PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE | GRAVY

Sauce Boats from the wonderful online shop Paris Hotel Boutique

Every Thanksgiving, I have several chats with friends and siblings about gravy. After all, gravy is the secret pièce de résistance of Thanksgiving. Of course, the turkey is the crown jewel but it's the gravy that makes way for great storytelling and Thanksgiving memories. We've reminisced about how much we loved Craig Claiborne's East Hampton Thanksgiving Gravy that took twenty hours to make. Or the time I met a fancy produce truck delivering to The Four Season's in Boston, to buy their last 1/4 lb. of fresh porcini mushrooms, for that year's expensive gravy! We've had great luck with Chuck Williams' recipes—sometimes the simpler the better. This year, I pay tribute to the final issue of beloved Gourmet. The magazine has played its celebratory part in our Thanksgivings over the years. My pick for gravy including turkey {of course} is Cider-Glazed Turkey—cider turkey rules for this Thanksgiving:

Turkey Giblet Stock Makes about 4 cups Active Time: 10 min., Start to Finish: 1 HR Browning the neck and giblets, as well as the vegetables, produces a wonderfully rich stock, and subsequently, a much more flavorful gravy.

• Tbsp vegetable oil
• Neck and giblets (excluding the liver) from a 12-to-14 lb. turkey
• 1 celery rib, coarsely chopped
• 1 carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 onion (not peeled), quartered
• 1 3/4 cups chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp dried thyme, crumbled

• Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Cut neck into 1-inch pieces. Brown neck, giblets, celery, carrot, and onion, turning occasionally, about 6 minutes. Add chicken stock, scraping up brown bits.
• Transfer mixture to a 3-qt saucepan. Add water, bay leaf, peppercorns, and thyme and simmer, uncovered until liquid is reduced to about 4 cups, 40 to 45 minutes. Strain stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl (discard solids). Skim off and discard any fat.
• Cook's Note: Stock can be made 3 days ahead and chilled (covered once cool).

Cider-Glazed Turkey Gourmet | by Ian Knauer

yield: Makes 8 servings active time: 35 min total time: 4 hr

A roast turkey glazed with a buttery cider syrup is burnished outside and juicy within. You'll have more than enough gravy to ladle over the stuffing, the smashed potatoes, and tomorrow's leftovers. Ingredients For turkey:

• 1 (12-to 14-pounds) turkey at room temperature 1 hour, neck and giblets (excluding liver) reserved for turkey stock
• 1 apple, cut into chunks
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 1 small bunch thyme
• 1 cup water

For cider glaze:

• 1 cup unfiltered apple cider
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

For gravy:

• 2 cups dry white wine
• Melted unsalted butter if necessary
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• About 4 cups hot turkey giblet stock {made previously}

• Equipment: a 17- by 14-inch flameproof roasting pan with a flat rack; kitchen String; a 2-quart measuring cup or a fat separator Shopping List For This Recipe here.

Preparation

Prepare turkey: Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in lower third.

Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Put turkey on rack in roasting pan and season inside and out with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Put apple, onion, and thyme in large cavity. Fold neck skin under body, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with string.

Roast turkey and Make cider glaze: Add water to pan and roast, without basting, 1 hour.

Meanwhile, boil cider and sugar in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved, until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in butter 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking until emulsified. Let glaze stand until ready to use.

After turkey has roasted 1 hour, rotate pan 180 degrees. Roast, without basting, 40 minutes more.

Glaze turkey: Brush turkey all over with all of glaze and continue to roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (test both; do not touch bone) registers 165 to 170°F, 5 to 15 minutes more (total roasting time: 1 3/4 to 2 hours).

Carefully tilt turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into pan. Transfer turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into pan. Transfer turkey to a platter (reserve juices in roasting pan) and let rest, uncovered, 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 170 to 175&Deg;F). Discard string.

Make gravy while turkey rests: Strain pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into 2-quart measure and skim off fat (or use a fat separator), reserving fat.

Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners, then add wine and deglaze pan by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 2 minutes. Strain through sieve into measuring cup containing pan juices.

Put 1/2 cup reserved fat (if there is less, add melted butter) in a 4-quart heavy saucepan and whisk in flour.

Cook roux over medium heat, whisking, 3 minutes. Add pan juices and stock in a fast stream, whisking constantly, then bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Briskly simmer, whisking occasionally, until gravy is thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve turkey with gravy.

What to drink Josmeyer Les Folastries Gewürztraminer '05

Note: Recipe courtesy of Gourmet magazine, November 2009, A Rural Pennsylvania Thanksgiving.

Another gem from Paris Hotel Boutique

PRINT | CREATIVITY | EYES WIDE OPEN

After a week of more sad magazine news, I've thought a lot about the extreme costs that large magazine publishers face, especially to produce lush icons like Vogue—where often sumptuous shoots do not make the cut/issue. But sophisticated art is expensive and that is just what we see in the pages of Vogue month after month. I left the movie September Issue with a renewed passion for excellence and admiration for both Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington for their brilliant {sometimes buck-heading} synergy. They are smart, sophisticated and have enduring talent. Their jobs are tough but they continue to push beyond like many artists of all genres to create excellence. In a scene from September Issue, while Grace Coddington rides in the back of a Paris limo, she quotes her old friend and mentor, photographer Norman Parkinson who told her... "Never shut your eyes or go to sleep in a car, train, anywhere. You might miss something inspiring." That scene stood-out in my mind because I'm definitely with Mr. Parkinson, and with all creatives who keep their eyes wide open. Without the people who truly see, we would not have traveled around the world of cuisine with Gourmet, have been mesmerized by the stunning photographs of Irving Penn or dreamt about the latest couture from the pages of Vogue.

Images: NPA {Norman Parkinson Archives}, Irving Penn's Salad Ingredients, Grace Coddington-style page from Vogue, Grace Coddington and Anna Wintour - www.screendaily.com


Norman Parkinson~A Very British Glamour
Release, October 2009