Converter

This is a really involved and awesome converter I have found. It even converts messages into Morse Code!  I just like to use it when I have a quick conversion I need to make using off fractions in cooking. Every serious cook needs one of these!

Converter

Good Eats Roast Turkey

This is the recipe that I have made my for the past three years. It has never, EVER steered me wrong! I showed someone else this recipe and she loved it as well and had to give out the recipe to other people she served this to.  This comes from Alton Brown the host of the late "Good Eats" and host of a melange of numerous other shows. I am going to cut and paste this directly from Foodnetwork.com because sometimes after a while they delete the recipe and I want to keep this safe. It has been the Number 1 turkey recipe for the past SEVEN years for Thanksgiving.

“Ingredients:

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the Brine:

1 cup kosher salt

½ cup light brown sugar

1 gallon vegetable stock

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 ½ teaspoons allspice berries

1 ½ teaspoons chopped candied ginger

1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

1 red apple, sliced

½ onion, sliced

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup water

4 sprigs rosemary

6 leaves sage

Canola oil

Directions:

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in ca cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you’d like to eat:

Combine the brine, water, and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8-16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey’s cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Toast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 ½ hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely Covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.”

Tips: I usually omit the sage and rosemary. If you really like sage and rosemary then you should go ahead and use it.

In these directions they omit the aluminum foil that Alton places over the breast meat after the first 30 minutes of cooking.

Here is a link that I like to watch just before I make the turkey. He explains everything and it only takes 9 minutes. Worth the time! Foodnetwork-Turkey 

Lemonade

Ingredients:

6 Lemons (medium-large)
Zest of two (2) lemons
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
pinch salt
mint (optional)

Hardware:
Lemon Juicer
zester or veggie peeler

Procedure:
Zest the lemons and cut into thin strips (this is where the peeler comes in handy cause you will not have to strain it later.)
Mix water, sugar, salt, and zest in pot over medium heat and bring to boil for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and let set for 10 minutes to steep. (This is where to add the mint if you chose to.) Strain and move to refrigerator until cooled completely.
Meanwhile, juice the lemons. Mix lemon juice and simple syrup together and this makes lemonade concentrate. Now mix one part concentrate with 5 parts water. I usually find the 1:5 ratio the best tasting.

Side thoughts:
You can make this in larger amounts and put a pre-measured amount of concentrate in ice cube trays to freeze and have whenever you choose!
You could also add some different things into this instead of mint like rosemary or strawberries (although I would add this to the syrup when I made it)

Chinese Stir Fry-Easy

With this recipe I usually use two packages of ramen noodles with the sauce. The recipe calls for chicken bullion so I just add the flavor packet to whatever ramen I have on hand. I have never made the actual chicken part of this meal. Rachel will stir-fry some veggie mix (broccoli, carrot, garlic, peas & that sorta thing) in a skillet with a little EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) until about halfway done then add the made sauce, uncooked ramen and cover with a lid for about five minutes till ramen are done. Couldn't be simpler and all ready to eat within ah 15-20 minutes I would say. I will update the time when we make it again. Ok so for the recipe: 

For the Sauce:

·       1/2 cup soy sauce

·       1 cup water

·       2 tablespoons hot sauce (I like Franks, but you could just use red pepper flake if you wanted to be more authentic or any other hot sauce)

·       1/4 cup white sugar

·       2 chicken bouillon cubes or 1 tablespoon chicken base

·       2 teaspoons ginger (I never have this stuff on hand so I just leave it out, Plus we are not that crazy about it)

·       2 tablespoons cornstarch, in 4 tbs water to thicken

Mix everything together, except the cornstarch, in a sauce pan over medium high heat bringing to a boil then cutting the heat to med-low to simmer while prepping and sautéing the veggies.   


Other stuff:

·       2 stalks broccoli 

·       2 Carrots or 2 handfuls of baby carrots

·       Peas

·       Celery

·       Mushrooms (Fresh kind of course)

·       Anything else you may want to add: maybe a couple of beaten eggs when you add in the Ramen for some extra protein?

Cut veggies into bite size pieces and sauté until half done. Add the sauce, cornstarch, and ramen to the frying pan and cover for five minutes or until the ramen noodles are done and the veggies are al dente.