Thanksgiving 2024

Welcome to the official notes for Turkey Day. Now everyone can access them at any time and it will be easy to recreate the magic and the preparation every year. Let the feast begin.

Thursday November 28th
supplies

What Was Needed

For Brining

Brining Bag
Large Pot
Cooler
Bag of Ice for Cooler

Foil Roasting Pan
Roasting Pan

For Cooking

Miscellaneous

Bags of Ice
Holiday Beer

Notes

Coordinate so that we don’t get 2 foil pans.

supplies

Who Brought What

Jen and Bryan

Turkey Roasting Pan
Big Ass Beer Cooler
Bry’s Favorite Peeler
Containers for Leftovers
Leaf Blower

Stephanie

Steph has a pot for Brine

Dad and Amy

Brining Bags
Foil Roasting Pan
Large Casserole Dish for Crisp
Igloo Cooler
Bring crackers from the pantry
Booze for eggnog?

Notes

What we forgot, what we need, etc.

INITIAL PREP

Shopping: Round One

Steph, Dad, Amy

  • Green Apples (Trout Dip)
    5 lbs Apples (Crisp)
    3 x Oranges (Brine. Crisp, Cranberries)
    1 x Lime (Brine)
    Bag of Lemons
    Garlic
    2 x Celery (Brine and Stuffing)
    Carrots (Brine)
    3 x Brussels Sprouts
    Shallots (Brussels Sprouts)
    GF Oatmeal (Crisp)
    Honey (Brine)
    Sugar
    Light Brown Sugar
    Evaporated Milk
    Whipping Cream
    Eggs

Jen and Bryan

  • Cream of Mushroom 2 - 10.75 oz. cans
    8 cups Green Beans
    Large French Fried Onions
    Soy Sauce
    Milk
    Sweet Potatoes
    Brown Sugar
    Ginger
    Crushed Pineapple
    Nutmeg
    Heavy Cream
    Bourbon
    Cinnamon
    Cayenne
    Mini Marshmallows

Notes

Still need: 3 x organic oranges, dried apricots, Kerry Gold butter, creme fraiche, smoked trout, parsley, chives, dill, 2 x thyme, 2 x rosemary, possibly figs / blackberries, vanilla ice cream, prosciutto, sour dough bread, Harrison cheese, purple haze cheese

FOOD PREP

The Brine

Brining Begins

1:30pm Tuesday

Brining Ends

8:15am Thursday

Dieter’s Turkey Brine Recipe

ingredients

2 Gallons Water
2 Cups Kosher Salt
1 Cup Honey
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Bunches Fresh Thyme
2 Bunches Fresh Rosemary
8 Crushed Garlic Cloves
2 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper
One Orange, cut into 8 pieces
One Lemon, cut into 4 pieces
One Lime, cut into 4 pieces
4 Stalks Celery, chopped
4 Carrots, chopped
1 Sweet Onion, chopped

PREPARATION

Combine water, salt, honey and brown sugar in a large pot. Heat to almost boiling. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Squeeze the citrus pieces before you toss them in.

Cover and place outside, letting it cool completely. Refrigerate if necessary until chilled at least 2 hours.

Put the turkey in the brine, allowing 2 hours of brining for each pound of turkey.

Brines a 20-22lb turkey.

Brining Notes

We have brining bags to last us through 2027

Pop pop and Amy made the brine on Monday at Pop pop’s house. We picked up the Turkey on Tuesday morning, got it cleaned and into the brine at 1:30. We placed it in a brining bag in the blue igloo, with a bag of ice, on the back porch. We made the brine exactly as listed above. We’re curious to see if an air-chilled Turkey absorbs more brine than a water-chilled turkey.

WHAT WE ATE

Breakfast

Amy made a frittata with potatoes, caramelized onions, tomatoes, spinach, parmesan and thyme. It was served with a mixed greens salad with fennel, carrots and pomegranate seeds dressed in a a dijon, honey, olive oil dressing.

WHAT WE ATE

Turkey

The Bird

Bell & Evans
Air-Chilled Turkey

Weight

19.24 lbs

Out of the Oven

Came Out Late

Into the Oven

10:18 am Thursday

Notes

2021: Brine time 47 hours. Let it stand 1 hour before cooking.Turkey went in at 10:00 am at 350 degrees.

2024: Turkey gets cooked at 425 degrees for 30 minutes before getting covered with foil. Then turn heat to 325 degrees and don’t let the oven turn off like we did this year. If the popper won’t pop, check the oven. It worked out fine. We were stuffed from our most excellent charcuterie spread. We took the bird out around 4:30pm.

WHAT WE ATE

Side Dishes

Stuffing

Steph’s making the stuffing with the Brauer Family classic recipe

  • Description text goes here

Sweet Potatoes

Bry and Jen are making classic sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

  • Description text goes here

Cranberries

Steph’s cranberry recipe.

  • Always use two bags so that there are leftovers for sandwiches.

Brussells Sprouts

Roasted with Pecans, Bacon and Shallots, a first time for this recipe.

  • We bout 3 bags

Green Bean Casserole

Bry and Jen’s classic recipe with the addition of mushrooms

Notes

Last year we also had mashed potatoes do we want them this year?

WHAT WE ATE

Desserts

Pumpkin Pie

The classic recipe with Joan’s pie crust

Apple Crisp

Ina Garten’s Old-Fashioned crisp

  • Decided to 1.5 the topping amounts.

Notes

Are we making egg nog?

FOOD PREP

Charcuterie

Cheeses

Truffle Gouda
Rogue River Blue
Delice de Bourgogne
? Pecorino
Still need Gin Harbeson
Still need Purple Haze

Meats

Salchichón
Still Need Prosciutto

Accompaniments

Fig Jam
Apricots
Spiced Pecans

Snacks

Trout Dip

Notes

Notes…

WHAT WE DRANK

Wine

Pre-Dinner

note

With Turkey

note

Notes

Are we making egg nog?