Stoner Cooking: Your Thanksgiving Survival Guide

Friday 11/04/2011 http://www.maxim.com/amg/STUFF/Dirty+Briefs+Blog/Your+Thanksgiving+Survival+Guide

Share The essential ingredients for a perfect Turkey Day: beer, wine, booze, and the ultimate leftover sammie.

COLD TURKEY

The best part of any Thanksgiving bird is the part you eat later.

Behold the greatest turkey sandwich of all time, from chefs Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone of N.Y.C. sandwich mecca Parm. The real secret: Cook your turkey correctly at the outset. For a juicy bird, say the chefs, presoak Tom for 24 hours in a brine loaded with herbs and garlic. And remember that after the turkey is pulled from the oven, it keeps cooking. Remove at 10 degrees less than desired doneness and it’ll reach perfection on the counter.

For the sandwich:

1. Brush a sweet-and-savory glaze (see recipe) onto slices of leftover turkey and reheat at 425°F for 12–15 minutes. Season with sea salt, thyme, and lots of cracked pepper.
2. Slather a soft roll with spicy mayo (see recipe) and add turkey, shredded lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, and juicy tomato.
3. Throw your belt-buckled Pilgrim hat in the air. That’s good eatin’!

Turkey Glaze
3 heads garlic
½ cup honey
Olive oil
Black pepper
Salt

1. Peel the garlic, then place in a small saucepan and cover with olive oil.
2. Cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes.
3. Strain, reserving garlic.
4. Pulse garlic in food processor till smooth. You have just made garlic confit!
5. In a small bowl, whisk together honey and ¼ cup garlic confit.
6. Season with salt and black pepper.

Spicy Mayo
1 cup Hellman’s
6 B&G pickled cherry peppers
1 tsp. pickling liquid from B&G jar
1 small garlic clove
Salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add salt to taste.

GOBBLE AND GUZZLE
Your Thanksgiving drinking schedule.

1. The Starter: Great Pumpkin
Adapted from The PDT Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan.
2 oz. pumpkin ale
1 oz. rye
1 oz. apple brandy
5 oz. maple syrup
1 egg
Put all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir once. Dry-shake, then shake with ice. Strain into a chilled glass.

2. The Wine: St. Francis Zinfandel
A medium-bodied red that pairs nicely with turkey and hearty fall veggies. Subtle enough for the ladies at the table but strong enough for the bro-dawgs.

3. The Sipper: The Glenrothes
Rather than producing predetermined, age-stamped bottles (like a 12- or 15-year), this single-malt maker only releases vintages they feel have truly reached perfection. This 1995 potion is the latest—a gentle yet complex balance of flavors matured in both sherry and bourbon casks. Share a bottle with Pops by the fire.

4. The Nightcap: Hot Chocolate Car Bomb
Adapted from the Redhead in N.Y.C.
Hot chocolate
Guinness
Jameson
Mix ingredients to taste.

5. The Medicine: Mercy
A lightly carbonated, faintly citrusy potion of nutrients (N-acetyl cysteine and alpha-ketoglutaric acid, anyone?)that, downed after a day of drinking, makes tomorrow’s inside-your-noggin game of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out go bye-bye. Now, that’s something to be thankful for.