Best Thanksgiving Turkey Ever!

Browning of the turkey comes from rubbing the skin with duck fat

Okay, the title might be an exaggeration, but honestly, I just baked the best Thanksgiving Turkey I’ve ever baked. Granted, I’ve never liked turkey very much (it usually tastes like cardboard to me). But, I actually enjoyed this one so much that I couldn't resist picking small morsels off the pan with my fingers and popping them in my mouth. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 14-15 lb turkey (not brined)
• Herbes de Provence, equal parts:
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tbsp dried sage
• 1 tbsp savory
• 1 tbsp marjoram
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp dried rosemary
• 7-8 teaspoons salt (or half a teaspoon of salt for every lb of turkey)
• 1/4 cup duck fat

Instructions:

1. On the day before Thanksgiving, dry rub the turkey with the herbes de Provence mixture and salt. Separate the skin of the turkey from the turkey meat. This helps to render the fat underneath the skin and helps crisp the skin. Mix a portion of the herbes de Provence with the salt so the salt looks well peppered and rub most of it beneath the skin of the turkey. Cover the turkey with Saran Wrap and place in the oven for 24 hours.
2. On Thanksgiving day, adjust the rack in the oven, and preheat to 400 degrees. While the oven is heating, rub the duck fat all over the turkey skin and salt a bit more. If you want, you can fill the cavity of the turkey with celery, and other leftover aromatics, although it is still unclear to me whether this does anything to flavor the turkey.
3. Put the turkey breast side up on a raised grill over a cookie sheet and insert in the 400 degree oven  for 1:15 or until the skin is slightly browned. Place a tent of aluminum foil over the turkey, and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook for another 2 hours.
4. Check the turkey temperature 15 minutes before the timer. Remove the turkey when it is 165 degrees. When I checked the temperature, it was around 190 degrees -maybe my thermometer was not calibrated- surprisingly the meat was not overcooked.
5. Let the turkey rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Observation: what really makes this turkey better than any of the other turkeys I’ve made, I think,  was the dry brining, the herbes de Provence, and the duck fat. The duck fat smelled delectable as the turkey roasted, more so than any other Thanksgiving. Lesson learned: when it is necessary to boost flavor, such as when using naturally flavorless meats like turkey, use duck fat!

A short video of the Thanksgiving meal we made for two people, which for some reason, my husband insists on doing every year, even though we had already spent Thanksgiving at my cousin's house.

Deep Blue Divers Review, Grand Cayman

Deep Blue Divers Boat viewed
from below at Northwest Point,
Grand Cayman

I've been trying to do a summary write up of our Cayman Islands trip. It will take a while, since I have a mountain of photos and video to go through. But in the meantime, here's a review that I wrote on TripAdvisor reviewing Deep Blue Divers, the dive operation we used while in Grand Cayman:

If you like affordable small group diving, valet diving, and if you enjoy a sense of community, than you will love "Deep Blue Divers" operated out of the "Lobster Pot Dive Center" in Georgetown on Grand Cayman. We dove with divemasters Nyall (pronounced Neal) and Alice for 4 days. There were never more than 6 people on any of our dives, and there were usually around only 4 people on the boat at a time.(We never saw any other dive boats or divers when in the water, which, despite the number of tourists in Grand Cayman, especially when the cruise ships are in town, was a treat.) 

Porcupine Fish, Northwest Point, Grand Cayman

The staff of Deep Blue Divers are mostly English and Scottish with an Australian and odd American thrown in. Both Nyall and Alice were great. In addition to picking us up at our hotel every morning, they were meticulously attentive to our comfort, down to adjusting our weights based upon their observations of us underwater. Both Nyall and Alice absolutely spoiled us by helping us don and doff our gear, making it truly "valet diving". Alice even helped hook us up with a Stingray City tour when our hotel tour fell through. It was quite a treat to receive such great service delivered with such a nice English and Scottish accents. Alice even called Mark and myself, "Love", "Lovey", and sometimes "Darling", which was music to my American ears.

Green Moray Eel-Lonestar Ledges, Grand Cayman

Deep Blue Divers also makes you feel like part of their family. My husband bought a new dive computer and accidentally left it in their rinse tank. Deep Blue Divers kept the dive computer and gave it back to us the following day. Additionally, my husband and I accidentally collected someone else's brand new mask and only discovered it when we were well on our way to Little Cayman. Coordinating with Nick, the owner, however, we managed to courier the mask from Little Cayman back to the island. I was impressed with the amount of time and logistics Nick spent to get a single mask back to its owner.

In summary, Deep Blue Divers was quite affordable (they offer multi-day discounts), and the service was top notch. Their boat dock is a quick drive from the main drag of Seven Mile Beach. The only drawbacks that I can think of is that their diving is mainly limited to the West Wall, which I hear is not as good as the diving on the North Wall. Also, you might not like their strict time limits. On air, the deeper profiles justifies the time limits - 0:40 for the first dive, 0:50 for the second dive. However, if you're breathing Nitrox, you might feel a little short changed by the shorter dive times.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Caramelized Plantains

Mark and I just returned from a 2 week dive trip to the Cayman Islands. Whenever possible, we sampled the jerk chicken there. I was inspired by our meals in the Cayman Islands to make my own jerk chicken. Traditionally grilled, I converted this jerk recipe to oven-roasting. I think baking at a lower temperature helps to encourage moister meat, while still being hot enough to crisp the skin. I also modified the recipe so that I could cook the plantains at the same time, capitalizing on the rendered fat from the chicken to coat the plantains underneath. I served the jerk chicken with plantains with a Greek cucumber salad, and rice and beans. I think it turned out pretty well, or at least good enough to write down. Anyways, here is my recipe:


Ingredients
Note: This jerk marinade recipe was doubled for future meals. Do not pour entire jerk sauce over the chicken.

• 6 Leg quarters or thighs with skin on
• 1 bunch of scallions (6-8 scallions)
• 3 tablespoons of fresh thyme
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1-1.5 cups of soy sauce
• 5 Habanero peppers, deveined and deseeded
• 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 2-3 teaspoons of cloves
• 1-2 tablespoons of ground all-spice
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 plantains

Instructions:

1. Separate skin from leg meat. This will help the fat to render and coat the plantains underneath. It will also help the skin to crisp.
2. Blend scallions, thyme, garlic, soy sauce, Habanero peppers, nutmeg, cloves, all-spice, and olive oil in a food processor. Make adjustments to ingredient amounts for taste.
3. Pour 1 cup of the jerk marinade over the chicken meat in a bowl and coat all over. Let soak in refrigerator for 2 hours minimum, turning the meat over every so often.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Cut plantains into 3/4" diagonal slices. Layer the bottom of a lasagna pan with the slices. If the plantain peels are not completely black or ripened before using, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar over the top of the plantains to encourage carmelization. Layer marinated chicken leg quarters over the plantain slices, skin side up.
6. When oven has heated up to the right temperature, place lasagna pan into the oven and bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until the leg meat is cooked to 165 deg F or leaks clear juices when pierced. Remove the chicken from pan and let rest for at least 5 minutes.
7. Pour excess chicken fat out of lasagna pan. I like to save the rendered chicken fat for other recipes. Change oven setting to broil. Place plantain layer underneath broiler and broil for an additional 15 minutes or until caramelized.
8. Once chicken leg quarters have rested, cut drumstick away from thigh meat with a chef's knife and plate. Spoon fresh jerk sauce over the top.

Serving suggestions: Serve jerk chicken with plantains with a cucumber salad and rice and beans.

Mina's customization: I like my jerk marinade on the strong side, so I added a couple more Habanero peppers and a lot more all-spice and cloves than normally recommended. I also added way more scallion and garlic than normally recommended. The end result is that it actually tastes a lot like the jerk chicken served at my favorite Jamaican restaurant in San Jose, Back-A-Yard. Back-A-Yard is still the bench mark for jerk chicken, unfortunately, despite all of the jerk chicken we sampled in the Cayman Islands.