It can be the best of cakes, the worst of cakes, it makes the mouth water, it makes a good door stop...
All joking aside, I have a confession to make. I love fruitcake. There I finally said it.
Now,
I know what you are thinking--EWWW! Right? Stop right there. I’m not
talking about store bought fruitcake. I’m also not talking about the
kind that contains fluorescent bits that kind of resemble fruit. Nope.
I’m talking about homemade fruitcake. The kind made with dried fruit,
real candied citrus and fed a healthy dose of booze. Mmm... I’m getting
hungry just typing this.
The
turkey has been brined and has dried overnight in the fridge. What
next? Well, any large hunk of meat will cook better if you put it in the
oven at room temp. So, take that bird out of the fridge about an hour
prior to roasting.
A
word about stuffing. Don’t. Just don’t. I know all the arguments for
stuffing a turkey. I don’t care. If you roast a stuffed turkey until the
stuffing is done, the turkey will be drier than the Sahara. So, please,
just fix dressing instead.
That
isn’t to say that I don’t put anything in the cavity. On the contrary, I
cut up an orange and onion to stuff in the bird with rosemary and sage.
I like to heat the orange and onion in a little water prior to shoving
it up the turkey’s... what end is that anyway??? I can never remember.
Since its salt rub, the turkey has been hanging out in the fridge and it’s time for the next step. It’s an easy one.
The
first time I brined a turkey was after watching Alton Brown’s Good Eats: Romancing the Bird episode. It was good. Amazing, in fact. Brining
improves turkey in ways that you can’t imagine, unless you’ve tried it
yourself. The only problem is, for a turkey, you need a lot of brine.
Plus, a container to submerge the turkey and a lot of fridge space.
Although it gives you delicious results, it’s a bit of a pain. Sorry,
Alton.
Enter
Judy Rodger, the chef at Zuni cafe in San Fransisco. She is known for her dry-brined
roast chicken recipe, which inspired the original recipe for dry-brined
turkey. I’m not sure who took their inspiration from Chef Rodgers, but I
first came across this method in an LA Times article a few years ago.
One
of the great things about moving to Texas is the grapefruit. Seriously.
Texas pink grapefruit are so delicious. They are fragrant and
surprisingly sweet, as grapefruits go. Plus, they are inexpensive here.
So, I end up buying them in 5 lb bags. I, um, I mean we, have been going
through them so fast I may start buying the 20 lb bags. I think it's
safe to say, I won't end up with scurvy in the near future.
I realize I haven’t posted in almost three months. I apologize for that.
Life
has been pretty hectic. First of all, we moved to another state. Then
once we arrived, we didn’t have a working range for three weeks. As you can imagine, that part was difficult for me. However, the real reason I haven’t had time to post is because I’ve been
in full party planning mode.
When my Mother passed, I inherited one of her recipe boxes. My sister inherited the other. I’m not sure what’s in the box my sister has, but mine is a treasure chest of recipes. Every time I open it, I discover something new and exciting.
Some of the recipes I remember from my childhood. Several I don’t. Some of the recipes I would never make--Minute Rice 7 Seas Casserole, anyone? Others just beg to be made and many of these are actually my Grandmother’s recipes, including this one.
