The pressure’s on to produce a fowl that isn’t foul for your T-Day feast. Stephen Gontram, executive chef and owner of Harvest in Richmond Heights, shared these tips for making your Thanksgiving celebration the tastiest yet:
• Brine your turkey prior to roasting it: Combine 3 cups kosher salt and 1 cup brown sugar with 1 gallon hot water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 3 star anise, 1 tablespoon coriander and 1 tablespoon black peppercorn. Submerge the turkey in the brine for two days prior to roasting.
• Pick interesting wine varietals. Buy a bottle of Gewürztraminer as your white wine and a Grenache for your red. A turkey dinner is wonderful with these lighter-styled wines.
• Bake an apple pie. The apple harvest is fantastic this year, and there are numerous varieties of apples available in stores. Gontram likes to serve his pies with vanilla ice cream and melted sharp Cheddar cheese.
But if you do experience an epic cooking failure on Nov. 26, head to Harvest – it’ll be open.
– Ligaya Figueras
This article appears in Nov 1-30, 2009.