Adventures in Brining (November 2009)

This Thanksgiving we ordered a scrumptious turkey from spinellis, Red Bird, not frozen...the question was to brine or not. I was a little skeptical and afraid....where does one put a 18lb turkey soaking in a salty mess to keep cold. The weather gods smiled and gave us a night time high of 35 so Tom turkey sat in his saline and cider bath out in the garage. I fished him out early the next morning and buttered him up and popped him in the oven. OOOOhhhh he browned beautifully...ooohhhh he smelled outrageously good. He came out and rested for a good 45 minutes and as I began to carve, he simply gave way, the meat falling of the bones (in a good succulent way, not dry nasty way..) Rather than carve, it became a pull apart mission as I arranged the meat on the platter. The first bite was subline. Turkey taste, moist and succulent meat that literally melted in your mouth.

A fall of Colorado Bounty....(written in January)

There has been alot of cooking chez Rogers and very little writing, ahem...so without further ado...

In September we acquired a 1/4 of a very Happy Cow from Rusk Ranches. It was quite a scene on a friend's lawn, a group of men in business suits and their wives, slinging around frozen packages of beef marked roast, stew, rump and the most coveted..ribeye, sirloin, tenderloin into the assortment of coolers hauled out from cars and basements to relay the precious cargo in pristine condition. Even frozen, I could tell we were in for a treat.

The kids who seem to subsist on hamburgers and tacos these days were particularly happy to see the mountains of ground beef....and I was happy knowing there was no scary stuff mixed in.

Beef was for dinner at our house....



top Sirloin, grilled and sliced



ribeye steaks seasoned with salt and seared on the grill



Stew Meat transformed to ethereal melting bliss in the form of Julia Child's Boeuf Bourgignon



But, too much meat makes Jack a dull boy so it was time to bring in the birds....



Trey has been shooting birds..dove and pheasant and the freezer was bursting full of their sweet, tiny shrink wrapped bodies....Dove Fest (or how many was to cook a Dove) was born



Dove Kebabs - breast meat skewered with onions, peppers and pickled jalepenos wrapped in bacon, marinated in Italian dressing and grilled.



Dove Casserole - Cream of mushroom soup, lots of sherry, green beans and fried onions - oh yeah and big chunks of dove.... so utterly american/Betty Crocker esque and so delicious... did I mention lots of sherry???



Fried Dove with Garlic Aioli - breadcrumb coated dove breast fried until crispy and served with a garlicky slick of aioli. bliss..



Neighbors and friends joind the festivities, each had their favorite preparation but to a t, each said they never knew dove could be so good!



New years eve day had Trey out shooting pheasants...between 5 guns they brought home 46 birds...you guessed it, Pheasant Fest



Above kebab with Pheasant



Pheasant Casserole this time with reising, orange juice, china tea, pecans and white grapes. Sounds weird but is absolutely divine...



Pheasant in Cream Sauce (puns about Creamed Pheasants abound!)



Rotisserie smoked pheasant wrapped in bacon. yup, it was delish!



Side dishes..

Potato, sweet potato bake

Blue cheese stuffed mushrooms

Mushroom Risotto

Green salad



Sherry Cherry Trifle for dessert... it was definitely a fest!!!



Happy cows and birds from Colorado have filled our bellies and our hearts. We are so grateful... it really does taste better when it comes from somewhere close to home. The Beef Bourgingnon was made with local garlic, onions, mushrooms and parsley. Can't beat it!



So, I have been cooking up a storm but not writing about it....can you hear the resolutions ringing in my ears?