Maple-Brined Turkey

It is always a lovely quiet time at the inn for Thanksgiving. We don't serve a Thanksgiving dinner for our guests, who are usually staying here while they visit their families anyway, but Mark and I have always loved to do a full up turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Our traditional prep for the turkey (a local farm free-range bird) is a maple-brine. When we lived in California, we would smoke-roast the turkey on the BBQ, but now that we live in a slightly cooler climate, outdoor cooking in November is not quite the same!

Maple-Brined Turkey

You need to start this dish 1 - 2 days in advance by brining the turkey. You'll also need a stockpot that can hold a 12 - 14-lb turkey and a clear space in the fridge to hold the pot.

For the Brine:

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup coarse salt

3 whole heads of garlic, cloves separated (but not peeled) and bruised

6 large bay leaves

1 1/2 cups fresh ginger, coarsely chopped, unpeeled

2 teaspoons dried chile flakes

1 1/2 cups soy sauce

3 quarts water

Handful of fresh thyme sprigs

For the turkey:

Olive oil for brushing

12- to 14-lb fresh turkey

4 - 6 large bay leaves

To brine the turkey: Combine all the brine ingredients in an enamel or stainless steel pot big enough to hold the brine and the turkey. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and let it cool completely.

When the brine is cool, prep the turkey by removing the neck and giblets, rinse the turkey well, and then put it in the cold brine. Add more water, if needed, to make sure the brine complete covers the bird. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days, turning the bird in the pot twice a day.

To cook the turkey: Preheat the oven to 450°. Remove the bird from the brine and pat it dry. Carefully pull the breast skin loose but not off, so that you can slip the bay leaves under the skin over both breasts.

Place the turkey in an uncovered roasting pan. Brush with olive oil (or we sometimes just put multiple chunks of butter on top). Put the turkey in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350°. After the first half hour of cooking, baste frequently with the pan drippings.

Cooking time involves many factors, but generally for a 12- to 14-lb turkey, you'll allow 15 to 20 minutes per pound. For example, a 12-lb turkey will need to cook for about 3 hours. If you stuff the turkey, it will need more time. It is best to judge the doneness of your turkey with a meat thermometer. The internal temp, usually taken in the center of the inner thigh muscle, must reach 180° to 185°. The center of the stuffing should reach at least 165°.

Innkeepers Thanksgiving

For the first time it quite a while Mark and I were alone on Thanksgiving, except for the inn guests, but they were eating with family in the area and not with us. Even so, the traditional Thanksgiving meal is some thing we love to prepare.

We bought a straight-from-the-farm fresh turkey - a 20 pounder! It was the smallest they had, and we were will to enjoy leftovers for the rest of the week.

The first step was to prepare the stuffing. Mark did all of the chopping and slicing.

The layers build in the stuffing bowl - french bread, parsley, sautéed onions, pine nuts for starters.

I did the sauté work and the mixing.

Once the stuffing was done the the turkey stuffed and in the oven, there was time to kill. So Mark decided to finish off a batch of butter crunch toffee for Life By Chocolate. It is a big seller both in our shop, online and to the stores we wholesale to, so Mark is constantly having to make more. Here it is getting the one of the layers of dark chocolate.

Next comes the sprinkling of organic roasted and chopped almonds.

Back to Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffed Sweet Potatoes were one of the side dishes. The sweet potatoes are baked, scooped out, mashed and then sautéed leeks and Italian Sausage crumbs are folded in.

Sometimes I put this filling back in the sweet potato skins, but this time I just loaded up some ceramic boats. They are topped with cheese and then baked to warm and melt the cheese.

The other side dish this year was sautéed brussel sprouts with hazelnut butter.

I never liked brussel sprouts -- until I discovered this recipe. Yum!

Finally the turkey was done to a delicious turn! Dinner is served.

Thanksgiving at the Greenville Arms

While we don't serve a Thanksgiving dinner to guests (they are usually staying with us while visiting family), Mark and I always enjoy making our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

It was just the two of us this year, so the menu was limited to just our favorites. We started out with roasted chestnuts and a wonderful, buttery and earthy Saint Agur, a blue cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk from the village of Beauzac in the Monts du Velay, part of the mountainous Auvergne region of central France.



Paired with this was a luscious 1984 Domaine De Caplane sauternes.



Then came the main event - an organic free-range turkey with stuffing! The turkey was set in a Maple-Soy-Ginger brine the day before, and then stuffed and roasted. The stuffing was a bread (I use chewy-crusted baguettes), sausage, pine nut, mushroom, celery, onion, and parsley mix.)

I carve the turkey while Mark makes the gravy.



Just enough not to feel as stuffed as the turkey at the end!