Episode 35: Our Country is Spatchcocked but there's still Rhinebeck
The process of spatchcocking or removing the spine of a chicken or turkey somehow seems particularly appropriate this Thanksgiving. We love this blog piece from Kim O'Donnel, aka Lulu Pork Chop, "A lesser known, non-culinary definition of spatchcock is to interpolate, which is another way of saying to corrupt, alter or insinuate someone or something into a situation, to sandwich in foreign matter or inject something that just doesn’t belong. Like, for example, the government in my uterus and in yours."
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Bootie has her butcher spatchcock her turkey but Bossy says you can do it yourself. And apparently Martha Stewart thinks so too, as she demonstrates in this YouTube video. Either way, we both agree that it produces a deliciously moist bird with a nice crisp skin and it cooks a lot faster too. Bootie places some mirepoix (about two cups equal portion celery, onions, and carrots small diced) on a jelly roll sheet (on top of a silpat), then puts a drying rack on the mirepoix and the bird on top of that. Bossy recommends putting the bird uncovered in the fridge for a couple of hours to dry out the skin. Bossy puts stuffing at the bottom of the jelly roll and puts the bird on top of that. Bossy has provided us with some process photos here.
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Bossy gave us some great tips!
1. After opening your fresh jar of bay leaves, put the rest in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer. It'll stay much fresher and you won't be complaining about how adding bay leaves never adds any flavor.
2. Save the backbone from your turkey and use it to make bone broth. Bossy likes to freeze her broth in flat containers (2 or 4 cups), then vacuum seal them and label them with the quantity and date.
Rhinebeck Recap
The weather was stunning and so were the celebrities! We met:
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Vincent Williams! He's simply a delightful person that exudes warmth and positivity.
Patty Lyons. Her book of knitting tips and tricks is a must have for every knitters book larder.
In the book signing line we very much enjoyed seeing Sarah Schira of gnoming fame (her book The Gnomes of Grindelwood is excellent), Jamie Lomax of Pacific Knit Co Doodle Decks (love her book for colorwork inspiration), Rosann Fleischauer (her book is Cozy Coastal Knits), and Aimee Gille (again). We also loved seeing GG, Bristol Ivy, and the Grocery Girls. It was joyous! And how adorable are these ladies in their mushroom hats? The pattern is So Mush Room by Ainur Berkimbayeva
Bootie's haul:
Bossy's haul (minus the yarn she bought at Webs for the Eurus sweater:
Bossy was inspired by a sweater she spotted at Rhinebeck: Eurus. It's a cable knit beauty knit from side to side so she will only be stuck on sleeve island once! She's using Valley Yarns Northampton in the color 51 Sage Heather.
In the category of making you feel better about your mistakes, Bootie learned the hard way how to pick colors for the Frame Your Face cowl by Andrea Mowry. She should have listened to Tanis Gray who says to wrap your yarn around your needle like a candy cane to make sure there's enough contrast. Tanis also recommends putting a sticky note directly above the row you're working on so you see where you are in the pattern and you can make sure what you've done looks right. Bootie attended her excellent class on colorwork during a Knit Camp retreat. You can find out more about Knit Camp here. The yarn Bootie is using (and it's lovely yarn) is Manos del Uruguay Marla in Spices (the mostly red) and Turmeric (the yellow).
And speaking of colorwork, Bootie finished her son's Pokemon sweater. And even though she knew better, she put the sweater in the washer on spin only and it felted. Fortunately, just a tad and it's actually an excellent fit so phew! She used Jared Flood's Cobblestone sweater but made the yoke in stockinette instead of garter. She then duplicate stitched the poke balls around the yoke (she did make the outline for them in black using stranded colorwork) and the Pokemon in the center: Rotom. The yarn is Brooklyn Tweed Shelter (Faded Quilt for the main color, Fossil for the white, Cast Iron for the black, Cardinal for the red, and Cadet for the eyes of Rotom), except for the light blue and the orange which glows in the dark! The light blue is The Farm at Krystal Acres Pacarino Sport and the orange is BluFiberCo in Nova UV Reactive.
And whatever you do, don’t knit like my sister!
