If you follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter) you may have caught some of our tips for an amazing Thanksgiving. We decided to gather all those tips here so you’d have them in one easy place and add a few more. Many of these tips apply to the rest of the holidays too!
#1: Before you start cooking clean your kitchen thoroughly and put away clutter so you have plenty of space to work. Cross contamination and food borne illnesses are not a welcome guest. Safety for you and everyone at your table starts with good cleaning habits. Especially when there will be raw meat in most kitchens.
#2: Raw meat and baked goods don’t mix. Schedule a time for when you will be working with meats in the kitchen and keep them separate from the preparations for baked goods or fresh dishes. No one wants a slab of pie with a side of salmonella. On that same note, clean up after raw meat before pulling anything else out. Make sure to properly disinfect your surfaces. I use a mild bleach solution, personally, but everyone has an opinion about the best household cleaners. Whatever yours are, use them between preparations and definitely between anything raw and anything else.
#3: The secrets to really great pie crusts. Keep your fats chilled. Don’t over do the liquid. Never over work your crust. There is no shame in store bought or graham cracker crusts. Life is too short to cry over pie crust.
#4: When it comes to amazing mashed potatoes bring some variety to the party. Most mashed potatoes are made from russets which are a very starchy potato, but not always massively flavorful. Add in some reds or golden potatoes for a pop of flavor and texture. And, hey, these thin skinned tubers can be boiled and mashed with the skins on. Add a pop of parsley and experiment with your add ins!
#5: Stuff your turkey with herbs, vegetables and fruit for amazing flavor and juiciness. Don’t stuff your turkey with stuffing. Bread based stuffings will get soggy when cooked in the turkey cavity. As well it’s very hard to get the done all the way through and you run a high risk of food borne illness. Cook stuffing and turkey separately and bring them together at the dinner table!
#6: To stabilize your whipping cream add 1 teaspoon Cornaby’s E-Z Gel per pint when you’re whipping it. This will give you whipped cream which will stay light, fluffy and stable all day…provided you don’t eat it all first! A 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice is also a great whipping cream add in.
#7: Brush the top of fresh rolls with butter when they come out of the oven. They’ll take on a nice shine and punch of flavor. However, don’t leave your rolls on the pan for too long as the bottoms could get soggy. I turn my rolls out onto a dishtowel, butter side down for ten minutes, and then flip them over and let them stay there until it’s time to go to the table. (This often results in rolls being stolen and eaten…I don’t know how that happens.)
#8: Use Cornaby’s Raspberry Chipotle sauce to top your turkey. It’s great spread on your bird during cooking, or at the table. It also makes a great mix in with a little salad dressing to make an amazing leftover turkey sandwich.
#9: Leftovers should not sit out. Even if you’re planning on eating them again later, put leftovers in the fridge between meals. This goes back to not wanting food poisoning for the holidays.
#10: Add a few Tablespoons of Cornaby’s E-Z Gel to your roll dough. This will help the rolls stay moist for longer which means more days of leftover sandwiches!
#11: Plan ahead so the cooking stays easy and you can spend time with your loved ones.
