Enjoying some MST3K on my day off. As thrilled as I am to see Mike, Kevin, and Bill back in the saddle for new episodes, I’m also gonna really miss the quirky aesthetics of the Gizmoplex-era. #MST3K
I use a variety of cooking styles when making breakfast or lunch, but I only time I stir fry anything is at night.
I’m wokturnal.
I've been seeing the subject pop up over the past couple of weeks. Was I not paying attention before, or did the Internet just start to realize how much of a never-ending pasta bowl of shit spaghetti Uncle Frank from "Home Alone" is?
What the fuck is wrong with some of you?
Me sitting at home watching cooking videos on YouTube:
Holiday meals in full effect. A 24-hour sous vide chuck eye roast, roasted garlic au jus, potatoes romanoff, and "A Muppet Christmas Carol."
When you're doing your holiday watch through of James Bond movies and the opening notes of the "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" score touch your soul.
Making confit chicken thighs to shred up for cornbread dressing. I cooked them for hours low and slow in a mixture of chicken schmaltz, bacon fat, and clarified butter.
Making confit chicken thighs to shred up for cornbread dressing. I cooked them for hours low and slow in a mixture of chicken schmaltz, bacon fat, and clarified butter.
Finished product (with some heavy cream and Parmesan added)! Thanks for taking this little turkey trot with me.
We simmered it for about 90 minutes and it's time to kill the heat and stir in some minced Italian parsley.
We're in the home stretch! Time to add a quart of our turkey stock, chopped rosemary, a few thyme sprigs, and a quarter cup of milk, and cook until desired thickness.
And now...my favorite part. Deglaze the pan with a little white wine. This is a rare dish where I use sparkling wine because, hey, the holidays! Why not? And while I'm at it...
From there, we're adding a 6oz can of tomato paste and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every minute or two
...make sure to pay your taxes.
It's now time to add 3 cloves of minced garlic, red/black pepper, and your pancetta that you've either crumbled or chopped up to the mix and cook for 30 seconds. It brings me to an important step in cooking...
Once you've finished cooking the turkey, reduce the heat to medium low, add your grated carrot/celery/onion mixture, add a big pinch of salt, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. After that, remove the cover and cook for about 15 minutes until the moisture cooks out.
I forgot how much ground turkey loved sticking to stainless steel! I had to add some olive oil and deglaze a few times with some water a few times to eventually get some color on the meat, but I highly recommend doing this part in a non-stick pan.
After that, remove the pancetta and add your ground turkey to the pot and cook until you get some brown bits forming, which I would have done a better job of except for the fact that....
Time to crisp up the pancetta. 3 minutes covered, then 5 minutes uncovered on medium low heat to render off some of the fat.
I'm in no mood to clean a food processor today, so I'm just using a cheese grater to process my veggies.
First things first, adding a little salt and baking soda to the ground turkey to help it brown better. It has something to do with changing the meat's ph level or alkali level or maybe it's just plain old sorcery. I'm a college dropout. How should I know?
Time to take a container of my homemade turkey stock for a spin. We're celebrating #MST3K #TurkeyMonth with Italian turkey two ways: turkey Bolognese and Diabolik! @mst3kofficial.bsky.social #mst3kturkeyday #Thanksgiving #Turkey
I'll probably use a mix of this stock and some chicken stock in my dressing because I have a lot of things I want to use the homemade stock for.
I add celery/onion/carrot that I roasted in the oven. I also added a bundle of fresh thyme and rosemary, a couple of bay leaves, and some black peppercorns.
In the fridge, 2-3 days, max.
Freezer: 4-6 months.
I probably only need one of the containers for gravy.
I'll cook down some of it with some tomato paste to make demi glace. The rest will be used for sauces or stews (turkey Bolognese, gumbo and/or chili, a version of coq au vin with turkey instead of chicken, etc.).
I used a combination of wings and necks for this, but I've used thighs, legs, and whole carcasses in the past and it's always turned out fine.
This is mainly for gravy and sauces. If I were going to make one for soup, I probably wouldn't have roasted anything before simmering.
I roast the turkey parts at a slightly lower temperature than usual to render off as much fat as possible. By the time they're done, the drippings have solidified onto the pan and are darker. I deglaze the pan with a little water and add it to the stock.
