turkey postmortem

Nat's Franco-Scottish Oatmeal Stuffing

• olive oil
• onions
• garlic
• sausage
• ground pork
• salt, pepper, herbs
• oatmeal (raw)
• chicken broth
• walnuts
• apples? cranberries?
• a shot of Scotch

1. Melt onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Remove from pan.
2. Brown the walnuts in the pan and then set them aside.
3. Brown sausage and ground pork, mixing them and breaking clumps.
4. Add the onions and garlic and walnuts.
5. Add two cups of raw oats (to start).
6. Add enough broth to almost cover the mixture.
7. Add apple pieces if you want to have apples in the stuffing.
8. Season with salt, pepper, herbs, and scotch.
9. Cook mixture adding oats (if it's too wet) or broth (if it's too dry) if necessary, stirring occasionally.

Apple-Brined Turkey

I'd never cooked a turkey before, so I was in the apprentice role. The turkey comes already emptied out, leaving an upper and a lower cavity. Its neck is stuffed into one cavity and a bag of "giblets" -- gizzard, liver, heart -- stuffed into the other.

(Note to the fellow who left a comment earlier saying meat is murder: I didn't pull the trigger; I only took delivery of the corpse.)

Neck and giblets will be used for gravy. The rest of the turkey spends 12 hours in a 5-gallon bucket filled with 2 gallons of apple brine:

• 1 gallon of apple cider
• 1 gallon of water
• 2 cups of kosher salt

Our 14-pound turkey did not taste salty. It tasted moist and delicious. After stuffing it with Nat's Franco-Scot concoction, we put it in an oven bag (pre-powdered with flour) on top of strips of celery and carrot. It cooked in just over 2 hours at 350ºF. It was unbelievably delicious.

Sides

We had spiced carrots, cranberry compote with ginger and molasses and garlic mashed potatoes.

We boiled the neck and giblets with a diced red onion and olive oil. Strain the broth and mix with flour to make incredible gravy. (And we're using the gravy now to start soups.)

My mother brought candied yams -- she mixes the yams with undiluted orange juice concentrate (!) and brown sugar. She also brought pumpkin pie for dessert.

We are, of course, experimenting greatly with leftovers.