Category Archives: Food & Recipes

Reynolds Cooking Bag Times

During the holiday season, a frequently asked question is, “How long to cook a turkey?” The answer is, of course, it depends. Are you using a regular roaster and a traditional approach, or the Reynolds oven bags alternative?

This past Christmas we ate from a spectacularly moist and flavorful bird.

In large part, this was due to the culinary skills of my Aunt Joan. It was also a result of Aunt Joan’s fabulous turkey-roasting secret weapon:

Reynolds Oven Bags

My Aunt Joan has been using a Reynolds cooking bags for years, but I always forget about them from one year to the next until I bite into one of their spectacular feasts.

In addition to the flavor intensifying and texture enhancing qualities oven bags will bring to your meals, they not only make clean up (both roaster and oven!) a breeze but also significantly speed cooking time and attention. Wondering how long to cook turkey?* This bag serves as a kind of pressure cooker and can cut your cooking time almost in half compared to traditional preparation. Plus, there’s no more leaving your guests or bailing on the Christmas afternoon walk to babysit/baste the bird, which Cook’s Illustrated actively recommends against, anyway.

No matter which direction you go, Cook’s has the following tips I found helpful:

To thaw a frozen turkey, calculate ONE DAY of fridge time for every 4 pounds of turkey. Messed up on the advanced planning? Fill a large bucket with cold water and plunk the still-wrapped bird in and let thaw for 30 minutes per pound, changing the cold water every 30 minutes to avoid accidentally inviting nasty bacteria to your holiday feast.
After resting the bird for 20 minutes to give the juices time to redistribute through the meat, carve in the kitchen: it’s a messy business! Using a good chef’s knife on a large cutting board and have some kitchen towels on hand.

Grab the leg bones and pull away from the bird, slicing through the skin between the leg and the breast. This will allow you to find the thigh joint to cut off the leg quarter and work the knife through. For each leg, separate the thigh and drumstick at the joint which you can find with your finger. Remove the largest pieces of meat from the thigh and slice across the grain, about 1/4 inch thick.
Return to the body and pull the wings away from the body, again finding the joint with your fingers and working the knife through the joint.
Remove the entire breast all at once, and slice the meat cross-wise and on the bias. Keep the skin in place so that each slice comes with a bit of skin. Assemble the pieces on a pretty platter, and call yourself “Martha!”

Reynolds Oven Bags Cooking Time Chart

Per Reynolds’ instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Shake 1 Tbsp. flour inside oven bag. Brush turkey with vegetable oil or butter. Season as desired. close bag and cut six 1/2-inch slits in top of the bag; see directions on back for more details. Bake according to chart.

Note: when taking the temperature of the turkey, insert the thermometer right through the bag rather than opening it to avoid being burned by the steam.

	Large Size		Additional Instructions
Turkey	Total Weight	Time	Add Flour	Add Water to Oven Bag	Meat Thermometer Temperature
Turkey Breast, bone-in	4-8 lb	1-1/4 to 2 hr	1 Tbsp	None	170°F
Turkey Breast, boneless	2-1/2 to 3 lb 3-5 lb	1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hr 1-3/4 to 2-1/4 hr	1 Tbsp 1 Tbsp	None None	170°F 170°F
Turkey Drumsticks	1-1/2 to 3 lb	1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hr	1 Tbsp	1/2 cup	170°F

Whole Turkey, Unstuffed

Place turkey in bag breast-side up and cook in a shallow roasting pan. Approximate roasting times are for fully thawed, unstuffed turkey. Always check final temperature of cooked bird with an instant read thermometer.


Turkey	Total Weight	Time	Add Flour	Add Water to Oven Bag	Meat Thermometer Temperature
Whole Turkey, Unstuffed	8 – 12 lbs	1.5 to 2 hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F
Whole Turkey, Unstuffed	12 – 16 lbs	2 to 2.5 hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F
Whole Turkey, Unstuffed	16 – 20 lbs	2.5 to 3 hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F
Whole Turkey, Unstuffed	20 – 24 lbs	3 to 3.5 hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F

Whole Turkey, Stuffed

Place turkey in bag breast-side up and cook in a shallow roasting pan. Approximate roasting times are for fully thawed, stuffed turkey. Always check final temperature of cooked bird (and stuffing) with an instant read thermometer.


Turkey	Total Weight	Time	Add Flour	Add Water to Oven Bag	Meat Thermometer Temperature
Whole Turkey, Stuffed	8 – 12 lbs	2 to 2.5+ hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F
Whole Turkey, Stuffed	12 – 16 lbs	2.5 to 3+ hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F
Whole Turkey, Stuffed	16 – 20 lbs	3 to 3.5+ hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F
Whole Turkey, Stuffed	20 – 24 lbs	3.5 to 4+ hours	1 Tbsp	None	170°F

Reynolds also makes oven bags for slow cookers (as in “crock pots,” not as in “chefs who take their time”), banishing forever the need to scratch away at the baked-on carbon crusted to the edges of the cooker. (Here’s a great review (she says humbly) of Cook’s recommendations for slow cookers and crock pots.)

You know, as I thought about these things more, I did a little dig through my “third drawer down” and have come up with a couple of startling Reynolds-related insights:

1) We own a LOT of Reynolds products, including the Hefty bags that cart the turkey bones out to the trash cans. How can so many products from one manufacturer end up in my kitchen without me consciously acknowledging that I’m a fan? I’m either a super inattentive shopper or Reynolds employs some super efficient branding gurus. I’m going with the latter.

2) Until I started thinking about turkey oven bags, I had always mentally associated Reynolds with aluminum foil. It turns out there is a good reason for this:

The creation of both the Reynolds^® and Hefty^® brands is the direct result of American ingenuity mixed with a bit of elbow grease. Reynolds Wrap Foil was invented after aluminum was no longer needed for military use; and became a new staple for American kitchens. Hefty^® waste bags were first developed with excess material from an early plastics innovator, creating another household essential.
(Source: http://reynoldsconsumerproducts.com/pages/About.aspx)

3) I had also always thought of parchment paper, muffin cups, and wax paper as devices to keep food from sticking, as in “good for the food.”

On closer examination of the product marketing, I realize I was missing the big “aha!”: Reynolds baking products are actually pre-emptive cleaning supplies!

*In case you were actually wondering, “How long do I cook a turkey the normal way?” I don’t want to leave you hanging.

Cook’s Illustrated “Highly Recommended” Winner:
Calphalon Roaster with V Rack

Experts agree that you should remove the turkey from the oven when an instant-read thermometer measures 165 in the deepest part of the breast meat, and yes, you really, really do need to let the turkey rest for 30 minutes out of the oven before carving to give the meat time to reabsorb the juices.

You do have a good all-purpose thermometer, right? No? Okay, then… here’s a “by the clock” table for an unstuffed bird. For a stuffed bird, you’ll need to add half an hour, at least, to the total cooking time listed here.

6 to 8 pounds	2-1/2 to 3 hours
8 to 12 pounds	3 to 4 hours
12 to 16 pounds	4 to 5 hours
16 to 20 pounds	5 to 5-1/2 hours
20 to 24 pounds	5-1/2 to 6 hours

But seriously… get a thermometer like this inexpensive option recommended by Cook’s Illustrated. This isn’t the last turkey you’re going to cook, right?

ThermoPro TP03A Digital Thermometer

Finally, per the turkey cooking tip from Dennis Myers in the comments section below, here’s where to buy the Fiesta Fajita Seasoning he recommends:

Fiesta Fajita Seasoning

Happy Cooking!

More Kitchen Recommendations

Irish Coffee

It was purely for medicinal purposes, you understand, to take the chill off.

Last weekend the four of us (three usual suspects plus Rick’s dad, Stu) were out for a nippy walk in a wind that was so brisk, it was blowing some people’s ears into a furry froth around their head.

Others in our party had neglected to fully reel in the concept of “yes, it’s really winter” before setting out and had grabbed the nearest lid at hand, a leather rancher’s hat. His ears, lacking any substantial degree of fur, quickly registered a solid seven on the ouch-o-meter.

However, with a mid-walk donation of a micro-fibre fleece scarf, we improvised…

… and with a little help from his friends, Rick winterized his giddy up.

(For more cutting-edge haute couture ideas, please visit “Men’s Hats Gone Bad.”)

The trick is a firm hand with the turban knotting at the back. The fringe of beautiful curly silver hair was an unexpected bonus, although later on he had an interesting case of hat hair.

By the time we headed homewards,the wind was at our back (good), the sun was down (bad), and it got darn chilly, dang quick.

What a treat to step back into a cozy home with a beautifully lit Christmas tree, work on a Christmas-themed [easyazon-link asin=”B003CYKYFW” locale=”us”]1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle[/easyazon-link], (half done at that point), and the snap and crackle of a glowing wood stove.

If there ever was a time to bust out some perfect Irish coffee mugs and fill ’em up, it was then.

We didn’t let the fact that we don’t have Irish coffee mugs stop us. We’re “make do” kind of folk around here (see “winterized giddy up” above).

It turns out that [easyazon-link asin=”B0000B1Y4F” locale=”us”]exquisite Waterford crystal goblets[/easyazon-link], in this case having been handed down from one generation to another, work even better.

Beautiful crystal + hot, robust coffee + smooth Irish whiskey + a little brown sugar + and cool and creamy fresh whipped cream after a brisk late afternoon winter walk = one glorious seasonal happy bomb.

Merry Christmas!

Irish Coffee

4 ounces freshly brewed coffee
1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey (we used Jameson’s, naturally)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Dollop of freshly whipped cream

[easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”B003CYKYFW” locale=”us” height=”362″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61bsN4f%2B%2B%2BL.jpg” width=”500″]

Ordinary Things

The main thing, of course, is the pie.However, I ended up with too much pumpkin pie filling.
Not to be wasteful, I used the leftover pastry to make individual serving pumpkin tarts, which appeals to the isolationists among us as being more elegant than a slice of the communal pie.

Each tart represents its own attempt at a Martha Stewart-worthy casually perfect work of art.

But when you’re the leftover pastry cuttings, what glory is in that?

None, except the dependable, traditional, ordinary predictability that you will get lovingly scooped up and gently, gently coaxed one last time into a rectangle, sprinkled with a modest covering of brown sugar and dusting of cinnamon, log rolled, sliced, set on edge on a bare cookie sheet, and nestled in the oven with the Big Guys (pie and tarts) until lightly browned with the smell of caramelizing brown sugar and cinnamon filling our kitchen with the scent of “home.”

Doo-Dads.

No matter the pie-worthy occasion, Doo-Dads will be there: consistently ordinary culinary cast-offs in the rough-and-tumble of kitchen life.

Pastry scraps with a bit of sugar and cinnamon morph magically into “Remember this? Where this is, you belong.”

We’re thankful for all the ordinary things that remind us we belong everywhere we do.

Cooks Illustrated Kitchen Tools and Equipment List: Kitchen Gadgets and Handy Tools, Part 2

It’s well known by now that we at r’n’k.com are Big Fans of the list of recommendations found in the back of Cook’s Illustrated The Science of Good Cooking.

See it cozied up there next to its buddies, Perfect Vegetables, Baking Illustrated, and The Best International Recipe?

(The other “Illustrators” books on the right are part of Rick’s art book collection. Didn’t plan it that way: the Cook’s volumes just fit better on that shelf than on our other THREE full shelves of cookbooks.)

What can we say?

We love learning to cook new dishes, and we love high-quality tools to do it with.

The thing is, not every gadget one comes across in kitchen stores is essential. In fact, you can easily–and quickly–fill a kitchen to overflowing with culinary chotchkies. If you want to separate an egg, you don’t need a gadget. You just need to learn how to separate an egg.

However, some tools ARE necessary, and Cook’s does a great job of sifting the real wheat from the chapstick. Thus we pick up here from where we left off, “Kitchen Gadgets and Handy Tools, Part One.”

RSVP Precision Pierced Stainless-Steel 5-Quart Colander

I will admit to being a little confused by Cook’s “best colander” recommendation. Know what I think when I read that? I chuckle at the ludicrousness of marketing a simple–albeit best-of-breed–kitchen colander as being both “precise” and “pierced.”

First of all, what’s so precise about it? I’ve never seen a colander that has industrial-grade measurement markings, nor have I ever thought I needed one. And if it actually held up to 5.5 quarts, or only 4.5 for that matter, who cares? We run a laissez-faire kinda kitchen around here.

Secondly, isn’t a colander supposed to be pierced?! How is that a marketable feature, worthy of being included in the nomenclature?! Without the piercings, you’d just have a really expensive metal bowl.

If the marketeers of said undoubtably fabulous colander had paid attention in school, they would have known and embraced the “when needed for clarity, hyphenate a compound adjective before the noun” rule.

This would have allowed me to focus instead on the stability provided by the metal ring on the bottom and the many small, precise piercings (aka “holes”) that allow for quick draining without losing your linguini down the sink.

CIA Masters Collection 6^3/4-inch Fine-Mesh Strainer

See? How hard was it to hyphenate those compound adjectives?

Except this one confused me a wee bit as well. What does the Central Intelligence Agency have to do with kitchen strainers?

Wait… I don’t want to know.

Ha ha. Rick just explained: “Culinary Institute of America.”

Never mind.

WMF Profi Plus 11-1/4-Inch Stainless Steel Potato Masher

Don’t even get me started on what my brain just did with “WMF.”

It’s a good potato masher. Buy one if you need one. That is all.

OXO Good Grips Salad Spinner

Firm hugs and kisses from your salad spinner? Okay, I’m outta here.

And I’m happy to say that we got to the end of this “handy kitchen gadgets” list without mentioning “best” egg separators, popcorn machines, or panini makers.

Me: What’s the most useless kitchen gadget you know that people actually buy?

Rick: Panini maker.

Me: Haha. Yes. Egg separator, panini maker… I need one more. What else?

Rick: I dunno. Just a minute… Where’s that Chef’s catalogue that came in the mail today? It’ll be full of them… Oh wait… I just found something we actually do need.

Does anyone else think this is funny?

More Kitchen Recommendations

Cooks Illustrated Kitchen Tools and Equipment List: Gadgets and Handy Tools, Part One

The Christmas Mathias was 13 (now 28), when asked what he would like with his name on it under the tree, he said he wanted either a cat, a gadget, or a laptop.

That Christmas he became the proud Chief of Staff of a laptop cat named “Gadget.”

However, other than her daily habit of rubbing those glossy saucy haunches up against every surface at kitty level in a blatant ownership move (“See this bakeware cabinet? Mine. That fridge? Mine.”), this particular Gadget hasn’t proved to be notably handy in the kitchen.

So, in addition to sharing her sweet mug with you, we thought another Cook’s Illustrated “best of” list from their fabulous book, The Science of Good Cooking might be more helpful for those starting to think of their own Christmas lists, or for anyone who may have recently punctuated a vigorous opinion by accidentally shattering their favorite wooden spoon on the tiled counter for emphasis.

Whoops! (Not me, obviously. At least, not recently.)

OXO Good Grips 12-Inch Stainless-Steel Locking Tongs

Tongs: the go-to gadget for bacon lovers everywhere. The key factors? Scalloped-edged slightly concave pincers, be able to open and close easily, be long enough to keep delicate fingies out of hot oily spots, and lock closed for convenient storage.

‘Nuff said. OXO delivers again.

Bamboo Wood Cooking Spoon

After reading the Cook’s write up—who knew there was so much to say about a wooden spoon?—and the glowing reviews on Amazon about how stain resistant, comfortable (apparently a squared-off handle is WAY more comfie in your hand than Grandma’s traditional round one) sturdy, smooth, and well-designed this puppy is, I realized how shockingly ill equipped our kitchen is in the wooden spoon department.

J.K. Adams 19-Inch-by-2-Inch Maple Wood Rolling Dowel

Okay, so here’s a new spin on a time-honored kitchen must-have for those hearty souls still left in the pie game. Gone are the days of the pedestrian pin, says Cook’s Illustrated. Any dough boy worth his weight in his Emile Henry pie dish now uses a rolling “dowel.”

Essentially, a dowel is a pin without the handles. In truth, I’m not sure exactly what advantage this buys you in the pie-making department, but as the owner of one of said maple dowels, I can tell you that it works beautifully on delicate dough, especially when combined with a lightly-floured Roul’pat Countertop Roll Mat.

Bonus usage of a rolling dowel? it’s a comfort to have on hand in my “What happens if a burglar breaks in when Rick’s not home?” fantasy. I’ll just keep it under the bed, and at the first inkling of a midnight intruder, I’ll hand it to Winston, who will relentlessly pester the poor bastard to play fetch until he runs screaming down the driveway into the night, never to be seen again.

Kool-Tek Nomex Conventional Temperature Protection Oven Mitt

You just have to love a “best of” kitchen gadget described as “machine washable,” “form-fitting and not overly bulky for easy maneuvering,” “flexible,” and “heat-resistant.”

Oh, my! I’d give my best wooden spoon for lingerie that lived up to such claims.

And at a list price of roughly $45 PER MITT, (actual price around $30), it seems that the “black box” pricing rationale between the two markets is remarkably similar.

However, Cook’s Illustrated may have recognized that for most of us, this price point spikes the needle, so they have graciously offered a “best buy” option at under $15:

OrkaPlus Silicone Oven Mitt with Cotton Lining

You must believe me that I didn’t see the lingerie/silicone connection coming before it was too late, and now it’s time to move along, people, to ladles.

Rösle 10008 Ladle with Pouring Rim

We here at rickandkathy.com are HUGE fans of good industrial design, especially those involving spouts and hot or sticky liquids.

And we don’t yet own a Rosle Ladle with Pouring Rim. As it currently scores an Amazoning full 5-star rating with 29 raving reviews, some would say this is an error in judgement.

Instead, we’re dribbling along with a robust ancient thing, with appropriately long handle and broad and deep enough spoon but whose pouring spot was designed by Picasso: it’s more art than science.

It’s too solid and familiar to throw out now, I’m afraid, and we’ve reached a detente of sorts over the years where I agree to not expect a clean pour and it quietly concurs.

Some utensils just become fixtures in that sweet entity known as “my kitchen,” and it wouldn’t be the same without them.

Want more? Check out “Cook’s Illustrated: Best Kitchen Gadgets and Handy Tools, Part Two”

More Kitchen Recommendations

Autumn Leaves, Winter Enters

We don’t normally associate “autumn” with “neon,” but I think that’s just because we normally don’t.

This is an error.

I see paintings for Rick to implement everywhere I look. This is way easier for me than it is for Rick, but I like to think I’m helping.

And in that perennial fit of wild autumn optimism that winter hat season will eventually give way to flirty summer sandal season, all manner of fall flora go to seed like friggin’ dandilions.

I am one with nature.

Clearly.

The only bugs left to feed the birds come armor-coated in sturdy fall haute couture.

Is it just me, or do photos of grasshoppers make anyone else think of chicken wings? I’m not saying I’m ready to pull out the Frank’s Hot Sauce and blue cheese dip or anything, but…

In Teton Valley, autumn leaves as winter enters.

Literally.

You can watch the snow roll down into the south end of our Valley in a not-so-subtle elbow jab for the aspens to hurry up and shake their colorful booties, already.

The best part of three hours of hard yard work in the brisk autumn air and dappled sunshine is the thought of it.

The actuality of it? Well, nothing that a bit of ibuprofen and the number of a good pizza delivery service won’t cure.

It’s all good. The advent of winter means the opening of the season of snow-muffled peace, romantic blazing fires, candle-lit dinners with good friends around steaming bowls of hearty fare and warm bread, and the ability to focus on indoor creative pursuits…

… like french door nose art, for example.

Winston has big plans for his 2013-2014 winter gallery season, with a renewed enthusiasm for the simple yet dramatic vertical expression that represents the “classic” of the genre.

Prints soon to be available on fineartamerica.com (really).

Breakfast Pizza

Who wouldn’t be thankful for the blamazing colors of autumn, the opportunity to celebrate TWO Thanksgivings, and pizza?

Blamazing autumn colors?

Check.

Hearts that beat in rhythms of gratitude with soporified Canadian family and friends groaning over pumpkin and/or apple pie?

Check.

Leftover raw spelt pizza dough in the fridge from last night, no bread in the house for breakfast, and the desire to make a celebration-worthy breakfast for Rick?

Check.

A new rickandkathy.com favorite celebration breakfast tradition is born: a DEE-licious, unfussy, and finger food friendly breakfast offering for mornings when the house is full and the cook wants to play outside of the kitchen, too.

(I had no idea how table-banging tasty and share-worthy this was going to be until we had scarfed down fully half of it. Otherwise, I would have taken more photos in the making thereof. Sorry.)

Here’s the easy-peasie part:

Place pizza stone ([easyazon-link asin=”B004ZLY3US” locale=”us”]you do have a pizza stone, right?[/easyazon-link]) in the oven and set oven to 475 degrees.

Get your pizza dough base of choice (leftover raw spelt dough from last night/pre-made Boboli/gluten-free delight/weirdo Pillsbury biscuit waddever) spread out on a piece of parchment paper, prick enthusiastically with a fork, and dress with a light coating of olive oil. When the oven reaches temp, pop ‘er in for about 7 minutes or so, until it’s lightly browned.

Meanwhile, whisk together 6 eggs and about 2 tablespoons of luke-warm water, 1/2 tsp salt, a good shake of black pepper, 2 tsp. of oregano and 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes. Cook in a sauté pan like you’re making scrambled eggs, which, technically, you are at this point.

Spread the scrambled eggage over the browned crust, and cover the whole schmidteroo with a blend of cheddar, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese. Return to the oven until the cheese is all melty and photogenic, or about another 7 minutes.

Serve with orange juice, extra pepper flakes on hand for the masochistic among you, and love.

Winston was very excited about breakfast pizza, too.