Category: Recipes

This was given to me from my father-in-law over the phone during the height of COVID while we were all in lockdown and we could not spend Thanksgiving with them. Quite easily the most simple and one of the best turkeys you can make. It’s so simple and straightforward and, honestly, really hard to mess up, or, in other words, a great no-fail recipe.

Bob’s Thanksgiving Day Turkey

Quite Simply the best (and most simple) Thanksgiving Turkey

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Prep Time 1 day d

Cook Time 6 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 12 people

Ingredients

  

• 1 whole turkey, frozen anywhere between 15 and 20 lbs
• 1 bottle peanut oil
• 1 whole white onion
• 3 tbsp salt, kosher this is an estimate. you really want to salt the turkey well
• 1 tbsp black pepper, fresh ground this is an estimate. you really want to pepper the turkey well
• 1 tbsp garlic powder this is an estimate. you really want to season the turkey well with garlic powder
• 1/2 stick butter, salted

Instructions

 

Defrost

• Take a frozen turkey the day before cooking in the morning.  Clean the turkey.

Prepare

• Rub the entire turkey with Peanut Oil
• Season with Salt and Pepper and Garlic Powder
• Cut the white onion in half and put in the cavity of the turkey
• Slit the turkey 4-6 times on each breast, using ½ inch slits, slightly scoring the meat. Then slide a slice of butter into the breast part of the turkey between the skin and the meat.
• Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.

Thanksgiving Day Cooking

• The next morning, insert the probe into the thigh, avoiding the bone
• Put in the oven at 325 degrees until internal temperature reaches 165
• Keep covered until ready to carve.

Keyword thanksgiving, turkey

I found this recipe from the internet for a good fermented pickle from a woman who claims that this is the recipe that can rival or better Bubbie’s pickles. Her video is pretty decent but the written recipe leaves alot to be desired so I’ve transcribed it with modifications.

Keep in mind that this is work-in-progress until the pickles are tasted and judged. Hopefully, we should have some initial results on February 11, 2024!

Update: End of 1st week after pickles have been refrigerated. The 3 weeks in the brine, I believe, is critical to a great tasting pickle. I tried a spear 1 week in and it was much better than after one I tried after 3 days. So technically, these could be ready by 3 or 4 days, however, if you want them done right, wait the 3 weeks.

Update: I just tried the pickles after waiting patiently for 3 weeks. They really do taste like Bubbie’s. They’ve stayed crisp and I imagine they’ll stay crisp as long as they are in the jar refrigerated. I think next time I’ll try whole pickles….that is if I can fit as many pickles as i did with the spears. Also, I’m debating if I have overdone it with the garlic. I used 2 heads (not as written below), given that the original recipe used dried chopped garlic and dried is usually stronger than fresh. Next time, I could probably get away with 1 head of garlic, however, I have no regrets using 2 heads on this recipe.

Copycat Bubbies Pickles

jmnovak

A recipe for bubbies pickles

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 days d

Additional Fermenting time 21 days d

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Deli, Jewish

Equipment

• 1 1 Gallon Wide Mouth Mason Jar, Clear Footnote 1
• 1 Stainless Steel Fermenting Kit for Wide Mouth Mason Jars Footnote 2
• 1 Extra wide mouth lids Footnote 3

Ingredients

  

• 1 packet Cutting Edge Cultures Vegetable Starter Culture Footnote 4
• 2 tsp sugar white, granulated
• 1 cup water filtered
• 3-4 lbs cucumbers prefer pickling
• 4 cloves garlic this feels fairly light. I may double this to 8 cloves. never enough garlic in a recipe like this.
• 6 tbsp salt kosher
• 3 tbsp dill seed whole
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds whole
• 1 tsp mixed peppercorns kosher
• 1 tsp juniper berries
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp mustard seeds this is still an unknown at this point. Many other recipes use mustard seeds in their recipes. i will be using this

Instructions

 

Equipment Preparation

• Drill a ⅓ inch hole in the center of one of the plastic lids in order to fit the rubber seal in the center. Be careful not to make the hole too wide or you will destroy that lid.
• Insert gas valve chamber in the center

Pickle Preparation

• Cut (or leave whole…your preference) the pickling cucumbers to your preferred shape and place in the pickling jar
  3-4 lbs cucumbers
• Chop the garlic cloves finely and put in the pickling jar along with the cucumbers
  4 cloves garlic
• Make the spice mix. Mix the salt, dill seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, juniper berries, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes
  6 tbsp salt, 3 tbsp dill seed, 2 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp mixed peppercorns, 1 tsp juniper berries, 1 tsp fennel seeds, ½ tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp mustard seeds
• Pour the spice mix into the pickling jar
• Make the starter culture. Mix water, sugar and starter culture
  1 packet Cutting Edge Cultures Vegetable Starter Culture, 2 tsp sugar, 1 cup water
• Pour the starter culture into the pickling jar
• Fill the pickling jar with filtered water and close with the pickling kit jar tops
• Add water to the valve
• Place jar in a space that does not have any direct sunlight for 3 days
  
• Place remove pickling kit jar top and place in refrigerator with a standard jar top for 3 weeks (21 days)
  
• Eat (and enjoy!) your pickles

Notes

Links to buy equipment

1. Gallon wide mouth link.
2. Fermenting kit link.
3. Extra wide mouth lids link.
4. Starter culture link

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The fermentation process really happens in 2 phases.  The first phase is where the lactobacilli bacteria (the good bacteria and salt tolerant) start to kill of the bad bacteria with the help of all that salt you added to it.  This is usually by the end of day 1.  The second phase is where that bacteria  start going to work on the cucumbers…eating the sugars….multiplying…and making lactic acid, which is the preservation agent for your pickles.  This happens most actively on days 2-3 or 4 (add an extra day if your house is particularly colder (mid to upper 60s). 

Your mixture will start to look cloudy during this time.

During this phase of the process, another by-product of the bacteria is carbon dioxide which will present itself with bubbles at the top of the jar and will try to force its way out of the valve.  Feel free to “burp” or press down on the top of the valve to force those gasses out once or twice a day.

Keyword pickles