More turkey talk

In just a few short hours the fabulous fall festival of family, food and, of course, football otherwise known as Thanksgiving will be upon us. Long before partaking in the festivities or the tryptophan induced coma I’ve been diligently researching my holiday menu.

Those of you who have been around this parts long enough know that I’m not much for tradition when it comes to Thanksgiving. Still, this post has me a touch nostalgic. My ‘Talking Turkey‘ post from nearly a year ago today was not only the fifth ever post, but the first ever culinary oriented one here on the old bliggity blog.

Over the past two years I have been scrounging for scraps, if you will, from the local organic markets relieving them of their abundance of turkey drumsticks. For a number of reasons their meat departments have seen an increase in sales of turkey breasts leaving them with superfluous turkey legs and other various parts.

Their burden became my bounty when I scored as many as I could handle for the pittance of $.99 per pound. In turn my family was treated to an osso bucco style turkey feast that featured an impressive array of side dishes befitting my Italian heritage.

While my more recent efforts have been a hit with my family, not to mention extremely economical, I have decided to rock the apple cart and mix things up. Other than being bored with the menu I’ve put out for the past two years, I am interested in a new challenge that will hopefully yield a true gastronomical delight.

So, what exactly do I have planned? Deep frying, perhaps? No, this year I will be smoking the Thanksgiving turkey!

As I write this I have a 14 pound turkey comfortably resting in my refrigerator that is two days into the brining process.

Many veteran turkey preparers are more than familiar with the traditional brine process which involves immersing the unsuspecting bird in a aqueous solution that is seasoned with salt, sugar or molasses and a nearly limitless number of spice and flavor combinations. However, since I am anything but traditional, I am employing a dry brining method.

What exactly is a dry brining method you may be wondering? Well, it is in essence doing nothing more than salting the turkey using a predetermined ratio of salt to weight that is reminiscent of the curing process. Through the course of researching brine recipes I stumbled upon a four year old article from the Los Angeles Times that proclaimed to have discovered the be all-end all turkey recipe.

Emboldened by the article, and a slew of cooking blogs that reported favorable results after having employed this method, I decided to give it a shot. When you consider the simplicity of applying a tablespoon of kosher salt for every five pounds your turkey weighs against creating a liquid brine solution, fashioning an appropriate storage vessel so it is properly submerged and either making room in the refrigerator or maintaining a properly iced cooler, this seemed like a great alternative.

After completing the dry brining process I will be stuffing the turkey with some aromatics, applying a compound butter under the skin and rubbing the exterior of the turkey with a spice mix I have devised. Then it will go into my smoker at 225 degrees for about 25 minutes per pound with some apple and pecan wood chips.

Needless to say I am quite excited about the whole process and look forward to reporting back on the results of my experiment.

So what about you? Are you trying something new this Thanksgiving, or are you sticking to tried and true family traditions? I’d love to hear more about what you do. No matter how you plan on spending your day, I wish you and your family and very happy Thanksgiving!

In case you’re interested, here is the full menu for my Thanksgiving table:

• Apple and Pecan Wood Smoked Turkey with Pearl Onion and Cranberry Sauce
• Garlic & Chive Smashed Potatoes with Crème Fraiche
• Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic and White Wine
• Grand Mariner Scented Orange Cranberry Sauce