She’s been coming to my house for Thanksgiving for over TWO DECADES. Well, I found out she’s been holding out on me…FOR YEARS!

As I was mixing the stuffing, she decides to tell me only then…that she soaks HER dried apricots in Grand Marnier before adding them. I WAS GOBSMACKED!!! I had never heard such a brilliant idea before. I was really peeved that she had never shared that with me.

I grabbed my Grand Marnier, threw in the chopped apricots (she told me to chop them first, which was probably smart) and microwaved them quickly, just to enhance the soaking up of the flavor. Remember, she mentioned this moments before the stuffing was about to go into the turkey and, luckily, I hadn’t yet added the apricots.

This made a HUGE difference to the stuffing. It was unbelievably good and unbelievably BETTER than it would have been without the Grand Marnier. Thanks, A…FINALLY.

Her defense was that this was part of a Silver Palate recipe and I had given her the book years and years ago. Well, I don’t know EVERY recipe in there by heart…Needless to say, this will become an essential part of the recipe from now on. I decided to forgive her, because, even though it was twenty years late, it really is such a fabulous idea.





On to the gravy...I was very conscience of Nikki's disapproval of my little coloring trick. I was determined to color my roux the natural way and not fall back on my old friend Gravy Master.

It was all going well. I had plenty of drippings, my stock was at hand AND I still had time before my guests arrived. I measured out the flour, stirred it into the drippings and started to cook it to a beautiful deep nut brown.

Stirring, stirring, stirring…I remembered Nikki’s expression about using Gravy Master: “Hell to the NO!”, she said.

And then I looked at the clock and said to myself, “Hell to the NO, I don’t have time for this!“ I added the stock to my still pale roux, stirred and whisked and stirred AND snuck in some Gravy Master to give it a gorgeous color.

No one knew, no one could tell, neither could I and neither would you. I contend it makes absolutely no difference to the finished product, because I’m simmering it for so long anyway that the flavor is rich and deep and soooooooo good. Sorry, Nikki, but Gravy Master is here to stay.

Finally...Thanksgiving Roundup!

Please forgive my absence. I JUST washed the wine glasses the other day (YES, from last Thursday, they’re very delicate and I like to take my time) and the roasting pan is STILL soaking the laundry room sink.


Thanksgiving was wonderful, but I wasn’t capable of taking pictures AND producing the food. I really have to work on that. However, thanks to my dear friend S, one of our Thanksgiving regulars, I do have some pictures and I did take some of the leftovers.


You’ll have to believe me when I say that two of the three hors d’oeuvres were darn good. I decided to listen to the Contessa and just serve three.

The first was Spiced Cashews. I admit I had a problem with them. I over cayenne-d them initially, so I rinsed them off and started over. Don't ever do that. They tasted strangely soggy, even when re-toasted. Oh well, I just made sure to keep pouring the champagne and no one noticed.


I presented bean dip and guacamole (homemade) in a bowl with a line of cilantro separating them. I served that with taco chip scoopy things and 2 tiny spoons. You spooned in a bit of bean dip and then the guacamole. Nice.


The third was an old standard – salmon mousse. I piped it on melba toast rounds (maybe S or A did it, I can’t remember) and garnished it with a quartered cucumber slice. It reminded me that people really do like canapé-type stuff. If you have a dip that your guests seem lukewarm about, just whisk it away, pipe it onto something crunchy and, voila, they’ll love it.

Next was Curried Butternut Squash Soup served with mini corn muffins with dried cherries. Actually, there was a single huge dried cherry embedded in each one and those were served with maple butter. Guests were allowed to drop the muffins in their soup or not.

The turkey, from Whole Foods, which I wholeheartedly recommend, was good. I had my young man (no, not a servant…exactly…my son) pick it up with strict instructions as to the size. 19.5 pounds was my first choice, 19.6 my second and so on up to 19.9999999 pounds. After that, the next choice was 19.49999999 pounds and I gave him about 15 alternatives.

So then why did he call from deep inside Whole Foods? Because they didn’t have ANY of those sizes. They had 22 pounders, which I swore off long ago and a lone 19.38 pound turkey. I took that one, but more than one person told me it looked small. While I had more than enough for lots of days of leftovers, I think, next year, I may break my rule of no turkey over 20 pounds, if necessary. Of course, if the kid hadn’t slept until noon, there might not have been a problem…

The Bourbon Sweet Potatoes were yummy. I do make those the day before and put them in the oven after the turkey comes out.

Here's what the leftovers looked like:

There were two issues with the gravy and stuffing. They deserve their own post, so more about that later. The rest of dinner went well. Mashed potatoes and cranberries…Yum!

The green beans were okay.

I made my usual 2 Pecan Pies and Pumpkin Chiffon Pie.

Every year, I search for the perfect apple pie that I’ll be faithful to every year. I still haven’t found it. Many years I make the Sour Cream Apple Pie from The Silver Palate Cookbook. This year I made this one. Pretty good and even better the next day…or two, but I’m not sure if it’s THE ONE.

The best part? All of it. My family (I have such great kids, an amazing nephew and adorable nieces) and friends (the best!) and, of course, the food. It’s the one meal of the year where you can just go for it and not worry about salt, cream or calories. And you’re rewarded with a few (at least) future meals that are as good as the original.


Turkey sandwich note:
Of course, cranberries belong on a next day sandwich, but stuffing? I think that’s strange. Do you? I think putting a bunch of bread in between 2 slices of bread is kinda weird, but I was definitely outnumbered.

Have A Great One

This is what I've made already:

Pecan Pies - Here they are, unbaked.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Bourbon Sweet Potatoes
A Vat of Curried Butternut Soup
Cranberries
Spiced Cashews
Cookies
Mini Corn Muffins with Dried Cherries
Maple Butter for the muffins
Dinner tonight, mostly

To Be Done -

Apple Pie - To be made in moments

Mango Salsa - Part of dinner tonight. I'll share the recipe next week.
Salmon Mousse - I don't care what it looks like. I'm piping it on Melba Toast tomorrow
Guacamole - My Fav
Cut up Stuffing stuff

In my many visits to the store this week, I kept an eye out for Huge Red . I never saw him, but I hope he and his wife are okay and SHE'S doing the cooking this year.

Enjoy your cooking, enjoy your family, enjoy your friends. I'll see you on the other side. Happy Thanksgiving!

Let’s Talk Turkey

There are as many ways to roast a turkey as there are cooks (and turkeys). I’ve done it in many different ways and here’s one that works well for me.

I start with a fresh turkey, which means I don’t have to battle it in the kitchen sink.

I stuff mine, although I know NO ONE else does. Whether you cook your turkey unstuffed or stuffed, put a little something under the skin. It gives a lot of extra flavor and helps to keep the breast moist. You can use herb butter, plain butter or in a healthier vein, orange slices are a beautiful alternative.

I put STUFFING under the skin. That way, each breast piece – sliced crosswise – has a bit of bonus stuffing with it.

This is my stuffing recipe. It’s a good one.

After I’ve stuffed the turkey in various places and sewed and tied it up, I’m ready to go.

Roast Turkey (serves 15)
(Thank you Julia, Mom and Joy of Cooking)

16 to 20 pound turkey, stuffed and trussed
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
stock for the bottom of the pan
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced carrots
12 Lady Apples

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Melt butter and olive oil together in small saucepan. Rub that all over the bird, on all sides. Season with salt and pepper. Place on rack in roasting pan and slide into the oven.

After 30 minutes, add a cup or two of stock to the pan. Add a little more stock every 40 minutes or so. You don’t even have to cover the entire bottom of the pan. You just don't want the bottom to burn.

1½ hours before the end of roasting time, add 1 cup of diced onions and 1 cup of diced carrots to the roasting pan under the rack. Place Lady Apples around turkey. (They can be on the rack.)

When the breast is nicely browned, cover it with foil. Baste or don’t baste, it doesn’t matter, just check every once in awhile that the bottom has some liquid in it. Add stock, if you need to.



Cook a 16 to 20 pound stuffed bird for approximately 5ish hours. Every part of the bird should register 165 degrees, including the stuffing.

Remove turkey from the oven. TURN IT UPSIDE DOWN. That is my super duper special secret tip. It’s not easy, but just devote 2 pot holders that you can wash fifty times to the task. Remove Lady Apples from pan and set aside. Strain all the vegetables, drippings and stock into a large measuring pitcher to use as the base for gravy.

Cover turkey well with foil and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Cut all the strings off and remove. Remove the stuffing from the 2 openings (not from under the skin). Slice off the legs. Cut off the breasts in one piece from each side of the turkey’s backbone. Slice them crosswise. Cover with foil until ready to serve. Garnish with Lady Apples.

The Scoop On Gravy

Wow, folks are in an uproar about gravy this year. Long time Ina fans are appalled that she’s making gravy in advance, with chicken stock and NO turkey drippings. Okay, maybe that’s mostly me, but a few others aren’t happy either.

Making gravy from scratch on Thanksgiving isn’t easy, but it is sooo much better than the alternative. The one pass I’ll give is to the guy I mentioned the other day who actually roasts turkey parts in order to get what he needs, makes the gravy from that and freezes it.

This is the long of it:

For 3 days before Thanksgiving, I gather up all my onion, carrot, celery and parsley bits and pieces and bag them up and put them in the fridge. First thing Thursday morning, I take out all that stuff and put it in a stock pot with tons of water and peppercorns and a bay leaf or two.

When I clean out the turkey, I add the turkey neck and giblets to the stock pot. That simmers on the back of the stove all day. That will become my stock for the gravy and any other thing I need it for.

I roast the turkey…more about that in another post. When the turkey is done, I remove it from the roasting pan, place it upside down (yup, that’s what I said) on a cutting board with a trough and cover it with foil. Everything that’s left in the pan – veggies, stock, wine, whatever - gets strained into a measuring pitcher.

Here’s what you need to remember:
3 tablespoons fat
¼ cup flour
up to 4 cups of liquid, usually 1 cup of white wine and 3 cups of stock

After I strain all the roasting pan stuff into the measuring pitcher, I spoon off the top 3 tablespoons of fat and put that into the saucepan I’m making the gravy in.

This is where I do things a little differently than most people. I keep all the stuff that’s left in the measuring pitcher, which will be partially fat, and I count that as part of my 4 cups of liquid. In other words, I don’t stand there trying to get all the fat off the remaining drippings. I use it ALL.

So now I’ve measured 3 tablespoons of fat into a saucepan over medium heat. I stir in the flour, turn the heat to low and cook it for at least 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Get it as brown as you dare. I normally give up a little too early. Then I whisk in 3 cups of stock, fairly vigorously.

At some point, I add one cup of white wine to the roasting pan (after the turkey is out of it) and stir over medium high heat. I get all the good stuff up and strain that into the gravy.

Now what can go wrong? Lots. You can have a lumpy mess at any point, but this is an easy problem to solve. After you've added the stock and cooked it for a bit, have a strainer and a bowl ready. Strain the gravy, pushing all the flour bits through and you’ll be left with a nice smooth texture. Add it back to the rinsed out saucepan and keep simmering. NOTE: You may not need to add all the stock. It depends how thick you want your gravy and how much time you have to keep reducing it. 

Continue simmering, stirring and tasting for seasoning. I always sneak in some Gravy Master to help with my usually not dark enough roux.

I may turn off the gravy and just leave it there, but usually I leave it on low and stir every once in a while. Sometimes, a skin forms on the top and then I just skim it off. I may add that tablespoon of brandy that Ina talked about. That couldn’t be a bad thing.

If the gravy is too thin, keep simmering to reduce it. You could always add a bit of cream before reducing it. Too thick? Add more stock.
One more thing, I usually multiply the recipe by four and I must say, I've never run out of gravy.
This is the short of it:
Gravy Recipe (makes 4 cups)
(This is basically an adapted version of Julia’s recipe)

3 tablespoons fat, skimmed from the drippings
¼ cup flour
up to 3 cups stock, hot is best, but don't worry about it
1 cup white wine
optional for cheaters like me: Gravy Master

Spoon fat into large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 3 minutes on low heat, stirring constantly. Cook until roux is brown.

Start adding stock, and keep whisking. Stir 2 1/2 cups of the stock and bring to a boil. Keep whisking. If you have a lot of lumps (much of the time I do), strain mixture into large bowl and return to rinsed out saucepan. NOTE: You may not need to add all the stock. It depends how thick you want your gravy and how much time you have to keep reducing it. 

After the turkey comes out of the oven, let it rest upside down covered with foil on a cutting board with trough. Add one cup of white wine to turkey-less roasting pan. Bring to the boil and stir, getting all those little bits up. Strain into gravy.

Continue simmering until the gravy is the consistency you desire, adding more stock if you've kept any aside. Add Gravy Master to improve the color if necessary. Taste for seasoning (all along). Keep warm over low heat.

A Thanksgiving Tip

Keep a running list of what you need and what you need to do. It is a bit discouraging when it gets to be 3 pages long, but it’s better than depending on this fragile thing called memory to see you through the week.

The worst is when you’ve had garbage bags on your list for weeks (and they’re probably laughing at you every time you pass them by) and by the morning before...or worse the morning OF Thanksgiving, you realize you’re down to 2...so get them today.

I Love, Worship And Respect Ina, But I’m Not Sure I’m On Board This Week

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics with Ina Garten

Thanksgiving Countdown
Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast
Homemade Gravy
Sausage and Herb Stuffing
Celery Root and Apple Puree

The Food Network is doing a much better job than I am at getting organized for Thanksgiving. There have been slews of Thanksgiving shows with lots of turkey tips. Here are some of the T-Day shows that have been on:

Sunny made a turkey breast.

The Neelys smoked a turkey and served it with barbecue sauce.

Giada is cooking “Los Angeles” style. Does that mean she cooks in her bikini while sipping cucumber infused water and nibbling on some “green” recycled appetizer?

And Ina…

She says has the answers to the toughest turkey questions. She tells the story of her friend who was cooking her first Thanksgiving and set her oven on CLEAN. Yikes!

After showing some Thanksgiving video questions from her viewers, Ina says she starts cooking the day before Thanksgiving, so everything is organized before the company arrives. The day before??!!! How about 2 or 3 WEEKS before?!!

Ina says she doesn’t do that anymore and that everything is done by the night before. BUT she’s doing 2 things that I definitely don’t do…and maybe you don’t either. She’s making a turkey breast, not a whole turkey and she’s cooking her stuffing outside of the turkey.

She unapologetically takes a 6 to 7 pound turkey breast out of the fridge and puts it on a baking rack. She makes an herb rub that starts with 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 2 teaspoons dry mustard. Then she chops 1 tablespoon fresh sage and rosemary and 1 teaspoon fresh thyme all together.

(Leave the thyme out overnight, Ina says, and the leaves dry out enough to crumble nicely.)

She adds the herbs to the garlic and mustard with 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon of and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Ina adds a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice to give it a bit of an edge. (I was thinking some orange zest would be good too.)

I love that Ina puts the mixture under and over the skin of her turkey breast. She shows us how to loosen the skin without puncturing it. I like to push a wooden spoon under the skin, which helps to separate the skin from that membrane-y thing.

This turkey breast will serve 6 people, she says. She lets it sit in the fridge overnight covered with foil. She will just add a bit of white wine to the pan before cooking.

More questions, this time about vegetables, from viewers. Ina says she likes to serve 2 vegetable dishes, one a “star” dish, the other in a “supporting role”. She’s smart, this Contessa. She quickly shows us 3 recipes – string beans, carrots and butternut squash before moving on to the star - celery root and green apple purée.

Ina cuts up one cup of fennel root. It goes into butter with 3 Golden Delicious apples and half a pound of Yukon gold potatoes, which have been peeled and cut into chunks.

She cuts the peel off the ugly celery root (or celeriac), cuts it in half and into large chunks. That goes into the pan. She adds 1½ teaspoons of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper, and cooks the mixture for 5 to 7 minutes until the vegetables start to soften. Then Ina adds ½ cup apple cider, covers it and simmers for 30 to 40 minutes.

Ina takes out the shiniest, most luxurious looking food mill I’ve ever seen. It looks like sterling silver, polished for the Queen of England...I have my food mill in the same drawer as my hammer. I have to say that my hammer gets more use, but when you need a food mill, NOTHING else will do, so it is an essential piece of kitchen equipment.

Ina adds a quarter cup of cream to the celery root mixture. Then it goes into the food mill. She says you can also use a blender or a food processer. Hold on! I know this mixture is NOT predominantly potatoes, but I still would NEVER put any purée with potatoes into a food processor. It will come out like glue. And if this is the featured vegetable on Thanksgiving, I don’t want to screw around with the texture.

In a food mill-free household, you could just mash them with a masher, which would give the texture of smashed potatoes. You could also use a mixer, which wouldn’t give you a super smooth purée, but it’s an alternative to the food mill.

Ina is using the coarser blade in her beauteous food mill. She makes this all advance and then heats it up with a little apple cider. She tastes for seasoning and loves it.

Ina fields more questions about stuffing and gravy.

Instead of using the turkey drippings, she uses chicken drippings that she’s saved in the freezer. I don’t know about this. How do you feel?

Yes, gravy is a pain and I always feel triumphant if I can have it made before the bulk of the guests arrive. But isn’t that the test of the cook’s mettle?

Cooking the gravy the day before with counterfeit drippings seems wrong to me. Is EVERYTHING always about how to do stuff the easiest way possible? I’m really not down with this idea.

Undoubtedly it’s easier, but is it better? Now you may say that the Contessa’s CHICKEN gravy is better than 99% of the normal person’s rushed TURKEY gravy, but I still think we all need something to shoot for. Making turkey gravy just may be the bellwether of an accomplished cook.

I’m probably only saying this because my gravy is AWESOME. If the test were something else (I cannot make jello or hamburgers and my angel food cakes are far from celestial) then I’d be out of luck. (I’ll be revealing my turkey and gravy recipe later in the week…You could peek at last year’s Thanksgiving posts to get a preview.)

I have a friend whose husband (the best part is that her husband is in this sentence at all) wants to do his gravy in advance, but he wants it to be authentic. He roasts turkey legs and makes the gravy from THAT a week or two ahead of time and then freezes it. That’s an idea I could live with.

Ina goes over her gravy technique. She does have a sensational recipe (I LOVE the additional of a tablespoon of brandy), but I would make it on the day.

For the stuffing, Ina melts butter in a large frying pan. She adds 2 chopped granny smith apples (peels still on), 2 stalks of celery and 2 onions, both chopped. She cooks them until tender.

Ina tells us that she stopped cooking her stuffing inside the turkey, because the stuffing would take forever to cook and her turkey would be dry. Now she has a moist turkey and a big pan of stuffing that she doesn’t have to worry about. (I will probably be the last person on earth to cook my stuffing inside the turkey…I’m nothing if not stubborn.)

She chops 2 tablespoons fresh parsley and adds that with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. She tosses everything together and continues cooking for another 10 minutes.

Ina toasts 1 inch cubes of a French bread boule in the oven for 7 minutes at 300°F. This will crisp and dry out the bread, so it will absorb all the good flavors of the stuffing. Ina adds the cooked mixture into the bread.

She’s thrown me off several times when she’s referred to the bread as “bread crumbs” and they are clearly these big cubes of bread.

To add to the stuffing, she cooks half sweet and half spicy Italian sausage (3/4 pound total) in the same frying pan that her vegetables were cooking in. She cooks them until done, about 10 minutes. She says “bread crumbs” again. Ina!

She adds one cup of dried cranberries and one cup of “good” chicken stock to the stuffing and lastly the sausage. She tosses it all together. It does look really, really, REALLY good - like a savory bread pudding without the egg part. She puts it in the fridge to await tomorrow’s cooking.

Her plan for dessert “involves the guests”. Hmmm…what could that be? Toasted marshmallows over the firepit? Taking turns churning ice cream? S’mores in the microwave?

Maybe she’s asking them to BRING IT? Nah, I sure hope not. I don’t want some grotty pie that someone bought from the Acme, when I could have a Barefoot Contessa dessert.

OMG, that’s it!!! She’s asked everyone to bring one pie. She thinks it’s more fun that way. Maybe for you! But certainly not for the guests expecting great things…

She hears more questions. People worry too much. She talks about how to get the whole meal out at one time. She pours white wine in the bottom of the turkey pan and cooks it 325°F for 2 hours until an instant read thermometer registers 165°F deg. She covers it with foil and allows it to rest for 15 minutes.

The stuffing goes into the oven at 350°F for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, Ina says, heat up the celery root purée over low heat and reheat the gravy with a tablespoon of cream.

The last 15 minutes you blanch the green beans, carve the turkey and serve.

We see the guests arrive. Adorable Jeffrey and Ina greet them. The couple does look amazingly relaxed. Perhaps her plan IS the way to go. I just know it will never happen in my house, where I would never cook the most important meal of the year IN ADVANCE.

Anyway, is it really Thanksgiving if the cook isn’t flushed with worry and, at least, a bit distraught? I find a few cocktails, opportunely timed, always help.

Thanksgiving Countdown

I have to admit that Rachel made me feel pretty guilty when I read this post in which she said she was revving up for Thanksgiving…and it was only Halloween! OY! I’ve barely put my Christmas decorations away.

Actually when it comes to Thanksgiving, I am supremely organized. The only thing is that the organization is purely in my head. It hasn’t manifested itself in any practical way…yet. But that’s about to change:

Ready Start Go!!!
Here is my countdown to Thanksgiving…well, it’s far too early to think about the actual cooking. No, I’m wrong, we can THINK about it all we want, and in fact we should be, but there are other ancillary concerns for the Thanksgiving host.

Oh, one little note about the cooking, before we begin –
From the day after the LAST Thanksgiving, keep a file of possible Thanksgiving recipe choices and try them out them out throughout the year. (You still have a bit of time to do that.)

Up to three months before Thanksgiving -
Do anything that will not have to be redone by Thursday, November 27th. That includes painting the kitchen, cleaning out the basement or garage or découpaging an old table, so that those things are out of the way.

Start to firm up the menu. Definite recipes should go into one file with a plastic sleeve, so they can get through the cooking onslaught relatively unscathed. Keep a pen handy to note any changes.

Week of November 10th – 16th
Clean oven. This means no spitting, grease-type foods can be cooked until after November 27th.

Organize anything that doesn’t have to do with cooking - guest room linens, getting fishing gear out of the dining room…it’s still too early to wash the wine glasses, but you can iron the tablecloth and get the kids to carry stuff down to the basement.

Make your lists and buy staples – flour, sugar, nuts, dishwasher soap, plenty of sponges, garbage bags, cleaning products

Week of November 17th – 23nd

Anything that can be frozen, MAKE NOW.
For me that’s cranberry sauce, my four pie crusts – 2 shortcrust for Pecan Pies, Graham Cracker crust for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie and a mystery crust for a yet as undetermined pie number 4…that I better hurry up and decide upon.

Polish the silver. Okay, you can wash the wine glasses now if you have somewhere to put them when they’re clean.

Clean the house by the Sunday before Thanksgiving. You never know when you might have unexpected early houseguests. Quick touchups only, after that date.

Buy any non-perishables you have left on your list. Do not buy your extra toilet paper and paper towels at the same time as you’re buying 12 pounds of potatoes and a huge turkey.

November 24rd until T-Day
Sorry, you’ll have to wait a bit for that list. I still have a table to découpage.