Tomorrow, we’re doing Thanksgiving for eleven.  Two of the eleven can’t digest milk products, so we’re going dairy-free.  The below catalogues my tips and tricks for making turkey, stuffing, gravy, and mashed potatoes that cut the lactose without sacrificing flavor.  Most of these recipes can be easily adapted for vegan needs (except the turkey, obviously.)  Speaking of which . . .

DAIRY-PROOFING THE TURKEY:

Most recipes for roasted turkey have you rub it down with tons of herbed butter.  This is because herbed butter is awesome.  However, we can’t use it!  What to do?

Buying it:  Our first step was to purchase an Heritage turkey.  (Yes, I know I’ve advocated against serving turkey at all, but this year my hand was forced.)  Heritage turkeys are cool because they are not industrially bred, meaning they actually get to run around eating normal food and reproducing naturally and not being full of antibiotics.)  They’re turkeys like the Pilgrims ate.  Their other major advantage of getting one, beyond the fact it supports small farmers, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, blah blah, is that Heritage turkeys are fattier than their industrial counterparts, which helps to mitigate the butter issue.  I’m not saying you’re screwed if you don’t get a Heritage turkey, but it can give you a small assist.  If you can’t get a Heritage bird, free-range turkeys are also unusually flavorful.

Brining it: Another way to ensure that your turkey is moist is to brine it.  Cook’s Illustrated has a great guide to brining, and there are a million different turkey brining recipes out there, so I won’t belabor this point.  Suffice it to say that brining your turkey results in moister, more flavorful meat.  Brines are generally composed of this ratio: 1 cup kosher salt (don’t use table salt or it will be too salty!) to 1 gallon liquid.  The liquid could be water, stock, cider–basically any liquid (or combination of liquids) that you feel will impart awesome flavor.  Some cooks also add fresh or dried spices and “aromatics” to this mix.  Popular brining spices include whole peppercorns, whole allspice, rosemary, whole juniper berries, sage, thyme, chiles, sugar, oregano–anything that fits the flavor profile for the rest of the meal.  For aromatics–which are, by the way, just vegetables that happen to be high in flavor and aroma–you can’t go very far astray using staples such as onions, carrots, garlic, apples, celery, or ancho chiles.

You will probably need a couple gallons of brine, as well as a container to brine in.  A 5 gallon bucket works well.  Heat your brining liquids to a boil and add your salt (and sugar, if using.)  Stir until the salt and sugar is totally dissolved, and then cool to a cold temperature.  Put your fully thawed, innard-free turkey in a bucket, and pour the brine over it until it’s totally submerged, and refrigerate it.  You should brine it for a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of 18.  Drain it by placing it uncovered in the refrigerator on a rack above a bunch of paper towels, and let it dry for at least 8 hours.

This sounds like a lot of fuss but it’s worth it–the resulting turkey is insanely juicy, even the breast.  When’s the last time your dad was carving the breast and rivulets of golden jus began leakily cascading across its crispy, bronzed skin and everybody got lusty and quiet and embarrassed?  You won’t miss the butter because you’ll be too mortified (and satisfied.)

Prepping it:  As referenced above, normally you would prep a turkey by rubbing it (inside, out, and under the skin) with an herbed butter mixture.  When using butter is not possible, there are a number of substitutes.    Don’t use margarine because it is filled with water and weird fillers and god knows what else.  This means that it won’t give you the buttery effect you’re after.  (One exception–Shedd’s Willow Run is the only vegan margarine I’ve ever had that’s worth a damn.  That’s because it’s really bad for you–it’s made of soybean oil and food coloring.  It’s just a bunch of saturated fat, which makes it work well in sauces and other applications.  No, I am not a shill for Shedd’s, although sometimes I wish I were, since Willow Run is no longer distributed at any of the grocery stores in my county anymore.  When Ross found out it would soon be unavailable, he went out and bought a million cases.  We’ve been using them for a year now, but I fear for the day on which we reach Peak Soybean Oil, as it were.)

Anyway, there are a number of butter substitutes.  Good quality lard, for instance.  Don’t be afraid of lard!  It’s rad, and you can use it with all the traditional Thanksgiving spices–sage, thyme, pepper, etc.  If you don’t want to use lard, try an oil.  Olive oil can be good if it goes with the rest of your turkey flavorings.  Italian-style turkey is not a bad thing.  To make your rub, try mixing it with marjoram, oregano, and rosemary.  Canola oil is inoffensive and adaptable and can be used as well.  You might try steeping it with fresh herbs in order to give it extra flavor.

Once you’ve rubbed your turkey down, fill it with aromatics or stuffing as desired.  Here’s where things get wacky.  Julia Child recommends covering the turkey breast with strips of pancetta before trussing.  (Don’t use bacon unless you are okay with your turkey having a smoky flavor.)  The pancetta imparts vital pig fats!  It will make your turkey taste dark and exotic.  Ross tested the pancetta theory with a number of chickens, and the results were tasty.  We haven’t tried it on turkey yet, but this year we are venturing into the abyss!  If we ever come up, we’ll let you know if it worked.

Truss your turkey and roast.  America’s Test Kitchen recommends roasting at 400 for one hour, roasting at 250 for two hours, and then finishing it at 400.   The purpose behind the initial high roasting heat is to sear the meat–this sears the juices in.  (If stuffing your turkey, heat your stuffing until it reaches 130 degrees before putting it in the bird.  This keeps the stuffing from being in the “danger zone” during the low-roasting period.)  If you don’t know how to roast a turkey, find out more here.

NO-BUTTER STUFFING:

You probably think no-butter stuffing sounds obscene.  It can be, but it doesn’t have to be.  Everybody has a different stuffing recipe.  We’re making cornbread and sausage stuffing.

Making the stuffing:

I like this recipe from Bon Appetit.  Here is a dairy-free adaptation.  Instead of buttermilk, I used a mixture of coconut yogurt and coconut milk.  Coconut milk provides the necessary body and fattiness, while the coconut yogurt provides the tang and lactic acid of the buttermilk (at least as much as is possible.)  Don’t be scared to use coconut milk–the coconut-y tang is barely detectable in the finished cornbread, and it can even enhance spicier stuffing preparations.

If you’d like to make this recipe vegan, you can try substituting 3 tablespoons coconut milk and 1 tablespoon oil for each egg.  Some cooks use 2 tablespoons applesauce to substitute for each egg, but you may not want the resulting sweet notes in your stuffing, so CONSIDER CAREFULLY Y’ALL BEFORE COMMITTING Y’ALL.  Also, this is kind of good with cut up scallions in it.

No-Buttermilk Cornbread (serves 10)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted Willow Run margarine OR 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup coconut yogurt (made from coconut milk and available at most health food stores) mixed with 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Oil a 13×9x2-inch metal baking pan.  Whisk together margarine or oil, coconut yogurt, coconut milk, then eggs.  Mix the remaining dry ingredients in large bowl, then stir in the milky mixture.  Transfer to prepared pan.

Bake corn bread until edges are lightly browned and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool completely in pan. If using in stuffing, cover tightly and store at room temperature at least 1 day and up to 2 days.  (Note: you have to wait that long.  You can even make your stuffing the day-of.  Just tear it into bite-size pieces, spread in a single layer on some baking sheets, and bake at 250 for an hour.  That will dry it right out.)

You can use this in any cornbread stuffing recipe.  I like Emeril’s Southern take on it, as well as this Bon Appetit fruit-based dressing and this very Yankee oyster cornbread stuffing from Charlie Palmer.  Just remember the following tips:

• Substitute tasty oils or lard for butter
• Remember the egg substitution rules
• Don’t be afraid to pour in lots of turkey drippings for added flavor
• Sausage, bacon, or any pig derivative can cover a multitude of sins
• If you want to make these recipes vegan, substitute mushrooms or nuts in place of meat.  They’re still savory morsels, after all.  Vegetable stock can always be substituted for chicken/turkey stock, but homemade stock will taste much better than packaged.  Another interesting option is to make a seaweed-based stock, or one based around shiitake mushrooms.  There are some good ideas for this here.

Tomorrow, we’ll take on gravy and mashed potatoes.  If you have any other tips or tricks, please share them below.