Thanksgiving 2024

Behold the official notes from Turkey Day. Can’t wait to recreate the magic this year. Let the feast begin.

Thursday November 28th
supplies

What Was Needed

For Brining

Brining Bag
Large Pot
Cooler
Bag of Ice for Cooler

For Cooking

Foil Roasting Pan
Roasting Pan

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

It appears we didn’t forget anything this year!

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

Shopping round two will take place when we pick up the Turkey, it’s all stuff that we didn’t want to go bad or that we needed from Fresh Market. Seem to be missing shopping notes that contain frittata ingredients and stuffing ingredients.

INITIAL PREP

Shopping: Round Two

Dad & Amy

  • 3 x organic oranges
    Dried apricots
    Kerry Gold
    Creme fraiche
    Smoked trout
    parsley
    chives
    dill
    2 x thyme
    2 x rosemary
    Blackberries
    Vanilla ice cream
    Prosciutto
    Sour Dough
    Harbison
    Purple haze

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.

who was there

In Attendance

Dieter, Jerry, Jen, Bryan, Stephanie, Amy

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.

Mimosas were enjoyed.

What we ate

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
Lusty Monk?

Snacks

Trout Dip

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. Everything 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

Sweet Potatoes

Bry and Jen are making classic sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

Cranberries

Steph’s cranberry recipe.

Brussells Sprouts

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

Green Bean Casserole

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

WHAT WE ATE

Desserts

Pumpkin Pie

The classic recipe with Joan’s pie crust

Apple Crisp

Ina Garten’s Old-Fashioned crisp

WHAT WE DRANK

Wine

Pre-Dinner

20?? Moreau-Naudet Chablis
2021 Ramey Chardonnay

With Turkey

note