I made a beef roast yesterday and even though it was perfectly rosy on the inside it was still pretty tough… Enough so that I’m not finding the idea of leftovers particularly appetizing. Is there a way I can use the meat up that will correct (or at least disguise) the toughness?

Signed,

Leathery in Louisiana

Heather says:

My options depend on the original flavoring of the roast itself. If it was simply onion, garlic, salt and pepper, cook the rest of the roast in a crockpot,  in salsa, then shred for chimichangas.

If the roast had other flavors that wouldn’t go well with salsa, slice it as thinly as possible and use it on French dips, beef and cheddar hoagies, or in a beef stroganoff.

How about you, what would you do with a tough piece of roast beef?

Send your domestic quandaries to helpme@home-ec101.com.

There are two things on today’s to-do list. First get out the shopping list and plan your attack.

Second, figure out how long your frozen turkey will take to thaw. Frozen turkeys need a full 24 hours per 5lbs to thaw in a 40F refrigerator. Once thawed the turkey can be held for up to 48 hours.

For example, an 18lb turkey will take nearly 4 days to thaw and should be used by the 6th day. Thanksgiving is 1 week away, so it’s time to start thawing those 20 plus pound turkeys. Don’t forget to keep that turkey in the very bottom of the refrigerator to prevent any cross-contamination through drips  and spills.

If you are picking up a fresh turkey, it should be cooked within 3 days of pick-up, so play it safe and pick it up on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Signed,
Mystified by Mozzarella

Heather says:

Freezing fresh mozzarella isn’t the best idea. In fact, it’s not easy to store fresh mozzarella for long. If stored too long it becomes bitter and if frozen the consistency becomes funky.

Fresh mozzarella is excellent on pizza, but has a very mild flavor and to take advantage of using this ingredient it should be treated as the star of the show. Due to its consistency it should be sliced rather than grated.

It’s also lovely marinated and served in salads or sliced thinly and served on sandwiches. Be sure to use toasted bread and crisp vegetables to fully enjoy the contrast of textures.

How about you Home Eccers, how do you use fresh mozzarella?

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

It’s time to pull out your menu and recipes and put together your time table.

What time will dinner be?

How many of your side dishes can be made the day before? How will you reheat them in a timely manner.

What will have to be done to ensure everything is hot at the same time?

If your schedule gets thrown for a loop*, what can you have on hand to keep people from circling the kitchen like starving vultures?

*For instance your child getting sick which results in having to spend half your prep-day at Urgent Care. (He’s fine now). I’m just saying, it happens.

Recently a reader posed this question in the comments:

My dughter is a vegetarian and has been asked to bring something for Thanksgiving that she can eat and that will provide a taste of something good and different than the usual Turkey-day fare. We have’nt come up with anything “spectacular” but I thought I would try your readers. Any suggestions? She is a pretty good cook, so it doesn’t have to be super easy, just needs to taste great! Thanks.

After further questioning, I learned that she is looking for an idea for a main dish. So, I would love to open this question up to all of you. Please feel free to link to your favorite vegetarian holiday recipes to help this reader out.

In September I had the pleasure of meeting a representative of Chefs Requested at the Type-A Mom conference. We began talking and I was asked if I would be interested in trying out their products here on Home-Ec 101. I thought about it for a moment and decided I had best be up-front about my suspicions.  I said, “I have to be honest, I have a freezer full of beef at home because we buy beef by the half cow.”  He didn’t blink, so I went for what I thought would be the killing blow, “Do your products contain MSG?” The answer? No, they do not. Relieved, we traded info and went on our merry way.

Last month a box of Chefs Requested products arrived for us to try -see that FTC, disclosure. I’ve been working them into our menu over the past few weeks, the products are all individually vacuum sealed, so that makes a quick thaw via water-bath exceptionally easy for a busy night.

What products did I get to try?

• Bacon wrapped filets (hands down my favorite)
• Flat Iron Grill Boneless Steaks (Pre-portioned into 100 calorie steaks, can we say steak and eggs? This was Mr. Heather’s favorite.)
• Bacon Wrapped Chopped Beef Filets (Easy, gourmet-style burgers)
• Bacon Wrapped Chicken Filets (For those looking for a juicy, chicken burger)

Who do I see finding the most value in these products?

Singles, couples, those exploring portion control, and most especially someone new to cooking who needs the positive reinforcement of a successful experience. The individually wrapped servings make portion control a breeze for those who don’t want leftovers or for those who don’t want to have the temptation to return for seconds.

Long time readers may wonder why I am giving a positive review to a convenience product. And here’s my logic, steaks can be intimidating to a new cook. The idea of screwing up a comparatively high dollar item keeps many people from attempting the act. The pre-marinated meat is more forgiving than a non-marinated cut which allows room for overcooking or other newbie errors such as frequent checking, poking, prodding, and turning too often. Even the filets can withstand being cooked past the medium-well point without turning into a hockey puck. In my restaurant days I used to cringe when someone ordered our 14oz filet mignon well done, I’d try to cajole them into choosing a well-marbled steak that could tolerate the higher temperatures, but it never worked. If we weren’t slammed, we”d have a moment of silence for the culinary tragedy we were forced to perform.

This is  Home-Ec 101 not Home-Ec Post Graduate and this resource is here for even the newest cooks. My boys have both recently learned to ride their bikes without training wheels. Of course they fell a few times, but they had the previous experience to know that it would be fun once they got the hang of things. Cooking can be like that. If a person has a success they will be more willing to experiment in the future.

I’ve been grilling for a long time and I was pleasantly surprised to find even though I had a propane shortage while grilling the chopped beef filets they still turned out well. I transferred the burgers to an indoor grill and finished cooking with excellent results.

Did I have any problems with any of the products?

I’m kind of a texture freak; there I’ve said it publicly. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve never been a huge hamburger fan. I can either be wildly in love with a burger or it’ll trigger my gag reflex, so I attend to avoid burgers altogether.  Yes, weird, I’m sorry. So the husband and kids all powered down their chopped beef filets and I ate most of mine. The six year old went for seconds. The flavor was excellent, the texture was just a little different than I expected. It was more tender than your average burger. This isn’t even an inherently bad thing, just my own, personal weirdness. Four out of five Soloses are fans, the fifth admits an unfair bias; all things considered that’s not a bad rating.

I also approached the chicken in the wrong manner. I should have treated it like a burger, but I prepared it as an entree. When I prepare the rest of my sample, I will saute some onions, grab some cheese and create a chicken melt.

Summary, my family and I enjoyed the Chefs Requested products. The flavor was good, the convenience was enjoyable, and I am excited to be able to recommend a forgiving product to new cooks. If you click through the ad in the upper right corner, you should receive a coupon for up to $3.00 off a Chef’s Requested product. To see if a store in your area carries it, check out the list of retailers.

If you have any questions, I’d be glad to answer them.

It’s a shop from the fridge and pantry kind of week. I have a bunch of potatoes that need to be used up. I’ll round everything out with fresh produce.

• Monday – Loaded baked potato soup, spinach salad
• Tuesday – Trying out recipes from the BBC – pan grilled sirloin, yorkshire pudding, buttered cabbage, potatoes gratin
• Wednesday – C.O.R.N.
• Thursday –  Company Spaghetti with meat sauce, 7 layer salad, garlic bread
• Friday – Pan fried catfish, cheese grits, steamed vegetables
• Saturday – Homemade pizza night (pizza crust recipe / pizza sauce recipe )
• Sunday – Beef shoulder roast in red wine, pan roasted vegetables, cheesy broccoli rice casserole

Tell me, what’s on your menu this week? Are you trying anything new.  Are there any seasonal items you’ve been waiting to add to your menu? Feel free to share or link to your own menu plan in the comments.

One of my main goals here at Home-Ec 101 is to help others realize that no one has it completely together. If from the outside they look as though everything is in order, chances are they have a fear that someone will find out they are hanging on by their fingernails? It’s ok that we put on our best for company, but there comes a time where we need to admit our shortcomings. It’s not a celebration of mediocrity, as I’ve heard it referred to, rather it’s a chance to laugh at ourselves.

The whole week has felt like a scramble to catch up, to what I don’t know. Remember last week’s roast turkey? My husband was at work, so I immediately packed the turkey away into the refrigerator and freezer. The kids and I had sandwiches (yes, turkey) and fruit for supper. . . several nights in a row.  Even as much as I know that family dinners matter, when it’s just the kids and I, it can be very hard to summon the energy to get it all together.

Oh, and those candy corn votives? The kids saw Mr. Heather snacking from them, so they are now over the fireplace and I’ve had to pry kids off the mantle several times.

So, the Sunday confessional is now open. Let’s hear it, Home Eccers, did you have any disasters this week? None of us have it all together and there is a sense of camaraderie when we own up to our flubs.

My first encounter with a fried turkey had to have been around 1997. I was visiting the family of my then boyfriend down in Jacksonville, FL. The family was big and friendly, but I was extremely shy, so I lurked outside with the dad who was in charge of frying the turkey.  Circumstances changed, but I have put the knowledge of turkey frying to good use.

Obviously there are safety precautions one must take when deep frying anything as large as a turkey.

1. The turkey must be fully thawed.
2. This is an outdoor activity. All the way outside, the garage is NOT outside.
3. It must be done on level ground, preferably concrete. Nothing flammable should be in the vicinity.
4. The propane tank should be set as far from the burner as possible without stretching the hose taut and creating a trip hazard. (Common sense people, please)
5. The fryer should never be left unattended while in operation.
6. Children? Keep them away from the area.
7. Use gloves.
8. Use a thermometer.
9. Don’t let drunk Uncle Bob be in charge of this operation.

Equipment needed:

• turkey fryer (a “turkey lifter”, a large stock pot, with a propane burner)
• propane tank
• a thermometer with a long probe & clip
• heavy gloves
• meat thermometer
• peanut oil
• Cajun seasoning

You’ll have better results frying two smaller turkeys than one large turkey. Smaller turkeys don’t cause the temperature of the oil to drop as much. If the oil is too cool, it will be greasier than it should be.

Before the big day, you’ll need to figure out how much oil the turkey will displace. If you filled the pot without checking, you risk either having too little oil or risk an overflow. With the turkey still in its plastic wrapping place it in the pot. Fill the pot with water until it barely covers the turkey. Remove the turkey and note the level of the water.  When you fill the fryer with oil, do NOT fill it to this line. Fill it about 2/3rds of the way, then turn on the heat. After the oil has reached 350F, then add more oil if necessary. Oil significantly increases in volume with the addition of heat.

Back to the turkey.

An hour before frying pull the turkey from the refrigerator or cooler, remove the plastic wrap, giblets, neck, and tail. Check the bird carefully for any plastic, it may have a pop-up indicator or plastic wrapped to hold the drumsticks in place. Remove these pieces.

Someone else should be outside getting the fryer ready.

Blot the bird as dry as possible with paper towels. Water and hot oil are a very bad mix.

Rub the turkey down with Cajun seasoning, including inside the cavity.

Place the turkey on the stand, it should be doing what would be a headstand, if it still had a head. It can hang out here until it’s time for frying.

The oil should be at 350F.

Carefully, wearing gloves and using a hook, lower the DRY, seasoned turkey into the oil.

Watch the temperature of the oil and adjust the flame as necessary. Immediately reduce the flame if the oil creeps over 350F.

Fry the turkey for 3 minutes a pound. Remove the turkey from oil and check the inner thigh with a meat thermometer it should be between 161 & 165. If so, bring it inside and allow it to rest for 10 – 30 minutes before carving. (The internal temperature will climb a few more degrees, so it’s ok if it isn’t exactly 165 when it is removed from the oil.

If your oil was too hot (this happened to us when we didn’t know our thermometer was off due to sword fighting children), the skin may be very dark. Don’t worry, the meat should still be fine, if you removed it from the oil when it was cooked.

Turn the propane off and ensure no one will disturb the oil as it cools before leaving it unattended.

Carve and enjoy.

Questions?

Let’s play catch up:

• Is your dining room table free from junk?
• Have you invited & confirmed guests
• Have you written the menu?
• Do you have all the recipes doubled or halved based on your need?
• Have you figured out which serving dishes & utensils are needed?
• Have you kept up with the daily chores?

We’re getting close.

Now that you know you have an idea of the amount of food you will need, it’s time to write out the grocery list.  -This is where I found that spreadsheet incredibly helpful.- I wrote the title for each recipe in the header of each column and listed the ingredients.  From that list I was able to easily assemble a shopping list organized into two lists. One contained all of the shelf-stable or frozen ingredients, the other had all of the perishables.

It’s also time to figure out where the turkey will thaw safely. Remember all meat needs to thaw below other foods. This way, if the packaging leaks there is no risk of cross-contamination. Don’t forget to be creative, an ice filled cooler could be quite useful in a temporary situation like this.

To catch up with the rest of this series check out Countdown to Turkey Day tag.