Creating a turkey gravy is pretty easy. Essentially, you just use all the stuff that comes from cooking a turkey. The only real trick is get the taste right. Luckily, you’ve got me to figure that part out for you.
food
Note: I’ve tweaked this recipe over the years, and HERE is my definitive method/recipe.
For Thanksgiving this year I tried my hand at roasting a turkey on the grill. The resulting bird was crispy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside, and only took a few minutes longer than roasting it in the oven. Also, adding woods chips imparts an authentic smokey flavor that really made the turkey stand out on the Thanksgiving table. Lastly, it frees up the oven for other endeavors!
Also, when grilling a turkey (or roasting it in the oven, for that matter), you want to use a v-rack (often called a roasting rack). We just started using one recently and it’s amazing how evenly it cooks the bird, since it allows air to circulate around the entire turkey. Depending on how your grill plates run, though, the v-rack may fall through the plates; to prevent this, put the v-rack on a grill pan.
For me (and probably many others), smothered pork chops remind me of being a kid. It is a generally easy way to make sure pork chops are both cooked thoroughly and not too tough or chewy, and many houses across America have their own variation. Unfortunately, too many of those recipes rely heavily on instant soup packets and/or cans, which are loaded with sodium, unhealthy oils, and wheat. In response, I set out to make a healthy alternative without compromising on taste. Here’s how it turned out.
NOTE: An updated version of this recipe appears in my cookbook, The Ancestral Table.
Japanese curry is a relative new dish to the country – it was introduced by the British in the 19th century, who in turn picked it up from India. Today, curry houses are everywhere in Japan, and for good reason; the irresistible sauce is mild and slightly sweet compared to other curries found worldwide, and is often served with any combination of stewed or fried meats which keep this dish surprisingly versatile.
I remember the first time I went to a local Asian grocery store shortly after deciding to go mostly-grain-free last year, and my utter disappointment when looking at the ingredients list of those handy Japanese curry blocks. You see, one of the pivotal ingredients in all of those blocks is wheat – which makes sense given the thick and creamy consistency that’s unique to Japanese curry. But fear not, dear reader, because I’ve been working on a gluten-free Japanese curry for the past year and I think I’ve got it figured out.
NOTE: An updated version of this recipe appears in my cookbook, The Ancestral Table.
Loco moco is a Hawaiian dish and popular breakfast meal on the islands. It’s the ultimate breakfast meal prior to a big workday, consisting of rice, a hamburger patty, fried eggs, and brown gravy. Its unique mix of ingredients create a distinct taste that I’ve been missing lately, so I decided to whip one up the other day.
I’m starting to find that bringing constant, new content to this site during the summer months is going to be difficult. Not only is my family much busier, but I find myself falling back on the same, tried-and-true meals as the summer heat kicks in – and they almost all include grilling. Since many of the dishes I love to grill are already on the site, I’m caught in a bit of a predicament.
Luckily, we signed up for a vegetable CSA share through a local farm which means that we’ve been getting all sorts of unexpected and new veggies every week. This basically requires me to find out more about each vegetable we get, and to research recipes to boot. This is one such recipe, although the same method can be applied to traditional greens (collard, mustard, turnip, etc).
Saimin is a dish unique to Hawaii, and a marriage of the many cultures found on the islands. Chinese egg noodles are served in a Japanese broth with garnishes taken from Chinese (char siu), Japanese (fish cake), Filipino (adobo), Korean (won bok cabbage), and Portuguese (sausage) cuisine. My favorite saimin in Hawaii is found at Shiro’s Saimin Haven, which features 70+ variations of the dish (my favorite is “dodonpa” – 10 garnishes!). Likewise, fried saimin is a stir-fried version of the soup, and is also popular in many saimin shops. It’s a refreshing break from noodle soups and your everyday lo mein-style dishes. Unfortunately, saimin noodles are made with wheat.
To remedy this, I settled on sweet potato-based noodles, which as far as I know are a Korean invention. They are made with just sweet potato starch and water, and are similar to glass/bean noodles used in dishes like chicken long rice.
While in Germany last year, I came across a Bavarian dish called “Schweinshaxe” (pork knuckle), which is a ham hock that is boiled and roasted to a crisp. I enjoyed picking apart this barbarian hunk of meat, and I wanted to replicate the experience at home. Since uncured ham hocks are hard to come by, and most butchers would look at you funny if you asked for a pork knuckle, I decided to try out a different cut but with similar result.
I settled on a pork shoulder (same thing as a pork butt), which is easy to find and fairly marbled. Pork shoulder is the cut used in pulled pork, so I thought I would roast a shoulder in the grill but take it off before it starts to fall apart; the outer shell came out deliciously crispy and the meat was juicy and tender.
Split chicken breasts don’t get any respect. They’re a lot cheaper per pound than boneless, skinless breasts (granted, they weigh more) plus their bones give them a natural grilling “rack” to use, resulting in a better tasting cut of meat. I decided to try out a method of grilling split breasts that I had read about, and here are the results.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I prefer to brine chicken if I’m going to grill it, in order to retain as much liquid as possible. Although it definitely makes the chicken more juicy, it does take a little bit of preparation. I think it’s worth it.
The Domestic Man 