Recipes

1) Feeding a lot of people? Sweetwater Spice Co. recommends cooking separate breasts and legs / thighs. I find that most ovens can house two 7-9 lb breasts but only one whole turkey and family feuds over sparse dark meat is a thing of the past when one can roast 8-10 on a single rack of the oven. In addition to the increase in usable meat, prep and cooking time for a breast is significantly less than for a whole bird.

2) One of the keys to Peking Duck is that it is air dried to help produce a crisp skin and a similar approach can be taken with turkey. Try air drying your turkey on a roasting rack in the fridge for 2-4 hrs before cooking.

3) Strain the brine after you remove the meat. Mix the spices and herbs you catch with oil, bacon fat, or butter, and rub under the skin of the bird. This can also be applied on the outside of the skin, but it is not as effective.

4) When roasting whole turkey, Sweetwater Spice Co. recommends starting breast side down, turning only for the last hour of cooking in order to brown the skin.

5) When smoking turkey, don't go low and slow. There is no connective tissue to break down in your turkey so treat your smoker like an oven and use oven timing - 350 degrees for 17-20 min per lb.

6) When carving your turkey, remove the breast meat from the body, then slice it. Simply trace the knife along each side of the breastplate and allow the ribs to guide the knife as it meets the wing joint. This produces one solid cut of meat that can be handled quickly, easily, and effortlessly.

2 oz Light Rum
1/2 Fresh Orange
2 Sprigs Fresh Sage
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 Tablespoon Simple Syrup
Brandied Cherry (garnish)
Soda Water

Muddle Orange, Sage, and Rum together - add ice and Top with Soda Water, lime juice, syrup and garnish with Brandied Cherry.

Goes amazingly well with roasted poultry and as an aperitif it stimulates the palate. Beware, start with one of these and tryptophan will be the least of your worries.

2 oz Gin (Recommend G'Vine Nouaison)
1 oz Cranberry Juice
1/2 Tablespoon (1/4 oz) Rosemary Syrup
Ice
Brut or Dry Sparkling Wine

Combine Gin, Cranberry Juice, and Syrup with ice in a shaker - shake vigorously then strain into glass.

Top off with Champagne garnish with lemon peel.

Rosemary Simple Syrup

1 Cup Water
1 Cup White Sugar
4 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary

Mix all ingredients together over medium high heat - bring to boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and let cool.

Once cool, strain and it is ready to use.

1.5 oz Herradura Silver Tequila
1 oz Unsweetened Cranberry Juice
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1 oz Fresh Orange Juice
1/2 Tablespoon (1/4 oz) Cranberry Spice Syrup (Recipe Below)
Ice

I like these shaken and served Up but they are delicious on the rocks as well.

Cranberry Spice Syrup

1 Cup Water
1 Cup Demerara or Turbinado Sugar
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Dried Cranberries
1/4 Cup Whole Star Anise
1 Teaspoon Whole Clove
1 Cinnamon Stick

Reconstitute 1/2 Cup of Unsweetened Dried Cranberries in 1 Cup of Water (1-3 hrs). Currants are a good substitute.

Heat a stainless steel or other non-reactive pot to Med-High.

Toast 1/4 Cup Whole Stan Anise, 1 Teaspoon of Whole Clove, and 1 Cinnamon stick in the dry pan for 1 minute. Stir to keep from scorching.

After 1 minute add the cranberries and water, then the sugar. Heat just until boiling - stirring constantly - and remove from heat as soon as it begins to boil and let cool.

This is ready once cooled and strained but gets better if it can sit in the fridge for 3 days.

Take your favorite stuffing recipe and fill cornhusks as you would tamales - filling with butternut squash, cranberry chutney, smoked turkey, cheese and broccoli, or whatever else comes to mind. This is an elegant and fun way to make individual servings of stuffing for an intimate group.

I roast mine at 425 for 45 minutes on a baking sheet - these can also be grilled (make sure the husks are sufficiently wet to start)!

This dish is a festive way to showcase your stuffing - served inside a roasted pumpkin!

Simply de-seed and roast a pumpkin for 35 minutes at 350 degrees, then stuff with your favorite stuffing and bake until the stuffing is finished.

Here's a stuffing recipe that is always a hit at the Sweetwater Spice Co. Thanksgiving table.

2 links of Mexican chorizo, meat removed from casing.
1 8 oz jar of oysters
3 cups of chicken stock
1 juice of an orange (approx 1/2 cup)
3 stalk of celery + leaves - diced
1/4 cup chopped italian parsley
1 carrot diced
1 sweet onion diced
1 stick of butter
1 3 day old cornbread
3 jalapenos diced (de-seed if worried about spice, don't if you don't)
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of sage
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the chorizo meat in a dutch oven or other high sided, oven safe pot. Once the meat is brown

Add diced carrots, onions, and celery stalk along with 1/4 stick of butter - cook until the onions begin to caramelize.

Add crumbled / cubed cornbread, jalapenos, and herbs (sans parsley) to mix, stirring well.

Pour in chicken stock and orange juice, oysters, and parsley. Make sure all of the bread is sufficiently soaked with stock.

Place in oven or move to baking dish (roasted pumpkin) , top with remaining butter, and bake at 350 until the top is brown.

Guacamole is a great bbq compliment but Avocados are expensive and an incomplete source of nutrition. At the Sweetwater Spice Co. Test Kitchen we've found a way to maintain the great buttery taste of avocados while making the dish go further for less money and provide better nutrients - the key is zucchini or summer squash.

Start by peeling your zucchini as the skin can taste bitter. Once peeled, dice into 1/4" and saute in some olive oil with a pinch of salt and cook until the zucchini cubes are tender.

Once cooled, add these to your guacamole at a 1:1 ratio with your avocado.

We like lime juice, cilantro, salt, white pepper, green onions (only the green part), garlic, and thai bird chilies to round out our guac.

We also recommend using some unripe avocados mixed in with ripe ones - the unripe lend a nutty flavor and great texture to the dip.

The zucchini adds dietary fiber, protein, Vitamins A, C, B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Copper, Maganese, Thiamin, Niacin, and Pantothenic Acid to the mix.

RECIPE

4 Ripe Avocados

2 Unripe Avocados

5 Zucchini (peeled)

2 Limes (juiced) - add to taste

3-4 thai bird chilies (adjust to heat preference)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper (ground)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (mix Italian Parsley and Basil if you have a Cilantro aversion)

Chopped greens from 3 green/spring onions

1 clove garlic (minced)

Ingredients: 5 chicken backs, 3 Chicken legs, 5 carrots, 3 Vidalia or other sweet onion, 3 Ancho chilies, 1 bunch celery, 1 head of garlic, 1 can Tecate beer, 2 T olive oil, 1 T whole coriander seed, 1 T Mexican Oregano, 1 T orange peel, 1 t whole cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, salt and pepper. Lime and Cilantro to garnish.

Dice onions and saute in large soup pot in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Once the onions begin become translucent and begin to caramelize, add 1 can Tecate and let reduce.

While the liquid reduces in the soup pot season the chicken legs and backs with salt and pepper. Saute the legs and backs in an oven safe skillet until the skin begins to brown. Remove the chicken from the pan once browned on all sides.

Chop the carrots and celery and place in hot skillet along with chicken fat and season with salt and pepper. Place the browned chicken on top of the veggies and place skillet in a 350 degree oven.

Once the beer in the soup pot has evaporated, add 1 Qt water and 3 Ancho chilies (de-stemmed and de-seeded). Let this reduce all the way as the chilies reconstitute in the liquid.

After 30 minutes remove the chicken from the oven and add to soup pot along with Garlic (peeled), coriander seed, orange peel, cinnamon stick and cloves and 4 Quarts of water.

Return the veggies to the oven to finish roasting in the chicken drippings for 45 minutes, then add to the soup pot. Let simmer for 4-5 hrs then strain.

Reduce liquid by 1/2 - looking to yield 6-8 cups of soup. Garnish with cilantro and lime juice.

2 Granny Smith Apples
1/2 Cup Dried Apricots (no sugar added)
1/4 Cup Dried Cherries (no sugar added)
2 cups Muscat wine
1/2 cup Raw Cashews
1/2 cup Raw Pistachios (shelled)
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground green cardamom
1/4 t allspice
1/4 t ground clove

Dice the Apricots and place in Muscat wine, along with cherries. Let the dried fruit reconstitute for while you prep the remainder of the recipe (15-20 min).

Lightly toast the cashews and pistachios - be careful not to burn.

Peel and dice the Apples.

Place reconstituted dried fruits, apple, toasted nuts, spices, and 1/4 cup of the left over wine into food processor and pulse (do not puree).

Add additional spices and wine as necessary for taste and desired texture.

The flavors in this recipe will meld together over time if it is allowed to sit in the fridge prior to serving.

While this makes amazing fajitas out of skirt steak or flank in just one hour, it's impact on grilled rack of lamb is out of this world.

Simply score the fat of the rack then soak for 1 hr in Lime Jalapeno Fajita Bath before grilling off.

The result is buttery, sweet lamb flavor with less gaminess due to the brining.