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New York Times
31-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
Our Ultimate Guide to Cooking a Turkey
From brining to burnishing, here are all the tips and tricks you need to pull a perfect bird out of the oven every time. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Prop Stylist: Courtney de Wet. Published March 31, 2025 Updated March 31, 2025 [This article was originally published in November 2015.] The turkey is the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal, and there are plenty of techniques for cooking one, from frying to spatchcocking to roasting upside down and turning halfway. But sometimes the classic way is the best. We will talk you through brining, stuffing, trussing and roasting, along with extra turkey tips to help you through the holiday. And visit our Ultimate Guide to Thanksgiving for more ideas and advice. Order your turkey three to four weeks before the holiday if you want something other than a supermarket bird. (Our buying guide is below.) Buy a decent roasting pan , one heavy enough that it won't buckle under the weight of the bird. You will also need a rack. One usually comes with the pan, but if you buy it separately, make sure it fits inside your pan. An instant-read thermometer is the most accurate way to determine when your turkey is done. Buy one if you don't have one. Leave enough time to defrost your turkey. Defrost it in the refrigerator, allowing one day for every four pounds of turkey, with the bird in a bowl or on a baking pan or platter. The array of turkey choices can be confusing. Below, we've broken it down to help you navigate your options. Some cooks swear by a fresh turkey, claiming that frozen varieties are not as flavorful. But when it comes to supermarket turkey, the difference between fresh and frozen is negligible. Free-range: This is a bird that is not raised in a cage and is free to graze on any grasses or grains it can find in its pen, which is generally considered a more humane and healthy poultry farming process. Organic: The U.S.D.A. requires that all turkeys sold as organic must be raised free-range, without the use of antibiotics, and fed an organic and vegetarian diet that has not been treated with pesticides. Natural: Natural turkeys are generally less expensive than organic, and are often of a comparable quality. But there is no government guarantee to back up the word 'natural' on a label. You must read on to find out if the bird is antibiotic-free, free-range or raised on a vegetarian diet, or a combination. Kosher: Turkeys with the 'kosher' label have been farmed and slaughtered according to Jewish dietary customs, with rabbinical supervision. They also undergo a salting process after slaughter that gives the meat a juicy texture. (Don't brine a kosher bird.) Conventional: This is the standard supermarket turkey. The variety is the Broad Breasted White, which was bred to have a plumper, broader breast. A conventional turkey should be brined; it will noticeably improve the texture. And use an open hand when it comes to seasonings, since the turkey won't offer much flavor of its own. Heritage: Heritage turkeys are old-fashioned varieties of birds that were common in America until the 1920s. They have a richer, more distinct flavor, more like a game bird, and have a greater proportion of dark meat. Breeds include Narragansett, Jersey Buff, Standard Bronze, Bourbon Red and White Holland. Wild Turkey: It is illegal in the United States to sell a truly wild turkey that's been shot by a hunter, thus most 'wild' turkeys on the market are pasture-raised — often free-range heritage birds. To procure a truly wild turkey you will need to either shoot one yourself or befriend a hunter. Self-basting: These turkeys have been injected with a solution generally consisting of butter or oil and salt, and sometimes herbs, spices and preservatives. Self-basted turkeys are sometimes not labeled such, so make sure to check the ingredients list. If you see anything other than 'turkey,' chances are it is a self-basting bird. Do not brine it. Roasting a turkey can be confusing — there are so many options for how to prepare the bird. But it doesn't have to be that way. Below we walk you through your choices, step by step. You've bought your turkey, and it's a few days before Thanksgiving. Do not wash your turkey after you remove it from its plastic bag; just pat it dry with paper towels. Any potential bacteria will cook off during roasting. At this point, depending on its size, your turkey may be well on the way to being fully thawed. (Allow one day of thawing in the refrigerator for every four pounds of bird.) Be sure to remove the sack containing the neck and innards from the cavity. Reserve them for stock if you like. If the bird is frozen, defrost for one day, and then you should be able to pry them out. (Beware: Sometimes, the giblets are under the neck flap, not in the cavity. Check the turkey thoroughly.) Sam Sifton's turkey brine is a simple way to set your turkey up for success. Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff. To brine or not to brine? For me, the answer is no — at least, not a wet brine. Wet brining — the process of submerging a turkey in a salt-and-aromatic solution — is the messiest and least convenient way to ensure moist and evenly seasoned meat, which is the whole point. Instead I prefer seasoning the bird all over with a salt rub — technically, a dry brine — and letting it sit for a few days, or even hours, before roasting. It's much easier to keep a salted turkey in the fridge rather than having to figure out where to store a bird covered in liquid. But it's for you to decide. (And either way, you can brine or season a frozen bird as it defrosts.) Here's what you need to know. To dry brine, combine ½ teaspoon salt per pound of turkey (use coarse kosher or sea salt) with whatever aromatics you want to mix into it. Rub this mixture all over the bird and refrigerate for up to three days. In a pinch, you can season the bird just before cooking, though the skin will be saltier than the flesh. The simple roast turkey recipe below uses a dry brine. It's important to find a recipe for brine and stick to it, without making substitutions. For instance, different varieties of salt have different volumes. If your recipe calls for 2 cups kosher salt, don't substitute table salt or else you'll have an inedible bird. (Never brine kosher or self-basting turkeys, both of which have already been salted.) The safest way to wet brine is to submerge the turkey in the salt solution, cover it, and leave it in the refrigerator. If you don't have room, you can also try brining in a cooler (as long as the turkey can fit, completely covered by the solution, with the lid on). You'll have to be vigilant about maintaining the temperature of the solution. Check it with a kitchen thermometer at regular intervals to be sure it stays between 26 and 40 degrees. To keep it cool without diluting the salt, place ice cubes sealed in plastic bags into the brining bath, replacing the cubes once they melt. Or, if you live in a cold climate, place your cooler outside. Whether you call it stuffing or dressing, the savory bread mixture that you may or may not cook inside your turkey is an integral part of the Thanksgiving meal. Generally speaking, stuffings are cooked inside the bird, while dressings are baked in a casserole dish on the side, but the words are often used interchangeably. Both methods have their merits. (And for everything you need to know about both, visit our stuffing guide.) Eric Kim's Thanksgiving stuffing. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Baking the dressing separately allows the top to brown and crisp, and an unstuffed turkey cooks faster and more evenly than a stuffed one. This is the biggest reason why, at our house, we bake the stuffing outside the bird, which leaves space in the cavity for aromatics. Try placing onion and lemon quarters, bay leaves, peeled garlic, celery leaves, parsley and thyme in the turkey before roasting. Then, for that turkey flavor you sacrifice by not stuffing the bird, add stock and bits of crispy fried turkey skin to your dressing. (Take scraps of skin from the bird. If they are fatty, throw them into a dry pan, or else add a slick of oil, and fry over medium heat until well browned. Salt immediately after frying.) You can also add any diced cooked turkey gizzards and shredded neck meat that you used for stock, along with the turkey liver, sautéed in butter and diced. Just don't forget to make a vegetarian version if necessary. Cooking the stuffing inside the bird allows the poultry juices and rendering fat to flavor the stuffing. You can make the stuffing up to four days ahead and keep it refrigerated until the last minute, but only stuff right before the bird goes into the oven. Stuffing expands as it cooks, so fill the turkey loosely. One important caveat on timing: If your stuffing recipe calls for shellfish or turkey giblets, they need to be fully cooked and kept hot for maximum food safety before stuffing, says the U.S.D.A. Add them at the last minute, just before the stuffing goes into the bird. Stuffing slows down roasting, so if your recipe calls for an unstuffed bird, add at least 30 minutes onto the cooking time (more if it's a bigger bird). Take the temperature of the stuffing before pulling your turkey out of the oven. Both turkey and stuffing must reach 165 degrees. If the turkey is done but the stuffing isn't — a likely scenario — take the turkey out of the oven to rest, transfer the stuffing to a casserole dish and put it back in the oven until it reaches the proper temperature. Do not leave the turkey in the oven while the stuffing catches up, temperature-wise; the bird could easily overcook in those extra minutes. If you don't stuff your turkey, you really don't need to truss it. Allowing untrussed wings and legs to have hot air circulating around them helps them cook faster, so the white and dark meat will all be done at the same time. I stopped trussing my unstuffed birds years ago and my turkeys are the better for it. If you do stuff your bird, trussing, or at least tying up the drumsticks, helps keep the stuffing in its proper place, especially when you are moving the bird from the roasting pan to the cutting board. Here's the simplest way to do it. Place the turkey breast-side up on the rack in the roasting pan. Criss-cross the legs and use a piece of butcher's twine to tie them together at the ends, just above the joint. Wrap the twine twice around the legs to make sure they are secure. Take a long piece to twine and loop it around the body of the bird, so that the wings are pressed against the breast. Tightly tie the twine in a knot or bow at the top of the breast. The trussed turkey is now ready to roast. For all the attention we lavish on Thanksgiving turkeys, the truth is more work does not necessarily yield a better bird. That's right: You can skip brining, stuffing, trussing and basting. Instead of a messy wet brine, use a dry rub (well, technically a dry brine) — a salt and pepper massage that locks in moisture and seasons the flesh. No stuffing or trussing allows the bird to cook more quickly, with the white and dark meat finishing closer to the same time. And if you oil but don't baste your turkey, you'll get crisp skin without constantly opening the oven. By The New York Times Cooking You've bought, defrosted and seasoned your turkey, which means you're more than halfway to a golden, glorious centerpiece for the feast. Here are answers to the most frequently asked turkey-roasting questions, so you can put the bird in the oven with confidence. 9 to 11 pounds: 2½ hours 12 to 14 pounds: 3 hours 15 to 17 pounds: 3½ hours 18 to 20 pounds: 4 hours 21 to 23 pounds: 4½ hours 24+ pounds: 5+ hours To add flavor to both the turkey (and the gravy, if you're using pan drippings), you'll want to add aromatics to the turkey cavity and to the bottom of the pan. Some combination of herbs, peeled garlic cloves, quartered onions and lemons, apples, mushrooms, celery, carrots and bay leaves can be used in both places. Then cover the bottom of the pan with a ¼ inch of liquid (wine, cider, beer, broth, water) so the drippings don't burn. Some people swear by basting, but I never baste anymore. Every time you open the oven door to baste, you let the heat out. Basting also gives you a less crisp skin. Instead of basting, rub fat (butter, olive oil or coconut oil, for example) all over the bird just before you tuck it into the oven. Then leave it alone until it's time to check for doneness. Start taking the turkey's temperature at least 15 minutes before you think it might be done. To check its temperature, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh and under the wing, making sure you don't touch any bones. Your bird is done when its internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Don't be alarmed if the thigh meat near the bone still looks pink. Some turkeys are naturally pinker than others and a fully cooked bird will often have that color. Once your turkey is cooked, let it rest out of the oven, covered loosely with foil, for 20 to 30 minutes before carving. You're almost done. There's just one more, very important step to go: carving. This video will show you the easiest and most efficient route to take. By The New York Times Cooking
New York Times
31-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
Our Ultimate Guide to Making the Best Fried Chicken
Perfect your frying technique, and then expand your fried chicken repertoire. Make this crackling and moist fried chicken the star of your next gathering. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards. Published March 31, 2025 Updated March 31, 2025 [This article was originally published on July 26, 2016.] For a remarkably simple dish, fried chicken can be controversial. There are debates over brining the meat (yes, you should). People argue over what starch is used to coat the chicken, about the fat used to fry it, about the temperature at which it cooks. But really all you want is what the great Southern chef Bill Neal called 'chicken that tastes like chicken, with a crust that snaps and breaks with fragility.' We'll show you how to get there, and we'll give you excellent recipes that you can make your own. You'll need a heavy, wide, high-sided skillet with a lid . Cast iron is preferred for the even heat it provides and retains. Ideally, the skillet will be 11 or 12 inches across so more than a few pieces of chicken fit at a time. An enameled cast-iron pot also works. A candy thermometer is helpful to gauge the heat of the oil in the pan. You want it running at 350 degrees. No candy thermometer? You can flick a little flour into your heated oil. If it sizzles furiously you're in the right neighborhood. Traditionalists like to put their seasoned flour into a big brown paper bag , so they can add the chicken to it and shake it around to coat the meat. If you don't have one, a large bowl with high sides will do. A baking sheet and wire rack will come in handy for draining the finished chicken. Some cooks make do with more brown paper bags, or even newspaper, but that can lead to soggy skin. Delicious fried chicken starts with the bird. You can cut a whole chicken into parts for frying, but if you want all dark meat, or vice versa, or just to save time, you can buy the parts. Karsten Moran for The New York Times Maybe you're feeding a bunch of children who prefer drumsticks, or someone who will only eat white meat. Buying parts lets you tailor the meal to their tastes. For dark meat aficionados, go for a mixture of drumsticks and bone-in thighs. For those who prefer white meat, a pack of bone-in breasts will do just fine. Figure on two or three pieces per person, plus leftovers because cold fried chicken eaten the next day is fantastic. A whole chicken of 3 or 4 pounds can be cut into 10 parts for frying: two drumsticks, two thighs, two wings and the two breasts each cut in two, with the backbone discarded. This will feed four people nicely. (Here's a video demonstrating how to do that.) Buy the freshest chicken you can at the store, organic if possible. To brine a chicken means to submerge it in a solution of salt and water, sometimes flavored with other ingredients, in order to add moisture and flavor to the meat. You can certainly fry chicken without brining the parts, but we recommend against that. It's very little work, and adds tremendously to the finished flavor. Karsten Moran for The New York Times For a basic chicken brine, simply dissolve 4 tablespoons kosher salt in 4 cups lukewarm water. Add the chicken to the solution, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight. (You might add a few tablespoons of sugar to the mixture, along with some fresh herbs or chopped garlic.) For many fried chicken aficionados, the only acceptable brine is made with buttermilk. To make one, dissolve 2 tablespoons kosher salt in 4 cups fresh buttermilk, along with a healthy grind of black pepper. Add the chicken to it, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight. Put 2 cups pickle juice into a large bowl and add the chicken to it. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight, turning a few times along the way. The result is shockingly flavorful, juicy meat. Combine 2 cups cola in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 4 cloves chopped garlic, 8 sprigs fresh thyme, and a tablespoon or more of hot sauce. Add the chicken, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours, turning a few times along the way. The cola adds a caramel hue and distinctive sweetness to the meat, but after more than a few hours it begins to degrade it, too. Proceed with caution! For a sweet, almost autumnal fried chicken, dissolve 4 tablespoons kosher salt in 2 cups apple cider. Add the chicken to the solution, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight. A shatteringly crisp crust is a hallmark of great fried chicken. You achieve that by covering the exterior of the meat and skin with starch before cooking. Karsten Moran for The New York Times The easiest method for dredging chicken is simply to place the parts in a big paper bag filled with flour that has been seasoned with salt, pepper and occasionally paprika or hot pepper; close the bag; shake it a few times, and then carefully remove each piece and shake off the excess flour before frying. You can of course use a large bowl in place of the bag. Just dredge the chicken pieces through the seasoned flour and proceed as directed. You'll want to dredge the chicken right before frying; leaving the chicken to rest in its coating will gum up the flour, reducing its chances of crisping up in the cooking oil. Karsten Moran for The New York Times Not all cooks use all-purpose flour to coat their chicken. Alternative starches include gluten-free flours, bread crumbs, the larger Japanese bread crumbs known as panko, cracker crumbs and potato starch. (Other coatings include — really! — crumbled Cheetos and Doritos.) Whatever starch you use, the precepts remain the same: dredge the chicken in it, then shake off the excess, then fry. Once your chicken pieces are coated, you'll gently place them in hot oil and fry them until golden brown and gloriously crunchy. A few tips: Use tongs to turn the chicken a few times while it cooks. And, crucially, do not crowd the pan. You want plenty of oil surrounding each piece of chicken, but not so much that it spatters everywhere. (In warmer months, if you don't want to mess up your kitchen, cook outside, using a gas grill and a pan set on the grate above the burner.) Karsten Moran for The New York Times Time was, people fried chicken in shortening. Some fry in lard, others in oil, or in a combination of the two. What you want is an oil that has a high smoke point, which means that it can be heated to a high temperature without burning. Olive oil and butter have low smoke points. Do not use them for fried chicken. Instead, try peanut, canola or vegetable oil. You can deep fry the chicken in a lot of oil, or you can shallow fry it in a little less, but if you go the less-oil route, the fat should rise to at least halfway up the pieces to ensure even frying. As the oil heats on the stove, you might slide a single slice of bacon into it to perfume the fat, but this is hardly a requirement. If you do that, remove the bacon before frying the chicken. Make this crackling and moist fried chicken the star of your next gathering. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards. The ideal temperature at which to fry chicken is a steady 350 degrees. Monitor that temperature by using a candy thermometer. And, especially if you're new to the chicken-frying game, use a meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of the chicken. It's done when it reaches 165 degrees. Make sure that you've brought the oil back up to 350 degrees before you add the next batch of chicken. After you remove your chicken from the skillet, you should let it rest before serving. Some people do so by placing the hot chicken on a paper bag, or on paper towel. This method, however, can lead to soggy skin, particularly on the side that's in contact with the paper. A better technique is to rest the chicken on a wire rack set on top of a baking sheet, sprinkling a little salt on it when it's hot for extra flavor. Christopher Testani for The New York Times Korean fried chicken, or yangnyeom dak, takes its deep flavor and rich heat from an oniony marinade and a coating made with gochujang, the Korean chile paste, and other spices. It's dredged in a mixture of flour and cornstarch coating, which gives the crust an extra dose of crunch. To make Korean fried chicken, smear the pieces with a mixture of 1 grated onion, 2 chopped garlic cloves, salt and pepper, and let sit for about an hour. Dredge the pieces in a flour-cornstarch mix, then fry. Mix together 3 tablespoons gochujang, 3 tablespoons ketchup, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons sesame seeds and the juice of half a lemon. Brush the chile sauce liberally on the fried pieces while the chicken is still hot, and serve. Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Nashville-style fried chicken is hot — so hot that watery eyes and a burning mouth are commonly accepted side effects of eating it. The searing heat comes ghost-chile powder and a generous amount of cayenne pepper. To make it, add 2 tablespoons hot sauce to your buttermilk brine. Then, before you dredge the chicken pieces in flour, dust them in a coating of 3 tablespoons cayenne, 1 tablespoon ghost-chile powder and 1 tablespoon sugar. After frying, dust the pieces once more with cayenne. Serve with sliced white bread and a cold beer. Craig Lee for The New York Times This Persian fried chicken is redolent of saffron and paprika, and is best made with boneless chicken thighs, which speeds up the cooking time. First, make a marinade by combining ½ teaspoon saffron with 1 tablespoon water and let soak 10 minutes; purée in a food processor with 2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt and 1 tablespoon chopped garlic. Marinate the chicken pieces in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. When it's time to fry, dredge the chicken in a mixture of 2 ¼ cups flour, 2 ½ teaspoons paprika, 1 ½ tablespoons dried mint and 1 tablespoon salt. Serve with lemon wedges and chopped walnuts. Karsten Moran for The New York Times This adobo fried chicken takes its vinegary cue from the braised national dish of the Philippines. It starts with a cooked broth of 2 ½ cups white vinegar, 3 minced garlic cloves, 4 bay leaves, ¼ cup soy sauce, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 ½ teaspoons black peppercorns, in which you'll simmer the chicken pieces for 15 minutes. Dredge the chicken pieces in a mix of 2 cups buttermilk, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon paprika and some black pepper, then fry. Serve with a dipping sauce of 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 2 sliced Thai bird chilies.
New York Times
27-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
Our Ultimate Guide to Thanksgiving Stuffing
Leave everyone at the table totally impressed with these expert tips from Melissa Clark. Eric Kim's Thanksgiving stuffing. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Published March 27, 2025 Updated March 27, 2025 For lovers of stuffing and dressing, Thanksgiving may be the apex of the year, though they are welcome on the table anytime. We'll explain the difference between the two, with tips and recipes for how best to prepare them whether you're basing yours on bread, which is the traditional choice, or grains, an elegant alternative and one well-suited to guests who don't eat bread. And visit our Ultimate Guide to Thanksgiving guide for more ideas and advice. Although the two terms may be used interchangeably, for the most part stuffing is cooked inside the cavity of the turkey, while dressing is baked alone in a casserole or other shallow dish. As a result, stuffing is tender and moist, suffused with the juices and any rendered fat from the bird. Dressing has a crisper top from being exposed more directly to the heat of the oven. Here are tips to get the best results whichever method you choose. Bobbi Lin for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. If you love the brawny flavor of poultry juices mixed with your side dish, or if you're simply a traditionalist, stuffing the turkey is the way to go. Here are some best practices for both flavor and safety: Stuff the turkey just before it goes into the oven. We know you want to do as much ahead as possible, particularly on Thanksgiving, but stuffing ahead encourages the growth of bacteria, so don't do it. This said, you can make the stuffing mix up to four days ahead and keep it in the refrigerator before stuffing the bird just before roasting. If your stuffing recipe calls for shellfish or turkey giblets, the Agriculture Department states that these need to be fully cooked and kept hot before they are stuffed inside the bird. So stir them into the mix immediately before stuffing the turkey. Stuffing expands as it cooks, so fill the cavity loosely. If you're going to stuff your bird, you should truss it, or at least tie the legs together to keep the stuffing from falling out. Bear in mind that stuffed turkeys will take longer to cook than unstuffed ones: Stuffing insulates the turkey, thereby slowing down its cooking. Both the turkey and the stuffing need to be cooked to 165 degrees before they are safe to eat. Usually the bird gets there before the stuffing does. To avoid overcooking the turkey, pull it from the oven once the flesh hits the desired temperature. Then spoon the stuffing out of the cavity and into a baking dish and return to the oven (or stick it in the microwave). Continue cooking until the stuffing reaches 165 degrees. Christopher Testani for The New York Times Dressing is baked outside the turkey, which means it can achieve an appealingly crisp, browned top — a nice textural contrast to the softer layer underneath. Plus, with your dressing out of the way, you can add aromatics including lemons, garlic and bunches of herbs to the turkey's cavity for additional flavor. (Another bonus: an unstuffed bird will roast more quickly than a stuffed one.) Here are tips for achieving outstanding dressing: You can turn any stuffing recipe into a dressing by simply baking it outside the bird. Spread the mixture in a shallow pan and bake until the mixture reaches 165 degrees. Dressing is pretty forgiving, so feel free to bake it at whatever temperature you need for other dishes you're cooking. Vegetarians take note: Because it doesn't touch the bird, dressing can be utterly meat-free. Try lemon-ginger bread stuffing, savory cornbread stuffing or wild rice, almond and mushroom stuffing. On the opposite side of the spectrum, you can add turkey stock or chicken stock, crisped poultry skin, schmaltz and/or diced cooked gizzards, liver and shredded turkey neck to the dressing to give to it a meatier flavor. If you've got enough extra turkey skin, drape it over the top of the dressing before baking. The skin will turn into poultry cracklings and render its luscious fat all over the dressing. Outstanding. If the skin isn't crisp when the stuffing is done, run it under the broiler for a few minutes to finish. (You can often special-order turkey skin from your butcher — chicken skin will work, too — or trim off the extra skin at the turkey's neck when you are getting it ready for the oven.) If you like a deeply golden top, dot the top of the dressing with butter before baking. And if the dressing cooks through before the top is brown, run it under the broiler for a minute or two before serving. Any bread, from soft white sandwich loaves to chewy bagels to crusty sourdough rye breads, can be turned into a stuffing or dressing. Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cybelle Tondu. No matter what kind of bread you use in your stuffing, it will absorb more of the seasonings if it is stale and dry. You can either buy the bread several days to a week in advance and let it dry out at room temperature, or cube it and dry it out in a low oven (250 degrees) until thoroughly arid. Or consider making your own bread for stuffing. Cornbread comes together especially quickly, and you can control the amount of sugar in the recipe, depending upon whether you like it sweet or savory. Easy breads like biscuits, soda bread, no-knead bread and white sandwich bread all make great stuffing, too. Bake them several days ahead so they have a chance to get stale. Or bake them months ahead and freeze, then thaw them and let them dry out before making stuffing. Bread stuffing is the classic choice at Thanksgiving, but you could use rice or other grains like quinoa, farro, barley. Not only are grain stuffings elegant and refined, most are also gluten-free. Grain stuffings don't need to adhere like bread stuffings do, so you don't need to bind them with egg. Basically, your aim is to make a tasty rice pilaf or grain salad, but then cook it again inside your bird, which will give it an even more complex flavor rich with drippings. Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. You can use classic bread stuffing aromatics (sage, celery, onion), or improvise another flavor combination. Chances are that as long as it tastes good on its own, it will taste even better after taking a turn inside the bird. Wild rice goes particularly well with the earthy autumnal flavors of a Thanksgiving meal. Or try sticky rice for something unexpectedly terrific. Everything is better when you add bacon, including stuffing and dressing — and the same can be said for stirring in shrimp, oysters, sausage, nuts, cheese and the like. Most simple stuffing recipes can be embellished to suit your tastes and mood. Here are some guidelines and ideas. Oyster stuffing, which is actually a variation on bread stuffing, is a traditional 19th-century recipe that deserves a revival today. While oysters are present, they aren't usually the dominant flavor, instead adding a complex saline character that deepens the usual bread-and-onion mix. Fresh oysters will have the brightest flavor, but canned smoked oysters are reminiscent of bacon, and even regular canned oysters will work in a pinch. You can also consider other sea creatures for stuffing, including clams, shrimp and anchovy. Fresh oysters, clams, shrimp and scallops and other seafood should be lightly sautéed in butter or oil, or gently poached, before being added to the stuffing. Do this right before stuffing the turkey or baking the dressing, even if you've made the rest of the stuffing mixture ahead of time. The seafood needs to be hot when stuffed. Anchovies, which have been cured, can be chopped and stirred directly into a stuffing recipe, or sauté them with any onion or aromatics in the recipe. Cured meats and fresh sausages add depth and complexity to stuffing; use them by themselves or add them in combination. Cured hams, salamis and other hard sausages can simply be chopped up and stirred into the stuffing mix. Bacon and fresh sausages need to be sautéed beforehand. These work best when cooked and added to the stuffing mixture just before it goes into the bird or casserole dish for baking. Sautéed mushrooms, onions, peppers and other vegetables, and fruit both fresh (slivered pineapple, sautéed apples or pears) or dried (dates, raisins, figs), make a plain bread or rice stuffing a lot more interesting. Be sure to plump dried fruit in liquid before adding it to the stuffing mixture. Boiling water, hot wine or other spirits, or broth will work. Make sure to season any vegetables aggressively with salt and pepper and any desired herbs and spices so they hold their own against everything else going on in the stuffing mix. Nuts add crunchy texture to soft stuffings while cheese adds richness and flavor. Always toast nuts before adding to the stuffing mix, it gives them the deepest flavor. Cheese should be grated or cubed so it distributes easily. Use assertive aromatics sparingly so they don't overpower the stuffing. Chopped fresh herbs, garlic, ginger, chiles and even sun-dried tomatoes can make a plain stuffing a lot more interesting. Some possible combinations include: cornbread stuffing with chiles, smoked mozzarella and cilantro; challah with blue cheese and pecans; rye or whole grain bread with feta, dill and currants; and sourdough bread with pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and olives. Learn how to truss a turkey. By SAMUEL SIFTON If you don't stuff your turkey, you really don't need to truss it. But if you do stuff your bird, trussing helps keep the stuffing in its proper place, especially when you are moving the turkey from the roasting pan to the cutting board. Here's the simplest way to do it. 1. Place the turkey breast side up on the rack in the roasting pan. 2. Criss-cross the legs and use a piece of butcher's twine to tie them together at the ends, just above the joint. Wrap the twine twice around the legs to make sure they are secure. 3. Take a long piece to twine and loop it around the body of the bird, so that the wings are pressed against the breast. Tightly tie the twine in a knot or bow at the top of the breast. The trussed turkey is now ready to roast.
New York Times
19-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
Pasta? For Spring? Delicious.
Image Ali Slagle's one-pot tortellini with prosciutto and peas. Credit... Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Tomorrow is the first day of spring, and I can see it in the snowdrops and crocuses finally poking up in green, purple and white profusion all around Prospect Park. I know the days of flowering chives and local asparagus are still many weeks away. But I'll content myself with frozen peas, which feel light and springy and will help bide the time until the fresh sugar snaps start arriving in May. Perhaps I'll use those tiny orbs in Ali Slagle's one-pot tortellini with prosciutto, where they'll add pops of velvety sweetness next to the bits of salty cured pork in the creamy sauce. Or maybe I'll toss them with Parmesan, lemon and charred scallions to make Hana Asbrink's verdant crème fraîche pasta with peas and scallions, an elegant, 30-minute dish that's both rich and bright. Vegetable-filled pastas seem like the right move now on the cusp of springtime, and Krysten Chambrot, a senior editor, has put together more terrific ideas for you, here. Featured Recipe View Recipe → I can daydream about spring as much as I want, but that won't make the evenings any warmer or the buds bloom any faster. So to continue to ward off the chill — and to use up those farm box root vegetables that have piled up in my pantry — I'm going to give Cybelle Tondu's baked sweet potatoes with blue cheese and bacon a go. I love the notion of the almost candied, silky potato flesh rubbing elbows with the funky, creamy blue cheese butter, all topped with crisp bacon and chopped walnuts for extra texture. It's like a steakhouse wedge salad, but even more satisfying. Those loaded potatoes would make a fine meal all by themselves. But if you wanted to round things out, Christian Reynoso's chile crisp chicken cutlets are deeply spiced from a chile crisp marinade spiked with soy sauce and red wine vinegar, and they're coated in a wonderfully crunchy panko crust. Christian's trick for adding even more oomph is to whisk some of the excess marinade into the eggs used for coating the cutlets, which lends a pleasingly sharp kick. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
18-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
5 Ways to Make Eggs Go Further at Breakfast
With these strategies, eggs deliver even more flavor in easy morning recipes. In Naz Deravian's egg bites, cottage cheese and shredded cheese bulk up the eggs. Ghazalle Badiozamani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Published March 18, 2025 Updated March 18, 2025 Egg prices continue to rise and as supermarkets run short, every carton can feel like a precious commodity, especially at breakfast. And really, haven't eggs always been a gift in the mornings? The miraculously versatile combination of yolk and white delivers comfort and sustenance while cooking up in mere minutes. Thankfully, making eggs stretch further doesn't mean watering down their flavor. Instead, these strategies ensure they're more delicious as well. Abundant vegetables help menemen, Turkish scrambled eggs with tomato, feed four with ease. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. While many recipes for scrambled eggs tend to be simply, well, scrambled eggs, dishes like Turkish menemen, Mexican migas, Greek strapatsatha and Pakistani aloo anday start by sautéing vegetables in the pan before the beaten eggs are poured in. The other ingredients merge with the modest number of eggs, infusing them with flavor, adding more volume and giving them tenderness. If you're especially low on eggs, simply up the amounts of everything else. For even more ballast in your breakfast, tuck that extra-special scramble into a warm tortilla for a breakfast taco or breakfast burrito. Recipes: Menemen (Turkish Scrambled Eggs With Tomato) | Migas | Greek Scrambled Eggs | Migas Breakfast Tacos | Breakfast Taco | Breakfast Burrito Baked egg muffins, rich with feta, Cheddar and milk, deliver plenty of protein. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Egg bites are a beloved coffee shop standby, and making them at home means you can incorporate another member of the protein pantheon: dairy. Blending in plenty of cottage cheese, along with a few generous handfuls of your favorite shredded cheese, or a combination of milk and cheese, helps them bake up fluffy rather than rubbery — and you'll end up with even more egg bites to freeze for later. Recipes: Cottage Cheese Egg Bites | Egg Muffins Tender, airy egg patties star in make-ahead breakfast sandwiches. Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui. If the odds were in your favor and you happen to bring home a windfall of eggs, ensure they make an impact by transforming them into a tidy stack of egg sandwiches to freeze and squirrel away for your harried future self. Ali Slagle's brilliant sheet-pan technique makes it easy to meal-prep a slew of egg patties at once, and blitzing the eggs with plenty of cream in a blender aerates them to ensure they bake up fluffy (and helps them stretch even further). Slip these tender patties into any egg sandwich. Recipes: Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches | Sausage, Egg and Cheese Sandwich | Kimchi, Egg and Cheese Sandwich | Ciabatta Egg Sandwich With Tomato Jam In these microwave-steamed eggs, dashi delivers lightness and umami to every bite. Kate Sears for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Eggs tend to be appreciated for their richness in the morning, but when whisked with flavorful dashi or stock and gently steamed into a wobbly custard, they're soothing and ethereal. And it takes only a modest number of eggs. In Eric Kim's streamlined microwave take on the gentle genre of steamed eggs like Chinese zheng shui dan, Japanese chawanmushi and Korean gyeran jjim, the dish comes together in minutes. Recipes: Microwave-Steamed Eggs | Chawan Mushi Sautéed onion, pepper and spinach (along with goat cheese and bacon) star in this loaded baked frittata. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. If your eggs are running low, but your produce drawer runneth over, a frittata is your friend. Follow Mark Bittman's example and alter the ratio of eggs to vegetables to make the most of both: A generous hand with vegetables (and cooked sausage or bacon, if the mood strikes) provides valuable scaffolding, delivering an impressively tall frittata that boasts a deeper, richer taste. The iconic Persian frittata, kuku sabzi, is the epitome of this approach. Every two to three eggs in a frittata can handle four to six cups of chopped or sliced raw or cooked vegetables — simply scale up or down based on the current inventory in your refrigerator. Quiche (crustless or otherwise) and strata also work with the same strategy. Bonus: A wedge is just as satisfying for dinner as it is for breakfast. Recipes: More-Vegetable-Than-Egg Frittata | Hot Italian Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Frittata | Loaded Baked Frittata | Kuku Sabzi | Strata With Mushrooms and Chard | Crustless Egg and Cheese Quiche | Roasted Asparagus and Scallion Quiche Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram , Facebook , YouTube , TikTok and Pinterest . Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice .
