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On Thanksgiving morning, we had a special one hour What's Cookin' with Wil Pliler, the Executive Chef of the New Yorker. He had some great recipe ideas and tips for a turkey dinner.
If your bird is not self basting, and you want to help it be really moist prepare a mixture of sage, salad oil, olice oil, salt and pepper. Separate the meat from the skin and pour the mixture between the meat and the skin.
A fresh turkey is best, but never defrost a frozen bird on the counter or in water. Defrost in the fridge.
Never cook the stuffing in the bird...always in a casserole dish in the oven
Cut up root vegeatables (carrots, onions, celery) and line the bottom of the roasting pan before putting the turkey in the pan. Add Chicken broth to the bottom of the pan. Strain after cooking to use for gravy. Wil's secret ingrdient for delicious gravy, hard boiled eggs! 2 eggs chopped up for a quart of gravy.
Wil likes pecan cornbread stuffing with pecans, leftover cornbread, leftover baking powder biscuits, sage, chicken stock, salt and pepper. You could also try cubed ham and shredded swiss cheese in your dressing.
For cranberries, buy the package of the fresh berries in the store, put some in a blender with sugar and an orange. (recipe on the bag of cranberries) He says you'll never have leftover cranberries this way.
Yams, or sweet potatoes, are best if wrapped in foil and baked like a baked potato and adorned with butter and salt and pepper. He doesn't go in for all the sweetness (but, everybody is different on that score!)
He likes Turkey Noodle Soup, Turkey Pot Pies and even Turkey Shephard's Pie for leftovers.
If you bake pecan pie, line the bottom of the pie pan with chocolate chips before you put the pie filling in.
To hear the special What's Cookin' segment we did with Wil, just go back to the main radio page and click on Podcasts. As long as you click on Podcasts after 7am on Thanksgiving morning, you will hear the one hour program.
Have a great holiday weekend.
