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Immigrant’s American Turkey

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

On the fourth Thursday of every November, everyone who believe themselves to be Americans celebrate nature’s bounty by feasting with their loved ones. Traditional thanksgiving food is simple baked, boiled, and/or mashed, and served with minimum spices to ensure soft texture and mild flavor that cater to anyone from children to elderly.

Partaking in this meal is a symbolic gesture for every immigrant who becomes an allegorical descendant to the generation of pilgrims who first ventured out to the New World with a hope of a better life. Essentially, the fourth Thursday of November is more American than the fourth day of July celebrated with barbecues.

Most immigrants celebrate thanksgiving meal interwoven with culinary tradition of their heritage. North American bird, turkey, symbolizes their new home in America, while the additional spices and dishes represent their contribution to the melting pot.

How was Thanksgiving started by immigrants?
The overtly rehashed story of Thanksgiving starts with the new immigrants, Pilgrims and their native American Wampanoag neighbors feasted together in October of 1621 as a gesture of gratitude for having food on the table. Coincidentally, Canada started celebrating its thanksgiving in second Monday of October since 1950s.

George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison issued proclamations of a thanksgiving holidays. However at that time states celebrated thanksgiving at different times with its popularity remaining limited to New England with lukewarm celebration in the Southern states.

Lincoln and Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving was not a national holiday until the proclamation by Abe Lincoln in 1863. Ironically, Lincoln got his inspiration from Sarah Josepha Hale, famous for writing nursery rhyme “Mary had a little lamb”, who championed the cause for a unifying national holiday that would foster unity in a nation at the brink of a civil war. Lincoln envisioned “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise” for “these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come”  as said by Lincoln in his proclamation.

History of the Immigrant’s Thanksgiving Turkey
The tradition of having turkey for Thanksgiving may have start in nineteenth century New England, where men took aim at a wild turkey in the fields with the winner usually winning a turkey as his prize for marksmanship.

Most immigrants celebrate thanksgiving meal interwoven with culinary tradition of their heritage. North American bird, turkey, symbolizes their new home in America, while the additional spices and dishes represent their contribution to the melting pot. They add spices or dish distinct to their thanksgiving meal. This practice of bringing culinary heritage to a foreign tradition continues as immigrants from all over the world embrace the United States as their new home. Pakistani families may add garam masala in their turkey, their Thai friends may flavor side dishes with coconut milk, while their Norwegian neighbor may bring smoked salmon appetizer.

Likewise, my thanksgiving turkey would be tandoori turkey with saffron gravy.

Tandoori Turkey
for tandoori spice paste (for 10 lb turkey), mix together following*
ghee (1 cup, substitute with re-solidified melted butter)
tandoori spice mix (1 tablespoon,  substitute with any curry powder)
fresh ginger and garlic paste (2 tablespoons)
chicken stock (2 tablespoons)
salt (2 teaspoons)

on the roasting pan for gravy
can of low sodium chicken stock
red onion (1 sliced, large)

* traditional tandoori marinade is yogurt based

After removing packaging materials and other organs (gizzards etc.,) coat the inside cavity of turkey with spice paste. Pour ½ of chicken stock in there. Stuffing a turkey is not recommended for both food safety as well as taste safety. Make stuffing in a pan as casserole instead.

My favorite tip for moist turkey breast comes from Harold McGee. Few hours before the end of thawing the turkey, selectively put ice-packs on its breast. Due to the difference in temperature between breast meat and turkey, the turkey breast will cook slower than the rest of turkey. This will prevent drying of turkey. Be sure to remove the ice-packs before baking.

With your fingers and/or flat plastic spatula separate the skin from the breast meat. Be gentle and don’t tear the skin. Rub the spice mix in between turkey skin and the breast meat.

Rub the spice mix outside the entire turkey.

Add chicken stock and sliced onions to the roasting pan.

Cover the breast with a sheet of aluminum foil. Roast in 325 °F oven. Remove the foil ½ an hour before the roasting ends. Covering the breast with a foil sheet also helps in preventing the breast from drying.

USDA recommends (see USDA’s turkey cooking recommendations) the minimum internal temperature of 165 °F for food safety. Nowadays, many turkeys come up with “pop-up” temperature indicators. However, just to be safe, use instant read thermometer to check temperatures of innermost parts of the turkey, such as thigh, wings, thickest part of the breast.

Check doneness of turkey early and often.

Timetables for Roasting Turkey  (USDA)

Unstuffed Turkey Roasted at 325 °F Oven Temperature
4 to 8 pounds (breast) 1½ to 3¼ hours
8 to 12 pounds 2¾ to 3 hours
12 to 14 pounds 3 to 3¾ hours
14 to 18 pounds 3¾ to 4¼ hours
18 to 20 pounds 4¼ to 4½ hours
20 to 24 pounds 4½ to 5 hours

Saffron Gravy

for 1 cup of dripping from roasted turkey
saffron (dozen inch long strands)
whole milk (¼ cup, use half and half for richer gravy)
corn starch (1 tablespoon)

Leave a dozen inch long strands in milk sometime after putting the roast turkey. The amount of saffron depends on its quality.

After removing turkey, pour out the dripping from turkey. Blend mushy roasted onion with other liquid drippings.

Mix corn starch with the saffron milk and pour over blended turkey drippings. Reheat until thickens. Gravy done.

Thanksgiving is an American celebration of sharing the ample of wholesome, often simple, foods any way you like it.

All the Illustrations by: Sumayal Shrestha

Bibliography
Elizabeth Pleck, “The Making of the Domestic Occasion: The History of Thanksgiving in the United States,” Journal of Social History Vol. 32, No. 4, Summer, 1999, Page 773-789.

Janet Siskind, “The Invention of Thanksgiving: A ritual of American nationality”, Critique of Anthropology, Vol. 12, No. 2, June 1992, Page 167-191.

Melanie Wallendorf and Eric J. Arnould, “We Gather Together”: Consumption Rituals of Thanksgiving Day,” Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18, No. 1, June 1991, Page 13-31

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Posted in American Food, Food Culture, Food Science, Food Techniques, Indian food, Meat | 6 Comments »

Lobster Rolls Obsession

Sunday, August 7th, 2011

More high resolution photos at DesiGrub’s Facebook album

One hour (or more) long line for a lobster roll! I refuse to stay such a long line to get my lunch on a work day – who has time? At the same time, I was somewhat intrigued by the lobster rolls that made people to stay out in muggy DC weather for an hour to eat $15-18 lunch.

Before these reviews of lobster rolls, I have to disclaim that I am not an expert on lobsters or grew up eating them on a weekly basis. I know good food and believe that ocean already made lobsters so tasty – all we need to do is heat it to perfection without too much of bells and whistles.

Why lobsters are sustainable and expensive?
Lobsters are trapped live in a cage that allows it to enter but makes it difficult to exit. This inefficient way of fishing lobster has inadvertently resulted it in being overfished. Additionally lobster sustainability in the United States has increased because lobstermen are required to measure lobster size and release small young and big fully grown lobster back to the sea to insure healthy future breeding stock.

Lobster recommendations in DC (in no particular order);

Red Hook Lobster Truck [4.5 oz lobster meat]
You can get lobster roll in Maine style (mayonnaise, lime) or in Connecticut style (melted butter) made from Maine lobsters. Both of them are served on white bread toast with big chunk of lobster meat and paprika seasonings. The bun sort of gets soggy with the drizzled melted butter in Connecticut style lobster roll. I would definitely recommend it if the truck is in your neighborhood and if there is no big line. I don’t think this (or any food) is worth hour-long line.

Red Hook’s Connecticut Style Lobster Roll
Red Hook’s Maine Lobster Roll

BGR – The Burger Joint [5 oz lobster meat]
Surprisingly this burger joint serves amazing lobster rolls made from lump claw and knuckle meat from Maine lobsters. I liked the fact that there was no sauce in the lobster roll. Big chucks of lobster were served on a lettuce leaf placed over three conjoined slider buns with sweet cole-slaw dressing sauce. The bread base for the roll can be improved but simply the lobster and sauce makes this lobster roll worth the try. These are seasonal items and served from June to September depending on the quality of the lobsters.

Bgr Joint’s Lobster Roll

Luke’s Lobster [4 oz lobster meat]
Lobster roll lobster from father Jeff’s sustainable Maine seafood company making it a true sea floor to your plate choice. Chunks of lobster meat are made to order and served with mayo and their secret seasoning on toasted/buttered white bread bun. The butter, mayo and seasoning are all optional if you don’t like them.

Luke’s Lobster Roll

PS. Checkout this stop-motion animation of Luke’s Lobster Roll.

All above three lobster rolls are equally good it their own right. Now, here are some other lobster rolls that I would be hesitant to recommend.

Kinkead’s
For comparison sake, I tried a high end Kinkead’s lobster roll. The lobster roll was not better than any other fast food place. Kinkead’s Maine lobster roll is served with side of coleslaw and homemade French fries. Lobster had bit more mayo than I preferred but loved the fresh aromatic herbs on the lobster. The sides were excellent and lobsters were decent but I would not recommend paying twice for a similar quality lobster roll.

Kinkeads Lobster Roll Platter
Kinkead’s Lobster Roll

Au bon pain  [4 oz lobster meat]
Lobster salad croissant sandwich is made from over a quarter pound of lobster mixed with light mayonnaise. I found this lobster had fewer chunkier pieces and way too much mayo (see photo). I ate it is twice so it’s not that bad but I would choose Red Hook, BGR or Luke’s lobster any day.

 

Au Bon Pain’s Lobster Croissant

Quiznos
Quiznos’ limited time lobster & seafood salad sub looked pretty on the promo but was nothing special than any other fast food sub they serve. These lobster rolls are seasonal and like Au bon pain’s choose them only as the last lobster resort.

Quiznos Lobster Sub

When Quiznos introduced the lobster and seafood salad sub, they promoted with this eco-video which shows setting four protagonist lobsters free into the wild. Choose

The narrator ends the video by saying, “We couldn’t help but wonder if what we’d done was just a big contradiction. It’s not their fault, they taste so good.” Indeed!

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Posted in American Food, Fish, Ingredient, Lunch, Meat | 2 Comments »

Momo Recipe – In Memory of Kathmandu’s Momocha

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

Momo: the sound, the ambience and the memory of its smell could bring water to the mouth. In Kathmandu valley, this steamed dish used to be commonly cooked by the Newar community. Momo is primarily made with the ground buffalo meat wrapped in thin dough about 3 inches in diameter from all purpose flour called maida.

Changu Narayan in Kathmandu Valley (Photo:TheDreamSky – Dhilung Kirat)

Water buffalo meat could be the primary reason that momos were limited to the Newar and handful of other community in the past. Due to the religious taboos, the buffalo meat was prohibited amongst other castes. Many Nepalese believe momo originated from Tibet, but similar dishes are found throughout the Central Asia. In recent years, the popularity of momo has risen very high – you probably won’t find anyone in Kathmandu who doesn’t like momo or at least have heard about it. Now, you can easily find momos with turkey, chicken, goat, beef or mixed vegetables. The prevalence of vegetarian Momo is the proof of the momo mania.

Water Buffalo in Cambodia rice field (Photo: IRRI Images)

Momo is normally eaten with a sauce made out of tomato, cilantro and sesame seed and/or combination of one or many types of nuts such as cashews, peanuts, walnuts. Adding nuts to the sauce not only provides a good source of needed fat for your body but also gives a unique taste that makes a “plate” licking dish. Although momo comes in many different shapes/sizes and with varieties of meat, the best and the authentic Kathmandu Momo would be the one made with the ground buffalo meat.

No one could dispute momos is the mostly eaten street food in the Kathmandu as well as a party dish for Nepal expat community living abroad. In the United States, I make Momo with the turkey meat. This is not by my choice but what I can commonly find in local grocery stores. Many people make momo with wrapper that is freshly made using all purpose flour. For me, that is an extra chore. Thus, for my own convenience, I use wonton wrapper, easy to wrap and readily available in most Asian (e.g., Korean) grocery stores. Oh yeah- wrapping the momo requires a skill. If your momo is wrapped too tightly and close to the meat, it might not be as good as the one that has a small space between the meat and the wonton.

Ingredients:

Ground Turkey (approximately 1.5 lb)
1 pack of wonton wrapper – about 45 pieces
Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
Black Salt – 1/8 – teaspoon
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Black pepper -  ¼ teaspoon
Ginger paste – ½ teaspoon
Garlic paste – ½ teaspoon
Momo masala – 1 tablespoon (optional)
Vegetable oil – 1/5 cup
Cinnamon  - ¼ teaspoon
Butter – 2 tablespoon
Timur – 1/6 teaspoon (similar to sezuan pepper)
Chopped or crushed Cabbage – 1 cup
Crushed dried onion – ¼ cup
Tomoato paste – ¼ cup
Crushed parsley – 2 teaspoon
Crushed red pepper 1/4 teaspoon

How to prepare Momo?

Chopped cabbage and other veggies for momo

Add all the ingredients together (beside wonton wrapper) mentioned above in a bowl that is large enough to mix them all together.

Momo filling with all spices

Best if mixed with bare (cleaned) hand for about 10/15 minutes.

Momo filling

Upon mixing, you can put one tsp of mixed meat on to each wonton wrapper and wrap it leaving a space between meat and flour. Spray some vegetable oil on the steamer or rub some hardened butter or ghee. Place wrapped momo on steamer.

Momo ready to be steamed

Steam for 10/12 minutes. The good indicator is when the dough just turns from dull matte texture to slightly shiny.

Momo

Serve with sauce of your choice.

Momo is the dish that can be most enjoyed making and eating with group – rather than just by yourself.

Related Dumpling Posts

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Posted in American Food, Meat, Nepali food, Newari food | 3 Comments »

The Pig Out Dinner

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

I wanted to make an entire meal made of all pig meats after watching the TED talk by Christien Meindertsma. She is the author of the book “Pig 05049″, which discusses at least 185 non-pork pig products, from soaps to artificial hearts. I would call it – “The Pig Out Dinner”.

I had also been meaning to invite a few friends for a dinner, but was not following through my intentions. During one happy hour, some of my friends suggested an impromptu party at my place. I took advantage of the opportunity to host the pig themed dinner.

All of the invited friends were Nepali expats. I wanted to make the dinner in a style of a typical Nepali meal, but with non-traditional ingredients and using spices outside of the Indian subcontinent. The challenge was to make each dish consisting of pork from different parts of the world as well as to cook something that brings back memories of a typical meal from Nepal – dal, bhat and masu.

The Pig Out Dinner

Here’s what I made for the pig out dinner;

Bacon Vodka – Pig Out Signature Drink
For a signature drink, I made bacon-infused vodka.

To make: add the left over bacon fat from cooking the bacon to vodka (or bourbon) in a mason jar, shake, let it stand, freeze it, remove the top hardened fat portion, filter the vodka through a paper coffee filters.

Fat from 2 lb of bacon
2 cups of vodka

The bacon flavor in the vodka was too strong. In order to reduce the total alcohol content and the bacony taste, I served the drink with twice the amount of chilled lime seltzer.

The bacon vodka was not a hit. People stuck with the beers and wines they brought. It might have been a more successful if I had delivered the bacon vodka differently. Next time I plan to serve the bacon vodka in Bloody Mary – that should work.

The Pig Out Appetizers

Pork Salami and Prosciutto with Brie and Bleu cheese
Simple, all I needed to do was buy them.

Pork Rinds
I served spicy and regular pork rind snacks from Utz. Again it was simple and tasty. Pork rinds are potato chips or cracker like snack, made by cooking and removing off most of the fat out of the pig’s rind.

Spicy and Regular Pork Rinds

Bacon Guacamole
Bacon with chopped crispy bacon. I cooked the bacon the night before the party. I chopped the refrigerated bacon into small pieces and prepped guacamole by adding tomatoes and onions (see how not to brown guacamole). Just before guests arrived, I added most of the chopped bacon to the guacamole and mixed them. I used remaining chopped bacon as garnish on top.

Bacon Guacamole

Even though, the guacamole was little toward the salty side, my guests still liked it. Note to self; add less salt if adding bacon.

The Pig Out Dinner Entrée
I served “a-typical” Nepali meal consisting of dal bhat masu.

Beans with Smoky Shredded Pork
As the dal (lentils), I served black bean cooked with smoked pulled pork. I made the black beans from dried Goya beans. I used the similar techniques from as the last time I made black beans (see how to make black beans) except for adding smoky pulled pork.

Rice with Pork Kielbasa Sausages
I made bhat (rice) with sliced pork kielbasa sausage. I added lime zest along with pinch of black pepper and salt for the flavor. Surprisingly, cooking the rice was the most difficult part because I was not used to making a large quantity of rice.

Slow-braised Pork Tenderloin
For masu (meat), I made pork tenderloins slow cooked in a crock-pot for about 18-20 hours. For 7.5 lb pork, I added 2 onions, 2 chopped bell peppers, 1 bunch or green onions, and 3 cans of chipotle abodo sauce.

Chipotle Peppers

The 3 cans were a bit too much of heat. I should have stayed with the 2 cans as I initially planned. The pork dish was similar to chipotle chili verde I made half a year ago.

Slow cooking the pork
The slow cooked pork

The Pig Out Dessert (Idea only)
For dessert I was planning on baking cookies with chocolate chips, bits of bacon, some bacon fat, and maple syrup. However, I ran out of time and energy. Instead, I served them store bought cookies.

Should-be Bacon Cookies

Making bacon cookies can be a separate pork related project sometime in the future – maybe all bacon dinner. Any takers?

Bacon – Future dinner theme?
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Posted in American Food, Meat, Nepali food, Produce | No Comments »

Lahori Charga

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
Mughal ruins in Lahore (photo Anayabano)

There’s a Punjabi saying that goes, “Jine lahore nahin dekhya wo te jamiya hi nahi“.  What this basically means is that whosoever hasn’t seen Lahore, hasn’t lived (more literally hasn’t been born).  Lahore is a historic place, with strong Mughal heritage.  It is the second largest city in Pakistan, and the capital of its largest province: Punjab.  In the 12th century, it was capital of the Ghaznavids empire.  Which I mention only because I am a Ghaznavi.

There’s so much I can tell you about Lahore.  It’s a unique place and the cultural capital of Pakistan.  The sights, smells, colors, everything about it is alive and vibrant.  It’s perfect chaos, and the food is nothing like the subpar quality of Pakistani food you have here in the United States.

Lahore’s in Tooting South London (photo internets_dairy)

I’d like to share with you my quick and dirty Lahori Charga (chicken) recipe. My mom of course can make this from scratch.  But let’s be serious, I don’t always have time for that.  This is what she offered me when I was whining about the hard labor involved in cooking:

Ingredients:
Skinless whole chicken
fresh lemons or limes
Shaan Lahori Charga Masala

Here’s the alternate spices if you don’t have Shaan Lahori Charga Masala and want to make this from scratch – not really a big deal, I just like to complain.

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic paste
2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon yogurt
1 teaspoon crushed cumin
1 tablespoon garam masala

Wash the chicken thoroughly, and make 2 cuts in the chicken breast so that the masala will penetrate beyond the surface.  Cover the whole chicken with the juice of one whole lemon or lime.  Sprinkle entire chicken with Lahori Charga Masala.  Let marinate for at least 4 hours.  Overnight is best.

Marinated chicken for Lahori charga

Pan grill the chicken covered on medium heat without oil.  Make sure to turn the chicken on all sides and watch that the heat isn’t so high that it is burning.

Pan grilling Lahori charga

Once you feel the chicken is cooked (turns white), take it out. Rinse out the pot if you are using it for deep frying.

Squeeze another lemon or lime on the chicken, re-sprinkle with Lahori Charga Masala (dry rubbing).

Re-sprinkling dry rubs for Lahori Charga

Deep fry the chicken.

Deep frying Lahori Charga

If you don’t have a deep fryer, just turn the chicken until all sides have had a chance to fry in oil.

Carefully removing deep fried Lahori charga

Serve immediately.  You should put the remaining Masala and lemons/limes for guests to add onto their prepared chicken as desired.

Lahori charga
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Posted in Meat, Pakistani food | 3 Comments »

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