Kenji's one-pot chicken tinga is fantastic stuff. One of my favourite recipes (along with his carnitas) whenever I can get my hands on tomatillos.
I'm going to have to try that one out sometime if I can figure out where to get tomatillos. I've had great success with Kenji's recipes. His beef and broccoli is a big hit with the kids and I'm going to be doing his No-Waste Tacos de Carnitas With Salsa Verde Recipe with a very good but more regular salsa tomorrow night for dinner.
Kenji's one-pot chicken tinga is fantastic stuff. One of my favourite recipes (along with his carnitas) whenever I can get my hands on tomatillos.
I'm going to have to try that one out sometime if I can figure out where to get tomatillos. I've had great success with Kenji's recipes. His beef and broccoli is a big hit with the kids and I'm going to be doing his No-Waste Tacos de Carnitas With Salsa Verde Recipe with a very good but more regular salsa tomorrow night for dinner.
I'm up in Canada so they don't have tomatillos at the regular grocery store. Might have luck at the Whole Foods downtown or in the market downtown but none of those options are part of my regular routine I'll keep an eye out for them the next time I'm downtown though.
I'm up in Canada so they don't have tomatillos at the regular grocery store. Might have luck at the Whole Foods downtown or in the market downtown but none of those options are part of my regular routine I'll keep an eye out for them the next time I'm downtown though.
I have luck finding them in the fancier grocery stores or the asian grocery stores.
Even then you just gonna have to take what you can get.
For the weekend before, that's four days, which is a lot longer than I'd like to leave fresh food in the fridge, especially for a major celebration. Freezing should be okay, though. (If you want food that can be prepared the night before, that's a bit easier.)
Desert should be easiest; just find something tasty and frozen. Frozen deserts can be served as-is, and there's plenty of options there.
Looks like mashed potatoes freeze well, but I'd recommend a test run.
You can just reheat frozen peas, green beans, or broccoli in the microwave from frozen and get good results. Probably roast directly from frozen as well, though this does change the timings.
0
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Got this ridiculous thing for my mom's 65th birthday. A5 Wagyu ribeye. It's more marbling than meat!
Any suggestions how to cook it? Traditionally I think you would sear it and serve it rare. Can't do that though, mom is severely immunocompromised. I need to make sure it's safe for her to eat without melting out all the fat, basically.
+4
That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
In Japan they will often cut it into thin strips and grill it on a small indoor charcoal grill.
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+3
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Hey that video actually was pretty helpful. I was sure cooking wagyu well would basically destroy it but sounds like it's still amazing. That's good because I can't take any chances with getting mom sick. Also I'll have to try to make sure she doesn't eat the whole steak in one sitting. Makes sense eating all that fat in one go could upset your stomach.
I got my love of steak from my mom so I'm pretty excited to cook this up for her birthday. Really hoping I don't screw it up!
+5
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
How many days in advance can a person make pie crust? And keep in the fridge
Preheat oven to 375 F
Combine all dry ingredients.
Add eggs and vanilla to the middle, and gradually mix in the dry ingredients from the center out.
Knead a bit.
(If it's still sticking to the bowl, add more flour.)
Divide in half, and roll out baking sheet-length ropes. (Use wet hands so it doesn't stick.)
Place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove, set oven to 275 F.
Let cool for at least 15 minutes. (You want them around room temperature.)
Cut diagonally very thin (about 1/4" thick, and if you can slice them thinner, do so). This bit's tricky; see notes.
Return to baking sheet, (don't bother to space them out; they won't expand) and bake for 28 minutes. (At this point, they should have gotten obviously lighter.)
After cooling, keep in sealed container.
Notes:
A big part of what makes this recipe good is the thinness of the biscotti. These are half the thickness of a regular biscotti, which may be difficult to accomplish on a technical level. I use a sharp chef's knife, and also roll these smaller than standard biscotti. There are various tips online which disagree with each other about the best way to cut biscotti. (Cut while hot vs place in the freezer; use a sharp knife vs use a serrated knife.) Accept that you'll need to experiment to find something that works for you. If you're still having trouble, you can cut them on less of a diagonal. You can also divide the dough into thirds but still roll to baking sheet length, which will result in a smaller cookie which might be easier to cut. These are still good if they're the size of quarters, but you really need that thinness.
Even in a sealed container, these will soften up a little overnight. When initially cooked, these may be harder than intended.
You can, of course, use other flavorings. Anything with nuts or dried fruit in it will be more difficult to cut, so maybe don't try those versions until you know what you're doing, but most standard biscotti recipes work with this extra-thin version. Two alternate versions: (Replace everything from ginger to vanilla)
1c chopped almonds
1 tea almond essence
If you find these aren't crunchy enough, or someone left the lid off and they softened up overnight, you can simply return them to the oven for a few more minutes, even if it's been a few days. If these ended up too crunchy, leave them out for a few hours.
So, here's a cookie recipe for the holidays. This version of biscotti is cut super-thin, so they end up with a potato chip-esque crunch to them, but you don't need to dip them like regular biscotti.
Why are these good?
* Naturally dairy-free. Not vegan because of the eggs, but as someone who likes cookies but can't have butter, this is a cookie recipe I don't have to make substitutions around.
* Keeps longer than most cookies, thus possible to prepare ahead of time for holiday gifts/meals.
* It has The Crunch.
EDIT: tried craisin version, changed up the ingredients a bit.
Hey all! Love to see the pics! I have continued with my pandemic bread making and here is this years batch of japanese milk rolls for our turkey day. That is butter on top to soften the top and flavor it.
Jubal77 on
+11
daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
40 cm wide oven. 45 cm wide turkey in two halves. Solution: disassemble and do the doldrums ticks and one of the breast-thigh parts in the sous vide. Roast the other big chunk. Pray.
European kitchen appliances are just too damn small.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
I spatchcocked the turkey this year after finally deciding to give it a try. Wasn't as easy as videos make it look (not surprising as I've never done it before), but not as difficult as I thought it would end up being. I could've just found a butcher and had them do it for me, but I wanted to experience it myself.
Definitely going to keep roasting them like that. Don't have to worry about doing all the extra tricks for keeping the beast moist while cooking the dark meat properly. Whole thing in and out if the oven in around an hour and a half. And even better, got to add the backbone with the neck to do my gravy stock with. Fortified some store bought stuff with the backbones, neck along with some veggies and herbs. Good stuff
Just got finished cleaning the carcass and have it going for soup stock. Will make turkey soup tomorrow or over the weekend.
This year I parted the turkey (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 wings) and dry-brined it for about 16 hours before roasting low and slow at 275F. A separate temp probe in the white and dark meat meant each type came out at the absolute perfect time (150F for white meat, 170F for thighs). They rested for 45 minutes while the assorted sides and rolls were cooked in the oven. Cranked oven to 500F and put the turkey back in for 15 min. The skin came out as crisp and delicious as roast duck skin. I will never cook turkey another way again.
It also made timing absolutely perfect for getting everything done simultaneously. Also, since I parted the bird the day before I had the whole rest of the carcass (spine, neck, giblets, etc) that I tossed in the pressure cooker to make a turkey stock far ahead of time so that it was ready to go to make gravy today. My wife was very confused by the pale brown jello I pulled out of the fridge today and told her I was making gravy with it. Gotta love the gelatin in a good bone stock.
Hosted Thanksgiving again this year. 2nd time making a Turkey. Used the Food Lab recipe with herbed butter (thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley) under the skin. Started the oven at 500 then when the turkey went in, dropped it to 300. Was in the oven for 3 hours and 20 minutes.
We had a minor emergency where my wife and I didn't communicate the oven schedule. So we had to use our neighbor's oven for some of the sides. But everything ended up turning out great.
Definitely not my first time cooking Thanksgiving but my first time in my new house with my new double oven. I don't understand what dark wizardry is afoot inside this appliance.
I made a 21lb turkey. Brined for a day, then roasted. Nothing fancy. Little while at high temp, then down to 325. I was expecting 4-5 hours given the weight. Somehow it was done in 2? No idea how that's even possible.
Meanwhile, casseroles that are nominally 30-35 minutes took 90+. And sure, three full pans of dressing and stuff are going to soak a lot of heat but a pan of already-hot mac and cheese baking the topping and a half-pan of squash casserole shouldn't have taken over an hour.
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0
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Definitely not my first time cooking Thanksgiving but my first time in my new house with my new double oven. I don't understand what dark wizardry is afoot inside this appliance.
I made a 21lb turkey. Brined for a day, then roasted. Nothing fancy. Little while at high temp, then down to 325. I was expecting 4-5 hours given the weight. Somehow it was done in 2? No idea how that's even possible.
Meanwhile, casseroles that are nominally 30-35 minutes took 90+. And sure, three full pans of dressing and stuff are going to soak a lot of heat but a pan of already-hot mac and cheese baking the topping and a half-pan of squash casserole shouldn't have taken over an hour.
Is one convection and one not? Was your old one convection?
I can't believe it. My mother-in-law actually made turkey that wasn't dry as the Sahara. It was actually good turkey. She said "I just followed the directions. I always say I'm going to follow the directions, but then I get worried it's not going to come out right and don't."
Our daughter (who usually barely touches the turkey) ate a ton of it. Seconds. Thirds. And later turkey and a biscuit. And even though she served Stove Top, it was executed at the highest level you can expect from Stove Top.
And even though my son had a slice of pizza for Thanksgiving (because his ASD comes with a lot of food aversions), he independently got some of the kernel corn (that, again, was done well for frozen corn!) and said it "wasn't too bad". Then he also got some yams, and said something similar. He even ate a bite of yams later (he got out more than it turned out he wanted).
Definitely not my first time cooking Thanksgiving but my first time in my new house with my new double oven. I don't understand what dark wizardry is afoot inside this appliance.
I made a 21lb turkey. Brined for a day, then roasted. Nothing fancy. Little while at high temp, then down to 325. I was expecting 4-5 hours given the weight. Somehow it was done in 2? No idea how that's even possible.
Meanwhile, casseroles that are nominally 30-35 minutes took 90+. And sure, three full pans of dressing and stuff are going to soak a lot of heat but a pan of already-hot mac and cheese baking the topping and a half-pan of squash casserole shouldn't have taken over an hour.
Is one convection and one not? Was your old one convection?
They’re both convection-optional, as was my old oven. I wasn’t using convection mode, though, just normal bake. Perhaps the convection is less optional than it leads me to believe or something.
In my experience all the videos on breaking down birds make it look and sound way easier then it actually is.
I both agree and still think it's pretty easy. But it's going to be messy the first few times learning it and an in person guide is going to be a lot better than a video. It's something you have to get a feel for because you do things like flex joints to figure out where to stick the knife. I learned it from a class that then covered ways to use the different bits because breaking down a chicken with a professional chef explaining it and walking around didn't take up an entire class at that place. When I actually did it on my own a year or so later, I had to watch videos to refresh my memory but already knowing what I should feel was the biggest help.
Once you do know how to feel things it becomes pretty trivial since poultry and fowl anatomy doesn't vary much in terms of breaking down a bird. I actually just split apart a turkey leg and thigh to make dinner from leftovers and I've never parted out turkey before. The trickiest part in my experience is the series of cuts for the breasts since you're doing a lot of slicing while trying to follow a rounded shape and not lose too much meat. Anything involved cutting a part a joint is quick in comparison.
All that said, your general ability to use your hands is going to play a big role here. It's knifework but a very different kind from slicing things on a cutting board. If you're separating out the backbone then kitchen or poultry shears are pretty important too. I also would hate to do this with a dull knife, especially the breasts.
On a related note, early on during the pandemic I was tempted to stream how to break down a chicken or duck since a number of my friends were doing cooking and baking streams at the time but never could figure out where to set the camera. Then everyone became more and more socially withdrawn and I lost motivation.
I always struggled with parting the bird out until I watched the Jacques Pepin video on breaking down a chicken and letting the weight of the bird help you find the joints to cut much more easily. A turkey is much larger, but still pretty much the same anatomy-wise. Though for parting out a turkey, once I've removed the thighs, I do it a little more like spatchcock where I remove the spine then split the breasts so that both remain on the bone to help with temperature regulation while roasting.
Having the right knife can really help, too (though you can still do it otherwise). Like if you try to break down a chicken using a cleaver, you're probably going to be fighting some unnecessary battles.
dennis on
0
ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
Just to be clear since it's in the context of me bringing it up:
a) As the article points out, the Chinese "cleaver" isn't a cleaver, it's more of a chef's knife. A lightweight blade that's not good for cutting through bones, which is the main use for a cleaver. It's a misnomer.
b) I don't use my big chef's knife for breaking down chicken, either. I use a smaller knife that's easier to maneuver.
All that said, you can use a general purpose knife for just about everything except hacking apart bones. That's the whole point of "general purpose." I was just stating that the job can be easier if you have a knife a bit more suited to it.
My step Grandfather was a butcher in Seattle back in the 50-80's, I was very lucky and got most of his personal knives. Top was not his it is just a Chinese cleaver/chefs knife from Uwajimaya. Bottom was his and is a "proper" cleaver, it weighs probably 3 pounds, basically a Diablo Butchers weapon and will cut/hack through a cows femur bone easy.
So I read a thing that mentioned Brown Betty, and I looked it up and was intrigued. So I set about making myself one. Traditionally they seem to be apple, pear, or mixed berry.
So I made a pear one.
4 large anjou pears, sliced thinly
1 cup chopped pecans
2 sleeves saltine crackers, liberally crushed
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp cardamom
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp whiskey (I used a Rye, but a Bourbon would probably be good as well)
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of allspice
Mix the pear slices, spices, brown sugar, lemon juice, and whiskey in a bowl and cover and fridge. I let mine sit for a couple hours, stirring it up a couple times.
Mix the cracker crumbs and the white sugar in a bowl. Add the butter, and work it gently, crumbling the butter together with the cracker crumbs. This is going to make your topping, and you want it to be roughly like a streusel topping.
Put half the fruit mixture and it's liquid in a pie tin, cover with the topping. Do the same in a different pie dish. Bake at 350 for half an hour. Serve by scooping half a serving out of one tin and laying it with another half a serving on top so that you have alternating layers of fruit and crunch. For really kick ass serving scoop some vanilla ice cream on top.
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to give into it." - Oscar Wilde
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
This year I parted the turkey (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 wings) and dry-brined it for about 16 hours before roasting low and slow at 275F. A separate temp probe in the white and dark meat meant each type came out at the absolute perfect time (150F for white meat, 170F for thighs). They rested for 45 minutes while the assorted sides and rolls were cooked in the oven. Cranked oven to 500F and put the turkey back in for 15 min. The skin came out as crisp and delicious as roast duck skin. I will never cook turkey another way again.
It also made timing absolutely perfect for getting everything done simultaneously. Also, since I parted the bird the day before I had the whole rest of the carcass (spine, neck, giblets, etc) that I tossed in the pressure cooker to make a turkey stock far ahead of time so that it was ready to go to make gravy today. My wife was very confused by the pale brown jello I pulled out of the fridge today and told her I was making gravy with it. Gotta love the gelatin in a good bone stock.
I started doing the same thing a few years back and I'm never going back. You just cannot cook a whole turkey well - it's impossible. The improvement in quality you get through taking the thing a part is huge. Also, like you said, it makes things so much quicker.
Bonus is you can also boil off the carcass for stock days before your dinner and use that stock in making the most delicious gravy in the universe.
Posts
I'm going to have to try that one out sometime if I can figure out where to get tomatillos. I've had great success with Kenji's recipes. His beef and broccoli is a big hit with the kids and I'm going to be doing his No-Waste Tacos de Carnitas With Salsa Verde Recipe with a very good but more regular salsa tomorrow night for dinner.
SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
Before:
After:
Perfection.
Try searching ethnic grocery stores in your area.
SteamID: edgruberman GOG Galaxy: EdGruberman
I have luck finding them in the fancier grocery stores or the asian grocery stores.
Even then you just gonna have to take what you can get.
Obviously, they're no shortage of great recipes out there, but what are some ideas for recipes that can be made the weekend before?
Also, I'm looking for a recipe for bean pie, and I'm surprised by how few recipes there are for it on the internet.
Desert should be easiest; just find something tasty and frozen. Frozen deserts can be served as-is, and there's plenty of options there.
Looks like mashed potatoes freeze well, but I'd recommend a test run.
You can just reheat frozen peas, green beans, or broccoli in the microwave from frozen and get good results. Probably roast directly from frozen as well, though this does change the timings.
Got this ridiculous thing for my mom's 65th birthday. A5 Wagyu ribeye. It's more marbling than meat!
Any suggestions how to cook it? Traditionally I think you would sear it and serve it rare. Can't do that though, mom is severely immunocompromised. I need to make sure it's safe for her to eat without melting out all the fat, basically.
And congrats, that looks like an amazing steak!
I got my love of steak from my mom so I'm pretty excited to cook this up for her birthday. Really hoping I don't screw it up!
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
a few days is okay
Sweet.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Ginger snap biscotti
.5c sugar
1/8 tea salt
1 tea baking powder
1 table ginger
2 tea cinnamon
1 tea cloves
1 tea vanilla
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 375 F
Combine all dry ingredients.
Add eggs and vanilla to the middle, and gradually mix in the dry ingredients from the center out.
Knead a bit.
(If it's still sticking to the bowl, add more flour.)
Divide in half, and roll out baking sheet-length ropes. (Use wet hands so it doesn't stick.)
Place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove, set oven to 275 F.
Let cool for at least 15 minutes. (You want them around room temperature.)
Cut diagonally very thin (about 1/4" thick, and if you can slice them thinner, do so). This bit's tricky; see notes.
Return to baking sheet, (don't bother to space them out; they won't expand) and bake for 28 minutes. (At this point, they should have gotten obviously lighter.)
After cooling, keep in sealed container.
Notes:
A big part of what makes this recipe good is the thinness of the biscotti. These are half the thickness of a regular biscotti, which may be difficult to accomplish on a technical level. I use a sharp chef's knife, and also roll these smaller than standard biscotti. There are various tips online which disagree with each other about the best way to cut biscotti. (Cut while hot vs place in the freezer; use a sharp knife vs use a serrated knife.) Accept that you'll need to experiment to find something that works for you. If you're still having trouble, you can cut them on less of a diagonal. You can also divide the dough into thirds but still roll to baking sheet length, which will result in a smaller cookie which might be easier to cut. These are still good if they're the size of quarters, but you really need that thinness.
Even in a sealed container, these will soften up a little overnight. When initially cooked, these may be harder than intended.
You can, of course, use other flavorings. Anything with nuts or dried fruit in it will be more difficult to cut, so maybe don't try those versions until you know what you're doing, but most standard biscotti recipes work with this extra-thin version. Two alternate versions: (Replace everything from ginger to vanilla)
1c chopped almonds
1 tea almond essence
2 tea cinnamon
1/2 tea nutmeg
1 tea vanilla extract
1/2c craisins
If you find these aren't crunchy enough, or someone left the lid off and they softened up overnight, you can simply return them to the oven for a few more minutes, even if it's been a few days. If these ended up too crunchy, leave them out for a few hours.
Why are these good?
* Naturally dairy-free. Not vegan because of the eggs, but as someone who likes cookies but can't have butter, this is a cookie recipe I don't have to make substitutions around.
* Keeps longer than most cookies, thus possible to prepare ahead of time for holiday gifts/meals.
* It has The Crunch.
EDIT: tried craisin version, changed up the ingredients a bit.
My mom frequently makes whole pies, doesn't cook them, and just wraps them up and freezes them for a few months. So, freezer is always an option.
European kitchen appliances are just too damn small.
Definitely going to keep roasting them like that. Don't have to worry about doing all the extra tricks for keeping the beast moist while cooking the dark meat properly. Whole thing in and out if the oven in around an hour and a half. And even better, got to add the backbone with the neck to do my gravy stock with. Fortified some store bought stuff with the backbones, neck along with some veggies and herbs. Good stuff
Just got finished cleaning the carcass and have it going for soup stock. Will make turkey soup tomorrow or over the weekend.
It also made timing absolutely perfect for getting everything done simultaneously. Also, since I parted the bird the day before I had the whole rest of the carcass (spine, neck, giblets, etc) that I tossed in the pressure cooker to make a turkey stock far ahead of time so that it was ready to go to make gravy today. My wife was very confused by the pale brown jello I pulled out of the fridge today and told her I was making gravy with it. Gotta love the gelatin in a good bone stock.
https://www.seriouseats.com/turkey-in-parts-white-dark-recipe
We had a minor emergency where my wife and I didn't communicate the oven schedule. So we had to use our neighbor's oven for some of the sides. But everything ended up turning out great.
I made a 21lb turkey. Brined for a day, then roasted. Nothing fancy. Little while at high temp, then down to 325. I was expecting 4-5 hours given the weight. Somehow it was done in 2? No idea how that's even possible.
Meanwhile, casseroles that are nominally 30-35 minutes took 90+. And sure, three full pans of dressing and stuff are going to soak a lot of heat but a pan of already-hot mac and cheese baking the topping and a half-pan of squash casserole shouldn't have taken over an hour.
Is one convection and one not? Was your old one convection?
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Our daughter (who usually barely touches the turkey) ate a ton of it. Seconds. Thirds. And later turkey and a biscuit. And even though she served Stove Top, it was executed at the highest level you can expect from Stove Top.
And even though my son had a slice of pizza for Thanksgiving (because his ASD comes with a lot of food aversions), he independently got some of the kernel corn (that, again, was done well for frozen corn!) and said it "wasn't too bad". Then he also got some yams, and said something similar. He even ate a bite of yams later (he got out more than it turned out he wanted).
They’re both convection-optional, as was my old oven. I wasn’t using convection mode, though, just normal bake. Perhaps the convection is less optional than it leads me to believe or something.
I both agree and still think it's pretty easy. But it's going to be messy the first few times learning it and an in person guide is going to be a lot better than a video. It's something you have to get a feel for because you do things like flex joints to figure out where to stick the knife. I learned it from a class that then covered ways to use the different bits because breaking down a chicken with a professional chef explaining it and walking around didn't take up an entire class at that place. When I actually did it on my own a year or so later, I had to watch videos to refresh my memory but already knowing what I should feel was the biggest help.
Once you do know how to feel things it becomes pretty trivial since poultry and fowl anatomy doesn't vary much in terms of breaking down a bird. I actually just split apart a turkey leg and thigh to make dinner from leftovers and I've never parted out turkey before. The trickiest part in my experience is the series of cuts for the breasts since you're doing a lot of slicing while trying to follow a rounded shape and not lose too much meat. Anything involved cutting a part a joint is quick in comparison.
All that said, your general ability to use your hands is going to play a big role here. It's knifework but a very different kind from slicing things on a cutting board. If you're separating out the backbone then kitchen or poultry shears are pretty important too. I also would hate to do this with a dull knife, especially the breasts.
On a related note, early on during the pandemic I was tempted to stream how to break down a chicken or duck since a number of my friends were doing cooking and baking streams at the time but never could figure out where to set the camera. Then everyone became more and more socially withdrawn and I lost motivation.
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3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Article from Serious Eats
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Just to be clear since it's in the context of me bringing it up:
a) As the article points out, the Chinese "cleaver" isn't a cleaver, it's more of a chef's knife. A lightweight blade that's not good for cutting through bones, which is the main use for a cleaver. It's a misnomer.
b) I don't use my big chef's knife for breaking down chicken, either. I use a smaller knife that's easier to maneuver.
All that said, you can use a general purpose knife for just about everything except hacking apart bones. That's the whole point of "general purpose." I was just stating that the job can be easier if you have a knife a bit more suited to it.
So I made a pear one.
4 large anjou pears, sliced thinly
1 cup chopped pecans
2 sleeves saltine crackers, liberally crushed
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp cardamom
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp whiskey (I used a Rye, but a Bourbon would probably be good as well)
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of allspice
Mix the pear slices, spices, brown sugar, lemon juice, and whiskey in a bowl and cover and fridge. I let mine sit for a couple hours, stirring it up a couple times.
Mix the cracker crumbs and the white sugar in a bowl. Add the butter, and work it gently, crumbling the butter together with the cracker crumbs. This is going to make your topping, and you want it to be roughly like a streusel topping.
Put half the fruit mixture and it's liquid in a pie tin, cover with the topping. Do the same in a different pie dish. Bake at 350 for half an hour. Serve by scooping half a serving out of one tin and laying it with another half a serving on top so that you have alternating layers of fruit and crunch. For really kick ass serving scoop some vanilla ice cream on top.
@skippydumptruck
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
I started doing the same thing a few years back and I'm never going back. You just cannot cook a whole turkey well - it's impossible. The improvement in quality you get through taking the thing a part is huge. Also, like you said, it makes things so much quicker.
Bonus is you can also boil off the carcass for stock days before your dinner and use that stock in making the most delicious gravy in the universe.
https://tasty.co/recipe/the-ultimate-thanksgiving-turkey-hack