Our turkey came to our humble table from Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, VA. I brined it in a ziploc bag, having boiled 1 1/2 c maple syrup, 1 c kosher salt, 1 c sugar, 3 bay leaves, 8 cloves, 1 t. crushed juniper berries, 1 t cracked pepper, 1 T allspice berries, sprigs of thyme from the windowbox, sprigs of sage, and 8 c. water for 3 minutes and added 8 c ice. A day later we took it out of the bag and brought it to room temperature. At that point Robin bailed to go to Manassas to get F&D off the train and Andrew took over, stuffing it with a meticulously diced mix of Seattle bread, onions, celery, savory, parsley, sage and a few other things and cooking it at 325 for 3 hours, basting with the brine and with vegetable stock. He observed that the skin crisped quite quickly (maybe due to the lack of body fat) and needed moisture to avoid overcooking.) Meanwhile Reeves made a gravy. The reaction at the table was "wow," as in an Andrew Zimmer wow. The sides were Suzanne's cauliflower/yogurt/feta/pomegranate dish and her raw kale salad, which I hope she posts, M's triumphant mac 'n cheese, cranberry/ginger/orange relish, Suzanne's beautiful latticed apple pie, Megan's excellent Pumpkin Praline Pie on a Pedestal, the chocolate turkey from Lexington (bashed by Marcella), and 3 cookie offerings: the cuccidati, chocolate bark with peppermint, and apricot/almond florentines. And a lot of wine. We put someone's Iphone on speakerphone in the middle of the table and called Jody and probably sounded too exuberant. But we missed her.
Made a stock overnight. There was minimal fat in this bird.
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