Let’s Talk Food: Thanksgiving this Thursday

This Thursday is one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving!

We invite family and friends and catch up on what’s happening to them. Hopefully, we will have more than 50 people here Thursday.

Thanksgiving is when you can get fresh turkey, which I prefer instead of frozen. Although the science of freezing is quite advanced, freezing causes damage to the muscle tissue that diminishes the meat quality.

According to Harold McGee, “As raw meat freezes, the growing crystals protrude into the soft cell membrane and puncture them. When the meat is thawed, the ice crystals melt and unplug the holes they’ve made in the muscle cells, and the tissue as a whole readily leaks a fluid rich in salt, vitamins, proteins and pigments. Then, when the meat is cooked, it loses more fluid than usual, and more readily ends up dry, dense, and tough.”

However, McGee states further, “Cell damage and fluid loss are minimized by freezing the meat as rapidly as possible and keeping it as cold as possible. The faster the meat moisture freezes, the smaller the crystals that it forms, and the less they protrude into the cell membranes and the colder the meat is kept, the less enlargement of existing crystals will occur.”

So today, I will pick three 20-pound fresh turkeys from KTA Super Stores, debone them and brine them tomorrow. I will roast the bones and necks with mirepoix, a mixture of two parts onions, one part carrots and celery, until brown and then create a beautiful brown stock (because I roasted my bones) that I will use to make gravy and moisten my sausage-cornbread dressing. The turkey stock, which will be started Wednesday, will be perfect Thursday after a couple of days of slow simmering.

Tomorrow, I will bake my cornbread, cool it and cut it into cubes. I learned from my mother-in-law, Hazel Wilson, to leave the cubes out on the counter overnight to dry them. Of course, this would have been in Oklahoma, where the weather is cool, as it is in Volcano.

Wednesday night, I will bake my pies, pecan and pumpkin. I like this recipe for pumpkin pie because the crust is not soggy since it is prebaked and the filling is precooked, which cuts the baking time. My Hawaii Community College, Office of Continuing Education Class made this in my pie making class.

Pumpkin Pie and Crust with Vodka

One pie:

1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 ounces) unbleached flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1/4 cup cold shortening, cut into 2 pieces

2 tablespoons cold vodka

2 tablespoons cold water

Filling:

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3 large eggs, plus 2 yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (15 ounce ) can pumpkin puree

1 cup drained candied yams from 15 ounce can

3/4 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon table salt

Crust: Process 3/4 cup flour, salt, sugar in food processor until combined, two one-second pulses. Add butter and Crisco and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds, dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour. Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, four to six pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to two days.

Set oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator, roll on generously floured work surface to 12-inch disk about 1/8-inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Refrigerate 15 minutes.

Trim overhand to 1/2 inch beyond lip of plate. Fold overhang under itself, folded edge should be flush with edge of plate. Using thumb and forefinger, flute edge of dough. Refrigerate dough until firm, 15 minutes.

Remove from refrigerator, line crust with foil, fill with pie weights. Bake on rimmed baking sheet 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights (this is called blind baking), rotate plate, bake five to 10 additional minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven.

Filling should be added to prebaked crust when crust and filling are warm.

Filling: While shell is baking, whisk cream, milk, eggs, yolks and vanilla together in medium bowl. Combine pumpkin puree, yams, sugar, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in large heavy bottomed saucepan, bring to sputtering simmer over medium heat, five to seven minutes. Continue to simmer mixture, stirring constantly and mashing yams against sides of pot, until thick and shiny, 10-15 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and whisk in cream mixture until fully incorporated. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer or press solids through strainer. Re-whisk mixture and transfer to warm prebaked pie shell. Return plate with baking sheet to oven and bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue baking until edges of pie are set (thermometer should read 175) 20-35 minutes longer. Transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, two to three hours. The pie finishes cooking on residual heat, so do not refrigerate to cool.

Foodie bites

Hawaii Community College Cafeteria will have a special lunch tomorrow for $9.25, which includes:

• Roast turkey.

• Dressing.

• Gravy.

• Baked ham with pineapple glaze.

• Candied yams.

• Buttered corn.

• Cranberry sauce.

• Steamed rice.

• Dinner roll.

• Pumpkin pie.

If you would like the pre-order a whole pumpkin pie for $7.50 or a dozen dinner rolls for $3.25, to be picked up from 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Wednesday, call 934-2559 to place your orders.

May you have a happy Thanksgiving on Thursday!

Email me at audreywilson808@gmail.com if you have questions.