cooking turkey

[marwel7]

In Stephen Fry's Programme about America,episode 2 the deep south,when he went to Thanksgiving dinner how were they cooking the turkeys? It looked like they put it in a deep fat fryer.

[crisgal]

yes, some people deep fry their turkeys!
I believe, if it's done right, it's very nice.

[Clanad]

It is very nice, but what a mess! We've done it a couple of times here in the western U.S., but you have to buy the cooker since it's specially made for the turkey. It takes a lot of oil. Ours takes two gallons of peanut oil. It has to be done ouside... not even in the garage. A lot of fires have been started when inexperienced cooks let the turkey into the oil too quickly and it started bubbling over and turned the cooker over!
It does cook quickly and the turkey is quite moist and tender... not really worth the trouble. Others have used it for hams or whole hams of wild game...

[crisgal]

also, at the same meal, Stephen commented on the marshmallows on the pumpkin pie. I thought pumpkin pie was a savoury dish. Is it not?

[Clanad]

Not here in the U.S. It's staple for Thanksgiving dinner and there are various recipes. Here;s ours:

2 cups of pumpkin pulp pur�e from a sugar pumpkin or from canned pumpkin pur�e
1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
1 good crust (see p�te bris�e recipe)
To make pumpkin pur�e from a sugar pumpkin: start with a small-medium sugar pumpkin, cut out the stem and scrape out the insides, discard (save the seeds, of course). Cut into sections and steam in a saucepan with a couple inches of water at the bottom, until soft. Scoop out the pulp from the skin. Or you can bake whole or halved in a 350�F oven until fork tender. Optional - put pulp through a food mill or chinois to make extra smooth.


Method
1 Preheat oven to 425�F.

2 Mix sugars, salt, and spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin pur�e. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated.

3 Pour into pie shell and bake at 425�F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350�F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

4 Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.

Serve with whipped cream.

[crisgal]

Clanad, it sounds delicious! I can see why you have it at thanksgiving - it's a lot of work!

Just curious, is a sugar pumpkin the same as an orange ordinary one that we get over here?

[marwel7]

Thanks

[Clanad]

Same thing, generally crisgal... It is a variety of pumpkin that grows fairly small and ripens somewhat earlier. It's is known for more sweetness and its darker orange skin...

[~max~]

Clanad, I hope you don't mind, but I'm coming round for Thanksgiving dinner!

[Clanad]

Ya'll come, ~max ... were just up Bear Creek... third place on the right after the old Pondersoa Pine... don't mind the blue heeler dog... he barks a lot, but just keeps the salesmen away... dinner is at 3:00, we'll look for you...

[Leoben]

Maybe you can try to use a magic gadget - turkey pop-up timer, just insert and use it.
The internal organic material is specifically designed to dissolve at specific predetermined temperatures, it is solid under normal temperature and fixed the stem. Once the firing material dissolves, the stainless steel spring releases the stem, allowing it to "pop up". This indicates that the food has reached the correct final temperature for safety and doneness.
http://www.popuptimers.com