Trial Turkey; the art and science of brining & breast meat

After entirely too much contemplating, I decided to bite the bullet and cook a test turkey. I'm not totally sure what finally convinced me but sure enough once I'd made up my mind, it became immediately evident that 6-8# turkeys are harder to find than you'd think.
Every grocery store I tried had birds beginning at 12# and up. Late Friday night though, I tracked down a 9 pounder at Whole Foods in Berkeley. A little bigger than I'd hoped for but at least it was an organic and free range bird from Diestel Ranch in Solano. Bi-Rite sells mostly Diestel Ranch birds so I figure I am in good company.

As mentioned, I brined the bird for 24 hours in a concoction of apple cider, salt, brown sugar, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and black peppercorns. Brewing this aromatic blend perfumed the whole house with a most delicious scent. Once the turkey was cleaned and dried it was submerged into the now room temperature brine to do its thing.

One hears a lot about brining this time of year but if you are (or were) anything like me, the word didn't register high on your radar. Well, in my turkey crash course I've learned a lot about the art of brining. A brine is essentially a salt-based marinade, be it wet or dry, that keeps the cooked meat moister by hydrating the muscle tissue before cooking. In other words, because the brine is saltier than the turkey (or chicken, or pork chop, or shrimp) the turkey absorbs salt into its muscle tissue and therein denatures the proteins. If using a liquid brine, the liquid works its way in between the proteins to result in a moister meat from start to finish.

After a full 24 hours, the bird was ready to emerge out of the brine and be prepped for roasting. Once the bird was dry, I loosened the skin from the body then applied the melted butter and salt & pepper evenly throughout. Next I loosely filled the cavity and bottom of the pan with apples, celery and onions to add aromatics. Finally, I soaked cheesecloth in the remaining butter mixture and draped it over the breasts. 

The real crux of cooking a whole turkey is that the light breast meat cooks at 10 degrees lower than the dark leg & wing meat. Therefore, if one waits until the dark meat is fully cooked, the light meat will almost inevitably be dried out. There is an endless no of ways of dealing with this issue that range from the logical to the extreme: cooking the bird breast-side down, draping the breasts with cheesecloth, draping the breasts with bacon strips (srsly!?), tenting the breast with foil and finally ice packs on the breast until just before roasting.

Apparently I am among many perfectionists when it comes to getting a good turkey. I opted to drape the breasts in butter-soaked cheesecloth but ended up leaving it on too long, preventing the skin from crisping and browning. Also, even though I took the bird out once the legs reached 155 degrees, the final meat tasted just slightly underdone. Technically, it was most assuredly not undercooked but when there's even the slightest pink it can be concerning. 

For Thursday, I will leave the bird in slightly longer to avoid any questions of doneness. Hopefully between the brining and the butter and the cheesecloth it will still be a moist, delicious bird.

Homemade Ricotta Trials

ricotta three ways

Fresh, soft cheeses are so fitting for the warm summer months. 
Rich, creamy mozzarella and burrata sing with bright, acidic heirloom tomatoes and basil. Marscarpone marries with in-season strawberries and reduced balsamic vinegar. And ricotta, oh ricotta, how I love you! Fresh ricotta atop pasta with summer squash & corn, ricotta drizzled with honey, ricotta in pancakes...the possibilities are truly endless.

components of homemade ricotta; almost all organic!

The problem with store-bought ricotta however, even the pricier brands is a bland and flavorless taste across the board. It does not compare to the fresh variety.

The Italian word, ricotta translates to re-cooked wherein the whey from other cheese-making was re-cooked on high heat to form the curds that are ricotta. Homemade ricotta typically consists of 3-4 main ingredients: whole milk, heavy cream, salt and an acid.
The acid can be lemon juice, white wine vinegar or buttermilk.

acid #1: lemon juice

acid #2: white wine vinegar

acid #3: buttermilk

In an effort to establish the subtleties of flavor between the acids, I decided to make all 3 variations side by side. Each recipe would yield 1 cup each.
When making any cheese at home, be sure ALL utensils are sterilized and use organic ingredients wherever possible. The finished cheese tastes a lot like the milk used so make it as fresh as you can!

First, lemon juice.

Combine 3 cups whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 1.5 tsp. sea salt into a heavy bottomed pan. Heat to 185 degrees. Remove from heat, stir in 3 tbsp. lemon juice and allow curds to form. Once curds form, drain curds and whey into cheesecloth lined strainer. The longer the drain, the denser the ricotta will be. 
The lemon juice trial resulted in a creamy, liquid mixture with very small curds.

Next, white wine vinegar.

Combine 2 cups whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream and .5 tsp. sea salt into a heavy bottom pan and repeat the process above. This time however add 1.5 tbsp. good white wine vinegar after removing the hot dairy from the heat. Again allow curds to form and again drain over cheesecloth.
The vinegar trial resulted in a slightly thicker mixture with larger curds than the lemon juice

Last, buttermilk.

Combine 4 cups whole milk and 1 cup buttermilk into a heavy bottom pan. There is no salt or acid to add in this recipe since the buttermilk adds its own salt and acid. Simply heat the dairy mixture to 175 degrees, stirring occasionally and allow curds to form. Again drain over cheesecloth.
The buttermilk trial resulted in the largest curds of the three, resembling cottage cheese upon initial drainage.

The results of the 3 ricottas were wildly different in texture and flavor.

lemon juice

The lemon one was by far the creamiest, though it drained for the longest. It even had a hint of lemon essence to it. This would be best eaten plain, or drizzled with honey or olive oil and sea salt.

white wine vinegar

The vinegar one was only slightly denser in texture but still creamy and piquant to the taste. This would be best atop a pasta with zucchini and corn.

buttermilk

The buttermilk one was the most dense, resembling almost a crumbly feta-like quality. Even though this one drained for the least amount of time, it had the toughest structure and least flavor. This could work well as a ravioli or lasagna filling or in lemon-ricotta pancakes...ricotta testings to follow!