Getting Ready For ‘T’ Day!

Thanksgiving is only 4 days away and it is time to start getting ready. This year I am going to be deep frying my turkey and I will brine it for around 36 hours.  In order to make the deadline I have already started thawing my bird in the fridge.  I will have to put it in the brine on Tuesday night.

Deep frying a turkey is a great way to cook it.  Granted you do need some special equipment (a 7 to 10 gallon pot and heavy duty long gloves to prevent burns, for example) but the end result is a deliciously, tender, moist bird.  It is imperative to be careful when deep frying a turkey as people can get burned with the hot oil and fires can get started.  One thing to remember is that it must be cooked outdoors.  Never cook it in the garage or inside the house. That having said, if one knows how to handle this with caution it is well worth it!

I am also making pumpkin ice ceam this year so I went ahead and made my custard this morning.  It has been chilling for hours now and I will be churning it this evening.  My pumpkin ice cream calls for 10 egg yolks so, naturally, I had 10 egg whites left over.  Being frugal that I am, I decided to make meringue cookies with the whites.  Making meringue is a labor of patience but also provides rewarding results! One must beat the egg whites until stiff, add the granulated sugar and cream of tartar and then keep on beating for at least 20 minutes on high.  I added  some fresh lemon juice to help dissolve the sugar granules.  

Once your egg whites are shiny and stiff (and you can’t taste any granulated sugar) you spoon small amounts onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  If you do not have parchment paper go ahead and use the inside of a grocery paper bag.  Don’t worry about separating them too much as these will not grow or flatten if you have beaten them correctly. You then need to bake these in an oven at 250 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes or until you can pull them off the paper without breaking them.  Let them cool and enjoy them!

 If you want to make meringues you will need 1 cup of sugar per every 3 egg whites.  Believe me 10 egg whites makes over 100 cookies so, unless you have a great big crowd, 3 is probably enough! You need about 1/2 a teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice.

I don’t have much prepping to do tomorrow but Tuesday will be a busy day! I’ll tell you all about those preparations on Tuesday! Until then, enjoy life! It is a good one!

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