my life 2008

Diana,

I think the word you wanted was “drippings.” You use pan drippings to make gravy and bird droppings to make gunpowder.

I do green beans the same way you do it seems, although I add a few sprinkles of dried onion flakes too. My son will even eat them that way.

Roux has been the salvation of our gravy. I melt a little (2-3 tablespoons) of margarine in a medium skillet and stir in flour (maybe 1/4 cup or less) until it forms a paste. Some people cook their roux to darken it, but I just use it as-is to thicken broth or drippings. I pour the broth into the skillet and whisk it until it’s smooth. (If the skillet is very hot it’ll steam ferociously, and your smoke alarm may protest.) Cook it, stirring, until it starts to boil and it will thicken.

I’ll have to try roasting the turkey in a hot oven. I like crispy skin.

Dave

Interesting recipe you have there.

By the way, thanks!!!

Diana,

I have never tried soaking a turkey in a brine of salt and lemons or citrus juices, but funnily enough before roasting a turkey, I always rub it with lemon juice and then rub salt all over it. So I will have to try out the brine you mention.

Also, I just splurged on a combo convection/microwave and will have to try my next big roast in it. It sure sounds like yours turned out well!

Only since being off with my surgery have I had the time to watch the Food Network and am really enjoying it! There’s nothing better than a home-cooked meal like you just did and saving pennies too! Nice to hear your Vet’s Day meal was a success!

Linda

Well, hello Linda! :) It’s good to see you’re recovering. I hope you’re doing well.

Y’know, I think it’s the Food Network (and others like it) which have led me to experiment so vociferously with foodstuffs. Then add in simple recipe searches on the internet, and you have far more wonderful recipes than you could ever try. What fun!

Aunt B’Ann, I think it’s just the citrus part that’s important. It flavors the meat and the acids tenderize it. I don’t think it really matters which citrus fruits you use. My brined turkeys usually drip on the fork en route to the mouth, btw. I highly recommend brining (but I think the meat’s better if you don’t put sugar in the solution, which most brining concoctions call for).

Dave,

Pardon my ignorance, but what IS roux? (And…oh yeah. “Drippings.” I knew it didn’t sound quite right.)

d

Diana,

Roux is a cooked mixture of flour and fat used to thicken sauces. By cooking the flour in fat before introducing liquid it doesn’t get lumpy. (Lumps form when flour is added to hot liquid; globules of flour form a watertight skin that prevents the rest of the flour inside from cooking, or even getting wet.) It also cooks away the raw flour taste, so once you add the roux to your liquid (broth, whatever) you only need to cook it to the desired thickness - getting rid of the flour taste is no longer a concern.

For gravy you usually want a white roux where the flour hasn’t yet started to brown in the fat. That has the most thickening power. As you cook roux longer before adding it to the liquid, the flour darkens and the flavor changes but its thickening ability is less. Darker roux is used to add color and a nutty flavor rather than thickening.

If you’ve ever made creamed chipped beef, the white sauce that you start with is milk thickened with white roux.

Dave

Thanks, Diana. Things are going well even with the odd twinges of pain, I don’t regret the surgery (not that there was choice). But really, I can only account for my doing so much better as to the great love and care I get from David.

But on cooking - I like the way you do it - taking bits and pieces and molding it to your own recipes is sure a good way to go!

Linda

Dang Diana. If I had known you were dining alone T-Day, I would’ve invited you over to have bird with us. I, wrongfully, assumed you’d be with your cousin and his family. Mea culpa.

Dave’s got his roux down. Only piece I’d add is that as your roux gets darker, the speed at which it burns increases exponentially. You really need to keep an eye on a dark roux.