Turkey breast, cooked sous vide with herbs and rendered bacon fat. I picked up a two pound turkey breast at Whole Foods for some sous vide testing. For this version, I removed the skin, seasoned the breast with kosher salt and pepper, and dropped it into the vacuum bag with a couple of ounces of chilled, rendered bacon fat and some herbs (sage, thyme, whatever). I cooked the breast for 4 hours at 145 degrees. This was a good test—the bird came out very moist and flavorful with great texture. It’s going to be great for sandwich meat as well.

Lunch at Torrisi Italian Specialties (on Mulberry by Prince) in NYC. I love this place and have been stopping in periodically for bites since last summer. The turkey sandwich is one of my favorite sandwiches in the city and they also make a great chicken parm (both pictured). The soup changes daily and when I’ve tried it, it’s been great (in the photo is a really good potato and pepperoni). The place is tiny, so go early or late for lunch midweek if you want a table or go any time for carry out. On weekends, you need to be there when it opens to get a table without a wait. Shamefully, I have not yet been in for their dinner service which features a new menu nightly and a fixed price of $50 for a number of courses.

Thanksgiving dinner! For me, the food part of the meal is all about bringing back memories of Thanksgivings past, while improving on technique and recipes a little bit each year. I love that everyone has a different (and strong) opinion on what sides should be, what they should taste like, etc., and it’s all mostly based on what we grew up eating. So my meal, perfected and delicious, might be considered pretty lame by someone else, and vice versa. I do sometimes pine for “exotic” entries like oyster stuffing, but it’s not happening.

Anyway, this year’s menu:

Classic gougères with gruyere, medley of olives & cheeses
Egly-Ouriet NV Champagne Brut Tradition Grand Cru

Roasted Turkey, traditional stuffing, garlic confit mashed potatoes, porcini mushroom gravy, and cranberry chutney
Château Pichon Comtesse de Lalande 1995

Pumkin Pie with honeyed whipped cream
Sine Qua Non Mr. K The Noble Man 2005

For my turkey, I use a mashup of methods from many sources. I start with a 12-14 hour basic brine overnight, then air dry the turkey. I stuff sage butter under the skin all over, and remove the legs. I add a cup or so of chicken stock to the roasting pan. The turkey is roasted at 300 degrees breast side down for 1.5 hours, then flipped over. With 30 minutes or so left, I turn up the temperature depending on crispiness (of lack their of). I remove the turkey at 155 degrees for the breast and 170 for the legs, then let rest 25-30 minutes. I also stuff my turkey because that’s how I like it, so I bake the stuffing some more as the turkey rests to crisp it up and make sure it’s cooked thoroughly.

The Pichon Lalande was a really nice wine, still very youthful. The softness of the tannins says it’s 15 year old Bordeaux, but the flavors don’t. Really nice.

This year, my experiment was with the cranberries.

I also changed pie recipes with amazing results, but more on that to come.