I didn’t try this until it was a dish at a family reunion potluck in Pittsburgh in 2018. Tasty!
Cranberry pretzel salad could be a Thanksgiving twist!
It’s definitely a Midwestern thing. Yeah, I know PA is not Midwest, but in my head everything between Bedford and Pitt is “Honorary Midwestern”. I’d think crushed cranberries would be a direct drop-in for this salad (and I just looked, Jell-O does make a cran flavor).
Wife’s family are Scandinavian. Lefse making is the big Christmas tradition. Reminds me of Alton Brown’s prohibition on uni-taskers. An electric griddle that only gets hauled out of the closet once a year.
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Thanks for posting this, it looks good. And should make some killer sandwiches.
But I have a question about his target temperatures. For this breast meat he shoots for a finished temperature as low as 145°F - 150°F (and for dark meat he mentions 165°F). But USDA and others like ATK are sticking with 165°F for breast meat and 175°F for thigh meat.
If you’ve made this before, do you follow his instruction and only cook to 145°F-150°F? Maybe it’s the case that the common recommendations because of the bone-meat interface. [Edit - or maybe not. Just checked and Butterball recommends their boneless breast to be cooked to 165 - 170°F.]
I tend to be someone who tries to hit 155F and then let carry over happen. That being said, if you feel strongly about following USDA guidelines, there is enough salt in the rub that will cure the meat before cooking that it will dry brine the breast and keep it pretty juicy, regardless.
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Food & Wine has several cranberry sauce recipes but I really love one that I can’t find on their site now; for some strange reason, they called it a relish.
So easy and you can make ahead and refrigerate.
In a non reactive pan (I use a Berndes nonstick pot) place 1 cut Bourbon, grated rind of 1 orange, ¼ cup finely minced shallots. Cook on low 10 minutes, stirring some, until a bit syrupy and cooked down.
Add a bag (12 oz) of cranberries and 1 cup of white sugar, stir well, cook about 10 minutes. I use a wooden spoon to break up about ½ of the cranberries. Add some freshly ground black pepper at the end.
Let cool, refrigerate covered. Tastes great on a toasted bagel with cream cheese.
Makes your house smell great. If you don’t want to use Bourbon, you can sub orange juice but the Bourbon is great and most of the alcohol cooks out.
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Have we talked brining wars (wet vs dry) yet? My search didn’t bring one up.
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I have been so busy with work that Thanksgiving totally snuck up on me this year. Whoops! I think it’s just going to be the two of us - we were invited to a friend’s gathering but they are also hosting some family so we decided to meet with them later in the weekend to demolish leftovers.
Anyway, neither of us really likes turkey so I always look for an alternative main. This year DH requested fried chicken, so for lack of any better idea, fried chicken it is! My sausage and roasted vegetable stuffing is always the main event for me anyway. I’ll make mashed potatoes and gravy as well, maybe a shaved Brussels sprout salad to lighten things up. Pumpkin pie in little ramekins for DH and I think I may try a pouding chomeur (maple pudding) recipe for myself - I usually want apple pie but for some reason I’m not feeling it at the moment. I hope I don’t live to regret that decision!
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We have several holidays and birthdays back-to-back this time of year and without-fail, fried chicken is always one of the requested meals. Go for it! Treat yourself, and make extra for chicken-and-waffles. 
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Pace yourself!
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I’m thinking of going with a spatcchocked 16-18 pound Mary’s organic "never frozen turkey ". I had it sent to the in-laws, so i don’t know exactly.
How big does my baking rack need to be?
I’m vaguely remembering doing this before, but the turkey was smaller.
Looks like @kobuta has experience!
How do you think roasting the spatcchocked turkey in halves might work?
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Dry brine all the way.
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I’ve spatchcocked a turkey many times, although I use a roaster, so I can put lots of veg underneath.
For a 16-18 lb. bird, I would select my biggest roaster, which is 16" x 13". If you’re using a sheet pan, I would say a half-sheet pan.
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We often roast a duck and serve it with cranberry at Thanksgiving. We almost always roast a duck or goose rather than a turkey at Christmas. Occasionally we have made Beef Wellington instead of roast goose or duck.
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I do duck sometimes - in fact, I’ve made duck confit and/or seared duck breast a couple of times in the last few years. I’ve never done goose, though - it’s harder to source.
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I dry brine steaks and other flat-ish meats. I’ve been wet bringing turkeys (and chickens) for I guess 20+ years. I only make a whole turkey maybe 3 or 4 times in a given year. I have tried dry brining a few times in more recent years, but found the results were a bit inconsistent across the bird. I could get some salt under the skin on the breast but less so elsewhere (e.g. only “on” the skin for dark meat) and didn’t find much if any salt flavor having penetrated into the legs/thighs, and they got more dry than usual.
So I just stick with my old pickle bucket and a wet brine, having the luxury of an extra fridge to accommodate the space requirement. I start with “tea” base that is about a quart of water in which I boil cracked whole peppercorns and cracked allspice berries, a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary, and a lot of crushed garlic (pretty sure I got this notion from Alton Brown). I boil this mix in the microwave and as it cools a bit I re-boil it a few times, then finally strain and let cool.
I make the brine more diluted as to salt than the usual brine instruction because I leave it in the brine for 24 hours. So instead of the ~ standard instruction of 15 g/cup water (240 g/gallon), I’m using about 150 g/gallon salt. Some of this salt (about 1/3) is usually from Lawry’s seasoned salt so I have to fiddle around with total mass, but the sodium content is listed on the label, so I can convert that to salt content readily.
I’m also using brown sugar at similar concentration. For a Thanksgiving meal, I put the bird in the brine usually Monday afternoon or evening then drain bucket the next day. Then Wednesday afternoon I’ll put it on a rack over a sheet pan in the fridge to dry the skin. It might be my imagination, but I think that having the brine completed a day or 2 in advance lets it continue to equilibrate throughout the meat.
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Wow. I like rutabagas roasted, I usually do a roasted root veg mix with them plus carrots, sweet potatoes and parsnips.
But I couldn’t imagine Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes! I don’t do the marshmallow version–I peel and cut into chunks, into a pan with a little salted water and butter. Simmer till they begin to get tender, then add a bit of cream and a few spoonfuls of brown sugar. Mash until chunky.
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I order it at my butcher but it’s really expensive now. It was already around $80 3 years ago. Probably $120 this year.
I’m better at cooking duck and I can get a Brome lake duck from Quebec (which I like better than most of my local Ontario ducks) for $ 25-$30.
Gyros, “smash mouth potatoes” (mashed with skin on, no milk, but lots of garlic, onions, and sour cream), mushroom sauce, some token healthy green thing, like salad. Store bought pumpkin pie.
Calorie induced slumber.
Eat more.
I am in Phoenix AZ, and duck is becoming scarce in grocery stores. I cook turkey and duck several times a year, but no longer for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I am on the hunt for duck; and will buy 3 if I find a good price, freeze, and enjoy later.
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