When I was younger, Thanksgiving was great for two things: mashed potatoes and stuffing.  Turkey?  Eh.  This was back in the days when brining was unheard of, and invariably, I found turkey to be dry and pretty awful, and useful for not much more than a delivery system for more gravy.

Oh what a difference a new cooking technique can make.  I really adore roasted turkey now – thank you brining!!  I don’t really make it outside the holidays, and I really should.  It’s not terribly expensive, it’s pretty healthy, and oh yes, I like it.

Leftovers aren’t an issue either.  I don’t have any recipes that take turkey, because I don’t need them.  My brother makes sandwiches, and I just eat it straight out of the fridge.  I may go nuts later this evening and fry up a couple pieces of bacon and make myself a club sandwich.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to whoever it was out there that informed me of this wonderful thing called brining.

We do a turkey breast and carve it in the kitchen and bring the goodies out on a platter to the table.  And it always makes a mess, even though I let the turkey rest, there’s still turkey juice going everywhere as I cut it up.

I had a flash yesterday.  (Doesn’t happen often!)  I have baking sheets that have a lip on them that is about 3/4″ high.  I have a cutting board big enough for the turkey breast that still fits within the baking sheet.  Result: The turkey juice that runs off the cutting board is caught by the baking sheet instead of running all over the kitchen counters!

After carving about 1/2 of it (that was more than enough for dinner and a couple midnight sandwiches) I took the remainder and just put the entire thing in one of those GIANT Ziploc bags to put in the fridge.  That way, I can carve the rest of it today when it is cold (and easier to cut up – I don’t know about anyone else, but I have trouble with the meat shredding when I cut it when it’s just out of the oven) and it was one less thing to need to do last night when I was in a turkey food coma.

First, Thanksgiving may be weighing too heavily on my mind – I could have sworn I heard a turkey in the neighborhood this morning.  And I don’t live in an area where we have wild turkeys wandering about.

I have just about everything I need for Turkey Day – except the Turkey, and today will kick off that quest.  I usually get a fresh* turkey breast, and it is always a little more challenging than I expect it to be.  You can’t buy it too far ahead of time, or you’ll have to freeze it, which kind of defeats the purpose of getting a fresh one, and if you wait too long, then they’re all gone.  And there have been years where one of the stores I shop at just never got them in!  (The poor butcher that I pestered several days in a row was as perplexed as I was – every day he was told they would be arriving and they never did.)

And I need to do a bit of rearranging of the fridge contents so it has a spot until Thursday morning.

Wish me luck!

*I don’t think that frozen is terrible or anything, I’ve just heard too many horror stories of the turkey refusing to defrost…

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

This year, I’m teaching my brother how to handle the turkey breast. (Since it’s just me & him, no sense in a whole turkey.) Honestly, it couldn’t be easier and given that I actually don’t like turkey *that* much – he can cook it next year. :)

I do a salt/sugar (2:1) brine with some peppercorns thrown in. Give that a couple hours, rinse & pat dry. Slather in melted butter and rub in the spices that suit your fancy. McCormick has a “steakhouse grind” that I’ve used and liked on turkey, and I’ll likely go with that again. Roast at 325 until internal temp reaches 165 degrees. Let rest, carve and enjoy!

No fancy or exotic sides – my brother likes to have what we’ve always had since we were kids…which is box stuffing and instant mashed potatoes and crescent rolls. It’s not exactly gourmet, but it makes him happy. A *must* for me is the dish of sweet pickles.

We got a late start today, so by the time we eat, it very well could be midnight. But, in the meantime we’ve got Cheesy Ranch Bacon Dip (details after the jump) and some ready-made spinach dip under the “Simply Enjoy” brand. The spinach dip is kind of “eh” – it’s not seasoned very well, and there are some large chunks of *something* in it that wasn’t chopped up quite right. (Texture of water chestnuts, but who knows.)

We’re skipping dessert cause we need an entire pie in the house like we need a hole in the head. That, and my brother doesn’t actually like pumpkin pie. (I’m not sure we’re really related sometimes.)

Have a lovely day and may nothing burn and all the sides finish at the same time.

Cheesy Ranch Bacon Dip

1 pint sour cream
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup bacon pieces. (Hormel’s bacon pieces work very well for this)

Mix it all up, let set up in the fridge for a bit and enjoy