Thanksgiving Recipes 2 – The Sauces
[This is part of a multi-post series on Thanksgiving. Start from the beginning.]
How many sauces can you have at a Thanksgiving table? I’m not sure what the maximum number is, but I feel like you have to have at least two. And in my family, that number increases to three, with the addition of home made pink apple sauce. I’ll start with that.
My sister inherited… wait, that’s clearly the wrong word, seeing as my parent are still quite alive… stole the tool that my family uses for making applesauce from our dad. I honestly don’t know what it’s called. It’s conical, with holes on the sides and an opening at the wide end, and it is to be suspended over a large bowl. There is a conical stick which is used to force food through the holes. The stick is old and worn, and perhaps it is the tiny addition of wood that makes our family’s applesauce so lovely. Or maybe it’s just because we don’t screw around.
Get yourself about 5 lbs. of apples. McIntosh are good, Cortland are good, Fugi can be good, though they take a little longer to cook… Really, you can use any kind of apples you like, or even a combination. Though I would probably stay away from Red Delicious, as they tend to be a bit… weird when cooked. Wash the apples, core them, and cut them into 8 pieces. Do NOT peel the apples! If you have one of those handy-dandy apple corer-cutter devices (looks like a star pattern with a hole in the middle to get the core out), now’s a great time to use it. Then, fill your largest pot with apple pieces and nothing else. Cover and cook over medium heat until they start to fall apart.
Now, for the manual labor. If you have one of those conical devices, fill it about half way with apple pieces and start smushing the pieces against the sides. Scrape the skins away from the sides every so often to keep things moving, and add more pieces as you make room. If you don’t, because you don’t know what I’m talking about or because your sister took it, it’s time to get out your food mill. I recommend the largest setting, if you have changeable plates. Smush and scrape until you’ve got yourself a giant bowl of piping hot apple sauce.
It’s awesome hot, cold, or any temperature in between. One taste, and you will lose all love of store bought crap.
Now, as for cranberry sauce…
Um…
Let me give you a hint. You’ll need a can opener.
That’s right. I have a special place in my heart for canned jellied cranberry sauce. Yeah, I know it’s probably horrible for you. And I’m sure your recipe is “better” in every way. But I like my canned cranberries! So that’s what we have. Dumped from a can into a bowl.
Now for the star sauce of Thanksgiving – turkey gravy. I start mine as soon as I put the turkey back in the fridge after the onion and apple have been shoved up its butt. I use a heavy 4 qt. pot, heated over medium high heat. I add about a tablespoon of light olive oil, and once the pot is hot, I throw in the turkey neck to brown. Meanwhile, I chunk up one sweet onion, one big carrot, and one stalk of celery. When the turkey neck is brown, I throw in the veggies. I allow them to brown for a minute or two before adding two cloves of garlic, smashed with the paper removed, a half a bunch of parsley, a couple teaspoons of peppercorns, and a bay leaf. Note that I do not add salt, because the turkey drippings will be somewhat salty from the brine. I stir that around, and cover with water, filling the pot about 3/4 of the way. Once it comes to a boil, I reduce the heat and leave it to simmer on a back burner until the turkey is almost up to temperature.
When the turkey was at about 163 degrees or so, in other words, nearly done, I strained the turkey neck stock. At this point, the stock had been going for at least 5 hours, and was pretty dense with flavor. I have a small colander that fits inside of my mesh strainer, so I create a stack that goes, top to bottom, colander, two layers of paper towel, strainer. The strainer has little extensions that let it hook onto a bowl, so this is the most convenient way for me. It also allows me to remove the big chunks using the colander before the stock has made it through the paper towels (a.k.a. poor man’s cheesecloth).
Once the turkey is resting under its “piece of Mir,” I began the gravy preparations in earnest. I poured out the drippings into a bowl with a spout, then poured from that into a gravy separator. The gravy separator’s opening seemed narrow, and I am a klutz. You can try dumping straight from the roasting pan into the separator if you feel brave. I then gave the drippings a minute or two to separate before adding the juices (but not the fat) into the neck stock. I .then added the drippings back into the roasting pan, and put the heat under the pan on medium from two burners
It seemed like there wouldn’t be enough fat to make enough roux to thicken all of the juices and stock I had, so I added a couple tablespoons of butter and melted that in with the turkey fat. All the while, I used a flat whisk to dislodge the good bits from the bottom of the roasting pan. I then added about a quarter cup of flour and continued whisking and scraping until the roux was cooked and a little bubbly. Finally, I whisked in the broth and juices, integrating with much whisking.
I was nervous, so I poured the resulting gravy through a strainer into the gravy boat. But I was happy to find that my whisking and careful roux making had resulted in a lump-free gravy.
Funny thing, though. I’m not really a gravy person. So I left it off of my turkey. The gravy people at the table said it was good, though, and my dad teased me for spending so much effort on something I don’t even like. But a good amount was consumed and enjoyed, so I feel quite good about it.
You can now think I am cool….I *think* this is what you’re talking about:
http://www.canningsupply.com/product/Chinois_Set/canning_equipment
‘chinois’!
Did I win?
Miss you!!!
Oh! Amazon has them too! (once you find the name of the darned thing)
http://www.amazon.com/Mirro-Canning-Press-Wooden-Pestle/dp/B00002N5ZQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1257988704&sr=8-4
Yes! That is it! Thank you!
And while we’re explaining things that I didn’t really know the names of, here’s a link to an apple slicer/corer.
Woohoo! I win!! What do I win? Oooh, can I win a night with Diane, involving RB and homeade applesauce? I’ve never had homeade applesauce! (and I hate the gorcery store jarred stuff, yuck!)
I think that is an appropriate prize! Plus I win too! My weekends are quite booked at the moment, though… it may have to wait until next year. :(
‘sokay. I understand- it’s the holiday season and all. If you end up with a free bit of time somewhere, we can try, and if not, we’ll get together in 2010 (oh my where has the year gone?)