Thanksgiving Dinner

Turkey Stock (for gravy and stuffing)

Start the roasting  Tuesday, the stock Wednesday, the brining Wednesday evening.

Roast: 3 Turkey wings and 3 Turkey necks (because that’s what Giant Eagle had) until brown, then cool and refrigerate over night.

On Wednesday, start large stockpot full of water and add the roasted wings and necks and, I was able to pull the necks and gizzards out of our two recently thawed turkeys and add them.

Then add 3 onions, peeled and halved, 4 –5 carrots and stalks of celery, and add salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, marjoram and sage. Simmer for several hours to about half volume, then allow to cool. Remove all solids, refrigerate stock in two equal containers, one for gravy and one for stuffing.

Turkey

We used two twelve pounders this year, natural, and so needed brined. We were able to squeeze all this into our ridiculously large All-Clad stock pot:

Two 12 pound turkeys

Two cups coarse sea salt

Two gallons water

We brined overnight and left outside in the “outdoor fridge.” Bring them in Thursday morning and allow them to dry while preparing everything else.

Mirepoix:  3 cups each diced carrots, celery and onion.

Place fresh poultry herbs in cavity of bird, along with some mirepoix.  Spread rest of mirepoix under roasting racks in roasting pans, then place turkeys on top. You should probably add a cup of water to the pan before putting in the oven, but I forgot, and one of the pans caramelized/burned some of the veg, but that worked out well for the gravy! (Save the cooked mirepoix  for the gravy!!!)

I roasted at 425 for 40 minutes, then turned down to 375 for about another hours, until turkey was brown and breast was 160. Unfortunately, when I carved, after resting 20 – 30 minutes, the leg was still pink, so I hacked them off and put them back into the oven to finish them while I was preparing the gravy. The bonus here was the white meat was perfect and juicy.

Stuffing (roasting pan, outside turkey)

Big All-Clad mixing bowl of bread cubes - my whole wheat sourdough but ended up using a store bought loaf, too, which ended up with two full oval Corningware casseroles! So, might want to make less depending upon crowd size!

Sauté 6 chopped onions (or more), 4-5 stalks chopped celery in butter and olive oil combination. Caramelize a bit, add poultry seasonings and cook a bit more, remove from heat and set aside.

Sauté one pound breakfast sausage, chop finely and put together with onions above or sauté together, using less fat in former mix.

Also add 1 cup chopped pecans or and 1 cup chopped chestnuts and sauté with onions or sausage.

Mix all together, add  saved turkey stock and put in casserole[s]. I baked at 350 for one hour before I put the turkeys in and set aside. I then warmed them up again after I took turkeys out, but it holds heat pretty well, especially with tinfoil and the casserole lid.

Gravy

Roux: 4 TBLS butter, 4 TBLS olive oil, 1/2 cup flour. Brown to light golden brown. You can do this early in day and reheat later.

Sautéed shallots: Sautee several shallots in butter-olive oil, add some poultry seasoning. Consider garlic here, too, but optional. Set aside.

Making the gravy:

Reheat the roux, add the reserved turkey stock – carefully! (Mine was still gelled from the fridge and when I plopped it in the pan, the roux – aka Cajun Napalm – landed on my arm for some superficial second degree burns! Next time I microwave to un-gel!)

Then add the shallots and a lot of the mirepoix from the turkey roasting pans. Use an immersion blender now before all too hot and puree all veg now in the mix. Cook a while until boiling/simmering and reduce/thicken.

That’s it. Carve the turkey (dark meat should now be done, so you can carve it, too), put the gravy into a small slow cooker to keep warm and pull the reheating stuffing out of the oven.

You can keep you sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, salad, and everything else, this is Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing and gravy!