Thanksgiving 2022 - The Much Smaller One

Thanksgiving has always been a huge thing here; for most of the last 15 years, I've been the organizer, host, and main cook. (And main house cleaner and dish washer. Story for another day.)  Over the course of the last several years, though, the entire family has moved away to a couple of states east of here. So we'll probably do a big thing over there sometime in December. 

But that means that this year's Thanksgiving is a much, much smaller affair, with just the three of us. At the same time, I stumbled across a 27-lb turkey, which is all but unheard of these days and especially this year. So, because the risk is smaller, I'm going to cook it as my first bird, the one I use for leftovers and stock, FROM FROZEN. At 15 min per lb for a thawed bird, I'd be looking at 7.25 hours; most of the sites suggest to increase that by 50%, so I'm looking at 11 hours minimum.

Finally, due to some health issues, I'm trying to trim down the menu calorically as well. So vegetables will be baked, roasted, or steamed, in very little fat. The one exception is my stuffing, because shut up. 

So. This year's slimmed down menu: 

Turkey 1, from frozen. Verdict: The bird was just too big - by the time the internal breast meat hit 165F, the thighs were nearly 200F, and even the outer breast meat was 180F+. I think it could work with a much smaller bird; might try again next year. 

Turkey 2, bone-in turkey breast with herb gravy. 

Stuffing: Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Sausage, but replacing the sausage with bacon. 

Sweet potatoes: Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Vegetable: Honey-glazed carrots - no recipe, this came from the store

Green vegetable: Green salad - no recipe, this came from the store

Cranberry sauce: Cranberry Sauce with Port and Cinnamon

Dessert: Store-bought pumpkin pie with Reddi-Wip. 

Up next: Turkey soup with egg noodles, fresh carrots & celery, and leftover sweet potatoes. 

Pickle Soup

This is a basic recipe for black bean soup, with the addition of diced dill pickles. I don't know when or why I first made it this way, but it is an absolute go-to year-round and I make it every couple of weeks in the winter. Use whatever salsa you like as long as it's a savory flavor profile. You can use pre-made salad-style tortilla strips, but I find homemade ones to be thicker & therefore crunchier. 

Ingredients: 

• 3 15-oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups water, plus more if necessary to maintain desired thickness
• 1 14-16 oz jar salsa, any savory flavor or heat level
• 2 medium flour or corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
• 1 tbsp spices (cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, etc. I like 1 tsp of each of those.)
• 1/2 lb ham, diced
• 3-4 whole dill pickles, finely diced (about 3/4 cup)
• Juice of 1 large lime

Accompaniments and garnishes: 

• Hot cooked rice
• Shredded cheese, such as Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or cotija
• Cilantro

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large pot, combine black beans, chicken stock, water, and salsa. Place 4 cups of the mixture in a blender or foot processor and blend until smooth, then return to pot. Bring soup to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. 

2. While the soup simmers, place tortilla strips in a single layer on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the spice mixture. Place baking sheet in preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes or until crisp, turning once or twice. Remove and let cool. 

3. Add diced ham and diced pickles to soup and mix well. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add lime juice. If using rice, add 1/2 cup cooked rice to individual bowls. Add soup. Sprinkle with tortilla strips, and cheese and/or cilantro if using. Refrigerate any leftovers promptly. 

Italian Red Chili

I don't know how or when I first started thinking about this one, but it's quickly become my go-to recipe for red (meat & tomato-based) chili. The basics are the same: beans, tomato, meat; then I load it up with Italian-type ingredients and seasonings. The result is something like a supreme pizza in a bowl. Warning: this makes a lot, but it freezes well, and like most stews and chilis, is even better the next day. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb hot Italian sausage
• 1 lb mild or sweet Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium red or yellow bell pepper, diced (optional)
• 1 medium zucchini, diced (optional)
• 8 oz mushrooms, diced (any kind, I like crimini when I can find them. Optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-8 oz pepperoni, sliced, diced, however you want it (1-2 cups)
• 2 28-oz cans of tomato sauce
• 1 6-oz can of Italian tomato paste
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning, or 1 tbsp each of dried oregano and dried basil and 1 tsp of dried rosemary
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan, Asiago, Reggiano, or Italian cheese blend
• 4 15-16 oz canned beans, any kind you want - I usually use red & pink for this
• 1 lb small pasta (orzo, ditalini, small shells, elbow), cooked according to package directions and drained

Garnishes: 

• Finely diced onion
• Fresh basil, torn or chiffonaded
• Collabrian chilis, chili sauce, or chili paste
• Italian or other hot sauce (I like Firelli for this)
• Shredded mozzarella or Parmesan

Directions: 

1. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil. Working in batches, saute the Italian sausage. Drain and rinse and set aside. 
2. Add another tbsp oil to the pan and reduce heat to medium. Add the onion and bell pepper, if using, to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. If using all the vegetables, you may need to cook in 2 batches. Add the zucchini and mushrooms and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute until the zucchini and mushrooms are tender, the onion is slightly translucent, and the garlic is very fragrant. 
3. Into a large pot over medium heat, combine the sausage, the vegetables, and all remaining ingredients except the pasta. Stir well to combine. Heat to a simmer, then turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 30 minutes. If it appears to be drying out or losing too much liquid, add another 8-16 oz can of tomato sauce or 1 cup of water. 
4. Serve over pasta in bowls and garnish with any/all of the garnishes listed. 

Spanish-ish Rice

Making my Spanish Rice tonight, but seriously unprepared to do so. I have no onions and no Cheddar cheese in the house, both of which are key ingredients. But I also don't want to go to the store today. 

So...instead of an onion and a green pepper, I'm using two green peppers. And it will be particularly noticeable since that's the amount for the full batch - but it's only going into "my half" of the pan because reasos. And instead of Cheddar, I'll be trying it with Monterey Jack. 

I'm sure it will be tasty, but will it taste like Spanish Rice? 

Tasting Mamee Monster x Daebak Ghost Pepper Kari Lontong

This is another new one from me from a local Asian market. Mamee is from Malaysia, and they seem to excel at ghost pepper-based noodles and at having a good mix of heat and taste. This particular one came in at #3 on The Ramen Rater's all-time spiciest ramen list, 2022 edition. 

The package contains 4 individual packets to go in the noodles: a dry soup base, something called a "ghost pepper creamer", a wet paste where I think the ghost pepper proper was, and a packet of ghost pepper oil marked "Spicy", "Super Spicy", and "Mentally Spicy", I guess based on how much of it you used. 

The directions called for boiling the noodles in 400 ml of water for 5 minutes, then add stuff - so I did, but in stages. 

1. Boiled the noodles and added the dry and creamer packets. Tasted that and didn't catch any heat at all. 

2. Added the wet paste packet. That brought some heat, at least enough to taste, but it faded pretty quickly. 

3. Added the oil. Yes, all of it. That brung the heat in a pretty quick way. It wasn't quite as hot, or as painful, as the previous Mamee Shinsegae I tried in December 2020 - which The Ramen Rater ranked as #4 on the same list. But the heat lingered for at least a couple of minutes after the first bite, and it built a bit as I continued to eat it. 

Noodles were chewy and held up well as I wrote this post - maybe because most of the water had boiled off in the cooking. Notwithstanding the heat, the flavor was a pretty neutral protein - it was sort of a vague curry flavor and the creamer made the soup into more of a curry gravy-type consistency. I added some sesame oil, sesame seeds, and leftover chicken and it was pretty tasty. 

Timed it from the last bite until I couldn't really taste the heat anymore: a little over 8 minutes. Spicy! 

Nutritional details: 583 calories, 28(!)g of fat, and 10g of protein. 1,768mg of sodium. 

Verdict: Can't remember what I paid for them, but dolled up with my extras this was a good mix of heat and flavor. I'd definitely do them again. 

Taste: 7/10

Heat: 8/10

Spicy foods rant!

In my last post I noted the plethora of foods, particularly salty snacks and fast food, that claim to use habaneros, or ghost peppers, or Carolina reapers, etc. but for which the heat levels are pathetic. I remember the first time I tried Blair's Death Rain habanero chips - sadly, no longer made I don't think - and they were gloriously painful. I started cultivating a taste for that capsicum-induced endorphin rush shortly thereafter. 

In the years since, I've had the good fortune to travel to the Caribbean for work on a number of occasions, and most of the places I've been to have very spicy dishes and they don't compromise. I've had hot sauces that I can only describe as looking like yellow nuclear waste - and at least for me whatever taste was present was obliterated by the heat. I've since developed a better tolerance for the hotter stuff and I have some Bajan and Trinidadian hot sauces in my kitchen right now. 

But Wendy's Ghost Pepper Ranch? Taco Bell's Reaper Ranch fries and burrito? Meh. The flavor's OK, but the spice level is pathetic. Recently I came across Blue Diamond Almonds Extreme varieties which come in cayenne, ghost pepper, and Carolina reaper flavors. Their website says to "Get ready for a mouth-blazing fiery flavor rush all on a superfood." Again, meh. The reaper variety has some lingering heat, but it's just not reaper level. 

The only exception I've found to this pathetic misuse of these spicy peppers is the Paqui Haunted Ghost Pepper tortilla chips. Paqui knows something about spice, as the purveyors of the One Chip Challenge. But the Haunted chips have a nice "sting & linger" level of heat that actually tastes good too. If they can do it...

SO! Here's my request: What snacks do you know of that area actually hot - like keep a glass (or a gallon) of milk handy hot? The name of the pepper(s) used isn't as important as that it packs a wallop in the capsicum department - taste beyond that is good too, but sometimes I just need a fiery smack in the face! As noted above, I'm very aware of Paqui, and I keep a bunch of ghost pepper and reaper noodle packets in my pantry, and I have probably 30 bottles of hot sauce at habanero level or hotter. But I'd love to find chips, jerky, etc. stuff that actually has some heat without being a novelty like the Toe of Satan, Lil' Nitro, or the Death Nut Challenge. 

Finally, I'm also always on the lookout for super-spicy ramen - I taste and blog them here. I'm pretty familiar with Paldo, Mamsee, and Samyang, and I'd love to try Culley's but not for $50+ for a single package. But if you know of one that is super spicy and that can be ordered online, let me know! 

Update 8/15: I went to Trader Joe's this past weekend and saw their Ghost Pepper Potato Chips - lattice cut and kettle cooked - so thought I'd give them a try. The potato flavor and texture are great, but the heat level feels somewhere between Lays Cheddar Jalapeno and the various Flamin' Hot varieties. Another ghost pepper pretender. 

 ready for a mouth-blazing fiery flavor rush all on a superfood*

Tasting Cheetos Flamin' Hot Sweet Carolina Reaper Crunchy Cheetos

As regular readers of this blog know, any time I see a food product claiming habanero or hotter peppers as an ingredient, I have to give it a shot. Ran across these at Walmart yesterday, and of course I had to try them. Now, I'm not really a fan of Cheetos, and I haven't really found much heat in their and Frito-Lay's other Flamin' Hot offerings. But I couldn't resist the Reaper. 

When I opened the bag, the first thing I smelled was.... salt and vinegar! Not real sure why, and I don't know what I expected them to smell like, but it was definitely a bit unexpected. The Cheetos dust was a deep reddish-orange and didn't seem to be present as much as in other flavors of Cheetos - there was very little residue left on my hands. 

The flavor and texture were what you'd expect of crunchy Cheetos. The heat was there, and hit pretty quickly and then built slightly. My first taste was a single Cheeto, and I could still taste a slight residual heat nearly 2 minutes later. It's not overwhelmingly spicy; without looking at the bag and the list of ingredients, I don't think I would have guessed reaper, or really anything other than their standard Flamin' Hot level of heat. 

These Cheetos did give me an idea for some spicy mac & cheese with reaper or ghost pepper cheddar and jack and some of these crushed on top for texture. I can't say that they didn't meet my expectations - the problem is that so many purveyors, especially of snacks and fast food, label things with habanero or ghost pepper or Carolina Reaper but there's no real heat there. I'm not the one doing market research for e.g. Frito-Lay, but I think that if they think there's a market for Carolina Reaper, etc., it's reasonable to assume that people are looking for the deep heat. 

Taste: 6/10 (hey, they're Cheetos.)

Heat: 5/10

Tasting Wang Buldak Udon Korean-Style Stir-Fried Noodles

Image source: TheRamenRater.com

Ran across this one at the Pacific Ocean Marketplace I sometimes shop at. It comes in its own bowl and is marked as "EXTREME SPICY". Inside the bowl were 3 packets: one of what appeared to be fresh, not dried or fried noodles; one marked cooking sauce; and one that was all in Korean but appears to have a mix of seaweed and sesame seeds. Weight of the entire thing is 7.79 oz, but a lot of that is the water weight in the noodles. 

The directions suggest to warm the noodles briefly before cooking, so I did. After that, put the noodles and 1/4 cup water in the bowl, cover loosely with lid, cook for 90 sec (1000w microwave, I went for 75 in my 1100w oven), then add sauce and dried flakes and stir. I followed the directions except the microwave time. 

The first thing that hit me was almost a barbecue sauce smell from the sauce. I took the packet of flakes and poured it all in, not realizing how much was in the packet, so the next thing was a pretty pronounced seaweed aroma. I let it sit for a couple of minutes for all that to mix together and coat the noodles, and then took my first taste. 

Noodles were chewy, a little soft but still pleasant. The taste was definitely seaweed barbecue sauce, which isn't really at the top of my list flavor profile-wise. The heat hit pretty quickly but wasn't overpowering by any stretch. I gave that first bite a solid minute and still had some tingle on my tongue so kudos there! As I continued to eat, the heat continued to build - and introduced some sniffles! Bumping the heat score up to 7/10. 

Nutritional details: 380 calories, 3.5g of fat, and 10g of protein. 2,010 (!!!) mg of sodium. 

Verdict: Pretty good, though way too much seaweed for my palate. At $4.49 or so for the single bowl, I'm not sure I'd do them again, but I'd definitely recommend them. 

Taste: 6/10

Heat: 7/10

Savory Oatmeal

Maybe some of you are already onto this, but it was new to me. Doc says I need to eat healthier, more fiber, etc. Oatmeal is a great thing for that, and I still do my Swiss oatmeal about 1x/month. But one of the reasons I don't do the Swiss oatmeal more regularly is that I find it too sweet - even though the only sweetener in it is a couple of diced up apples or pears. 

So I started thinking about savory oatmeal - specifically, steel-cut oatmeal. It's not that dissimilar from having any other rice or noodle bowl - a little looser, but that's OK, and it tightens up as it sits in the fridge. I generally do heat it up rather than having it chilled like the Swiss oatmeal. 

So far I've done it a Mediterranean take and a Southwestern one. No recipe, really - just added stuff on hand until I liked the results. They worked roughly like this: 

Mediterranean: 

• 2 servings of cooked steel-cut oats
• 1/2 zucchini, diced and lightly sauteed
• 1 cup leftover fajita veg (red and yellow peppers and onion, sauteed)
• 8-10 olives (I used some kalamata and some green), sliced
• 1/2 cup of leftover roast pork
• Zest and juice from one lemon
• About 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp crumbled feta
• Salt & pepper to taste

Mixed the veg & pork into the oats, mixed up the lemon, vinegar, and olive oil and drizzled over the top, topped with feta & salt & pepper

Southwestern:

• 2 servings of cooked steel-cut oats
• 1 cup leftover fajita veg
• 1 15-oz can of black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1/2 cup shredded chicken
• Zest and juice from one lime
• 2-3 tbsp of sharp shredded Cheddar
• 1/4 cup cilantro, minced

This one's even easier - put everything into the oatmeal pan and combine. 

Both of these make enough for at least a couple of meals for me. 

Think I might try a barbecue pulled pork next, and thinking about how to get to a Thai or Vietnamese version as well.