Turkey Throwdown- Aftermath

Dear Bobby,

If your expecting this to be a regularly timed blog event then you're going to be a little disappointed! When was the last blog, 2-3 weeks ago? Well time flies when your having fun in South Florida..... The flu bug hit on of my colleagues at work, and thus I spent some extra time on the job. Also had a conference to attend, a daughter who dinged her car, a wife whose business just got a lot busier and on,and on and on.....

Still, this is a fun blog to do and with the help of my computer-dsavvy daughter Katie, I can now include pictures with the blog. Should make it a little more fun to review the blog. I also have a birthday coming up and if you notice, I am delaying the post - game wrap up of the Turkey Throwdown.

October 16th was a fun day for all. I want to thank the wives, girlfriends, moms and all who contributed all the sides that went with the turkeys. My cousin Gina was gracious enough to donate her house for the event. Jeff, her husband was a great host and I brought some wine from the cellar( should have gotten a few more votes just for that, but ..)

As a re-cap, this was a contest of the best way to prepare a Turkey; brined, deep fried or smoked. In the end, all the turkey was gone, no leftovers, nothing.

My turkey was a sublime amalgam of spices, brined in salt water, for 18 hours. Presenting myself to Gina's house, I took out my bird, dried and rinsed it out. Salthering the bird in virgin olive oil, I pre-heated the oven to 500 degrees, placed the bird in for 1/2 hour, before turning down the temp to 325. Cooked my 12lb turkey for about 2 hours total, with a beautiful color, moist meat and clear juices . The complexity and timing of this magnificent preparation was a sight to see ( this is my blog and if I want to wax on poetically, so be it)

Eddie (my cousin) deep-fried his turkey. heat up the oil( once he confirmed that he had propane), drop in the bird, have a beer, take out the bird. Took about a 1/2 hour. Remember kids, never deep-fry your turkey in-doors

Jeff ( my cousin Gina's husband), smoked his Turkey. In truth,  this is closer to the Bobby Flay vision of BBQ. With the use of an electronic-temp-controlled smoker, Jeff's bird cooked over 6 hours and smelled great. Feeding in wood chips, on a regular basis, Jeff was able to enjoy the Miami Hurricane football game, O.K. maybe he agonized over the game!

Here are the final three birds, from left to right; deep-fried, smoked, brined.

We got to carving up the birds as seen above, and each of the guests were able to sample the bird, place a vote and it was essentially a tie between the smoked and deep fried, with the smoked turkey having 1-2 more votes. The brined turkey was a distant third.

Now, there was some thought that the guest population was a little skewed in that they like the taste and flavor of their meat  more on the strong side, but, as I have learned that the key to the throwdown is to  accept the verdict of your audience. There are no losers.... well there was... me... but that's O.K. I got Jeff's mom to vote for my turkey, as well as my daughter Katie.

I was proud of my effort, and would recommend to all who cannot smoke or deep fry a turkey because of the lack of equipment, that brining a turkey is the way to go for Thanksgiving. After all,everyone has an oven, and all you need is a turkey, large bag, salt water and spices. I would recommend the Williams-Sonoma for a commercial brined spice product, but you can make your own and save a few bucks. Easy to find on the internet are home made brine recipes.

A couple of points;  using the juice of a brined turkey is very salty, and so a poor gravy source( off course the turkey is so moist you don't need gravy!!). Cook your stuffing in a separate dish as stuffing the bird with over-salt your stuffing. Most folks would have you cook your stuffing separate anyway.

In the next couple of weeks, I will be getting back to the cookbook ( Bobby Flay's "Boy gets Grill"). I  have gone through most of the appetizers and may take a crack at the party section of the book. The Chicago Bears are playing the Miami Dolphins Nov 18 here in Miami and may do a little tailgating.

For those who wish to comment, feel free here, on facebook or just give me a shout.

Until later,

David

Turkey Throwdown!!

Dear, Bobby,

Sorry it been awhile, but the life of a doctor can get hectic...... No not really. Had some of the boys from back home in Darien, Ill in for a little golf vacation. A little golf is what we played, alot of beer is what we drank and hanging out at this great house on the intercostal of Fort. lauderdale is where we hung out at.

It was great to see everyone, to laugh, BS and just enjoy the company of some of the best men I know. It also took a  few days to recover....

I had them to the house one afternoon for a little BBQ after golf, but I'll give details of that later. As for now, its A TURKEY THROWDOWN!

My cousin Eddie, my cousin Gina's husband Jeff and I have been going round and round about who makes the best turkey. Well to take a page from your TV show, we decided that today would would each bring our turkey, prepared in our way and serve them all at the same time,

Eddie- Deep Fry Turkey
Jeff - Smoked Turkey on the grill
Dave- Brined, roasted Turkey

Now I know your thinking, Dave , how come your not grilling? Well its Jeff's grill and frankly, I think a brined Turkey is more succulent, the tastes for it are more subtle than the overwhelming smokiness that comes from a  Turkey smoked on the grill. As for a deep-fried Turkey, its about as subtle as a sledge hammer; drop in boiling oil, have a beer, remove turkey .

As for my turkey it will have been brined in a medley of salt and spices for about 18 hours, enough to let the flavor and salt get in, but not enough to be overwhelmed with salt. After rinsing it off, patting it dry, letting it stand for an hour, I will slather it in extra-virgin olive oil, caressing it lovingly with my hands both over and under the skin, adding pepper and the placing it BREAST SIDE DOWN at 500 degrees for 30 minutes, before lowering the temperature to 325. At about 1 1/2 hours I will take it out for basting, pop it back in for another 45, then baste and "flip the bird" on its back for the final cooking time.

The ladies behind the men have graciously added side dishes to the party and some Williams Selyem Pinot Noir will be served to properly lubricate the judges and chefs.

We will then label the turkey served with a colored toothpick for each type of bird and the judges will be blind to the tasting. They will take the toothpick from the turkey they like the best and place in a bowl, the toothpicks will be counted and I will be the winner...... I mean the winner will be determined.

Depending on the help, the wine and the day, may do some spot blogging as we go and if I can figure out the whole picture and video thing, will get those on too.

Hears to my fellow competitors and what looks to be a great day

Dave

Got pictures on facebook- Got quesadillas and getting good at them

Dear Bobby,

Before I go further, I wanted to let everyone know who wants to see what I'm doing, I got pictures posted on my Facebook page--- http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home.  I think you can copy and paste, or if not, just type in David Mendez and I'll friend ya.

Sorry that it has been awhile, but there's been work, a tropical storm (well not really, but we are new to So. Florida so may have overreacted a bit). The first part of your book concentrates on drinks, dips , flatbreads and so that is where I have been. I'm getting pretty good at making a quesadilla, and learning how you mix and match tastes so as to add variety to this basic preparation. My Pesto was good, but hot. The most recent dinner was Sliced Steak, watercress and blue cheese quesadillas. Got to combine two skills, one was keeping track of cooking a steak by touch and getting everything ready at the same time. Getting everything put together to serve takes a little preparation and timing-- kind of like dancing.

The pictures look good and if I can figure out a way to get them on the blog then even better.
Got the boys coming to town for a little golf vacation, so cooking will take a back seat. Making a couple of sandwiches, but not Bobby Flay  style.... hope you don't mind.

Gonna try a couple more flatbreads, one's that feature feta cheese and then give a try at making pizza dough. Should be interesting


Dave

I like touching my meat on the grill

Dear Bobby,

It wasn't the recipes that I was paying attention to this weekend, but the skills needed to grill. The little things like a little olive oil on the quesadilla so they don't stick to the grill. De-silking the corn but keeping the corn covered by the husk so that the kernels don't burn. Finally, learning how to make a hamburger.

All the things that I used do wrong, flipping the burger 5 or 6 times, squeezing the patty so all the juice runs out. Cutting the meat with a knife to see if its done. Wrong,Wrong Wrong.

It takes a little getting used too, learning to poke cooking meat with your finger to gauge how its doing. What one considers firm, what one considers spongy varies. Since the meat patties are of different sizes, they cook differently as well. Learning how to slow the cooking of one down also takes a little bit of practice.

Had a wonderful weekend of visiting with close friends(family really), watching football, sitting outside by the kitchen and enjoying a very nice South Florida Day!

So, I made some quesadillas, quickly on the grill and they went quick. Did corn on the grill, which also went. Finally, cheeseburgers on the grill--- I turned them once, poked them with my finger for doneness and never squeezed them with the spatula--- they came out pretty good!

You have some wonderful recipes in your book, "Boy Gets Grill" and they can be pretty complicated and a little esoteric. Still, a simple meal cooked properly can really make a good day great.

By the way, while not officially grilling, you have some drink recipes in the beginning of the book that I have started to make. My Mojito recipe is a little different from yours, but the ladies enjoyed them!! For those who are reading the blog, let me know if you want the recipe!

Gonna start working on grilling vegetables in the next week or two. Since I am not a big vegetable eater, this is going to require that I expand my palate abit. Will see how it goes.

Until later

David

Learned to Roast Peppers- Hoorahh!

Dear Bobby,

I hope you're not expecting a blog everyday. The day job can keep me pretty busy. I take 24 hour call ( usually a 30 hr shift) at my hospital and ours is a pretty busy place. It is a 63 bed unit and we have had up to 55 babies in our unit at any given time. I work with a great team of Doctors, Nurses, Respiratory Therapists, Pharmacists, Nutritionists, just among the many people who make our unit run. So there will be times where work takes over and fast food gets the call.

Anyways, I have made progress on a couple of fronts. First, is learning how to cook corn on the grill. I have noticed that you like corn alot in your recipes. I, too have enjoyed the combinations of corn and other ingredients in some of the recipes. My pepper and chile roasting continues to improve and I have made a white bean-chili dip that was a big hit at work. The staff at my hospital will hopefully be willing guinea pigs along with my family.

The shrimp and corn quesadilla with pesto sauce came out really well. The pesto was very hot, probably have something with the 8 jalapeno peppers called for in the recipe. I also plopped it on the quesadilla pretty well. I do have some pictures of the charred corn and the quesadilla and when I learn how to post them on the blog I will do that as well.

Things I have learned along the way.... A little olive oil on the quesadilla goes along way to keep it from sticking to the grill

Prep,Prep, Prep

Dear Bobby,

Learned how to roast peppers, and toast nuts. Not to difficult to do, especially the roasting peppers part, because you cook them till there black on all sides and stick them in an airtight container. let them cool and peel off the black skin, get rid of the seeds and cut them up.

What I am learning is for any good recipe you gotta due the prep work. My wife who is at pilates, is not getting a meal tonight ( Grilled Quesadillas with Sweet Corn, Grilled Shrimp and Jalapeno Pesto), because I got behind on getting my prep-work done to cook the meal. I got the Pesto made(to those who read this- is all Pesto Cilantro based??), but then I got busy helping my youngest daughter Julia navigate through some college admissions and fatigue set in. Nothing else was ready, I had to feed Julie and my motivation dried up.

If I had everything cut up and ready to go......

Well , learning how to read the recipe and determine what can be prepped ahead of time and what doesn't helps with the timing of serving the meal. Hopefully, Sue won't mind going out for a quick meal!!.

For those who follow this, I'll be as honest as I can, warts and all. Afterall, if I was perfect at this, then what would be the point of doing this blog and given everyone a little laugh now and then. Until later

David

First, a little perspective

Dear Bobby,

I suppose a little history is in order before I go thru with this. It was over a year ago that I relocated my wife, some of my family to South Florida to take a really great job. I was offered the Medical Directorship of a Neonatal Unit in Fort Lauderdale. This is a large unit, one of the largest in the State. It is also where a public-traded company called Mednax got it start. The Neonatologist who their first Medical Director started the unit.

Now moving and relocating and starting a new job is a really big deal, especially when you are almost 50. Chicago had been my home since birth. I had my friends there, my wife's family was there, my kids were raised there. Having been a Neonatologist in the Suburbs for 15 years, I was ready for a change. I was offered a leave of absence and I took it. I was able to care for my father for the last part of his life and said goodbye to my mother who had been ill for years. Then I got to look for a job that offered opportunity and professional growth...Hello Ft. Lauderdale.

Sooooo...... new job, new house, both parents passed away, uproot the family, try to sell the house in Illinois... that's a lot of stuff.

Well, like I said its been a year and my wife, (by the way, not easy on her as well) has started a new company and begun to adjust to South Florida. I got to thinking, what is something I can do on a long-term basis that would improve our lives here in Florida.....

Well I have always been a very inconsistent cook. Yeah I could make a couple of things, but mostly we ate out alot. Some my friends from Darien and Lincolnshire, now they can cook, and their wives really liked that about them. So I thought, why not. Maybe I can be a great,OK maybe good cook and BBQ guy. Perhaps this is something I can do for Sue (the wife) as well as for myself. When you make a new home for yourself, you need something to ground you, to make you a part of where you are. When your young with children, your children ground you and help keep your life centered. Now with 2/3'rd's of our kids off to college and one a year away from going, it's time to explore ways to make a life and home. I'm gonna try to be a good cook. We'll see what happens after that

David