Our Thanksgiving was an intimate celebration with Tina’s brother Michael, his partner Jason and their friend Sasha.
I 24-hour brined a turkey in a salt-water immersion with mixed ingredients that I found in several different recipes, including salt, soy sauce, rosemary, lemon zest, and bacon fat.
Just kidding. I didn’t use bacon fat.
I oven roasted our bird for 3 hours and it was hands down the juiciest turkey I’ve ever had. One trick was the 24-hour brine. Another trick was cooking it upside down for one hour. Another was removing it when it was 5 degrees from finished. And finally, letting it rest for over 30 minutes. I didn’t carve it for about an hour.
Resting is essential for ALL cooked meat. But I never realized that you should let a turkey (or chicken) rest for that long.
An hour later, the bird was still piping hot when I cut into it. All the recipes I found said that the brine wouldn’t make the meat more salty, but it tasted a bit salty to me. I blamed the soy sauce, and probably wouldn’t use that again.
I also made mashed sweet potatoes.
Tina made pecan bars that were to die for.
Michael made two pizzas, a thanksgiving tradition. He also made garlicky fingerling potatoes, brussels sprouts and an amazing kale salad with a myriad of fresh berries and almonds.
Our guest brought to pumpkin pies, two cans of whipped cream and two containers of strawberries.
We had a great time. Sasha is a hilarious person with crass proclivities that I wish more people had. For instance, she made the lock screen on her mom’s iphone a closeup of a man’s penis and balls.
My camera lens of choice this holiday was a 50mm 1.4 set at 1.4 between ISOs 100-200.
Dip below the fold to check out more of the fun.
Bon appétit. Continue reading “thanksgiving at le café witteveen”
T
Le Café Wittypoots 