Turkey tips

You have the turkey, you’ve got the pan (buy a roaster), now make the perfect bird.
Stuffing tips

Tradition says cook it in the bird, but others say the bird cooks better when stuffing is baked in the oven .


recipe

Ingredients

1 (18 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
2 cups kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup dry white wine
Directions

Rub the turkey inside and out with the kosher salt. Place the bird in a large stock pot, and cover with cold water. Place in the refrigerator, and allow the turkey to soak in the salt and water mixture 12 hours, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Thoroughly rinse the turkey, and discard the brine mixture.
Brush the turkey with 1/2 the melted butter. Place breast side down on a roasting rack in a shallow roasting pan. Stuff the turkey cavity with 1 onion, 1/2 the carrots, 1/2 the celery, 1 sprig of thyme, and the bay leaf. Scatter the remaining vegetables and thyme around the bottom of the roasting pan, and cover with the white wine.
Roast uncovered 3 1/2 to 4 hours in the preheated oven, until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Carefully turn the turkey breast side up about 2/3 through the roasting time, and brush with the remaining butter. Allow the bird to stand about 30 minutes before carving.

Stuffing tips

Tradition says cook it in the bird, but others say the bird cooks better when stuffing is baked in the oven.

ingredients
8
cups lightly packed 3/4-inch cubes French bread
1
lb bulk spicy pork sausage
2
stalks celery (with leaves), chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1
medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2
teaspoon dried sage leaves
1/2
cup dried cranberries
1
cup Progresso® chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)
1
cup milk
2
eggs, beaten

1_step
Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Place bread cubes in baking dish.
2
In 10-inch skillet, cook sausage, celery and onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink and vegetables are tender; drain.
3
Add sausage mixture, sage and cranberries to baking dish; mix lightly with bread cubes. In medium bowl, beat broth, milk and eggs with fork or wire whisk until well mixed; pour over bread and stir gently to soak all bread cubes in milk mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer than 12 hours.
4
Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean and top is golden brown.
Spicy sausage comes in both 12-ounce and 16-ounce packages. Either size will work well in this recipe.

This dish is the perfect side for an unstuffed bird or turkey breast. Add green beans and a fruit salad for an easy holiday meal.

Just before serving, sprinkle the casserole with a few dried cranberries or tuck sprigs of fresh parsley or fresh sage leaves around the edge of the dish.

Turkey gravy tips

It’s the topping to every Thanksgiving meal , but be sure to avoid the lumps and don’t make it too runny.

Help! My dinner is …
Search: Mashed potato tips

It seems every family has their favorite version , with or without lumps, mashed by hand or whipped, and with or without seasoning, just avoid making it dry or too watery.
Turkey Gravy - How To Make Turkey Gravy

Homemade gravy, made using the pan drippings and meat juices from the roast turkey, is an essential part of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The secret to a good gravy is to skim off most of the fat from the drippings so the gravy isn't greasy tasting. Following the below instructions, anyone can easily make perfect turkey gravy.


What are giblets?

The giblet bag in the turkey you buy usually includes the heart, liver, gizzard (a part of the turkey's stomach), and neck.

Make a turkey giblet stock:

I usually make this stock for the gravy the day before Thanksgiving to save time. I have used chicken parts and made this stock well in advance of Thanksgiving. The stock freezes wonderfully.

While the turkey is in the oven cooking (or the day before you cook the turkey), cover the giblets, wing tips, and neck bones with water in a large pot. If desired, add a stalk of chopped celery, a chopped carrot, some parsley, and a chopped onion (with its peel as the onion skin gives the broth a golden color).

Add about 4 cups of water; let simmer approximately 1 hour.

Remove from heat and strain broth; discard cooked vegetables and reserve this giblet broth for making your gravy. Either discard giblets or, if desired, pick meat from neck and wing tips; finely chop all giblets and meat; add to turkey stock when making the gravy.



After the turkey is done roasting:

Remove the cooked turkey and rack from the roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a cutting board with a lip to collect juices and let the turkey rest before carving. While the turkey is resting, make the gravy.

Place roasting pan (with the drippings and fat) over two (2) burners on your stovetop over medium heat (always make the gravy in the same pan you used to roast the turkey).

Skim and discard any excess fat from the juices in the roasting pan. See Turkey Gravy Ingredients below for amount of fat to use in your gravy. An easy way to remove the fat is to pour the turkey juices and fat into a large measuring cup or bowl. The fat will float to the top of the bowl. Skim off all but about 3 to 4 tablespoons fat (the amount you need to make your gravy) and return it to the turkey roasting pan; discard the remaining fat.

Using a heavy spoon, scrape all the dark drippings and any crunchy bits from the sides and bottom of roasting pan. Leave them in your roasting pan as these are what add great flavor and a nice rich color to the gravy.

Mashed potato tips

It seems every family has their favorite version , with or without lumps, mashed by hand or whipped, and with or without seasoning, just avoid making it dry or too watery.
The Home Cook's Complete Guide to Mashed Potatoes

In my family, mashed potatoes were one of the first things I learned to cook. It was also one of the first things I taught my daughters to cook. Mashed potatoes seem to appeal to almost everyone. But here's the tricky thing. Ask ten people how they like to prepare their mashed potatoes, and you'll likely get ten different answers. That's because, as with all food, defining the "best" mashed potato is a very subjective thing.

Mashed potatoes are one of those side dishes that you probably had more times than you can count when you were growing up, both at home and at the school cafeteria. And the way your mom made them - whether they were red potatoes smashed with their skins on or some mysterious reconstituted potato flakes - is quite probably the way that you like them today.

Or maybe you didn't like your mom's version of mashed potatoes and grew up thinking of them as bland, gummy, watery or just plain gloppy. And then, when you had mashed potatoes at your girlfriend's or boyfriend's house or at a restaurant, you suddenly realized that mashed potatoes were fantastic. Sorry mom.

But what happens when a reconstituted potato loving person marries a red potatoes mashed with skins person and they look at each other for the first time and one says, "Hey, how about mashed potatoes for dinner tonight?"

"Oh! My favorite!" says the other. What happens next could get ugly.

My wife and I have fortunatley have the exact same taste when it comes to mashed potatoes. She makes them completely different from my mom who used a mixer to whip tons of air into hers. My wife prepares them with an old faschion tomato masher that she either found at a garage sale or grabbed from her mom's kitchen on the way to college.

Over the years I have watched many friends make their mashed potatoes and it's amazing how many different ways there are to smash these tubors. Below we will look at how choosing the best potato, how to cook them, how to mash them and then how to season and add additiona flavor.


Cranberry sauce tips

Make it tangy or make it sweet, but just don’t make it from a can. No one truly likes it that way.
Cranberry Sauce Recipe
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 cup (250 mL) water
4 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries
Optional Pecans, orange zest, raisins, currants, blueberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.
METHOD
1 Wash and pick over cranberries. In a saucepan bring to a boil water and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst.
2 At this point you can add all number of optional ingredients. We typically mix in a half a cup of roughly chopped pecans with or without a few strips of orange zest. You can add a cup of raisins or currants. You can add up to a pint of fresh or frozen blueberries for added sweetness. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice can be added too.
3 Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.
Cranberry sauce base makes 2 1/4 cups.

Dinner roll tips

No dinner plate would be complete without one, or two, homemade rolls.

3 tablespoons warm water (105–115°F)
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 teaspoons water
About 1 tablespoon poppy seeds and/or toasted sesame seeds for sprinkling

Special equipment: 2 muffin pans with a total of at least 18 (1/2-cup) muffin cups
print a shopping list for this recipe

preparation

Make dough:
Stir together warm water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved, then let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
Melt 3/4 stick butter in a small saucepan, then add milk and heat to lukewarm. Stir together yeast mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, butter mixture, bread flour, and salt in a bowl with a wooden spoon until combined well, then stir in 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, or enough to make a slightly sticky dough.
Butter a large bowl. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, kneading in more all-purpose flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (dough will still be slightly sticky). Form dough into a ball and put in buttered bowl, turning to coat. Let dough rise, bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap, in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Make rolls:
Butter 18 muffin cups with remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into thirds. Working with 1 piece at a time (keep remaining portions covered with plastic wrap), cut off tablespoon pieces of dough and form pieces into balls. Put 3 balls into each buttered muffin cup. Let rolls rise, loosely covered with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth), in draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled in bulk, 30 to 40 minutes.
While rolls rise, put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.
Brush rolls lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds. Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Cooks' note:
Rolls can be baked 1 day ahead and cooled completely, then kept, wrapped well in foil, at room temperature. Reheat in foil in a preheated 350°F oven 15 to 20 minutes.


Pumpkin pie tips

It’s the sweet treat at the end of the meal so don’t let down your guests and family with a burnt crust or a mushy center.
Ingredients
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
1 piece pre-made pie dough
Whipped cream, for topping
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

Sweet potato tips

It’s the savory sweet dish served during the meal , candy them with marshmallows, cover them in cinnamon, or just mash them down a bit.

Thanksgiving tablescape tips

Add the final touches to your meal with a table that’s fit to serve.