Chef Forum banner

Thanksgiving Cooking Challenge November 2019

11K views 58 replies 17 participants last post by  brianshaw 
#1 · (Edited)
If ever there was a month that lent itself to a foodie challenge more than November.... I present:

THE THANKSGIVING COOKING CHALLENGE
This month is like the foodie Olympics, everyone is testing recipes and prepping for T-day. I expect everyone around here to contribute something to this one. Are you pre-making pie crusts? Are you trying to decide between brown gravy or white gravy? Are you making stuffing or dressing? Are some of you out there harvesting veggies and fruits for the big day? I want to see what you got. Hopefully the interesting part of this challenge is seeing what everyone does with leftovers haha! Happy cooking!

Traditional Thanksgiving Foods
Roast turkey
Stuffing
Gravy
Butternut Squash Soup
Potatoes
Candied Yams
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry sauce
Brussel sprouts
Dinner rolls
Corn
Pumpkin Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Pecan Pie

The Rules
  • The challenge begins on the 1st of every month. The last entry must be made by the last day of the month.
  • You may post multiple entries.
  • All entries must be cooked during the month of the challenge.
  • If you use a documented recipe, please cite your source.
  • Entries should include the name of your dish and a picture of the final product. Sharing personal recipes and pictures of the process are not mandatory but extremely helpful.
  • The winner is chosen by the person who posted the challenge, and is announced after the last day of submissions. The decision is final and falls entirely at the discretion of the challenger.
  • Submitting an entry makes you eligible to win. If you do not wish to be considered for the win you may still participate in the challenge, but make your wishes known to the challenger.
  • The winner's bounty includes praise, virtual high-fives, and the responsibility of posting the next month's challenge. That entails choosing a theme, posting a Challenge thread that includes the guidelines, checking in on the submissions regularly during the month, and promptly choosing a winner at the end of the challenge.
 
See less See more
#43 · (Edited)
Okay, getting this in just under the wire!

[Note: I posted a different version of this about 18 hours ago, but Flickr mishandled the photos and at least some viewers couldn't see them at all. I've retooled, and the final posts are shorter -- and still complete in the required month. Apologies for the extra posts below!]

I began on Monday, prepping the turkey. I separated the legs and wings from the body, peeled off the skin around the main carcass, and removed and trimmed the cleaned breasts.

1 Whole Turkey.jpg
2 Cutup.jpg


The breasts were sprinkled with fresh sage and oregano, then I dusted the whole inner surfaces with transglutaminase (meat glue) and formed it into a single tight roll by pressing the breasts together top-to-tail and rolling in plastic. The whole bag went into the fridge to set up overnight.

4 Breasts.jpg
5 Roulade.jpg


I made brown butter (beurre noisette)…

6 Beurre Noisette.jpg


Then seared the leg-thighs and such until golden…

7 Seared Thighs.jpg


Added herbs…

8 Readying Dark.jpg


Then sealed the dark meat in bags with the brown butter and a mild brine solution, to cook in the immersion circulator for 24 hours at 149F:

10 Circulator.jpg


The bones got roasted…

9 Roast Bones.jpg


…with a few tablespoons of skim milk powder (a suggestion from Heston Blumenthal), and then they went into the InstantPot with water and some veg trimmings from my freezer:

11 InstantPot.jpg


So that was Monday.
 
#44 · (Edited)
<continuing....>
On Tuesday, the glued-together breasts…

Food Ingredient Animal product Animal fat Cuisine


…and the skin spread out as tidily as possible…

Food Tableware Ingredient Cuisine Dish


…got glued together with transglutaminase, and then back in the fridge for a few hours.

Food Ingredient Cuisine Dish Animal fat


Since the stock was ready, I used some and a whole bunch of apples-and a lot of white pepper and cayenne-to make an apple variant of Paul Prudhomme's spiced pear gravy:

Food Ingredient Recipe Kitchen appliance Frying pan
Food Ingredient Mixture Tableware Recipe


Finally the breast roulade went into the circulator for 3 hours at 145F, but I didn't take a picture, because what's to see? Although I did inject a milk-cider brine, which I forgot to show.

On Wednesday, I made dinner rolls…

Food Bun Staple food Ingredient Recipe


A traditional-type pan gravy using stock…

Food Tableware Liquid Ingredient Dishware


Roasted a bunch of root vegetables individually foil-wrapped with olive oil and garlic…

Food Aluminium foil Tableware Foil Ingredient


And sharpened my knives…

Wood Rectangle Cosmetics Office supplies Metal


I also rendered about ½ pound of good bacon in little dice and saved both separately.
 
#45 · (Edited)
<continuing...>
Thursday morning, before people arrived… here we go!

Sauteed mushrooms, onions, and celery for the stuffing…

Food Ingredient Recipe Cookware and bakeware Cuisine


Peeled, diced, and well-rinsed potatoes for mashed…

Food Ingredient Recipe Fluid Cuisine


And the turkey bags went back in the circulator at 135F, so they'd be hot but wouldn't cook further. (No picture, because why?) I also peeled and sliced butternut squash, blanched it, tossed it with cream, covered with parmesan, and baked under foil. And finished off the salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. The sprouts were trimmed and rolled in the bacon fat (extended with neutral oil).

The RESULTS!

Half of the turkey (the version at the adults' table):

Food Tableware Plate Dishware Recipe


Squash gratin:

Tableware Food Plate Recipe Dishware


Brussels sprouts:

Food Tableware Plant Ingredient Recipe


The stuffing (the weird color came from the gluten-free bread cubes, which came from a much-touted GF bakery but were IMHO pretty bad):

Food Tableware Dishware Plate Recipe


Molded cranberry sauce couronne:

Food Tableware Ingredient Fluid Recipe


Mashed potatoes:

Food Tableware Condiment Ingredient Dishware


Root vegetable, arugula, and goat cheese salad:

Food Tableware Dishware Vinegret Kitchen utensil


The pies and such were made by others, so I didn't take pictures.

On Friday, I put mashed potatoes, turkey chunks, and gravy in a pie dish, put a tortilla over the top, poured over two beaten eggs, and sprinkled with a lot of shredded Cotswold cheese. It baked up like this:

Food Tableware Pastel de choclo Casserole Recipe


That's my entry. Happy Thanksgiving, all!
 
#49 ·
I finally got around to my challenge entry. I waited until I had to prepare dinner before I executed the idea.
I bought a large 22 pounder and broke it down. In doing so, I noticed the oysters were still in place on both sides, so I carefully boned them out with enough surrounding skin showing.

I flattened them a bit with my meat mallet.

I seasoned them with Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, Sage, and Freshly chopped garlic.

I laid this whole piece on a large sheet of plastic and rolled it into a large cylinder completely encased in its skin.

I rolled this up in plastic to create a tight seal and refrigerated the piece for 4 hours.
I then rolled this in seasoned flour, then egg wash, then back to the flour again,and placed it on a hot skillet with Olive Oil and Butter.

I browned it on all sides, then placed this, uncovered in a 375-degree oven to roast.

It took 75 minutes to finish.

I served this with homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce.

3 cups of fresh Cranberries
1-2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup OJ
1 Tablespoon low sugar Pectin
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

Combine all ingredients (except Pectin) in saucepan. Cook until all berries have opened. Add Pectin powder and stir well. Allow to boil 1 minute. Remove from heat Allow to cool. Push through a food mill, and stir well. Pour into appropriate can and chill overnight.
IMG_6181.JPG
IMG_6182.JPG
IMG_6183.JPG
IMG_6184.JPG
IMG_6186.JPG
IMG_6187.JPG
IMG_6196.jpg
IMG_6208.JPG
IMG_6210.JPG
 
#50 ·
Oh wow thanks for the post Tday entries everyone. Today is the last day of November and I'll be choosing a winner on December 1st so you have until then to boast about your holiday dinner and/or your leftover concoctions.

I leave here the thanksgiving leftover sandwich scene from Friends, one of my faves.
 
#51 ·
My alternative light approach for festive turkey - Turkey Breast with Cranberries & Saffron:

In Persian cooking, barberries which have a sharp taste, similar to cranberries are often paired with saffron, particularly in chicken and rice dishes. So, for a festive alternative I thought using cranberries might work well with turkey and saffron. For each 'papillote':

1 small turkey breast (or 1 medium chicken breast)
A small pinch of saffron strands plus 4 tbsp hot water
Salt
1 fat clove of garlic slivered
1 small piece of ginger slivered
30g cranberries
A few thin rings of leek or onion
A few pieces of butter
3 tbsp white wine
1 tbsp honey

The turkey is marinaded for an hour in the saffron/water mixture. Then all is assembled:

20191119_123229.jpg


Baked for 30 mins (approx. according to size) at 180 C. Then a blow torch used to char the top of the turkey breast.

fullsizeoutput_56b0.jpeg


fullsizeoutput_56ae.jpeg
 
#52 ·
This is one way to use up leftovers of cranberry sauce:

A few minutes in the making and you have a comforting British sponge pudding. Traditionally, a pudding like this would be steamed but the microwave works wonders here. Serve the puddings with cream or custard. You'll need 2 dariole sized microwaveable moulds or one larger mould. You could use small tea-cups or coffee cups. I used home-made cranberry sauce (its so easy to make) but you could use ready-made.

Food Tableware Dishware Plate Ingredient


Ingredients (serves 2)
For the cranberry sauce (makes a small pot)

100g cranberries
20 g sugar
1 tbsp port
Zest and juice of a clementine

For the pudding
60 g butter softened
60 g caster sugar
1 x small egg, beaten
70 g plain flour
1 x level tsp baking powder
Grated zest 2 clementines
1 tbsp milk (any type)
2 heaped tsp cranberry sauce
A little icing sugar (optional)
Custard or cream to serve

Method
To make the cranberry sauce:
  1. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently for 5 minutes until the berries begin to burst. The mixture will thicken as it cools. This recipe makes a firm set cranberry sauce. Add more clementine juice if you want a looser consistency.
To make the pudding:
  1. Cream the butter & sugar together. Gradually add the beaten egg.
  2. Add the flour, baking powder, clementine zest and milk, beating well.
  3. Grease the moulds with a little butter. Place a teaspoon of cranberry sauce in the bottom of each mould and spoon on the sponge mix until 2/3rds filled.
  4. Microwave, uncovered on full power for 1.5 minutes. Test that the sponge is cooked by inserting a toothpick and cook a few seconds more if needed.
  5. To serve, turn the moulds upside down on the serving dish and remove moulds. Place a little icing sugar in a sieve and dust the tops of the puddings.
  6. Serve with cream or custard.

Food Tableware Quenelle Dishware Plate


Food Tableware Plate Dishware Ingredient
 
#54 · (Edited)
My last minute only partially serious entry! I went to a community pot luck and brought sides. I'm gluten free, and I made my stuff gluten free and vegetarian, which turned out to be a great idea, because there were surprisingly few vegetarian options! I'm not vegetarian, however, and oh boy, did it go good with turkey.
F7DD2206-52C2-4712-AC43-DE5FEE1218CB.jpeg

Chili roasted sweet potatoes (sweet potatoes with chili powder, chipotle powder, and coconut oil)
D52F22F0-E11F-409C-B320-7D5E8F39A7B1.jpeg

Black beans (homemade!! with chili spices and more chipotle. When I make these for myself, I use bacon fat for extra yum, but they were still good with coconut oil.) and green rice (long grain white rice, spinach, cilantro, a poblano, a couple scallions, garlic, and vegetable stock)
Food Plant Ingredient Staple food Cuisine

Cranberry crumble bars made from a couple different recipes. I used my standard recipe for the crumble, added a bit of extra sweet rice flour for the crust, and used the recipe from Eatwell.com for the berries and topped with some coarse sugar. The sugar + orange juice syrup didn't really stick to the berries, so they ended up more sour than I would have liked. Still only took three home out of twelve though! And they were the prettiest thing on the dessert table. So I'm mostly happy with them.
87CBF4A8-6075-4684-A235-CAC772D28A39.jpeg
B8462FBB-5A40-4DE3-B89C-92096BAFD958.jpeg
 
#56 ·
Thank you to all who participated in this month's challenge. Boy these challenges used to be very popular and we'd have to sift through page after page of entries and I definitely thought this one would get more traction. But I'm grateful to all who shared their cooking with us and as always I'm impressed by the diversity of flavors and techniques in our little community. This was a very difficult choice for me because there were so many contenders, you are all worthy of top prize. I especially want to thank our friends from across the oceans who took part in a holiday they wouldn't have otherwise celebrated and brought their own spin on it.

The winner of this month's challenge is @chrislehrer Chris your post embodied everything I was looking for in this month's winner, from taking us through your preparations, all the way to leftovers. The knife skills alone and attention to detail on that bird was outstanding. So congratulations and please, I have to know what the purpose of roasting the bones with skim milkpowder!?
 
#57 ·
Yikes! Wow, didn't expect that. Now I have to think about what challenge to suggest for December. Thanks to all who participated. To @koukouvagia too, I want to thank you for a terrific monthly challenge!

(As to the skim milk powder, it's something about increasing free proteins. I don't quite understand it, but my stock was an extraordinary, luxurious, chocolate brown. Give it a try.)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top