Thanksgiving wrap-up

Take-aways from this holiday meal:

This was the first time I brined a turkey, and I'm not going to do it again. The turkey was saltier but not appreciably juicier, and the whole thing was kind of a pain. I've made better turkeys without such a hassle.

Gravy and stuffing were spot on - I'll continue to do turkey stock in advance.

I seasoned the carrots with a spice mix called "Tagine seasoning" - in other contexts it might have worked but in this one it ended up tasting too much like pumpkin pie. (I should have known, given that cinnamon and ginger are in that mix along with cumin, paprika, and cayenne.) I'm sticking to unsweetened carrots with dill, or carrots sweetened with maple syrup from now on.

The big winner was the mini pecan tarts - the flavor of pecan pie without the leftovers hanging around to tempt me. I ran the recipe through a nutrition calculator - they're 210 calories each! Not bad!

The Feast

Roast beast:

On the plate:

Appetizer time

Time to start munching:

Life is uncertain...

Make dessert first.

The pumpkin pie recipe is the one on the back of the Libby's pumpkin can. The other things next to it are mini pecan tarts in phyllo dough. It's a riff on this recipe for pecan pie bites from Southern Living. I made these because I like pecan pie but don't want to have a whole pie to eat all weekend.

Filling:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 egg
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. melted butter
Crust:
6 phyllo sheets
2 tbsp. melted butter

Beat the egg, mix in sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, 2 tsp. melted butter, and pecans. Layer the phyllo dough, brush each sheet with melted butter. Cut the stacked phyllo into 12 pieces and put 8 of the stacks into a standard muffin tin (The filling as I made it only makes enough for 8 tarts - I thought it would make 12 so that's how I cut the phyllo dough. Those squares are the right size to fit into the muffin cups.) Fill the cups with the filling, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I said the recipe makes 8, so why are there only 7 on the plate? Well, this is the first time I've tried to make these, so I had to test one just to make sure they came out well.

They're delicious.

Thanksgiving prep: Turkey in the brine

Turning the turkey in the brine, observed by a curious cat.

For my brine I used a gallon of water, a cup of salt, and a cup of maple syrup. We'll see tomorrow how it comes out.

Thanksgiving prep: Cranberry sauce

Just a small tweak from the recipe they put on the back of the cranberry bag:

1 12-oz bag cranberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange liqueur

Thanksgiving prep: Turkey stock

I always make turkey stock before Thanksgiving so that I have it for gravy and stuffing.

5 pounds turkey legs
2 carrots
2 celery ribs
1 onion

Into the oven for 1 hour at 400:

Then into the pressure cooker for 30 minutes under pressure:

Strained through a cheesecloth-lined fine mesh strainer and ready for the refrigerator: