Not Just for Thanksgiving, Part 1: Turkey, Stuffing and Gravy

Over the New Year's weekend, Juli and I made a roast turkey with gravy and stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce and a sweet potato casserole.  A lot of people think of such a meal only in connection with Thanksgiving, or perhaps Christmas, but we both love turkey, and we both love making a sort of feast in conjunction with a roast turkey.  In addition, that weekend was also our anniversary weekend, so something a bit celebratory was called for.

I cooked up the turkey in a Reynolds Oven Bag.   A lot of cooking purists aren't fond of this method, and I've seen some cooking articles really dismiss this way of cooking a turkey.  In the October/November 2010 issue of Cook's Country, for example, Diane Unger describes the results of her cooking a turkey in a bag as providing lots of juices for gravy and rendering the turkey quite juicy, but also described the turkey as "pale, its skin flabby, the meat at the bottom waterlogged."  That's never been my experience - quite the contrary, I've found this method always results in a moist, perfectly-cooked turkey with browned skin, not the least bit flabby or waterlogged.   I've always just taken for granted the bird would end up this way, so this time around I paid a bit more attention, to see if I could puzzle out why my experience with cooking a turkey in a bag has been so much better than that of many others.

One thing I realized right away was that I almost always cook the turkey stuffed.  It takes longer for a stuffed turkey to cook, and that extra time is probably one reason why I don't end up with a pale-looking, flabby turkey.  Plus, I note that the aforementioned article's author followed the minimalist - and, frankly, inadequate - directions provided along with the bags.  She just sprinkled the bag with flour, lightly oiled the turkey, tossed it in the bag with chopped celery, carrot and onion, cut a few tiny vent openings in the bag and bakes the bird.  That probably would result in a pale, sickly-looking bird.   But that's not what I do.

Before.  Here's the turkey, stuffed,
prepared and in the bag.

After.  Here's the finished turkey, ready to carve.

First off, I rub the turkey with seasoned butter, and rub some more under the skin over the breast.  As the turkey cooks, the butter and seasonings help the skin brown.   Second of all, as mentioned earlier, I always cook the turkey stuffed.  On this occasions I made a Simple Apple-Cranberry Stuffing by chopping and adding some fresh fruit to Stove Top Stuffing.  As I noted before, the stuffed turkey takes longer to cook, which gives the turkey skin more time to brown, plus the stuffing absorbs some of the juices as the turkey cooks, which probably helps avoid the waterlogged results Ms. Unger notes.

I also make longer slits across the top of the baking bag - three to four inches wide, as opposed to the half-inch slits called for in the directions included with the oven bags.  Although this allows a bit of the juices released from the turkey to cook off, what remains is more than ample, and the venting helps the turkey brown.

Finally, I skip the carrots, but add a double portion of onions and celery to the bag, along with two sliced-up apples, all of it sliced into large chunks and the turkey placed atop them.   This flavors the turkey juices with apple, which makes for a great gravy, and it also lifts the cooking turkey a bit, which probably also helps keep the turkey from being waterlogged. 

Now, mind you, I'm not saying the bag method is the only way to cook a turkey, or even the best way.   In fact, if you follow the directions in the oven bag packaging too closely, bag-baking will probably not give you a very good result.  If you change up a few things, though, bag cooking can be a perfectly valid way to roast a turkey, and the advantages provided by this method - less mess, wonderfully moist meat, ample juice for making gravy - make it my go-to method.

Jeffrey's Turkey-in-a-Bag Recipe

3            6 ounce boxes Stove Top stuffing
4 1/2      cups chicken broth
8            tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus
              3 tablespoons, softened
1            turkey-size oven bag
1            turkey, 18-20 lbs
2            tablespoons all-purpose flour
2            large onions, peeled and thickly-sliced
2            large stalks celery, sliced into pieces 3-4 inches long
2            Granny Smith apples, cored and each sliced into 8
              wedges
1 1/2      teaspoons kosher salt
1            teaspoon garlic powder
3/4         teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2         teaspoon dried sage
1/2         teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Add chicken broth and one stick unsalted butter to a Dutch oven over high heat.  Bring to a boil, stir in contents of stuffing envelopes, cover and remove from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes, then uncover and set aside to cool.

Add flour to oven bag and shake.  Arrange bag in large roasting pan, then onion slices, celery pieces and apple slices evenly across bottom of bag. 

Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey.  Wash the turkey inside and out, then dry with paper towels.  Stuff cavity of turkey with the stuffing, being careful to not over-stuff or heavily pack the stuffing.  Excess stuffing can be stuffed into the neck cavity and beneath the skin in that part of the turkey.

In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons softened butter with kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, sage and thyme.  Use fingers to loosen skin over both sides of the turkey breast and to spread half the butter mixture over the breasts beneath the loosened skin.  Rub the remainder of the butter mixture over the turkey breast and legs. 

Place turkey in the oven bag, seal the bag and tuck the ends of the bag into the pan.  Roast for two hours, then rotate the baking pan.  Cook another 90 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees when placed in the thickest part of the breast or 175 degrees in the thigh.  Remove from the oven and keep the turkey covered for at least 10 minutes or until you are ready to carve it. 

Note: 
The version of seasoned butter I detail above is simply one option, albeit the one I go with most often.  You can get a different flavor by using different seasonings, of course.   I've sometimes made a more fruit-flavored seasoned butter, using orange zest and one of the Penzeys Spice seasoning mixes that include some fruit flavors.  One could make a Southwestern version (using cumin, cayenne, sage and black pepper), or any number of other possibilities.

Stove-Top prepared per the box directions isn't particularly good, in my opinion, but with a little work, it can turn out pretty good.   The following my suggestions for making it good.

1)  Use chicken broth instead of water.   This really boosts the flavor of the stuffing.

2)  Use less butter than is called for in the directions.   Less butter = healthier, plus you get enough flavor from the chicken broth that you can get by with less butter.   The directions call for 1/2 stick of butter per box of stuffing.   I used one stick for three boxes, cutting the butter by 1/3.

3)  Add something else to the stuffing for extra flavor and texture.  Fresh or dried fruit and nuts are particularly good choices for perking up the boring stuffing.

4)  Use the stuffing to stuff the bird, rather than eating it from the stove top.  Spending some time inside the bird gives the stuffing a better texture and richer flavor. 

Apple-Cranberry Stuffing
Peel and core one Granny Smith apple and dice into 1/4 inch pieces.  Prepare Stove Top stuffing as detailed above, but adding the diced apple and one cup fresh cranberries to the Dutch oven along with the chicken broth and butter. 

For me, one of the highlights of making a turkey is gravy.   Below is a simple recipe for turkey gravy.  It's pretty much foolproof, but I've nonetheless found that it always turns out better when Juli makes the gravy than when I try it.   She's just got a knack, I guess.

Turkey Gravy

2            cups pan juices from cooked turkey, fat skimmed off
1            tablespoon chicken soup base
1            tablespoon corn starch dissolved in 2 teaspoons
              cold water
              salt and pepper to taste

Pour the pan juice into a large saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in soup base.

When the liquid comes to boil, stir in the corn starch mixture.   In order to avoid lumps, continue to stir constantly until the gravy reaches the desired consistency.   Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve atop mashed potatoes, meat slices and/or stuffing.

Comfort Food: Cream Dried Beef

I had to have some dental surgery last week, and consequently have been eating a lot of soft food ever since- mashed potatoes, pudding, and jello.  I had a lot of things to do this week at work, and probably pushed myself more than I should have, so I had to take Friday off work as a sick day.  Dental pain can be just unrelenting!


At lunchtime I made an old favorite that doesn't require much chewing.  Cream Dried Beef is sometimes referred to in polite company as S.O.S., but I've always liked it.  My husband doesn't share the love.  Maybe you had to grow up with it.

This recipe is very easy to make, as long as you pay attention to the cream sauce.  Also, if you're unfamiliar with dried beef, it's found in the packaged cold cuts section of the grocery store.  I like Ulrich's Dried Beef, which is made just down the road in Pella, Iowa, but other companies also sell it.  It tastes a little bit like pastrami.

Cream Dried Beef - Serves 1 or 2

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups milk

2.5 ounces dried beef

In a small saucepan, melt the butter on low heat.  Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. 

When the mixture begins to bubble, remove from heat and stir in the milk very slowly.

Put the saucepan back on the heat, and heat until boiling, stirring the entire time.  If you get lazy with the stirring, you'll end up with a less than smooth sauce, and the floury chunks taste a lot like library paste (ask me how I know!).

Take the dried beef out of its packaging.  It's sliced very thinly, and all you have to do is crumble it into small pieces into the bubbling white sauce.

Stir the dried beef into the sauce, and while you're waiting for it to get warmed up by the sauce, toast the desired amount of bread.  When making this dish for just one person, 2 slices of bread is enough.  The recipe makes enough to feed 2 people if you toast 2 slices of bread per person., but since I was home alone, the cats were happy to have my leftover sauce. They don't care much for toast, so I didn't make them any. 

Cut the toasted bread into bite-sized squares.

Then cover with the creamed beef mixture.  I like to sprinkle extra black pepper on top.

Chewy Citrus Sugar Cookies

I wrote awhile back about my having tried out the Foolproof Sugar Cookies recipe from the November/December 2010 issue of Cook's Illustrated to make Chewy Coconut-Lime Sugar Cookies.  In discussing that, I noted that the first time around, I didn't find the lime flavor to be strong enough for my tastes, and being more pleased with a second batch, in which I used more zest and lime juice than called for in that recipe.  Lately I've been revisiting that recipe and that concept, and have been applying it to some citrus flavors other than lime.  I've also been experimenting with glazing the cookies. 

This time around, I decided to really boost the lime flavor.  I added all the zest (a heaping tablespoon) and two tablespoons of juice from one lime to the batter.   The resulting cookie had a pronounced and pleasant lime flavor without being tart.  Don't get me wrong, it still tastes like a sugar cookie with lime flavor, as opposed to a lime bar or something like that, but the lime definitely stands out in this variant.   The boosted lime flavor does reduce the coconut flavor to a subtle undercurrent, but I was okay with that, as I was going for a cookie with a strong lime flavor more than one with strong flavors of both lime and coconut.  The ground-up coconut did provide a pleasant chewiness to the cookies, though, so I decided to keep it around.

I tried to boost the lime element of the cookies even further by adding some lime juice to a simple glaze I made with powdered sugar, cream cheese, milk and food coloring, but I found that the addition of the lime kept the glaze from setting up well, so I decided to just use the glaze (and a bit of colored sugar) to give some additional sweetness and visual appeal to the cookies.  Pleased by then with what I had done with lime, I turned next to lemon.

The first time around, I tried pretty much the same thing described above, but using a whole, fresh lemon in place of the lime.   The results were not as pleasing.   In the first batch I tried, using a whole lemon's zest and two tablespoons of lemon juice, the lemon flavor was barely notable.   The cookies had a hint of citrus flavor and a slight bit of tartness, but the lemon just wasn't distinct enough for my tastes. 

The next time around, I added an extra tablespoon of lemon juice.   These ones tasted more lemony, but the texture of the dough, and of the cookies, suffered.   The dough was so wet that it was hard to shape into portions, and the cookies flattened out so much they resembled wafers more than sugar cookies.  Clearly just adding more lemon juice wasn't the key to success.

I considered doubling up on the lemon zest, but then I recalled that we had some lemon extract in the cupboard.   I made a new batch, and this time I dialed back the lemon juice to 1 tablespoon and bolstered it with one teaspoon of lemon extract.   That did the trick... these cookies had a pleasant, but not overwhelming, lemon flavor, on par with the lime flavor of the other cookies.   Having figured out the trick to a tasty chewy lemon sugar cookie, it was time to turn to give oranges a try.

I knew from experience that one has to use a fair bit of orange juice in a recipe to impart a very distinct orange flavor, and I also knew that using too much orange zest tends to bring along a bit of bitterness, probably from the bits of orange pith one gets along with the zest, so I skipped both of those ideas and went right to the extract route.  Once again I went with one tablespoon orange zest, one tablespoon orange juice and one teaspoon orange extract.   That didn't give me quite enough orange bite, but the dough was still less wet than the lime cookie dough had been, so I decided to add just a bit more orange juice - one teaspoon.  That did the trick.  These orange sugar cookies had a distinct flavor and aroma of oranges, and were good enough to hold their own with the lemon and lime versions of the recipe. 

I always try to give credit where due, and I fully and readily admit that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere - or had anything to work from - if not for the Cook's Illustrated recipe I started with.  At the same time, I feel the amount of work I put into this experiment, and the distinctly different flavor of my cookies compared to those made with the original recipe, warrant me claiming what I've written below as a distinct recipe (or set of recipes, I guess).

Chewy Lime Sugar Cookies

yield = approximately 30 cookies

2 1/4        cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2           cup sweetened shredded coconut, chopped or processed fine
1              teaspoon baking powder
1/2           teaspoon baking soda
1/2           teaspoon table salt
1 1/2        cups granulated sugar, + 1/2 cup for rolling
2              ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into 8 pieces
1              heaping tablespoon lime zest
6              tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1/3           cup vegetable oil
1              large egg
1              tablespoon whole milk
2              tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2        cups powdered sugar
2 1/2        tablespoons whole milk
1              tablespoon softened cream cheese
                green food coloring (to preference)
                green decorative (crystal) sugar

Adjust oven rack to middle position.  Preheat to 350 degrees.  Line three rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.  Whisk flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.  Set aside

Add 1 1/2 cups sugar, cream cheese and lime zest in a large bowl.   Place remaining 1/2 cup sugar into a pie plate and set aside. 

Pour warm butter over sugar mixture and whisk to combine, leaving some small lumps of cream cheese.  Whisk in oil until incorporated, then whisk in egg and milk.  Whisk until smooth, then whisk in lime juice. 

Add sugar mixture to flour mixture and mix with a rubber spatula until all ingredients are blended into a soft dough.

Divide dough into portions of approximately two tablespoons and roll each portion into a ball.   Working in batches, roll some of the dough balls in the reserved sugar to coat.   Evenly space 12 dough balls on a baking sheet in three rows of four balls.  Slightly flatten the dough balls with fingers or the bottom of a drinking glass or mixing cup.  Sprinkle a pinch of the reserved sugar atop each flattened dough ball. 

Bake one tray at a time.  Bake for 7 minutes, then turn the baking sheet and cook for another 5-6 minutes, until the edges are set and just starting to brown.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. 

Using a stand mixer, whisk together powdered sugar, whole milk, cream cheese and food coloring into a thin, spreadable glaze.  Brush a bit of the glaze over each cookie, then sprinkle with decorative sugar.  Allow the glaze to dry before serving.

Chewy Lemon Sugar Cookies

As Chewy Lime Sugar Cookies, but with the following substitutions:
*  One tablespoon lemon zest in place of the lime zest
*  One tablespoon lemon juice + one teaspoon lemon extract in place of the lime juice
*  Yellow food coloring and decorative sugar in place of the green coloring and sugar.

Chewy Orange Sugar Cookies

As Chewy Lime Sugar Cookies, but with the following substitutions:
*  One tablespoon orange zest in place of the lime zest
*  One tablespoon + one teaspoon of orange juice and one teaspoon orange extract in place of the lime juice
*  Yellow and red food coloring to make desired shade of orange in place of the green coloring, and orange decorative sugar in place of the green sugar.

Paprika Chicken and Dumplings

My Hearty Bean Soup isn't the only recipe I've been working on for a long time. Even older than that is my fusion of chicken and dumplings and chicken paprikash: Paprika Chicken and Dumplings. Based on where I found it among my recipes and how stained this scribbled-upon page was, I'm guessing I probably made my first version of this recipe probably about 15 years ago. Since then, it's gone through a lot of changes.

The basic idea is pretty simple: Cook up bits of chicken in a tasty Paprika gravy and add dumplngs, which serve in the place of the noodles or mashed potatoes one traditionally serves with chicken paprikah. I made up a batch of Paprika Chicken and Dumplings several months ago, before we started blogging. Juli liked the dish quite a bit, and has been asking for me to make it again for awhile now, but there was one thing I knew I would have to figure out before I made it again: How to make dumplings better.

The original recipe, written down so long ago (probably copied from some long-forgotten cookbook or magazine recipe) featured dumplings that tended to so chewy and leaden as to resemble rubber more than biscuit, and they were also pretty much flavorless. The much-revised version of that recipe I used a couple months ago resulted in biscuits that had some flavor, but which were still gummy and heavy. So, before I tried again, I did some research into how to make better dumplings.

First I dug through my cookbooks and other printed recipe sources to find as many chicken and dumplings recipes as I could. I did the same online, checking out allrecipes.com, the Cook's Country website and several of my favorite cooking blogs. Then I compared the recipes, looking for points of agreement as well as more unique options.

I noticed right off that some of the better-reviewed online recipes and one The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2011 intriguing feature in common - they all used buttermilk, rather than regular milk. That idea sounded like a keeper to me, The same recipe - Updated Chicken and Dumplings - from the Best of ATK 2001 featured another idea I liked. I'd already figured out that the number of eggs - a whopping three - in my old recipe was part of the problem. The ATK recipe cut the egg component down to a single egg white, so I decided to try that as well.

The research paid off, because this batch of dumplings was fantastic. They were light, fluffy and flavorful, and added a nice, light texture to the dish that contrasted nicely with the chunks of stewed chicken and flavorful gravy. After many years and lots of tries, I finally had a version of the dish I was truly pleased with.

Paprika Chicken and Dumplings

yield = 6 servings

Chicken Paprikah
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 pounds chicken thighs, skinned and boned
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon vegetable oil (if needed)
2 medium onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon marjoram
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock or broth
3/4 cup white wine
1 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Dumplings
2 cups flour
1/4 cup chopped fresh paresley
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg white

Cut each chicken breast into 5-6 pieces and each chicken thigh into 2 or 3 pieces. Dry the chicken pieces with paper towels and season to taste with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add the chicken pieces in batches, leaving a half-inch or so between each piece and cooking each batch of chicken pieces until lightly browned, then transferring the cooked chicken to a large bowl.

If there is more than one tablespoon of fat, drain off all but one tablespoon and discard the excess; if there is less than 1 tablespoon of chicken fat in the Dutch oven, add the vegetable oil. Add the onions and cook until they have started to brown. Stir in the garlic, cook one minute, then stir in the paprika, tomato paste, pepper, salt and marjoram and cook until fragrant. Return the chicken pieces, along with any accumulated juices, to the Dutch oven.

Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring often, then add the canned diced tomatoes, chicken stock or broth and white wine. Bring to a light boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes.

While the chicken simmers, add five quarts of water to a stock pot and bring to a boil. As the water heats up, mix the flour, chopped parsley, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a medium bowl and stir to combine. Pour the buttermilk into a small bowl, pour in the melted butter and stir. This will make clumps, which is fine. Stir in the egg white, then add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix with a spatula until just incorporated, then roll two-tablespoon portions of the dough into small balls.

When the water is boiling, add the dough balls to the water one at a time.

When all the dumpling batter has been added to the boiling water, ladle 1/2 cup of the liquid in the Dutch oven into a bowl. Stir the sour cream into this liquid, then add the bowl contents to the Dutch oven and stir in to combine. Using a slotted spoon, test the firmness of one of the dumplings by pressing it lightly against the side of the pot. If it is somewhat firm, use the slotted spoon to transfer the dumplings one at a time to the Dutch oven. Stir them in very gently, cover and allow to simmer 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Foolproof Thin-Crust Pizza... Just As Good the Second Time!

It wasn't long ago that I wrote about the Foolproof Thin-Crust Pizza recipe from the current issue of Cook's Illustrated (Jan/Feb 2011).  I'm pretty sure that I mentioned that I think it's a great recipe, but just in case, let me reiterate that point... it is a really, really great pizza recipe!

Anyhow, it was so great that I made it again recently, and it turned out just as great this time as last time. 

The recipe makes enough dough for two 13-inch pizzas.   As before, we topped them with Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushrooms.  The sausage, pepperoni and shredded mozzarella were all purchased from Grazianos Bros. Grocery.  The high-quality ingredients certainly played their part in making a great pizza, but they wouldn't matter if the dough and crust weren't also both top-notch.   Thankfully, both really are pretty much foolproof... they come together with minimal effort, and the results are superb.

I really can't recommend this recipe highly enough.  It's among my top ten recipes from the fine people at America's Test Kitchen.  Do yourself a favor and track down a copy of this issue (it's still in stores), or check out the Cook's Illustrated website, where either a paid membership or a free temporary membership will give you access to the entire archive of recipes from Cook's Illustrated, including this one.