Bones, We don't need no stinkin' Bones

More than 10 years ago I witness something I'd never seen before. I don't remember the show, most likely on PBS, where all great cooking shows go to die. I watched Jacque Pepin with a sharp knife and a deft hand remove the bones from a whole chicken. All that remained was a s meat blanket ready to be stuffed and roasted. I was in awe. In the past I've taken a knife skills course and the crowning achievement of my final class was the deboning of a chicken. It was a pity that I forgot my steel and my instructor was too busy flirting with the ladies of the class to lend me his. Results? confusion, frustration and a mangled bird. Since then I haven't attempted a deboning, not because I was scared off but I had no reason to do so. I generally buy whole organic birds and disassembling them myself to keep myself familiar with the bones and save a few bucks but never had the occasion come up that required a deboning.
But recently I watched a Ricardo Larrivée Christmas special in which Ricardo's butcher gave him a boneless turkey for his stuffed turkey. This got me thinking? My in-laws tend to only eat the white meat (a.k.a. boneless meat) so why not try it? Still on the fence whether to do it or not I thought I'd try a chicken before I commit to taking on a turkey. And so last night I did. My knife was sharp(ish) and freshly steeled and I was off. Starting with the back of the chicken and slowly, carefully cutting along the ribcage. Then the joints of the legs then continuing along the ribcage to the breast. Then I removed the bones from the legs and thigh and cut off the wings altogether. What I was left with was a layer of skin and meat which I stuffed with a quick stuffing of fried onion, peppers, garlic, various dried herbs, salt and pepper and bread slices cut into cubes. tied it with butcher's twine and roasted it for an hour or so. The results were better than I hoped for. Definitely a successful experiments.

The Quest for Christmas Dinner

'Tis the season to start working on the annual Fake Christmas Dinner. Well, not actually fake but a week pre-mature. A tradition started last year when my wife and I flew to Halifax a week early to have Christmas with her family and in the process avoided the Christmas chaos, the last minute shopping, the delayed flights, the outrages airfare, and having to decide which family to spend Christmas day with. And a bonus, I got to make the turkey. Something I never had the opportunity to do at my folks house. Partially because they're up every holiday from the crack of dawn, peeling, chopping, salting, yelling. But mainly because they do it so well that I dare not try.
Last year's turkey wasn't my best work. the skin was a little crisp on top due to my bad timing with the foil, and not as flavourful as a thanksgiving bird I did a few years back. But still the stuffing and gravy covered anything the bird lacked. But this year, I've started my planning early. Thanks to our neighbours to the south and their Thanksgiving, I get multiple newsletters in November on how to make the perfect bird. So I've collected a few recipes to experiment with. As always I go over each recipe and see if there's anything that stands out as something I want to try or amalgamate with others and this years crop ranges from the traditional bird (which I'm always trying to perfect) to molasses and cranberry glazed. I stay away from the deep fried or grilled birds because I don't have easy access to either a huge fryer or grill for three hours. But a stickler for the tradition I would rather make it in an oven and truly let the flavours of the bird shine rather than smoke or grease.
Brining is a must. The magic of salt and water makes the bird moist and flavourful right to the bone. I have an apple cider brine that I've used for the last two turkeys and it works wonders. I'm going to finalize my menu this weekend and shop for the main ingredients this weekend. Fake Christmas is next Thursday. I'll keep you posted and if it works out I'll share the recipe.