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Ok......so the contractor's guys came yesterday to start removing the old roof. I left for work and luckily my dh came home yesterday early at 3:00 because they had installed the wrong shingles on 1/3 of our house!! They were supposed to be architectural shingles and they weren't. Sooooo, needless to say they came back today and started again and have to come back on Friday to finish.
Other than that, everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't gorge yourself too much!!
PS. Anyone ever brined a turkey? I bought some kosher salt and am going to try it. Any tips?
Ok......so the contractor's guys came yesterday to start removing the old roof. I left for work and luckily my dh came home yesterday early at 3:00 because they had installed the wrong shingles on 1/3 of our house!! They were supposed to be architectural shingles and they weren't. Sooooo, needless to say they came back today and started again and have to come back on Friday to finish.
Other than that, everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't gorge yourself too much!!
PS. Anyone ever brined a turkey? I bought some kosher salt and am going to try it. Any tips?
I am a briner without fail. It really makes a huge difference.
I usually get a clean, five gallon pail from the hardware store and line it with two garbage bags, although this year I forgot to get a pail so presently my turkey is soaking in a clean trash can lined with bags. Any brine recipe will probably be good. I've tried many and tend to like the simpler ones with just sugar, salt some lemon and a couple of herbs. Although recipes differ, the basic gist is 1/2c. each of sugar and salt per gallon of water. It takes about two gallons of brine in a five gallon pail to cover a large turkey. Don't start with ice cold water or it will take forever for the solids to dissolve. I typically dissolve everything in a smaller amount of warm water first and then cool the entire volume of liquid with ice cubes and my still slightly frozen turkey and then put the bucket outside where, pre-global warming, it could be counted on to be around fridge temp. I've heard of people in warm climates using a cooler and an iced brine instead of a pail, too.
Boo about your roof. Be thankful you have one I guess!
Waa on the roof! Good thing you husband was able to come home early, and that he noticed!!
We've brined before and it was wonderful. We haven't had the pleasure of turkeying ourselves for a few years now, but if I did, I wouldn't do it any other way. We've followed the recipe from the Good Eats guy, Alton Brown.
I'm a briner...unless you buy a turkey that has "added liquid and flavor enhancer" on the label, because that's already brined as it's going to be!
I basically do it the way splatgirl does, I just don't use anything but salt. This year, I boned the turkey and now it fits just fine in my nice big bowl with lid in the fridge. Usually, though, it's a 5 gallon bucket in the garage overnight. 1 cup salt dissolved in 4 cups hot water, then 12 cups cold.
Thanks everyone for your advice on the brining!! Today we're having Thanksgiving at dh's family and tonight I will brine the turkey overnight and make it tomorrow for here at home (gotta have some leftovers for the weekend, ya know?!). Dh doesn't get off work on Friday, so I'll spend my day cooking/baking.
Well, I brined the turkey and if I had thought it through instead of having a brain-dead moment, I would have known not to stuff the turkey after brining. Talk about salty dressing!!! YUK!!! Thankfully I made a small pan of dressing also and can mix the two.
Usually I use a roasting bag for the turkey, but I wanted to try something different. It didn't seem more moist than using the bag. Next year I think I'll try a fresh turkey. I also hand-shredded 3 cups of carrots today for the carrot cake (2 cups of it on the tiniest, little pinhole of the hand-shredder!!) and can you believe I didn't get my knuckles once!!
Roofer dudes are here again today, hopefully to finish the roof (with the correct shingles and ridge vents!). Tuesday the windows and patio door get installed and then comes the siding.
And my IKEA kitchen......still a dream. But, it will happen someday. Just gives me more time to see all the great ideas that everyone has here.
LOL Laurie! Are your palms orange? Shredding carrots by hand is what prompted the purchase of my very first food processor...I was 15!
When you remove the turkey from the brine you should give it a rinse and pat dry before proceeding. Sorry for not mentioning that! I didn't remember myself until T-Day morning when I took the turkey out....
Uh.....yeah. I didn't rinse the turkey. I just pretty much peeled the outer layer of the turkey meat off. Hey, it was an experience, right?
Surprisingly my hands were not orange.
I have an extremely old food processor (circa 1984?). Pretty much hate it. In the future I'd like to get another one that is much more simplified.
I have to tell this story. The Thanksgiving Day after we had moved here I was preparing all the food that morning, went to sit down in the dining room for a few minutes and a turkey came running full blast up our sidewalk. It was quite ironic, being Thanksgiving and all. I guess he was high-tailing it for the woods.
Laurie, that is hilarious about the turkey!! I bet he was running for his life!
Don't give up on brining...it really does make a difference. That's why some of the major companies add "10% juices added"...it makes the turkey juicier (and heavier, so you pay turkey price for the water they add).
Thanks for the birthday wishes...it's not officially my birthday here yet for another three and a half hours LOL And no sign of presents yet!!! I have to snoop around a bit more I guess LOL
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I have to snoop around a bit more I guess LOL
