You’re the “visiting team” this year for Thanksgiving, and you’ve been asked to bring the wine.  A panic sets in.  With all the choices, how do you begin to choose? Let’s assume you don’t know the specifics of the stuffing and side-dishes ahead of time, but you’re pretty sure roast turkey will be served. You’re in luck:  here are a shy-dozen varietals that pair extremely well with nearly all roast turkey recipes. As a northwesterner, an Oregon Pinot Noir is often my go-to choice at Thanksgiving, and I’m never disappointed with this choice.  At recent Thanksgivings, we’ve enjoyed the wines from Erath vineyard, Cloudline and Argyle at our table; they’re all in the moderate range of $14-28 per bottle. “My Thanksgiving Pinot Noir recommendation?  Hendry Pinot Noir is delicate and is a wine with flavors of plum and wild cherries in it.” – Chef John Besh Bring a couple bottles of sparkling shiraz for an unusual and delicious treat.  Joshua Wesson, wine director of Best Cellars thinks it’s the perfect accompaniment for your holiday dinner.  

“Dry sparkling Shiraz is breathtakingly spectacular with Thanksgiving dinner.  It hits every note and has something for everyone.”  And the bubbles are sure to signal the start of the holiday season. “My specific bottle recommendation is the Fruit Machine Shiraz ($8). Turkey is actually quite wine friendly and will pair well with many white and red wines. The problem is all the side dishes- sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, etc. You need something abundantly fruit, rich and supple textured. Aussie Shiraz is just the ticket.” – Efrain Madrigal, Wine Director, Sam’s Wines & Spirits, Chicago. A good friend of mine has just started a new winery called Avennia, and they’ve come out with a terrific Syrah blend that’s winning some accolades in the Northwest.  We don’t have enough bottles of this just yet, but I’d happily uncork what few bottles we have with our rather large gathering this year. “When most people think of wine from Washington State they immediately go to their Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, and the various regions throughout the state do an amazing job with those varietals. 

But don’t forget the powerful Syrah coming out of Washington, Walla Walla in particular.  Amavi Cellars 2009 Syrah combines both dark fruit, like black cherry, blackberry and figs with mineral notes and earthy undertones.  A well balanced wine that will compliment any dish on a Thanksgiving table.” – sidedish magazine Both of these chardonnays will pair well with most Thanksgiving turkeys and are a very safe choice. Fruity zinfandels will help accentuate the savory dishes traditionally served at Thanksgiving, and amplify the fruits and berries.  Pairs well with cranberry sauce.It may be the bane of Miles, the dispirited protagonist in the movie Sideways, but you know, he’s wrong.  There are some fantastic and affordable Merlot choices out there, and they pair quite well with roast turkey and stuffing. Looking for something a little different this year?  Step away to the Alsace region of France and choose a light but slightly spicy Gewürztraminer.  Be sure to confirm with your winemerchant first (or online) whether the wine of your choice is sweet or dry, as Gewürtsraminer can range from very dry to very, very sweet.

Just to help narrow the field, generally, we feel that tart and lemony wines won’t work very well with the subtle and savory flavors of Thanksgiving, nor do harshly dry wines.  We’d avoid these (otherwise wonderful) varietals with a main course of roast turkey: But who are we to tell you what you can and cannot drink?  wine for sale franceIf you enjoy it – enjoy it, and don’t let us stop you.  best wine to take camping Cooking the turkey this year?  food and wine 30 best fast recipesOur advice is to plan ahead and brine it overnight in a cooler, with ice to keep it cold all night.  [Health note – be sure it stays cold!] You’ll be rewarded with a much juicier and succulent final product. This is part of our ongoing series on food & wine pairings here at BigOven. 

At BigOven, we know that some foods just go together.  That’s why we’ve introduced Menus, which let you drag and drop recipes to create ideal combinations, share them with the world and create grocery lists instantly. Are these introductory food & wine articles useful to you?  Be sure to “Like” this post.  The contentious mid-term elections might be over, but American households are grappling with another controversy: Should this year’s Thanksgiving turkey be brined, injected, both, or none of the above? Like skillful politicians, let’s start by trying to find common ground. I think we can all agree that a lot of turkey comes to the table dry. So dry that it takes a generous, what-the-hell pour from the gravy boat to make it palatable. The reason is anatomical: the modern turkey is a large, irregularly shaped composite of white and dark meat (the ratio is about 70 percent to 30 percent). Ideally, the breast would be cooked to a food safe internal temperature of 165 degrees, while the legs and thighs, which have more connective tissue and fat, achieve maximum tenderness at 180 degrees.

But cooking and serving the parts separately just can’t match the eye-popping appeal of serving that smoke-burnished, handsomely browned holiday bird whole. Many workarounds have been championed over the years. The two I find most effective (especially when subjecting a bird to the dry heat of the grill) are brining and injecting. Without getting too scientific, soaking certain animal proteins in saltwater prior to cooking helps keep them moist. Not only do they absorb some of the liquid—their weight can increase by as much as 8 percent—but the salt denatures the protein strands within the muscles, discouraging shrinkage. With its high proportion of white meat, which has inherently less fat than dark, turkey is an excellent candidate for brining. (Read more about brining, and get a terrific Bourbon- and Maple-Brined Turkey recipe.) • Brining not only hydrates the meat, but uniformly seasons it. • Brined meat will be noticeably more tender. • White meat will stay moister while the dark meat finishes cooking.

• Flavorful ingredients like sugar (which helps with caramelization), chopped onion, garlic, citrus peel, whole spices, etc. can be added to the brine to customize it. • Because it, too, has absorbed the brine, the skin will not brown and crisp as readily as skin that hasn’t been brined. To overcome this problem, pat the turkey dry with paper towels after brining and let the turkey sit on a rack inside a rimmed baking sheet, uncovered, in the refrigerator for several hours before cooking. • Drippings will be salty. Keep this in mind if you intend to make gravy. • A significant amount of refrigerator space, always at a premium around Thanksgiving, must be reserved for the turkey and its brine. Alternatively, put the turkey and brine into a clean insulated cooler and weight with leak-proof bags of ice. Change the ice as needed. • Brining takes time—up to 24 hours for a whole turkey. • Brining is not recommended for many brands of mass-produced turkeys which have already been injected with solutions, or in the case of kosher turkeys, already dry-brined.

With this method you get to play doctor, using an oversize hypodermic-like syringe called an injector to deliver a thin, flavorful liquid deep into muscle tissue. For turkey and other poultry, the injection mixture usually contains broth and melted butter with optional wine, bourbon, fruit juice, maple syrup, and/or other water-soluble ingredients for additional flavor. Avoid coarsely ground spices, which will clog the needle. To load your injector, depress the plunger, dip the needle in the injector sauce, then pull the plunger back to draw in the sauce. Insert the needle into the deepest part of the thighs, drumsticks, and breast, pushing the plunger to disperse the liquid throughout the meat. (Try my recipe for Cajun Injector Sauce.) • Injecting works faster than brining. You can inject the bird immediately before cooking. • Fats like melted butter, duck fat, or olive oil can be delivered deep into the breast meat, increasing its succulence. • Because the liquid is delivered under the skin, the skin tends to come out darker and crisper than that of a brined bird.

• You can vary the taste of the turkey by adding cognac, maple syrup, lemon juice or other flavorings to the injector sauce. • The injection process looks a lot more theatrical than brining, and can be done with great dramatic effect in front of guests. You can even let them participate. • Only water- or oil-soluble ingredients can be used in injector sauces. Solid ingredients, including coarsely ground spices, will clog the needle. • Distribution of the liquid is not as uniform as it is for brining. In other words, some parts of the bird might be saturated while others are dry. • The needle will leave track marks in the turkey. (For the record, this doesn’t bother me.) • If an injection site is saturated, liquid will squirt from the holes, potentially hitting walls, counters, cabinets, etc. Some pit masters wrap their turkeys in plastic wrap before injecting, then remove it before cooking. I have used both methods with great success. But this year, with the rich-flavored but lean heritage turkeys we’re smoking, I’m going to brine.