The Bitten Word

Thanksgiving 2009: Roast Spatchcocked Turkey

Martha Stewart Living (November 2009)

We have a love/hate relationship with Thanksgiving turkey. On the one hand, a golden-skinned roast turkey is the classic centerpiece of the Thanksgiving dinner. Done right, the meat is tender and juicy, the skin perfectly crisp.

But getting the bird on the table can be so much work! Do you brine it ahead of time or not? If you do brine, should you do a wet brine or a dry brine? Should you rub the skin with butter? Should you stuff the bird or cook the stuffing separately? Should you baste it while it's roasting?

And then, on the day of the big dinner, the bird sits there, taking up the majority of your oven space for three hours while the clock ticks closer to dinnertime.

Well, forget all that!

Reader, we'd like to have a word with you. Just one word, actually. This word is your key to a Thanksgiving turkey that takes just 70 minutes (!) from start to finish. No brining, no stuffing, no nothing.

That word is "spatchcocking."

Thanksgiving Guide 2009: What the Food Magazines Are Recommending

172 Recipes From 9 Leading Food Magazines

 

Thanksgiving is food magazines' time to shine. In years past, many of the food mags we read have used their November issues to really push the limits with innovative spins on Thanksgiving faves.

Sure, there are usually plenty of approachable standbys. But the classics usually sit alongside some really envelope-pushing ideas: Throw a Thanksgiving clambake! How about a Pacific Rim-fusion dinner? Truffle-laden turkey! Indian-spiced sweet potato gnocchi!! Vegan French-Vietnamese gluten-free stuffing!!!

Not so this year. From the looks of this year's crop of Thanksgiving food mags, 2009 is all about simplicity and basic, standard dishes. It's the Great Recession, and everybody just wants a big ol' piece of pumpkin pie.

Just look at what the magazines call out from the newsstands:

Martha Stewart Living: "Thanksgiving, simple and sensational"

Fine Cooking: "All the classics made easy"

Food Network: "Easy Thanksgiving"

Bon Appétit: "Thanksgiving made easy"

Everyday Food: "A Thanksgiving menu that's easy to make"

We have nine November issues in front of us, and nearly all of them are focused on "traditional" menus that are very straightforward.

The food magazines may have stuck to the classics this year, but that doesn't mean the options are limited. In the nine magazines we have, there are, in fact, 172 Thanksgiving recipes.

All those options can leave you more than a little stressed out. It's all too easy to get wrapped up in the idea that Thanksgiving has to be perfect and if you don't select the right stuffing recipe, your mother-in-law will break into tears at the table.

But fear not!  We've cataloged all 172 options below so that you, dear reader, can browse this year's recipes and make some selections for yourself. Over the next three weeks, we're going to be cooking and writing as many recipes as we can fit in. We'll post our photos and let you know how they turn out.

And as you're gearing up for the holiday, if you have questions, post them here and we'll do our best to answer them.

Okay, ready for the recipes?

Steak au Poivre with Balsamic Reduction

Martha Stewart Living (October 2009)

On summer evenings, you're very likely to find us out on the patio, keeping watch while a big, juicy steak sizzles on the grill. We keep it extremely simple: salt and pepper, maybe a little Dale's.

But it's fall now. It's getting dark earlier and our grill's been cool for a while. It's time for a more grown-up steak, something a little fancier, more refined.

Hello, steak au poivre!

Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squashes

Martha Stewart Living (October 2009)

As we mentioned earlier, we just returned a long weekend in Vermont with Zach's family. It was gorgeous -- with the foliage at peak color, we spent our days exploring impossibly cute villages and marveling at the explosions of crimson and gold that blanketed the mountains and valleys. Seriously, the entire state is like one big Sears Portrait Studio backdrop.

It really got us in the mood for fall -- and especially fall cooking!

These Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squash are a gorgeous little swath of Autumn. They're warm and inviting, and the cinnamon, nutmeg and golden raisins really capture the flavors of the season.

Bacon with Citrus Glaze

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living (September 2009)

Orange-and-honey-glazed bacon.  Just think about that for a minute. Orange.  Honey.  Bacon.  A salty slab of bacon coated with a caramelized, sweet glaze of honey, brightened with the citrusy, sunshiney bolt of fresh-squeezed oranges.

We were salivating at the mere thought of this three-ingredient dish.

But when we made it, our salivation gave way to frustration.

The first batch of bacon ended up charred, smoky and burnt to a crisp. So -- believing in the healing power of cured pork -- we changed the recipe and tried again.

This is a tale of two bacons.

Corn, Cranberry Bean, and Fried-Okra Salad

Martha Stewart Living (August 2009)

"Y'ALL."

That is not a word we use often -- and it's not a word we use lightly.

But after one bite of this phenomenal, change-your-life salad, we each slammed down our forks, looked across the table, widened our eyes and exclaimed: "Y'ALL."

Watermelon Bloody Marys

Martha Stewart Living (July 2009)

On Sunday mornings we pay a visit to the farmers market, where we play a little game called "buy so much produce that we'll struggle to get through it all by week's end."

Recently, we've been obsessed with beautiful, impossibly sweet watermelons from one of the vendors. So we've bought one for the last few weeks and lugged it up the hill back home --  no small feat given the amount of other purchases we're carrying. 

We've mostly been eating it as a dessert or a snack, cut up into big chunks and lightly salted. We've also made Tequila Soaked Watermelon wedges a couple times for parties and even Pickled Watermelon Rind.

This weekend, we couldn't resist whipping up a batch of these Watermelon Bloody Marys.

Tequila-Soaked Watermelon Wedges

Martha Stewart Living (July 2009)

Nothing says "Martha Stewart goes to a frat party" quite like this recipe for Tequila-Soaked Watermelon Wedges. 

When we took a tray of these babies to a party last week, the guests were a bit skeptical, not wanting to devour them and find themselves on the floor an hour later. 

The name of this dish might conjure visions of happy hour at a Cancun taqueria. But it turns out, these Tequila-Soaked Watermelon Wedges are delicious -- and surprisingly sophisticated.

Leftovers | Interesting Stuff from July Food Mags

We're far from finished posting about what we've cooked from July food magazines.  But in between dishes here's a look at some non-recipe items featured in the last month's food mags.

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Gourmet

Attention, Bloody Mary fans:  You're going to want to pay attention.

Last summer, our friends Drew and Ralph introduced us to their favorite Bloody Mary mix, with the adorable name Zing Zang.  And it was love at first sip.

Zing Zang isn't your ordinary, mild mix that needs to be spiced up. It's fantastic as is, though we still spice ours up a bit. When it comes to bloodies, we love to tinker, adding a dash of this, a smidge of that. We were thrilled to see the mix featured in Gourmet. If you want to try it but can't find it in your area, you can order some from the company's website.

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Martha Stewart Living

Interested in u-pick fruits and vegetables but uncertain where to go in your area? Martha features PickYourOwn.org, where you can find nationwide listings of farms that offer u-pick options.  The site is also stocked with canning and preserving tips if you want to try your hand at food preservation this year.

Sometimes we're suckers for packaging. That's one reason that Maldon sea salt jumped off the pages. Its classic looking packaging is a adorable, like something you might find in your great-grandmother's pantry. Which might be possible, since the company, based is England, has been making sea salt for more than 200 years. If you can't find it in your local supermarket, you can always order it online. We're eager to try it!

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Cook's Illustrated

Cook's has an "Essential Kitchen Equipment" feature with "The 39 must haves in our kitchen that we recommend for yours." Though we're not 100% on board for everything on the list, we loved reading their recommendations.  Portions of the list are available on their website.

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And Just Because We Love It . . .

For Christmas last year, our friend Katie sent us an awesome package from Nashville's famed Loveless Cafe.  The package included some of the smokiest bacon we've ever tasted and some amazing grits. But our standout favorite was the Loveless Maple Syrup which is beyond delicious. We loved this syrup so much that we've been rationing it for the past seven months, only using it for very special meals.  Well, we're sad to report that this weekend we finished off the syrup. We're definitely going to have to order some more or pick some up the next time we're in Nashville. 

Find The Leftovers from previous months here.

Tomato Hand Pies

Martha Stewart Living (July 2009)

Don't you just love the sound of Tomato Hand Pies? It's like something your grandmother would make for her bridge club. Or something your great-aunt might take to the church social on a sultry summer Sunday.

We thought these hand pies -- small little bites baked in muffin tins -- sounded delightful. And last week, when heirloom tomatoes showed up in our CSA for the first time, we couldn't wait to try them.

As we said, the idea of Tomato Hand Pies is absolutely lovely. The execution? Not as nice.