Thanksgetting

You know, the silly thing about making a statement like I did before is that it's emphatic.  "The new year approaches...etc."  Well, here I am again.  I don't think I have ever really spent too much time working in the kitchen, and being creative in the kitchen is rather frightening for me in general, usually because I end up making stuff that tastes like crap and I have to toss it.  Which does happen.

So here we are, Thanksgiving morning, 12:30 a.m.  I have endeavored to brine my first turkey ever...a ridiculous undertaking.  Making your own turkey brine isn't that hard...if you have the dozen odd spices sitting on your shelf that it requires, some of which are large quantities that I didn't pay attention to.  But the biggest disappointment is that I bought a PRE BRINED bird only to worry about letting it get to room tempurature, and I didn't put it in the fridge like I was supposed to!  I stuck it in a cooler with a bunch of Blue Ice packs, and the damn bird partially froze!  So my sister came to my rescue, bought a fresh, unfrozen bird, and drove it 25 miles from the Valley all the way to Venice, so I could begin again.  But...it is a natural, unbriny type bird, and I endeavored to try brining overnight.  Even though every recipe calls for 18-36 HOURS of brining.  DOH!  Ack.  Not enough time in the day.

My silly thinking that I could just master this by Googling has already turned into a disaster.  But all is not lost, as even if the bird doesn't totally get briny, it will at least have some juiciness imparted on the sauce I am steeping it in, and tomorrow I will dry it off, then rub it down with the dry rub I made, then I drop it in the Infrared Turkey Cooker I assembled yesterday after work!  Even that thing needed to be seasoned!!  I had to rub it all down with cooking oil, fire it for 20 minutes and let it get golden.  Prevents rust and helps it cook more evenly apparently.

If the bird comes out tasting good, I'm cooking the other bird on Saturday.

Reinvention

New Year approaches...new blog. New interest: cooking. I love cooking, and I especially love making up recipes. It makes me feel creative, gives me pleasure, and I'm usually the one that is the main beneficiary of my own cooking, so I just go hogwild.

So here is my first new post...Savory French Toast!

I came home from a lovely weekend at the farm with my girlfriend, and decided I was hungry. She wasn't- so I had to concoct something for myself. Considering I only had her food to use, I needed to get creative. I saw the eggs, the bread, and thought, "I love French toast, but it's 2 p.m. I need something a bit more savory." Of course, this is the result.

I replaced the sprinkled sugar with grated reggiato/parmesan, and used roasted garlic & herb seasoning, grilled onions and fresh tarragon to round out the flavor. Fantastic!!!!