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macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
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In a coffee shop.
By the way, I've ordered a three-cup Classic Chemex coffeemaker plus the filters designed for it. Hopefully, I will finally get a really decent up of black coffee for a change. :)

If you use good quality beans and a decent grinder you should get a lovely cup of coffee.

Chemex coffee is unusually smooth, and, while I personally have yet to get into actually making it, whenever I have had it made by someone who knows what they are doing, it has been a superb coffee.
 
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macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
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In a coffee shop.

0388631

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2x25 lb organic free range turkeys dry brined and impregnated with compound butter and ready to go. Plus a deboned heritage turkey of 13 lb with the bones sans ribs cooked with veg for stock. Desserts ready to go and all I have to do is roast some vegetables, make a nice pilaf and other small stuff.

My last cup of coffee was nearly 24 hours ago. A latte with some bread and butter. I'm having a coffee now and then to bed. I've had chemex coffee before, too. I found it very smooth yet very rich. I think the brewing vessel is rather pretty. It and a long neck kettle are works of art, in my opinion.
 

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macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,987
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In a coffee shop.
2x25 lb organic free range turkeys dry brined and impregnated with compound butter and ready to go. Plus a deboned heritage turkey of 13 lb with the bones sans ribs cooked with veg for stock. Desserts ready to go and all I have to do is roast some vegetables, make a nice pilaf and other small stuff.

My last cup of coffee was nearly 24 hours ago. A latte with some bread and butter. I'm having a coffee now and then to bed. I've had chemex coffee before, too. I found it very smooth yet very rich. I think the brewing vessel is rather pretty. It and a long neck kettle are works of art, in my opinion.

Agree that the brewing vessel for Chemex is indeed very attractive, and I love the coffee that the Chemex makes, that combination of seriously smooth yet gloriously rich.

Sipping a mug of coffee (Ethiopian) as I write.
 

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It depends on the weight of the bird and how you prepare it. You can split the back end and have it more shallow which reduces cooking time or you can butcher the bird into pieces. In my experience, it's less complicated to roast a duck.

I expect very little leftovers because I plan on sending people home with some food. A few days of soups are in order here, starting tomorrow. Currently having a cappuccino.
 

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Cup of JMB coffee.

RE turkey discussion: Any poultry of a large variety will benefit from spatchcocking. You can still put aromatics on the underside of the bird. And you're provided flatter surface area underneath the skin to bring in more flavorings underneath.
 

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macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,987
46,452
In a coffee shop.
Cup of JMB coffee.

RE turkey discussion: Any poultry of a large variety will benefit from spatchcocking. You can still put aromatics on the underside of the bird. And you're provided flatter surface area underneath the skin to bring in more flavorings underneath.

What do you guys flavour the turkey with, by way of spices, herbs and fruit?

For chicken, I tend to rely on the old reliables of garlic, lemons, and oranges - with plenty of olive oil.
 

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What do you guys flavour the turkey with, by way of spices, herbs and fruit?

For chicken, I tend to rely on the old reliable of garlic, lemons, and oranges - with plenty of olive oil.
I never use oranges. I use lemon quarters. Staples are garlic, lemon, thyme, paprika, fresh cracked pepper, rosemary, cayenne, pinch of turmeric for color and flavor. Depending on a dish, this can be changed. Say if you're making a Moroccan dish or an inspired one, you'd remove a few spices and opt for ingredients such as cinnamon, cardamom and perhaps a touch of allspice.

I seldom use sage or have many recipes that use it. I grow my own. I'm not sure what's sold in American markets here, but it smells repulsive and tastes repulsive. The best I can describe is that it smells like urine. Of the cooking strain, there are several types under it and I grow one that I can't remember but is very mild in scent, but a good one. Though I've been told in the past that farmers markets or stores mist herbs and sage is one that develops a foul stench when wet. I personally avoid using much cumin because I can't stand the taste of it.

Ideally, you'll want to get 100-150 grams of good butter, grass fed salted is best, heat it up or leave it out until it's very soft. Half a cup of good olive oil. Your spices and some coarse sea salt. Mix it all in a bowl and rub it on the poultry both under and on top of the skin. Use the back of a spoon (metal) to detach the skin from the meat. Be careful when doing this. Put it back in your refrigerator, covered tightly and wrapped for several hours or overnight. If your refrigerator can take it (think of other perishables), you can set the temperature to near freezing and keep it up to 36 hours. Roast.

You can puncture the meat under the skin with a sharp fork or if you've got a very (and I mean very) high quality stainless steel injector, you can inject some of the flavoring or a citrus inspired brine into the breast portion. I tend to avoid that with birds other than chicken because they have a delicate flavor that shouldn't be overpowered. Duck breast, as you'd know, is very similar to pigeon, presuming you've had it in continental Europe. Which I would guess you have given your extensive travels.

For larger birds, such as large chickens, ducks or turkey, I'll cover parts of the bird with foil. It will still brown up nicely but not overcook and dry out. Wings and breast are essential. Thigh and leg meat doesn't dry out as it's got a higher fat concentration.


Writing this post up, I've just realized I never sampled horse during my travels. Or I have and can't remember.
 
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Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,987
46,452
In a coffee shop.
I never use oranges. I use lemon quarters. Staples are garlic, lemon, thyme, paprika, fresh cracked pepper, rosemary, cayenne, pinch of turmeric for color and flavor. Depending on a dish, this can be changed. Say if you're making a Moroccan dish or an inspired one, you'd remove a few spices and opt for ingredients such as cinnamon, cardamom and perhaps a touch of allspice.

I seldom use sage or have many recipes that use it. I grow my own. I'm not sure what's sold in American markets here, but it smells repulsive and tastes repulsive. The best I can describe is that it smells like urine. Of the cooking strain, there are several types under it and I grow one that I can't remember but is very mild in scent, but a good one. Though I've been told in the past that farmers markets or stores mist herbs and sage is one that develops a foul stench when wet. I personally avoid using much cumin because I can't stand the taste of it.

Ideally, you'll want to get 100-150 grams of good butter, grass fed salted is best, heat it up or leave it out until it's very soft. Half a cup of good olive oil. Your spices and some coarse sea salt. Mix it all in a bowl and rub it on the poultry both under and on top of the skin. Use the back of a spoon (metal) to detach the skin from the meat. Be careful when doing this. Put it back in your refrigerator, covered tightly and wrapped for several hours or overnight. If your refrigerator can take it (think of other perishables), you can set the temperature to near freezing and keep it up to 36 hours. Roast.

You can puncture the meat under the skin with a sharp fork or if you've got a very (and I mean very) high quality stainless steel injector, you can inject some of the flavoring or a citrus inspired brine into the breast portion. I tend to avoid that with birds other than chicken because they have a delicate flavor that shouldn't be overpowered. Duck breast, as you'd know, is very similar to pigeon, presuming you've had it in continental Europe. Which I would guess you have given your extensive travels.

For larger birds, such as large chickens, ducks or turkey, I'll cover parts of the bird with foil. It will still brown up nicely but not overcook and dry out. Wings and breast are essential. Thigh and leg meat doesn't dry out as it's got a higher fat concentration.


Writing this post up, I've just realized I never sampled horse during my travels. Or I have and can't remember.

What a fascinating and most interesting post, and thank you for taking the time (and trouble) to write it.

I buy my herbs, my vegetables, my chicken - and my fruit from organic farmers' in the local farmers' market.

Re chicken - and the ones I buy are free range and organic (and expensive), sold by those who rear them and slaughter them; they taste amazing, and are incredibly flavoursome, irrespective of how one chooses to cook them,

Anyway, re roast chicken, I tend to use an adaptation of a Nigel Slater recipe, hence salt, pepper, lemons, garlic - lemon and garlic to stuff the chicken - (to which I will also add the juice and hulls of a quartered orange) - and a mix of butter and olive oil for frequent basting. Foil gets used only when the bird is out of the oven, resting.

No, my concern was more with turkey, a bird that I have found gets very dry; how to keep the thing flavoursome and moist and tasty? I must admit that most years we skip it entirely, but occasionally, say, once or twice a decade, I get an urge to cook a small free range, organic, bronze turkey. While it has been fine it has never yet been superlative (the way my roast chicken invariably is), and I would like to be able to remedy that without indulging in masochism.

On coffee: A French Press of Ethiopian coffee today was superb, and - as I bought a chocolate cake in the French bakery today, I think tomorrow's coffee may be even nicer.
 
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In that case, spatchcock the turkey. That is to split the backbone portion lengthwise. You'll reduce cooking by a little less than half. Instead of the bird being say 8" high for a large turkey, it's less than half and thus heat radiates evenly. There is also no hollow area with colder temperatures requiring more cooking time. I was able to cook our turkeys quickly and without them getting dry. As I said, using heavy duty foil to cover key portions of the bird to deflect heat helps. The breasts will cook somewhat faster than the legs and thighs. Unfortunately, in a turkey, the legs and thighs do contain more tendon and hard fat that needs to render. You may end up with rich brown meat, but dry breast meat. Alternatively, you can debone the bird and use the raw bones to make a stock and store in the freezer. Contrary to popular opinion, I'd look for a bird with high chest fat and or thick skin. The more fat there is, the more it'll baste itself while its fat renders. If done correctly, you will be rewarded with taught, crispy skin that's very flavorful and has very little fat left.

Most people prefer to wet brine their turkeys or ducks, but I prefer to employ the use of a dry brine and pricking the meat under the skin. I will then rub my spice mixture generously inside and out, and the underside. I'll leave it in the refrigerator overnight and then roast the next day. This is the first year I spatchocked it after having done it with duck, chicken and Cornish hens for years. It hadn't occurred to me until I read about it on a blog a few weeks ago. It's also something I advise people to do if they plan to cook quail. Ideally a deep stoneware dish and spatchcocked quails. Preferably 6-10 depending on the size of your dish. Layer with olive oil and white onion with minced garlic. Lay quails cavity portion down. Roast just until the outside begins browning. Pull out.

Dump chopped butter, peppers, zucchini, aubergine, yellow squash, cayenne pepper to taste, small amounts of turmeric, fresh cracked black pepper, 4-6 oz of good tomato paste diluted with hot water -- feel free to add fresh tomatoes chopped roughly or if you're forced to canned San Marzano (if not, canned stewed tomato will do fine), coarse sea salt, 1-1.5 cups of good red wine, sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary, be generous with olive oil. Cover with foil and continue cooking until meat and vegetables are done. Uncover for 10 minutes in the oven and then remove.

Enjoy.

Ideally, one shouldn't be forced to roast a turkey. It can be cooked in a myriad of ways.
 
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macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,987
46,452
In a coffee shop.
In that case, spatchcock the turkey. That is to split the backbone portion lengthwise. You'll reduce cooking by a little less than half. Instead of the bird being say 8" high for a large turkey, it's less than half and thus heat radiates evenly. There is also no hollow area with colder temperatures requiring more cooking time. I was able to cook our turkeys quickly and without them getting dry. As I said, using heavy duty foil to cover key portions of the bird to deflect heat helps. The breasts will cook somewhat faster than the legs and thighs. Unfortunately, in a turkey, the legs and thighs do contain more tendon and hard fat that needs to render. You may end up with rich brown meat, but dry breast meat. Alternatively, you can debone the bird and use the raw bones to make a stock and store in the freezer. Contrary to popular opinion, I'd look for a bird with high chest fat and or thick skin. The more fat there is, the more it'll baste itself while its fat renders. If done correctly, you will be rewarded with taught, crispy skin that's very flavorful and has very little fat left.

Most people prefer to wet brine their turkeys or ducks, but I prefer to employ the use of a dry brine and pricking the meat under the skin. I will then rub my spice mixture generously inside and out, and the underside. I'll leave it in the refrigerator overnight and then roast the next day. This is the first year I spatchocked it after having done it with duck, chicken and Cornish hens for years. It hadn't occurred to me until I read about it on a blog a few weeks ago. It's also something I advise people to do if they plan to cook quail. Ideally a deep stoneware dish and spatchcocked quails. Preferably 6-10 depending on the size of your dish. Layer with olive oil and white onion with minced garlic. Lay quails cavity portion down. Roast just until the outside begins browning. Pull out.

Dump chopped butter, peppers, zucchini, aubergine, yellow squash, cayenne pepper to taste, small amounts of turmeric, fresh cracked black pepper, 4-6 oz of good tomato paste diluted with hot water -- feel free to add fresh tomatoes chopped roughly or if you're forced to canned San Marzano (if not, canned stewed tomato will do fine), coarse sea salt, 1-1.5 cups of good red wine, sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary, be generous with olive oil. Cover with foil and continue cooking until meat and vegetables are done. Uncover for 10 minutes in the oven and then remove.

Enjoy.

"High chest fat and thick skin" most certainly meets with my approval; these are the parts of the bird that have the most flavour - I have long found breast meat to be underwhelming, and would never dream of torturing myself with this concept of a 'skinless' breast of chicken, which I feel is somehow missing the very point of the exercise.

The rich brown meat, I like; the challenge is to try to ensure that the breast meat is equally tender and tasty.
 

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Well, ideally, in a good bird the skin will be attached firmly to the meat by strands of fat that dig into the meat. You can cut small pockets and stuff them with compound butter. This will baste the bird as it cooks and prevent it from burning off when covered with foil. Some turkeys will have loose hanging yellow fat by the cavity. Do not remove that fat. Keep it there. It renders and provides lots of flavor. In theory, it is technically possible to stuff the skin with butter and sew it up with culinary yarn and it not leak out much. I haven't tried this myself. I probably will next week as I plan on picking up a much smaller turkey and roasting it over a bed of vegetables.

Also, any idea of how to use 30 lb of white onions before they go bad?
 

AVBeatMan

macrumors 603
Nov 10, 2010
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Been out for a long walk and to buy the papers. Very cold here this morning but brilliant sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Next up, a hot bath and now, first cup of the day. A cup/glass of double shot of Colombian "Santa Catalina La Primavera" topped up with hot water and finished off with a dash or two of full fat milk. A bit too strong for my liking but "yummy" all the same!

5800acbe40c4ed7cd96e5b36abce8506.jpg
 

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macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,987
46,452
In a coffee shop.
Cold here, today, too, but the first cloudy day of the week - a sort of freezing fog, damp, and miserable with a biting raw cold.

Coffees this morning were made for myself and the Substitute Carer - who likes her coffee - when Decent Brother showed up. So, generous soul that I am, the first two mugs (Le Creuset, burnt volcanic orange) of Ethiopian coffee went to Decent Brother and the Substitute Carer.

Anyway, I made a further mug (of Ethiopian coffee from Yirgacheffe) for myself, but had run out of Le Creuset mugs (I rarely need more than two at a time). Thus, Stalin stood in, and did the needful for me.
 
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