Thanksgiving warm up

It’s getting to be the time of year when all of our food magazines have turkeys on the cover. I always get so excited with all of the different Thanksgiving vignettes they offer up. Southern, South of the boarder, Armenian, Modernist Loft Thanksgiving… You get the point, but every year when it comes down to the big day everyone wants traditional. So we decided that for this weeks Sunday dinner we would try out some of those alternative Thanksgiving dishes that we’ve been eyeing. The more we talked about the wilder our ideas got. We were headed towards lacquering a turkey with a balsamic glaze, but then we fell under the charms of that dreamy Todd English. We came upon a classic episode of Martha Stewart where she and Todd deboned, stuffed and rolled a turkey. By the time we settled in on a final menu we weren’t able to get to far from traditional, but it will still be great. Here’s what’s on the menu for tonight. Deboned, Stuffed Turkey, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Turkey gravy, Oyster stuffing, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and for dessert Spiced Pot de Crème with Pecan Shortbread. Deboning a Turkey is kind of gory, a little bit scary and entirely satisfying. I stood back and took pictures as Peter methodically cut the carcass away from the flesh of the turkey. Half way through it looked like it might be a mess, but then it laid out in one large piece.
After we deboned the turkey and pounded it out a bit we filled it with a stuffing made with ground turky and pork. Right before it was done we brushed the skin with reduced balsamic vinigar. It gave the turkey a rich glossy skin.