Page 4C
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Saturday, November 7, 2015
A cheat sheet to take the mystery out of Thanksgiving math
stuff. It costs a few dollars more,
but makes it easier to line pans,
cover birds browning too quickly
and wrap leftovers.
By J.M. HIRSCH
AP Food Editor
Thanksgiving math actually
isn’t all that hard. You just need to
use a few basic equations.
For example, to estimate the
amount of wine you’ll need, begin
by multiplying the number of
in-laws you are expecting by the
estimated number of offensive
jokes your uncle is likely to tell
(remember to round up). Take the
product of that and multiply it by
the number of children likely to
overhear the offensive jokes. Buy
that many bottles of wine.
Or perhaps you need to know
how many pies to serve. Tally
the total number of guests, then
add another eight guests to that
number to account for your
niece’s heartthrob of the moment
(who may or may not come,
but if he does will eat an entire
pie himself). Now subtract 12
from your total to account for
the guests who without warning
will diagnose themselves as
gluten-sensitive, fruit-free,
paleo-centric or anti-sugar. Buy
that many pies.
How big a turkey should you
get? This one is more compli-
cated. Start by making a list of
everyone coming to dinner. Rate
each guest on an annoyance scale
of 1 to 10. Bump up the rating
by 2 points for any guest likely
to spend the day standing in the
kitchen distracting you. Tally all
of the ratings, then divide by the
total number of guests. ,f the ¿ nal
score is 5 or more, don’t waste
your money on any turkey. You’ll
probably overcook it while being
annoyed and distracted by guests.
For more help navigating the
Thanksgiving math mine¿ eld,
we’ve assembled a cheat sheet
to the most common culinary
calculations. And because this is
Thanksgiving, all estimates are
generous to allow for plenty of
seconds and leftovers.
How big?
For turkeys less than 16
pounds, estimate 1 pound per
serving (this accounts for bone
weight). For larger birds, a bit less
is ¿ ne they have a higher meat-
to-bone ratio. But if your goal is
to have very ample leftovers, aim
for 1 1/2 pounds per person no
matter how big the turkey is.
• For 8 people, buy a 12-lb
turkey
• For 10 people, buy a 15-lb
turkey
• For 12 people, buy an 18-lb
turkey
• For 14 people, buy a 20-lb
turkey
The big thaw
The safest way to thaw a
frozen turkey is in the refrigerator.
The sides
• Carrots: a 1-pound bag makes
4 to 5 servings
• Cranberry sauce: a 12-ounce
package of fresh cranberries
makes about 2 1/4 cups of sauce a
16-ounce can has 6 servings
• Gravy: plan for 1/3 cup of
gravy per person
• Green beans: 1 1/2 pounds of
beans makes 6 to 8 servings
• Mashed potatoes: a 5-pound
bag of potatoes makes 10 servings
• Stuf¿ ng: a 14-ounce bag of
stuf¿ ng makes about 11 servings
Double oven trouble?
Puzzled over which wine pairs
well with brined turkey, candied
yams, garlic mashed potatoes,
challah stuf¿ ng, cranberry sauce
and, possibly, tofu turkey? Why not
take another bite at the apple, and
think cider instead?
A cold glass of hard cider
has been the hot beverage for a
while now, with sales growing
exponentially. And while many
U.S.-produced ciders have leaned
toward catering to the American
sweet tooth, drier
styles are emerging
that provide a
good
under-
pinning for the
rich — and often
oddly contrasting
— excesses of the
traditional Thanks-
giving.
“I always think
about Thanksgiving
as an endurance
meal and cider works
really well,” says Dan
Pucci, cider director of
Wassail, a New York
City restaurant special-
izing in cider pairings.
Cider typically is
lower in alcohol than
wine, averaging 5 to 7
percent, but has enough
acid and tannins to do the job of
a Thanksgiving beverage. Meaning,
it can cleanse and refresh your
palate to get you ready for the next
bite.
Bonus point: You’re drinking
like the Pilgrims, who were avid
hard cider fans.
Picking ciders poses a few
challenges. Since the cider surge is
relatively new, labeling rules and
regulations still are being worked
out, so you don’t have as much
information to work with as you
¿ nd on U.S. wine labels. Some
The gear
The desserts
You don’t need to drop a load
of cash on special equipment to
be thankful this Thanksgiving, but
there are some tools that make life
easier (and the food safer). A digital
instant thermometer or wired probe
(that remains in the turkey during
roasting) is the most critical. Cheap
thermometers will set you back no
more than $20.
A heavy duty roasting pan is a
worthwhile investment, but only if
you make gravy from the drippings
(the pan can be set on the stovetop
after roasting) and if you roast other
critters during the rest of the year.
Otherwise, do yourself a favor and
spend a few bucks on a disposable
foil roasting pan (get a sturdy one).
This makes cleanup a whole lot
easier.
Speaking of foil, get the good
stuff. Skip the wimpy 12-inch rolls
and grab the heavy duty 18-inch
• Pie: a 9-inch pie can be cut into
8 modest slices.
• Whipped cream: Dolloping
whipped cream on those 8 modest
slices will require 1 cup of heavy
cream beaten with 2 tablespoons
powdered sugar (a splash of vanilla
extract is nice, too)
• Ice cream: a la mode doesn’t
require much — 1 pint per pie
should suf¿ ce
AP Photo/Matthew Mead
This Oct. 5 photo shows harvested vegetables in Concord, N.H.
You’ll need about 24 hours per
4 to 5 pounds of turkey. For
speedier thawing, put the turkey
(still in its wrapper) in a sink of
cold water. Change the water
every 30 minutes, and plan for
about 30 minutes per pound.
The brine
A good brine uses kosher salt
and sugar in a 1-to-1 ratio, and
usually no more than 1 cup of
each. Feel free to add any other
seasonings. Brines typically are
made by heating the salt, sugar
and seasonings with a bit of water
until dissolved. This mixture
then is diluted with additional
cold water (volume will vary
depending on the size of your
bird) and ice. Be certain the brine
is completely cooled before using
it.
Turkeys should be brined for at
least 8 to 10 hours, but can go as
long as 72 hours. A good rule of
thumb is, the longer the brine, the
weaker the brine. So for a 10-hour
soak, use 1 cup each of salt and
sugar. For a longer one, consider
backing down to 3/4 cup each.
Always keep the bird refrigerated
during brining. If the turkey is
too big, an ice-¿ lled cooler stored
outside works, too.
Don’t have the time or patience
to brine? Try salting instead. In
fact, plenty of folks say salting
a turkey produces meat with far
better À avor than brining. To
do it, set the turkey on a platter,
then rub a generous amount of
kosher salt on all surfaces. Cover
with plastic wrap and refrigerate
overnight. When you’re ready
to roast, rinse the salt from the
turkey, pat it dry and pop it in the
oven.
Want to drink like a Pilgrim
this Thanksgiving? Drink cider
By MICHELLE LOCKE
Associated Press
The turkey never should go
directly from the oven to the table.
Like most meat, it needs to rest
before serving for the juices to
redistribute. Cover the turkey with
foil and a few bath towels layered
over that (to keep it warm), then let
it rest for 20 to 30 minutes before
carving.
Are you lucky enough to be
blessed with two ovens? Your
Thanksgiving prep just got easier.
Here’s how to make the most of the
extra roasting space.
• Dedicate one oven (if one is
larger, use the larger) to the turkey.
Place one rack on the oven’s lowest
shelf and remove all others. When
the bird goes in the oven, it goes
on that bottom rack. Now see if
you have room to add another rack
over it. If so, this is the ideal place
to cook your stuf¿ ng (assuming it
isn’t in the bird), au gratin potatoes
and green bean casseroles, which
can cook at the same temperature at
the bird.
• Early in the day, use the second
oven to cook anything that can
be done ahead. Pies and rolls are
good. Closer to the time you will
serve the meal, use the second oven
to cook things that need a higher
temperature than the turkey, such as
roasted root vegetables and pies. As
the turkey is being carved, use both
ovens to reheat items (such as those
rolls) or keep things warm 150 F to
200 F is about right for both tasks.
labels will tell you if a cider is made
from eating apples or traditional
cider apples, known as bitter sweets
or bitter sharps, or a blend of both.
There are exceptions, of course,
but generally speaking ciders made
with cider fruit tend to have more
structure, presence and palate, says
Pucci. They also develop more
secondary À avors and are earthier.
Ciders made from eating apples
are going to generally have a more
primary fruit pro¿ le and are easier
drinking.
A good choice for an aperitif
is a Downeast Cider House
Original Blend, made
from Red Deli-
cious, McIntosh,
Cortland and Gala
apples. Based in
Boston, Downeast
strikes a balance
between
super
sweet and bone dry
and is “a good sipper
by itself,” says Pucci.
For the main
course, look for
something
with
body and richness to
match the intensity
of the various dishes.
Possibilities
include
Vermont’s Eden Spar-
kling Dry Cider, made
with traditional heir-
loom apples and cider
varieties. Half of the blend
is Kingston Black, a British cider
variety. Eden Sparkling Dry is 8.5
percent alcohol by volume and has
an in-bottle secondary fermentation
similar to Champagne.
Another choice is Dragon Head
Kingston Black, which comes from
apple-rich Washington state, home
to a thriving cider industry.
For a mainstream, easy-to-¿ nd
pick you could try Strongbow Gold
Apple from the United Kingdom.
The website has a handy page
where you can enter your ZIP code
to get the closest store.
The roast
Roasting temperatures vary
widely by recipe. Some go at a slow
and steady 325 F. Others crank the
heat to 400 F or 425 F for the ¿ rst
hour, then drop it down for the rest
of the time.
However you roast, use an
instant thermometer inserted at the
innermost part of the thigh (without
touching bone) to determine when
your turkey is done. The meat
needs to hit 165 F for safe eating,
though some people say thigh meat
tastes better at 170 F.
If the outside of the bird gets too
dark before the center reaches the
proper temperature, cover it with
foil.
The following roasting time
estimates are based on a stuffed
turkey cooked at 325 F. Reduce
cooking time by 20 to 40 minutes
for turkeys that are not stuffed
(estimate total roasting times at 15
minutes per pound for unstuffed
birds). And remember, a crowded
oven cooks more slowly, so plan
ahead if your bird needs to share
the space.
Using a convection oven? They
are great at browning, but require
heating or timing adjustments.
Either cut the temperature by about
25 F from what is called for by
the recipe and cook for the time
directed, or roast at the suggested
temperature, but reduce the cooking
time by about 25 percent.
The following times are for a
standard oven:
• 12-lb turkey: 3 to 4 hours at
325 F
• 15-lb turkey: 4 to 4 1/2 hours
at 325 F
• 18-lb turkey: 4 1/2 to 5 hours
at 325 F
• 20-lb turkey: 5 to 6 hours at
325 F
The baste
Basting the bird with its juices
helps crisp the skin and À avor the
meat. Do it every 30 minutes, but
no more. Opening the oven door
too frequently lets heat escape and
can signi¿ cantly slow the cooking.
The rest
The leftovers
For food safety reasons,
leftovers should be cleared from
the table and refrigerated within
two hours of being served. Once
refrigerated, they should be
consumed within three to four
days. Leftovers can be frozen for
three to four months. Though safe
to consume after four months, they
will start to taste off.
Coral, exotic wildlife on Australia’s coast
By WILSON RING
Associated Press
CAIRNS, Australia — It can be
hard to hear an Australian accent
while walking along the waterfront
esplanade in the far northern city of
Cairns on the Paci¿ c.
Tourists from across the globe
À ock to Cairns (pronounced Kanz)
for easy access to the Great Barrier
Reef and some of the world’s most
spectacular scuba diving, with
plenty of less-crowded but pictur-
esque beach towns nearby.
I went to Australia with my
wife after my daughter ¿ nished
a semester abroad on the Cairns
campus of James Cook University.
I knew about the Great Barrier
Reef but quickly learned that
Queensland, the state that covers
the northeast of Australia, is a lot
more than beaches, scuba diving
and quaint waterfront restaurants.
Great Barrier Reef
Boats chug out of the Cairns
harbor carrying scuba divers and
snorkelers to the reefs, about 20
miles offshore. Many boats carry
visitors out to the reef and back
the same day, but we spent two
nights and three days on the Reef
Encounter, a 100-foot catamaran.
The vessel usually stays on the
reef, moving between dive spots,
with tourists, supplies and the crew
arriving and departing on daily
shuttles.
Many of the crew members on
the boats are from other countries,
taking advantage of an Australian
labor shortage that led to a special
temporary work visa program.
The ¿ rst day we were on the
boat, 9,500 miles from our Vermont
home, we met two recent graduates
of the University of Vermont, both
of whom had set out to travel the
Paci¿ c separately and decided to
meet in Cairns to go diving. They
both ended up working there.
In most places the reef is
shallow enough to be enjoyed while
snorkeling, but the crew can offer
on-the-spot training to uncerti¿ ed
AP Photo/Wilson Ring
In this June 25 photo, scuba divers prepare to dive to the Great
Barrier Reef, in Australia.
divers and then accompany them
on shallow dives.
Daintree National Park
& Inland Queensland
It should be obvious to anyone
who looks at a map, but traveling
in Australia adds the exclamation
point to the reality that the country
is huge. The land mass is about the
equivalent size of the continental
United States with a population of
about 24 million, about 2,500 miles
from the east to west coasts and
2,290 miles from its most northerly
to its most southerly points.
I was fascinated by the À ora
and fauna, not to mention the ever-
present signs on the Queensland
beaches warning about crocodiles
or marine stingers, a term that
describes a variety of venomous
jelly¿ sh. There were ever-present
bottles of vinegar left at many
beaches to counteract the sting
along with instructions to seek
medical attention.
Then there are the endanhbirds
related to the emu, with brilliantly
colored blue necks, heads with red
wattles and black bodies. They are
known for their unpredictability
and their ability to eviscerate
threats, thanks to their razor-sharp,
three-toed claws.
To the north of Cairns is the
Daintree National Park, some
say the oldest rainforest — at 250
million years — in the world. Keep
going and you hit an area called
the Far North, ending at Cape
York, the northernmost point of the
Australian mainland and just over
90 miles from Papua New Guinea.
The area is sparsely populated but
it is popular with tourists, who ¿ ll
the roads with campervans — what
Americans call RVs.
“There are options for accom-
modation but usually people will
camp and 4WD camper trailers are
all the rage this year,” said Marion
Esser, who runs the Cow Bay
Homestay, a bed and breakfast at
the edge of the Daintree Rainforest.
“Then most people would be ¿ shing
on the way, lots of rivers and coast
on either side of the peninsula.”
It was by the side of a road
in park that we happened upon a
cassowary. It was one of an esti-
mated 4,400 of the protected bird
left in what is known as the “wet
tropics,” a 2.2 million-acre area of
coastal northern Queensland.
Away from the coast, there
are also wallabies, small cuddly
cousins of the kangaroo. At the
Granite Gorge Nature Park outside
the town of Mareeba, about an hour
west of Cairns, wallabies will sit on
your lap while you feed them.