Cup of Coffee

November 23, 2015: Well, I Wasted That One

59 Comments

I'll be spending my most recent "weekend" sick again, it seems, as Sour Cream picked something up and promptly passed it on to me because she loves me and whatnot. We'll see if I can avoid a third sick Black Friday shift.

59 thoughts on “November 23, 2015: Well, I Wasted That One”

    1. I hope it's not the head-throat-chest business we've had the last couple weeks. It made for about a week of under-the-weather for the big people, but a couple of miserable-anxious nights for our littlest two.

    2. Me too! I got some wicked cough / congestion that's moved between lungs and head for the last 4 days. Sweet.

  2. Our office is closed Friday. Anyone else have that benefit? We used to have to take PTO, but people who came in could leave at noon without PTO.

      1. We get the Friday but not Christmas Eve. However, we are shut down from Christmas through New Year's.

    5. No matter whether the office is open or not, Friday is a vacation day. If one person is comes in, the office is open. If no one comes in, the office is closed, but we still have to take the time out of vacation or PTO.

    6. We run a skeleton staff. We used to just have it be a full day of on call, but the last couple of years, there have been too many calls to justify having no one in office.

      I worked it last year, so this year I have it off. In fact, Thursday starts a stretch of 12 days off for me. I don't know if I've had that many off in a row since I started working.

    7. We're out Friday, but being academic-types, that's not at all surprising. We are currently considering a future academic calendar that would give everyone the whole Thanksgiving week off, since that seems to be somewhat normal among elementary, middle, and high schools around here.

      1. That's what we've got. But Christmas Eve is like Friday After Thanksgiving used to be (you've gotta take a full day of vacation, but if you come in, you'll be sent home at noon).
        I've got six holidays between the fourth Thursday in November and third Monday in February, and three holidays in the remaining 9 months of the year.

    9. As an independent contractor, I can work when I please, but if I don't work, I don't get paid. That being said, there will be very , very little work available Friday (or Thursday for that matter), which is why I took on a project over the weekend that took about 12 hours to do.

    10. We're open to the public on black Friday, but since I'm in the back of the house I get to take it off so that I can go shopping. Or work on my hangover. For some shameful reason we also do not get MLK day off. The board has told us that they've been really, really generous to us by 'giving' us Monday before Mardi Gras off, and we should be happy with that. I think it's a damn shame.

      1. At least you have no excuse to not be extremely hammered when Papa Young rolls by each year

  3. Looking for advice on how to get crisp(er) skin on my turkey this year. I smoke-roast on the Weber kettle. IIRC, last year I did a charcoal snake and ended up with tough, rubbery skin on the bird. Reading Steve Raichlen's advice, looks like the tricks are (a) smear butter under the skin, (b) baste with butter or oil, and (c) raise temperature late to finish.

    1. Alton goes the opposite. He starts out at 500F for the first 30 minutes, then 350 for another 1.5-2 hours (for a 14-16 lb bird), skin coated in canola oil.

      1. for years at my in-laws, I did the turkey. Alton's approach is pretty much what I did (high temp to start, then slow it down).

        the science on that is...not strong.

        1. I'm curious about why the science isn't strong. It would seem necessary to cook the fat under the skin immediately if one is to take advantage of the Maillard reaction before the fat simply melts off at lower temperature, carrying whatever sugars were in your brine with it.

          1. With the bird, I think the issue is that low-and-slow with high humidity (drip pan with some liquid in it) steams the skin. So if you blast it first, you will get browning but the skin gets humidified the rest of the way. If you raise the temp at the end, you can dry the surface out to crisp it.

            Of course, I am making shit up now.....

            1. Also, Harold McGee. He has a 2010 NPR interview that addresses brining and roasting a turkey. He doesn't exactly answer the question. He just notes that the skin has to get to 350 to crisp, whereas the dark meat needs to get to 160 and the breast to 150.

    2. Butter under the skin should help, and it's yet another flavor delivery mechanism. If you're going through the trouble of getting it up in there, might as well make a compound butter and get full (flavor) benefit of the labor.

      My experience is that Alton Brown's high-heat-early technique Mags cites does indeed work. You run one in on the bird early to keep it from digging in, then bust it away, away, and finally Bert it down with Uncle Charlie.

      1. I've never been on turkey duty*, so I can't say what method does or doesn't work. But like 95% of my cooking knowledge comes from AB, so I always look to him first. YMMV, of course.

        *Thanksgiving has always been Papaw's holiday. We go to my grandparents' in Indiana (even when we lived there, we'd go down to theirs) and he'd cook up everything. This will be our first one without him. I suppose Mom will take over cooking duties, but I don't know that for sure.

        1. Between Alton Brown & the Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen folks, I think cooks are just about covered on things through the intermediate level of what can be accomplished in a contemporary American home kitchen. These won't delve too deeply into more specialized ethnic cuisines, but that's what you go to people like Rick Bayless or Madhur Jaffrey for, anyway.

          First holidays after a significant familial loss are really tough, particularly when the family member who has passed on was integral to the traditions of the holiday. Here's hoping your family can find a way of preserving what you loved of your Thanksgivings with Papaw in a way that always keeps his memory present. I'll be thinking of you on Thursday.

        2. The last few years, I've used Alton Brown's brining recipe, to good success using a variety of methods (oven, rotisserie, etc), but last year, we combined the brining with the Holland indirect heating grill, and that was so superb that I think our experimentation is over. Just perfect.

          *Thanksgiving was always Linds's grandmother's holiday. When she passed in 2011, I signed up for turkey duty, and Linds picked up pies.

          1. When we lived in D.C. we never traveled back for Thanksgiving since $$$ and Christmas. We had a very close friend from college who also lived in D.C., and we'd always host, with at least her joining us in our orphan Thanksgiving. One year all of Philosofette's siblings came out to visit. I did all the cooking, except a couple of sides, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.

            Since coming back to MN, we've had probably 3 or 4 different Thanksgivings. We just can't quite seem to find our right spot for this holiday. My mom does the cooking, and lots o my siblings go there (and we will be this year too, for the second time), but something about me not being more active in the prep just seems... off. Guess it's just still an orphan holiday.

            I was thinking this morning that maybe I should start a new tradition where our family volunteers on this day or something along those lines. Salvage the day somehow...

            1. We're having our first TG at home. My folks are coming. EAR's first turkey on a holiday. I'll probably make some mushrooms.

              Last year, EAR and I decided that we needed to claim some holidays to have at home so that our kids have memories they want to come home for after they're grown and left.
              Now, of the big 3 holidays (TG, XMas, & Easter), one will be at my parents' house, one at EAR's parents' house (or other family site... this year at the new cabin in Chisago Co. that the "new" BiL built), and one at our house. We made a six-year schedule so that everything is evenly distributed. Both families felt they were getting jobbed. But it's settled in now.

                    1. I know what I did wrong! Now to wait a couple months before I again post an image incorrectly and have the same conversation with myself!

    3. So we're spending Thursday with extended family, but then Friday we're doing our own private Thanksgiving, just me and the wife and the kids. I'm in charge of the turkey, and I couldn't care less. We went to a friends house about a month ago for a "friendsgiving" celebration, and he is a big Food Network guy and cooked the most amazing meal. Turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, stuffing, green beans, rolls, etc. He split the bird into breasts and dark meat, he deboned the thighs and dressed up the turkey amazingly well. Thing is, I hope my wife doesn't expect that from me, because I am not a chef, and I hate doing all that prep work. I'm kinda dreading Friday, but we'll see.

    4. Like CH said, if you're going to go to the trouble of the butter smear, make a compound butter, and use some cured meats as well (why the hell not?)

      As to the skin, that's the problem, a great skin usually comes at the price of dried out breast meat. I've taken to using the 'inverted' roasting position, and then cranking the heat at the end to 'sear' the skin. I almost always use a white wine, herbed butter with prosciutto all up and under the skin as a way to absolutely ensure moist white meat

      As to the smoking, after ~140 ish degrees you're done adding 'smoke' flavor to meat, so why not just bring it it and finish it in the oven? You get the opportunity to baste / crisp the meat under the broiler....

      1. I haven't ever tried the butter under the skin thing. Does it actually add enough flavor to be worth the hassle? I brine before roasting, and will usually rub a little butter on the skin if I remember before putting it in the oven, but haven't tried to go subcutaneous yet. Any strong adherents for or against?

  4. Not that I don't want him to make a successful comeback, but if Johan retires his b-ref page can take off that Orioles cap

  5. It's a good week for me and the Invisibles Quiz, as I managed to get 6 out of 8.

    Incidentally, last week's image that looked like a musical, and had everyone guessing all kinds of Dick Van Dyke movies? It was I Heart Huckabees. Not a chance I would have ever come up with that one...

    'Related to number 2...' SelectShow

      1. The other one I got was...

        'Number 1' SelectShow

        2. Annie Hall, Manhattan
          Those are good. Also: Antz, Sleeper.
          If any of those stink, in my defense: it's been a long time.

        3. That's what it was! I knew I had seen it, and tried many set in Europe.

          Also, I adored that movie, but I usually love Woody Allen too. Annie Hall is good, but not my favorite. That's probably Deconstructing Harry.

      1. Same here. I think the only thing I can remember about it right now at all is the outtake that got passed around with David O. Russel losing it and screaming at everyone on set.

  8. It's the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object in reverse. The 76ers can't win at all and the Wolves can't win at home. Something has to give, and so far, the Sixers are leading, although they led by 15 points at halftime in their last game and predictably blew it.

  9. Flip over to Wolves game, immediately hear, "Zach LaVine was ball-watching." Then, on the ensuing offensive possession, he goes 1-on-5 with the clank from fifteen feet.

  10. Yes, Sixers and all, but damn it's nice to see a win at home.

    Even in a losing effort, though, I'm happy to see what Wiggins and KAT will do, with Rubio feeding them when necessary. This might be as much as I've liked a Wolves trio since KG-Chauncey-Sealy.

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