Bringing Cajun Flair to a Yankee Thanksgiving

Hey, everyone!  Jolie's husband Andy here.  I'm back again with another guest post.  No liquid libations to speak of this time, though.  Nope, this post is all about Thanksgiving.  Yup, FRIED turkey, delicious cornbread dressing, and of course, yummy pecan pie.

Let's start with the turkey, shall we?  My mom's youngest brother, my uncle Mark, is a whiz in the kitchen.  They are pure Cajun (or coon-ass as we say in Louisiana) and I've learned lots of dishes, tips, and tricks from them.  My uncle moved to Florida with his family about 10 or so years ago and I've reconnected with him on Facebook these past few years.  I genuinely hate Facebook, but it really is an easy way to stay in touch with family and friends.  Ok, back to the turkey.  I caught up with my uncle to get some turkey frying tips.  We talked for about 20 minutes and he gave me the necessary pointers to ensure success.

The most important thing is safety.  Because we have Thanksgiving dinner at Jolie's parents' house, I ran the idea of frying the turkey by her mom.  She was concerned about the house/garage being burned down.  I assured her that wouldn't be an issue.  There are two important steps to making sure you don't end up with a grease fire.  First is to know how much oil you're going to need.  Do this by placing your turkey in the frying pot and fill with water until the turkey is submerged with about an extra inch above the bird.  However much water you've used, that's how much oil you need.  Next, once you heat up the oil, you have to pat the turkey down to remove excess water and SLOWLY and CAREFULLY lower the turkey into the fryer.  This could take 5-10 minutes.  Whatever you do, you can't just drop the turkey into the hot oil, it will spill over the top and you WILL have a grease fire on your hands.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, on to the nuts and bolts.  When frying, you want a bird between 10-14 lbs.  I ended up with one that was a touch over 13.  For the injectable marinade, I ordered Cajun Injector brand Creole Butter.  I got it online and it shipped from Louisiana.  Jolie ordered a nice, big stainless steel injection syringe from amazon.com.  Thaw the turkey and inject as you normally would.  I focused more on the breasts than anywhere else.  If there's one thing I can't stand, it's dry, flavorless white meat.  I injected the turkey with the entire jar.  After that, I used some Tony Chachere's Spice N' Herb seasoning.  I sprinkled it very generously all over the skin of the turkey and inside of the cavity.  Once finished, I stuck it in the fridge to marinade.  I did this almost 48 hours prior to frying the turkey.  Minimum marinade time is 12 hours but I knew that giving it 48 would make it that much better.

At that point I got started on the cornbread dressing.  This was another of Uncle Mark's concoctions and it is very good.  I made it for the first time last Thanksgiving and it was a hit with Jolie's family.  I started by mixing up 5 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Muffin mix according to the directions.  I normally would split the mix into two pans for baking but the foil pans I picked up were too big so I just baked all 5 boxes in a big pan.  The cornbread came out beautifully.  At that point, I boiled a whole chicken in water for an hour.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  Once the chicken is cooked, removed from the stock and let cool.  Do NOT get rid of the chicken stock.  I knew better than to do this and I fubar'd it by pouring it out.  In the back of my head, a voice was telling me, "you know you're going to need that stock...right?"  I ignored it and poured it out anyways.  Fortunately, Jolie had some chicken bouillon cubes and suggested I use them to recreate my stock.  So I did.  It wasn't bad at all, actually.
Next step was to brown a pound of pork and a pound of beef together on the stove.  I added in some Emeril's Essence seasoning, 5 tbsp of Cajun Power Garlic Sauce (also came from Louisiana), onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.  While that was going, I went ahead and de-boned the chicken.  I kept the chicken stock at a simmer and once the chicken was de-boned and shredded, I added it back to the stock, along with the meat mixture.  Then I added 2 large onions, 2 celery hearts, 2 peppers, and I think that was about it.  I gave the mixture about 4 hours of simmer time on the stove.  30 minutes before it was done, I added in some green onions and parsley.

After the four hours is up, remove the pot from the heat and add to the cornbread.  If you've done the cornbread in two separate pans (unlike me), just pour half of the mixture into each pan and mix with the cornbread thoroughly.  Then cover and refrigerate overnight.  Whenever you're ready to cook, just leave covered with foil and put in the over for about an hour, then uncovered for 30 minutes or so.  I was busy with the turkey so Jolie handled the oven temperature and the timing this year.  The nice thing about the recipe is it makes two batches.  After cooling overnight in the fridge, stick it in the freezer and you've already got your dressing for Christmas dinner done!

(This blurry picture was from last year’s batch. It hadn’t been cooked yet. Imagine if it looked like this, except darker and way yummier.)

Meanwhile, it's time to get the turkey into the fryer.  Add however much oil you previously measured into the frying pot.  Turn on the burner and crank it up until it hits about 375 degrees.  Once it does, VERY slowly and CAREFULLY lower the turkey into the hot oil.  It will spit and splatter, that's normal.  Take your time and don't get in a rush.  If the oil start to rise too much, pull the turkey back out a little until it calms.  After a few minutes, the turkey will be submerged.  Keep an eye on the temperature, you want the oil to stay between 325 and 350.  Cook the turkey for 4 - 4 1/2 minutes per pound.  Mine was 13 pounds and I cooked it for about 50 minutes.  Once it's finished, remove from the oil and let drain in a pan or tray with some paper towels to catch the oil.  Let it sit for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Now on to the pie.  Normally I make these pecan pies from my mother's recipe a few times a year.  I buy store bought pie crusts and have at it.  This year, Jolie made her "from scratch" home made pie crust.  That crust is so flaky and terrific.  Anyways, I was kind of worn out from doing the turkey and dressing so I asked her if she would mind handling the pie.  She graciously obliged :D

So, that's about it.  The turkey was PHENOMENAL.  There wasn't any left, all of it was eaten.  Although I botched the chicken stock for the cornbread dressing and had to re-create it, you'd never know.  It was as good as ever.  The pecan pie was delicious, as well.  Sorry for the long post, but I hope you all enjoyed it!

Thanksgiving Post #2: Apple Crumb and Pecan Pies

I’m going a little out of order and skipping to the pies. It’s what you all wanted to read about next, anyway, right?

Pie #1: Apple Crumb Pie

I had an apple pie recipe that I’ve made before that I really wanted to do again. This year, though, I wanted to up the ante and make my own pie crust. I’ve always bought the pre-made crusts from the store and they’re always just okay. This year, I figured I’d finally buy a pie plate and suck it up. So I did. I underestimated the process, though.

Start off with a ton of flour, shortening, a touch of sugar, and a good amount of salt. I used butter instead of shortening. Blend it up with a pastry cutter until crumbly. In reading those directions, I decided to soften my butter first. I read later than you’re not supposed to do that. Oops.

In another little bowl, mix an egg with some water.

Blend it into the flour mixture. I really, really wished at this point that I was using my kitchenaid mixer. Gooey floury dough is such hard work to beat, but honestly I didn’t want to get more dishes dirty. I’d already made enough of a mess!

The recipe makes dough for 2 pies (though I had to find this out by scouring the reviews, because the recipe itself, very helpfully, says “32 servings”). I divided the dough into two balls and chilled them in the fridge.

I suppose that I envisioned just smooshing the dough into my pie plate. Luckily, I decided to do a google videos search and learned about proper pie crust making technique, so I didn’t completely screw this up.

I love this non-stick roller. I bought it when I lived in small-town Pennsylvania and had invited friends over to help me make Christmas cookies before realizing that I didn’t own a roller. I then scoured my town’s stores before finally finding this. I hadn’t intended to spend so much on such a simple tool, but I guess it’s been worth it. Anyway, as with anything else you’d roll, put flour everywhere.

The google videos I saw said to spread the dough out so that it went a good 2-3 inches beyond the plate. In retrospect, my plate has such a big lip that this wasn’t really necessary, but whatever. Apparently rolling dough in an even circle is much harder than it sounds.

Getting the dough into the plate was much harder than expected. It was heavy but delicate, so I used the roller to help me out. Not perfect, but not bad for my first time.

Trim the edges with some kitchen shears. For some reason, I thought that part was really fun!

I beefed up the edges by blending in some of the dough that I snipped off. I also ate some. I was shocked to realize that it was not sweet like cookie dough, which I apparently thought I was working with. Still yummy. I wrapped my pie shells in plastic and put them in the fridge until the next day, when it was time to make pies.

Now for the filling.

I sliced up 6 apples very thinly. Sprinkle on some lemon juice.

Make a mixture of white sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Forget to take a picture of it. Just go on and dump it in your apples, tossing it as if it’s salad. Make sure the camera is on the wrong setting so that it appears dark and weird.

Spoon the apple mixture into your pretty homemade crust. The first year I did this, there were far too many apples for the store-bought crust, and I sent hubby (boyfriend at the time) to the store for another one. He was very happy about this (not). That’s when I learned that the apples shrink in the oven so it’s okay to heap them in there. Less of an issue with my deep pie plate.

Next, mix up some flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter and blend with that wonderful pastry blender. I used a butter knife before I had this thing.

And just sprinkle it all on top of the apples.

Cover it with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes. Then remove the pie and stand over it, inhaling deeply and fighting the urge to update your facebook status to brag about how amazing this pie smells/ looks.

Pie #2: Pecan Pie

This one is hubby’s specialty. He did this one all on his own, as he always does. According to his mom’s recipe, cream butter and sugar together. Then add karo syrup.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Hubby used to do this by hand, but he’s discovered that doing it with the mixer makes for a fluffier filling. At this point, add salt and pecans.

Pour it in my pretty crust. Because this will be in the oven for an hour, uncovered the whole time, I fashioned a crust shield with some foil to keep the crusts from burning to a crisp.

It worked!

Honestly, my presentation of the pies on plates sucked that night. It was like scrambled pies, so I didn’t bother with pictures. The next day, I tried again, and I did much better.

Delicious. Here is the crust recipe, and this is the apple crumb pie recipe. Pecan pie recipe will be in my tastebook at some point.