the pragmatic chef™

It's been crazy around here lately, and I often find myself torn between creating dishes that demonstrate culinary excellence, and making something simple that still tastes great.

For example, over the years I've gotten away from preferring stuffed birds to roasting the bird and the stuffing seperately, filling the bird with aromatics- onion, apples, even fennel, and adding homemade turkey broth and drippings to the stuffing as it cooks. It's really the best of both worlds, flavors from each still combining, yet giving me control of the doneness of each. Plus, it's quicker in the oven, as a stuffed bird takes quite a bit longer to cook, and I smoke the turkey outside more frequently than I used to.

I guess that's part of what the "pragmatic" in "the pragmatic chef™" is all about, though. I didn't want to get a zillion dishes dirty, and I wanted all the flavor with as little work as possible. Plus, I was really craving the traditional stuffing in the bird, so away I went.

I made a stuffing from bread, apples, onion, garlic, butter, and hot Italian sausage, sauteeing everything except the bread first until it was done, then adding the bread to the work bowl to expedite cooling. I seasoned it well with Survival Spice™, which gave it some zip and lots of flavor.

I rubbed the chicken with oil, then hit it with our Survival Spice™ barbecue rub, along with a bit of cinnamon. I generally don't do this with holiday meals, but I get a lot of emails every year from people saying that rubbing their turkey with Survival Spice produces the best turkey they've ever had! Who am I to say otherwise? ;©)

I loosely stuffed the bird, and placed it on a trivet in a roasting pan, adding some chicken stock to the pan to keep the drippings from burning. It took about 90 minutes at 375º until it was done, then 450º to brown the skin.

This was a winner, and the plan to beat for Thanksgiving this year. I can't wait.