Cookin again

[Dannyalcatraz]

Went to the grocery the other day, and managed to escape with only a couple of impulse buys. One of those was a bag of Moon Drop grapes. If you’ve never seen these, they look like miniature eggplants. They’re nice & sweet- some even taste like cotton candy.

Also tried baking a bunch of Brussels sprouts in the toaster oven. Coated the pan with EVOO, and tossed the halved sprouts in melted butter seasoned with salt & pepper. 400degF and 20 minutes later, we had some nicely done sprouts- some with just the right amount of char without getting burned.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

@Umbran

Got any tips about how your Dad smoked his bird? I may not do one soon, but it IS something on my radar.

 

[Zardnaar]

Went to the grocery the other day, and managed to escape with only a couple of impulse buys. One of those was a bag of Moon Drop grapes. If you’ve never seen these, they look like miniature eggplants. They’re nice & sweet- some even taste like cotton candy.

Also tried baking a bunch of Brussels sprouts in the toaster oven. Coated the pan with EVOO, and tossed the halved sprouts in melted butter seasoned with salt & pepper. 400degF and 20 minutes later, we had some nicely done sprouts- some with just the right amount of char without getting burned.

Heh used to pick brussel sprouts as a weekend job as a kid.

Middle of winter, wet weather gear, ice on plants.

Of course you throw the rotten ones at each other.

 

[Ulfgeir]

Of course you throw the rotten ones at each other.

So all of them?

 

[Zardnaar]

So all of them?

Not that many but yeah we hated them. Joked the growers boxed them up and sent them to each other as Christmas presents.

The big puffy rotten ones can be the size of two fists and semi liquid and reeking.

Bonus points if you got the side of a face. 15/16 years old being stupid. Drive buy quad bike throw a sprout hoon off.

 

[Umbran]

Got any tips about how your Dad smoked his bird? I may not do one soon, but it IS something on my radar.

A few things:

1) Brine your bird (obvious, but important).

1a) Consider layering the breast with bacon. A turkey is not a pork butt - it doesn't have the fat or connective tissue content, and so may need the basting.

2) A turkey is probably the largest thing you'll ever put in a home smoker, and it is also about the most spherical. This means it has the worst surface area to volume ratio you are apt to ever work with, and will have a longer cooking time than you expect.

3) By all that is holy, make sure that bird is fully defrosted before smoking it. Turkeys are large enough to fool you, by feeling defrosted on the outside, but having an icy core. Roasting in an oven, this is bad enough, but it is worse in a smoker. If you want that core cooked, the time is stretched forever, and the outside of the bird will be seriously overdone before the middle of the breast is safe to eat.

4) I am sure you know this, but this goes especially for a smoker - pop-up thermometers you get in some birds don't mean squat.

Beyond that, there are things he did that seemed different from modern smoking techniques, but I expect that was due to the nature of the smoker, which was home-built, rather than commercially purchased. It burned wood faster than most modern smokers, for example.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks for the tips! I’ll keep all that in mind if/when I take a stab at this.

I hear you about those pop-ups. Almost worse than useless.

And a hearty “AMEN!” about defrosting. Trying to cook a partially thawed turkey is a mistake you only make once. (Yes, I have committed that error.)

I’ll have to modify things a bit, if for no other reason than the fact that we own a Masterbuilt electric smoker, which, while sizable, is shaped rather like a dorm fridge. IOW, a tall, vertical box. Not exactly the best shape for doing a bigger bird.

That means for best results, I’ll probably have to either spatchcock it or outright carve it into parts beforehand. While either is a PITA, the side effect both have of improving the exposed surface area should virtually ensure a cooked bird and a decent outcome.

 

[Umbran]

That means for best results, I’ll probably have to either spatchcock it or outright carve it into parts beforehand. While either is a PITA, the side effect both have of improving the exposed surface area should virtually ensure a cooked bird and a decent outcome.

Yeah. My folks were doing the bird as table showpiece as well, which really calls for it being whole. For different presentation, you can disassemble the bird.

This year for "Thanks-taking" we are producing a Thanksgiving meal as takeout - we'll cook and pack it up, and our friends can come by to visit for a few minutes on the porch to say hi in distanced fashion. But it also means I don't have to do a whole bird, unless we have folks who really like dark meat. Or we do a smaller bird, with an extra breast, or the like.

We also save a little bit on timing - it is all going to be "leftovers" anyway, so it doesn't have to be cooked to be ready at precisely the same time.

 

[prabe]

Also tried baking a bunch of Brussels sprouts in the toaster oven. Coated the pan with EVOO, and tossed the halved sprouts in melted butter seasoned with salt & pepper. 400degF and 20 minutes later, we had some nicely done sprouts- some with just the right amount of char without getting burned.

My approach to Brussels sprouts is to halve them, toss them with EVOO, salt, black pepper, and Aleppo pepper, then put them in a foil-lined baking sheet in a 425F convection oven. Turn the oven light on after about ten minutes, and keep an eye on them after that. Remove from the oven when blackened to taste, drop them in a bowl and toss them with some Parm. Works well for broccoli and cauliflower, too, though cauliflower I tend to season with some curry-type stuff, and I often use that instead of rice as a base layer for our very inauthentic quick curry.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yeah. My folks were doing the bird as table showpiece as well, which really calls for it being whole. For different presentation, you can disassemble the bird.

This year for "Thanks-taking" we are producing a Thanksgiving meal as takeout - we'll cook and pack it up, and our friends can come by to visit for a few minutes on the porch to say hi in distanced fashion. But it also means I don't have to do a whole bird, unless we have folks who really like dark meat. Or we do a smaller bird, with an extra breast, or the like.

We also save a little bit on timing - it is all going to be "leftovers" anyway, so it doesn't have to be cooked to be ready at precisely the same time.

We were going to do something similar before the death of the oven killed that plan. The best thing about a plan like that, IMHO, was that I could spread the cooking out over several days and freeze stuff instead of doing it all in an exhausting 36 hour window.