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Cookin again

Done right, turkey can be as tasty and enjoyable as any other poultry.

I use a steaming technique to do mine, which results in a nice, juicy bird. But that wasn’t an op this year, so we gor a fried one from our local favorite creole place.
This is my third year brining and roasting a turkey, and it turns out delicious every time! I grew up with my parents' dry, tasteless turkey, and made a vow to do better.

Here was the spread last night:
 

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Done right, turkey can be as tasty and enjoyable as any other poultry.

I use a steaming technique to do mine, which results in a nice, juicy bird. But that wasn’t an op this year, so we gor a fried one from our local favorite creole place.

I don't think I'm a fan of poultry apart from Chicken.

And we don't really do Turkey here. You can get it but it's not really a thing so cultural reasons.
 

Our Thanksgiving dinner:
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Bison ribeye steaks, eventually with a bourbon-cream pan sauce.

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Oven-roasted Brussels sprouts

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Excellent beer.

Not shown, dessert: pound cake, vanilla gelato, and an over-the-top (but excellent) pumpkin pie stout.
 
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I like turkey just fine, but it's not the only meat I've had for Thanksgiving. My grandpa would cook a giant ham every year, because he hated poultry. And my best friend's family would cook up a venison roast if the hunting was good.

One of these years, I'm going to do a standing rib roast instead of turkey. Or maybe a super-fancy Beef Wellington if I can up my pastry game.
 


I’ve had bison more than once, but never as a true steak. Sounds delicious! Did you get yours at a specialty butcher?
We picked them up at a local Wegman's, and we occasionally see bison steaks at other grocery stores around us.

There used to be a bison ranch a bit more than an hour away, but they ... aren't in business anymore (I have no idea of the story behind that). We went there from time to time to buy bison meat.

EDIT: It was just my wife and me, which is why there's just the two steaks and the small-ish amount of roasted Brussels sprouts.
 


I tried a chicken recipe I saw online.

1 cup each of honey, ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce.
1 tsp garlic powder
Bring to a boil then pour over chicken and bake. Real simple. It's good too. I think I'll marinade the chicken before cooking next time. Even though I cooked it for two hours, it didn't seem to flavor the meat like I'd hoped.

My mom mentioned dipping the chicken in the sauce. It's too watery. What can I do to make it a thicker dipping sauce?
 

I tried a chicken recipe I saw online.

1 cup each of honey, ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce.
1 tsp garlic powder
Bring to a boil then pour over chicken and bake. Real simple. It's good too. I think I'll marinade the chicken before cooking next time. Even though I cooked it for two hours, it didn't seem to flavor the meat like I'd hoped.

My mom mentioned dipping the chicken in the sauce. It's too watery. What can I do to make it a thicker dipping sauce?
To thicken it, there are two good options I see. One is to cook it down further. That might be messy or otherwise problematic. The other is to add some corn starch, which will thicken it without doing more than a very little bit to the taste. A quick poke around online says that a normal amount to thicken a soup is 1 tablespoon per liquid cup. Given the amount of thicker liquids in this, I might start with a teaspoon and add if you need more. Remember that cornstarch doesn't really work before the liquid boils.
 

I tried a chicken recipe I saw online.

1 cup each of honey, ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce.
1 tsp garlic powder
Bring to a boil then pour over chicken and bake. Real simple. It's good too. I think I'll marinade the chicken before cooking next time. Even though I cooked it for two hours, it didn't seem to flavor the meat like I'd hoped.

My mom mentioned dipping the chicken in the sauce. It's too watery. What can I do to make it a thicker dipping sauce?
Well, the soy sauce is mostly water. You might be able to replace it with a couple of tablespoons of dark miso paste (use more or less to taste). It'll have some of that salt and fermented-soybean flavor...it won't be identical, but it'll get you close.

You can use cornstarch as a thickener too, as @prabe suggests, but it can get weird if you don't cook it long enough.
 

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