Paula Deening the Turkey
It started with a conversation in the office. We were having a bake-off and the topic of turkeys came up. I’m not a turkey person. I like mashed potatoes and dressing and the bird isn’t a highlight for me.
I explained to the crowd that I don’t like how dry it is. They informed me that I hadn’t had a good Thanksgiving turkey. The term “Paula Deen the f*$% out of it” was coined. It meant that to have a great turkey you needed to slather it in butter and if you had a chance, brine it.
The conversation came and went and then it hit me full force when I walked through the grocery store. For the past few years, I have chosen a restaurant for Thanksgiving (last year it was Evangeline’s in Calistoga) to take care of the meal portion of the holiday. I wondered why I didn’t try it. I love cooking shows and I love to eat, so why didn’t I give it a go?
It was brining that stuck in my head that was a step I wanted to take. Here’s how I did mine:
1/4 cup of sea salt to every quart of water needed
I didn’t put my bird into a large pot or a bucket filled with ice. I emptied out my vegetable drawer and put the cleaned bird in there and then filled it with the solution. I left the turkey in this solution until the night before.
On Wednesday night I took it out of the solution, patted it dry and let it sit.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos by Alton Brown and Gordon Ramsey to figure out how I was going to prepare this and I did a mixture of both:
Sabrina’s Turkey prep:
3 cups of butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
chopped parsley
bay leaves
sea salt
salt and pepper
1 large white onion
2 large lemons
All of the ingredients went into a mixing bowl with a little zest of lemon. The rest of the lemon and the full onion were cut in half and put into the cavity. The butter mix was put under the skin of the turkey and the remainder went around the turkey.
The aromas from the turkey began before it went into the oven. It was a zesty, bay leaves aroma that has redefined Thanksgiving for me.
I had a foil tent above the turkey for the first hour and then for the remaining two and a half hours, I was passed out.
I completely forgot to make the dressing and mashed potatoes, which were made once the bird was complete. The dressing recipe was:
2 bags of pre-cubed dressing
2 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of turkey juice
1.5 cups of butter
The dressing ingredients were mixed in a saucepan, brought to boil, and then poured over the dressing. I prefer making the dressing outside of the turkey, but if I could do it again, I would have added an additional cup of chicken broth because it was a bit dry.
The mashed potatoes are self-explanatory. Milk and butter.
The finished product was a decent first try.
Am I glad that I did it? Yes. Will I do it again next year? That remains to be seen. What I did learn is that with all of my photos of food and thoughts about good eats, I have added a food section to Sabrina Monet Writes.
Along with my thoughts on film, television, and books — I’m going to rant about food as well. With the holidays in full force, there will be plenty of opportunities for this.
