On the stuffing question, I confess I’m not a stuffing person. But frankly, most advice I read on stuffing says to never cook it inside the bird, for safety reasons. Seems like any juices you want could be added to your stuffing recipe separately.
Gravy: I actually do most of my gravy prep beforehand. I’ll make turkey stock earlier in the week, from wings, back, a leg or two, that I first roast in the oven before simmering for stock. Other stuff gets roasted alongside, like carrots, parsnips, shallots, shitake, and those all get added and blended into the gravy, with some of the rendered fat and all the browned bits. Whatever comes off the turkey from roasting on the actual day either gets added to the gravy, or kept separate for another batch, or sometimes frozen for later use. I like to prepare ahead, so there’s less to do on tday itself.
I’ll be traveling with no solidified plans for T-day dinner or even what city I’ll be in on that day, but plan to bring the Kinsman Eades Aisana that’s shipping soon, and pull a 2013 Mascot (or something similar) from the offsite.
I’m a stuffing hound and have yet to replicate results outside the bird, even with adding juices. Hard to get the correct texture and taste ratio. Either too crisp and dry or too soggy. Plus takes up extra space in the oven and has to be hovered over
I use the David Rosengarten technique in the Dean and Deluca cookbook. It’s intention has nothing to do with stuffing but the byproduct is that the stuffing cooks to a more than safe temperature
The technique is to carve the breast off as soon as it reaches desired doneness and put to the side ( I usually invert and cook a bit more if the inside of breast is under cooked) Then cook the legs and thighs to their desired temp. This is 20 degrees more doneness than the breast and the number one reason for fry breast meat. Dark meat and white meat cook in two different time frames. Once the breast is off, the stuffing gets all the heat it needs and comes out steaming hot, even up to an hour after taking turkey out of the oven.
I’ve considered doing that (regardless of stuffing), but find it’s so much easier to handle the quarters separately, rather than a whole bird, carving off the breast while it’s still quite hot, etc. I don’t doubt it works, and you’ve obviously perfected your technique, so kudos! I’ve reached the point where I like not having to maneuver a whole turkey, clean up the large roasting pan, etc.
Stuffing inside the bird is safe as long as you stuff it right before it goes in the oven and you don’t pack it in too tight.
We cook both stuffing inside the bird and extra in a casserole dish. I cut the wings off before cooking the turkey and lay them on top of the stuffing in the casserole dish and cook it low and slow to get the flavor from the wings. Seems to really improve the stuffing cooked in the dish and gets much closer to the flavor of the stuffing in the bird.
There’s a good technique out there from Kenji Alt that calls for putting the stuffing in a cheesecloth bag, stuff it to get it formed, pull it out and preheat it to something like 180º before putting back it into the bird then roast. The recipe also uses a baking stone or steel preheated to a much higher temp than the actual roasting temp, so the dark meat gets a head start over the breasts.
I’ve had success with Alton Brown’s method of putting dressing in a cheesecloth bag and microwaving it just before adding it to the turkey and putting the turkey in the oven. A separate probe in the stuffing showed that it maintained a safe temperature throughout the cook.
Decided to do a turkey breast and prime rib this year, with traditional sides. Wines will be crowd pleaser types, currently thinking Roederer 242 or Bolly, Franny Beck, Bedrock, Liquid Farm, and a Napa cab.
I’m bringing a mag of Laherte Freres champagne and some odds and ends to the in-laws. Nobody complains about champagne and I don’t expect much critical tasting either…perfect scenario for a crowd-pleasing big bottle.
MIL will like any kabinett I open, FIL wants something dryer. Maybe I’ll do a side-by-side of kabi vs trocken (or kabi trocken) from the same producer and vintage so we can suss out their taste preferences a bit more. (I have a hunch the FIL is just stuck on “I don’t like anything sweet” and I’m not going to try convince otherwise.) Maybe will bring a pinot and a left-field red to give folks options.
Same, I may end up skipping 243 but 244 seems to get solid reviews. I’m not sure how many different “house champagnes” one needs, but hard to beat Roederer (also Charles Heidsieck and Bollinger). I think I passed on 243 since vintage 2014 wasn’t that much more. There are worse problems to have
I thought it was interesting they’re taking winemaking techniques from Cristal and bringing it down to Collection series. They have moved to fermenting each plot separately even from other growers. I was happy to hear their goal is terroir driven and freshness.
