Catholic Ragemonkey

You Can Blame Alton Brown...

On Friday's broadcast of Morning Air, I mentioned a few of the things I am putting together for Thanksgiving dinner. Apart from my decretum fartum malum est (Stuffing is Evil), I explained how I brine my turkey before roasting it. Sean immediately said, "That has to go on your blog." Eager to honor that request, I give you the recipes as I got them from Food TV Network, and my cooking guru, Alton Brown.

Fr. Tharp's Thanksgiving Contributions

Roasted Brined Turkey: This turkey is literally the best I have ever made or eaten. It is worth all that prep.

Apple-Cranberry Crisp: Instead of the frozen berries, I am substituting cranberries, 3 Pink Lady apples, and a 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar. I just don't trust that this won't be mouth puckering given cranberry's reputation. Also, I think I will make this as one giant crisp rather than individual servings.
UPDATE: After having taken two runs at this recipe, I think I have the right balance of sweet and tangy. The first one was a bit too sour yet. So if you are making this, substitute frozen berries with one bag (12 oz.) of cranberries (fresh, please), use two apples, and dark brown sugar for plain sugar in the main part of the recipe. Also, add 1/4 cup of honey (again, local or varietal preferred) to up the sweetness ante. The crisp topping remains unchanged. You might let the mixture sit after combining the fruit and such. The juice from the apples may take away some of the bite.

Smashed Sweet Potatoes: I hope I can find chipotle peppers at the Alva Wal-Mart...
UPDATE: Found the peppers and let me tell you, those are the best sweet potatoes ever. The three unsolicited opinions agree.

Sweet Potato Pie: There will be at least four or five of these made as I owe some folks some thank yous. I hope no one has a nut allergy...

While I am on the subject, I have a question for all of the Good Eats fans out there. Does anyone know what ever happened to Rooney? Rooney had some of the great characters on the show like the Mad French Chef and Cousin Ray. It's a pity not to see him anymore. Don't get me wrong: Carl is a great contribution to the show and I will always have a warm spot for W. Rooney just dropped off the radar and didn't know what was up. If anyone can get this note to AB, it would be appreciated.
UPDATE: I found out who Rooney really is and where he's made off to. Rooney, rather Steve Rooney, started out as one of the executive producer and test chefs for Good Eats. Talk about parlaying your successes. I hear now that he is teaching cooking in Atlanta. I'm sorry, but I could concentrate unless he were bereating me as any good french chef should toward the up and coming sous chef.