Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Roasted turkey and gravy

Ramses thinks it's Christmas.

The turkey is weighed in kilograms the oven temperature is stated in Celsius and it looks like a million dollars, not British pound or Euros.

What he doesn't say is at the end soak your hands in bleach water because you have turkey subcutaneous material shoved under your fingernails, and using a bleach water saturated cloth wipe down the pepper mill you shoved into the turkey cavity.

I'm glad he didn't say, "now be sure to wash your hands thoroughly" as American cooks alway do because as I watch them sitting here at home I go, "Oh, shut up."

None of these video tell you what to do with the turkey carcass and the leg and wing bones. Year after year on both Thanksgiving and Christmas for fifty years plus, my mother wasted the carcass that could have been used for the best turkey stock that's possible. My parents didn't know about soup stock. Easy, and worth it. Break up the bones and roast them again to nearly black. Then put them in a pot with water and boil. Strain. Cool. Remove most the fat, and freeze the aspic in whatever shape that you want, using an ice cube tray, zip lock bags, storage containers, however you imagine using it, to make gravy, to moisten and flavor vegetables, for soup or whatever. Be a good carnivore and use the whole thing.

And your prayer can include, "Thank you turkey for giving your life to sustain mine. I did the best that I could to make you delicious and to use every part of you except your feet and your head beak and eyeballs and that weird squiggly thing on your neck. I even cooked your turkey butt in my gravy. Please forgive me for stuffing all that crap inside your cavity. I realize that was very rude. Amen."

3 comments:

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Delicious.

Gordon is so full of energy. He looks like he's going to start flash dancing right there in the kitchen. Sort of an initial distraction. But it wears off as the camera adjusts to what his hands are doing.
I guarantee I will never be that happy in the kitchen. It's hard work and I'm a klutz. Takes me triple time.

MamaM said...

Your comment, Dickin' started me watching this, but I became stuck at the cooking part, wondering how the heck the bird came out so brown after being in an oven for only ten minutes at 220. I thought the timing was off and was in for longer than that, not realizing the temp was C rather than F until I found the recipe online and realized it was 475F. Duh. The C was there all along when they showed the digital display on the oven, but I missed it.

https://wasabilips.com/2014/11/gordon-ramsays-turkey-with-gravy/

I too wish I was that peppy and competent working in the kitchen, as he makes it look easy, fun and delicious. Almost enough to make me want to try cooking it that way, though we'll probably go with MrM's tried and true brined turkey on the grill. I'm presently still contemplating ChipA's sweet potatoes, when I'd already conceded earlier in the week to using canned yams.

Appreciating the recipes. Also finished up watching the A Place to Call Home series last month, courtesy of Dickin's mention.

MamaM said...

OK this is it. MrM is unable to locate the wood chips used for smoking the turkey on the grill He thought we'd packed them when we moved in May but I'm guessing he threw them away with the thought of buying fresh when needed. Since we can't find them and Gordon's recipe was conveniently within reach when the chips came up missing, we'll be doing a new thing in our new home and giving that recipe a try. I'm kind of pleased about this turn of events.