It was my great pleasure to meet with and participate in a cooking demonstration by Bradford Steelman, executive chef of Brooklyn's famed River Café this past Tuesday at Relais & Châteaux.
My fellow foodbuzzers and I were welcomed with wine and some of Brad's tantalizing hors d'œuvre: roasted suckling pig with kabocha (Japanese) squash and marshmallow, and crostini with goat cheese and black-olive tapenade. The evening was off to a propitious start.
After the hors d'œuvre, it was time to talk turkey, however. "Every Thanksgiving morning, the phone starts ringing off the hook at 8:00 A.M. with panicked people," declares Brad. "How long should I cook it?" and "what's the ratio?" come the anxious queries. "I'll just tell them to buy one of these," says Brad, referring to Electrolux's wall oven. Indeed, the oven, with such whiz-bang features as the Perfect Turkey™ Button, takes the guesswork out of roasting a Thanksgiving bird.
Of course, there's more to preparing a turkey than pressing a single button. Chef Steelman begins by brining the bird overnight (6-8 hours) in a solution of brown sugar, kosher salt, allspice, cinnamon, garlic, and other ingredients (please click here for specifics) using a clean, insulated beach cooler.
When the brining is complete, Brad places some of the vegetables and aromatics from the solution into the bird's cavity. He then ties the gobbler and rubs it with with butter.
Next, Chef Steelman inserts the probe into the thickest part (near the bottom) of the thigh, making sure to avoid any bone. Thereupon, he places the turkey onto the Luxury-Glide™ rack, presses the Oven and Perfect Turkey buttons, and closes the door—the oven does the rest. Once the turkey is fully cooked, the oven switches to a keep-warm mode, holding the temperature at 170°F until the stuffing can be added. That's it!
When carving the turkey, Chef Steelman removes the thighs first.
He then cuts along the sternum, following the contour of the bird, and makes a final incision by the wing bone.
He then slices the white meat across the grain.
Continued in the next post …
Excellent, this coming thanksgiving I was asked to host the turkey, I'm a little beat nervous because it's my first time to host a turkey this post of yours will really help me a lot.
Posted by: Thanksgiving Menus | 06 November 2012 at 01:19 AM
Thank you, doggybloggy. It was good to see you again.
Posted by: Comestiblog | 25 October 2008 at 10:02 PM
What a great shot of the crostini-you out did yourself on this one...bravo
Posted by: doggybloggy | 25 October 2008 at 04:59 PM