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It’s Time for Roast Turkeys
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright December 2021.
It’s that time of the year again, for roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables and cranberry sauce! A time of year that brings back pleasant memories.
November and December are two months in the year when we visit our local supermarket to look for imported turkeys at bargain prices.
Over the last 20 years, our family has made it a tradition to have roast turkey at the end of the year. We do not celebrate Thanksgiving, in November or Christmas, in December. Neither are we Americans nor Christians but we love our roast turkeys, all the same, this time of year.
However, our birthdays are at a time when turkeys are in abundance. So, roast turkey is always on our dinner menu. The family looks forward to our end-of-year roast turkey.
I acquired a taste for roast turkey when studying in the US. They served turkeys at Thanksgiving in November and during the Christmas holidays. But I had to eat it with plenty of gravy and cranberry sauce. Turkey meat is bland otherwise!
I do enjoy carving a turkey. It’s quite a grand occasion, for me having to carve a 5kg turkey at a dinner table in front of everyone in the family, entertaining requests for white or dark meat, then deciding who gets the legs or who gets the wings.
When we started this tradition, we would usually purchase a frozen turkey, thaw it for 24 hours and marinated it overnight with brine then roast it for about 5 hours or so.
My wife would be busy preparing the vegetables, coleslaw and side dishes. She would be too exhausted at the end of the day and could hardly enjoy her birthday dinner.
But that changed when we met a chef who was willing to roast for us twice a year. She was happy to prepare the stuffing, bake the potatoes and grill fresh vegetables for us.
All we needed to do was collect from her half an hour before dinner time. The roast was always perfect, so were her vegetables, stuffing and gravy. But we did buy canned cranberry sauce because everyone wanted some extra to go with the turkey meat.
Unfortunately, last November, she moved away.
The hunt was on for a replacement. That’s when I met Chef Eugene of Burnin Pit.
Chef Eugene roasts turkeys quite differently. It’s roasted in a smokey pit, like all other meats prepared at the restaurant renowned for its smoked roast beef, lamb and chicken at Desa Sri Hartamas.
When I first picked up the turkey from Burnin Pit, I did not expect to see it packed in a box with ribbons and Christmas trimmings to suit the occasion.
All I needed to do was just stick a birthday card on top of the box to make it complete.
Everyone around the table was full of praise for Chef Eugene.
“How did he get that smokey taste?” Asked everyone at first bite.
“What did the Chef do to make it taste so good?” Asked my wife.
“Wow, the gravy!” Exclaimed our daughter, followed by “What a lovely coleslaw!”
“Man, try the stuffing! It’s out of this world”, said our son who is usually reserved about complimenting chefs.
You’ll have to try to believe what we are telling you. If ordering from Burnin Pit be sure to do so, at least, three days in advance.
We have told Eugene we wanted another for New Year’s Eve!
It’s a great time for turkeys!
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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