Super Bowl Weekend Deep Fried Turkey for Saturday night dinner and Leftovers for Amazing Turkey Sandwiches for Super Bowl Sunday
/Hi All....
We were disappointed over here that Denver disappointed…my Dad hails from there, we have family there and a big soft spot for one of America’s greatest towns, not to mention the nice nice people Denver manages to serve up…all that bad weather sure makes nice nice people…
So my cold came back, darn, and Cousin David was weekending in L.A. so we had him over for deep fried turkey on Saturday night. What a GREAT time we had sharing book and movie titles…David is a teacher and writer…
Here’s what we did:
Took a 12 lb. Diestel Turkey from Whole Foods – washed and dried it. (I did not brine it this time, but I did last time. it is better brined but you don’t have to – see my brine recipe with Butterflied Turkey here on the blog) Held it in a Pyrex dish for an hour before frying time. Filled our Butterball Fryer with 3 gallons of corn and peanut oil.
We had used the oil once before and had strained and stored it in the garage fridge.
It takes about 45 minutes for the oil to heat to 375. Lower the turkey into the oil and cook covered for 45 minutes. Suspend in fryer and let sit/drain until ready to carve. It is so succulent and really really good.
Dave carved and we feasted on turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, gravy*, stove top stuffing (Dave’s thing and good for a small party like ours), cranberry sauce, and apple sauce. Filled me with warmth and chased the cold away!
Here is Dave’s leftover plate.
*Gravy:
Now gravy is a very personal thing. And personally, adding all that fat and flour to fragrant stock made no sense to my grandmother Ida and makes no sense to me. In fact, it was verboten in my family. “WE don’t eat like that” was the response I got when I asked mom and bubbe to make it like ‘they’ do just so I could taste it once at home (yes, I was and still am a food sinner, but more on that later). Here is what I do: Put into a small pot: the turkey neck, giblets, part that goes over the fence last – add one onion, 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots all coarsely chopped. Add parsley, 3 T. Marsala or Madeira, chicken stock to cover and simmer for a few hours on top of stove. Start while you are preparing the turkey. Just before serving while your ‘Dave’ is carving, Separate the broth from the meat and veggies. Pour the broth into a fat separator. Pour the broth without the fat into a blender or food processor. Discard any pooped out looking veggies from the pot, but add what still looks good back into the broth and blend it all together. You will have perfectly thickened vegetable gravy that tastes amazing and everyone will be happy, seriously happy. No stomach aches going home from this party and no need for the big eaters to take Protonix. If you cook this way, there will be much less indigestion. Especially if you are drinking as well.
NOW…What we did for Super Bowl Sunday…
Dave and cousin Marisa had to have the leftover potatoes and stuffing and the full plate experience. I had to have a turkey sandwich on Nadia’s Perfect Baguette…
Here is my sandwich.
I scooped and toasted the baguette. I put a generous layer of mayonnaise on the bread. I piled it high with arugula, parsley, romaine lettuce, turkey, cranberry sauce instead of tomato. I pressed it together and the crunch of the crust, the ooze of the sauces coated the meat and the fresh crunch of the greens were a perfect match.
