trans Fatty Blog

Lamb

A friend recently scored some lamb from a farm in Wisconsin, so I'm posting the text of an article I wrote for Lerner Newspapers a while back. Not really in season at the moment, but these days you can get lamb all year round.

Roasted bone-in leg of lamb

Roasted Bone-In Leg of Lamb

A whole leg roasted with the bone makes an excellent traditional presentation for a holiday meal. The only drawback is that with the bone left in, cooking the meat evenly is a challenge, since the outside will cook faster than the meat nestled against the bone. But at an informal gathering, different guests may prefer their meat cooked to different levels of doneness anyhow, so this may not be a problem.

1 bone-in leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat
4 cloves garlic, slivered
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary or 1 tablespoon dried
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the rosemary, garlic, and olive oil in a small bowl and toss together. With a small knife, cut slits into the roast in a number of places. Rub the seasoning mixture over the entire roast, working the slivered garlic into the incisions. Season the roast generously with salt and pepper.

Set the roast on a rack in a roasting pan and place it in the oven. Roast the meat until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg registers 138 degrees. Remove the leg from the oven, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest at least twenty minutes before carving.

Mashed Potatoes

Some people like them lumpy, others like them creamy. Some swear by the potato ricer -- a gizmo that looks like a giant garlic press -- while others do just fine with a plain-old masher. Some chefs like to use a food mill. But the most important thing -- by far -- is to make real ones. Don't serve instant potatoes on Thanksgiving.

Use russet or Idaho potatoes (the big brown ones). These are considered "starchy" potatoes, great for baking and mashing. Or use everone's favorite these days, the yukon gold. Don't use waxy red or new potatoes, which are better for potato salad because they hold their shape.

Put the potatoes in a pot of well-salted, cold water. Starting with cold water allows the potatoes to cook evenly as the water comes to a boil. Once they are tender. Not mush, but tender. Then drain, let them cool a bit, and mash using your preferred method.

Adjust the seasoning with more salt if needed, and add a bit of white pepper. You can also add milk, cream, or butter for richness. For flavor, you can add grated parmesan cheese or a bit of roasted garlic, though you don't really need to. For Thanksgiving I like to keep it simple.

You can make these ahead if you like. When you're ready to serve, you can reheat them in the oven alongside the turkey. Optionally, you can dollop on a teaspoon or two of butter and bake them uncovered for a few minutes to brown the top.

Finishing the gravy

When the turkey is done the bottom of the roasting pan should be covered with flavorful browned vegetables and drippings. You will cook off any excess liquid before draining the fat, deglaze the pan, strain the liquid and add it to the gravy base, and thicken the gravy with a roux made from turkey fat and flour.

Roast Turkey with Gravy

This procedure tackles the turkey and gravy together so most of the hard work is done by the time turkey goes in the oven. Personally I like to start early and make the side dishes in the morning so I can sit back and watch football while the turkey roasts.

Pan Drippings

Pan drippings are pretty simple. To get them, all you have to do is roast a turkey or other sizeable cut of meat or poultry. But like so many things in the kitchen, drippings require just a little bit of care and attention. Ideally you want a layer of flavorful gunk coating the bottom of the pan, nicely browned but not burned. When clarified and deglazed, this gunk becomes the key to a rich, flavorful gravy. If you do it right, the best stuff is stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Turkey Talk

It's time to line up the turkey if you haven't already. This year I'm going with an organic bird from New Leaf Natural Grocery. Their turkeys are raised by Amish farmers from Indiana, which sounds pretty authentic to me. 

I'd be tempted to try one of the live poultry shops where you finger your bird and they slaughter it on the spot, except that my wife may be doing the pickup this year and she wouldn't be into that. (It's not about sadism; it is about accepting the reality of where your food actually comes from.) In Chicago, try Chicago Live Poultry at 2611 S. Ridgeway (773-542-94510) or 6421 N. Western (773-381-1000), Alliance Poultry at 1636 W. Chicago (312-829-1458) or John's Live Poultry and Egg Market (773-622-2813). This is the freshest product you will find.

You can also buy organic turkey at Whole Foods (I assume, to be honest I didn't check), order a heritage turkey online, or ask around at the local farmer's market (some of which have winter hours, for example the Chicago Green City Market moves into the Kovler Lion House at the Lincoln Park Zoo.)

Or you can just head down to the local supermarket and pick one up. No shame in that either.

On the organic question, I will say that while I don't always agree with the hard-core Frankenfood lobby, I have come to the opinion that for poultry and livestock, organic is the way to go. I have an old-fashioned notion that up until the moment when they become my dinner, animals ought to be allowed to live like animals. (On that logic I suppose you could say that farming in general is wrong, but I don't go that far. I'm not saying it makes sense, just that it works for me.)

What I don't recommend, if you can avoid it, is buying a frozen turkey. Defrosting it in your refrigerator takes days, and unless you have plenty of extra space, this is a pain. You can also defrost it much more quickly under cold running water, but this is a pain too. Defrosting it on the counter has been vetoed by the food safety police.

Poultry 101

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it's time to roast a chicken. Think of it as a practice run, so when turkey time rolls around you'll be ready. It's much easier than you think, and you can save the bones and use them to make stock for your Thanksgiving gravy.

Opposites Attract

In cooking as in many things, opposites work to balance each other out. Sweet offsets bitter, source balances sweet. Crunchy outside meets chewy middle; a dab of rich yogurt or sour cream offsets the heat of a spicy dish.

This is also true in politics. Neither party has the discipline to restrain its worse impulses, but the two keep each other in check pretty well. Gridlock is rarely pretty, but it keeps the country from veering too far or too suddenly off course.

This balance is under threat in the current election. The Republicans will almost certainly retain the Congress, and a reelected President Bush might then have an opportunity to stack the Supreme Court. Despite the divided nature of the electorate, a clean sweep of all three branches of government by Republicans is possible. And this is not your father's kindler gentler GOP. When they talked about checks and balances, this is not what the founding fathers had in mind.

This is why Americans of all stripes should elect John Kerry, no matter how much it hurts. Both candidates have warts. But as conservative columnist Steve Chapman pointed out, a Republican Congress will give George Bush every bad thing he wants; it will not do the same if John Kerry is elected.

If nothing else, vote for divided government.

And now, back to your regularly-scheduled blog...

Thanksgiving Kickoff

Thanksgiving starts today.

No need to start cooking yet, but throughout the month I'll be posting the building blocks for a classic Thanksgiving feast. Read along, and by the time the day arrives, you'll have everything you need on hand. The menu will be basic, because nothing beats simple food done right. With a solid plan, you can do most of the prep in the morning, then sit back and watch football while the turkey roasts (or chase the dog around the living room, whatever works for you). Stay tuned.