Wedding Menu

So as most of you probably know, Nina and I got married September 6th. You can find some pictures here.

The tremendous generosity of our friends and family and my tendency to overestimate consumption by at least 100% when planning menus yielded a smorgasbord of at least two dozen dishes (if you include desserts). I suppose as the groom I am necessarily unqualified to editorialize, but all of the reviews that found my attention were rave. Just in case anyone ever wants to reproduce this meal in whole or in part, I am determined here to give a cook's account of the thing. I couldn't hope to recount the preparation of all of them, so here are my favorites among the main dishes: the turkey, the prebranac, the Russian salad, the cole slaw and the roasted peppers.

Turkey

My Mom raises a half-dozen turkeys every year on her small farm in Connecticut, and she kindly supplied one of these grass- and grain-fed beauties for our wedding. Prepared as described here it yielded the juiciest, most deliciously tender breast meat I've ever had from this fowl whose flesh is all too often rendered dry and unpalatable.

The technique is surprisingly simple, though it does have one or two catches. First cut up a handful of savory vegetables--onions, celery and carrot work well--for the pan. Place the turkey on a rack over these and cover the skin with four layers of cheesecloth. The point of the cheesecloth is to capture the basting liquid so that it stays on the bird longer during cooking and to act as a second skin to keep the real skin from crisping too soon.

Prepare a basting liquid consisting of about one cup of water, one cup of white wine and 1/3 of a cup of olive oil (for a turkey breast of roughly 12 lbs). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and use the basting liquid to thoroughly soak the cheesecloth while waiting for the oven to reach temperature. Bake the bird at 450 for an hour and a half, basting it well every 30 minutes. After an hour and a half, turn the oven down to 350 and wait an hour between bastings. The total cooking time will be in the four to four-and-a-half hour range.

When the turkey is about 30 minutes from being done gently remove the cheesecloth. This can be a delicate operation since the cheesecloth by this point will be thoroughly browned and stuck to the skin beneath it. The trick is to baste heavily to help separate the cheesecloth, go slowly, and exercise patience. Return the bird to the oven and continue baking until the meat reaches temperature and the skin is crispy. Allow to rest before carving.

Prebranac

Prebranac (preh-brahn-atz) is a Serbian dish that one might call "baked beans," but that bears virtually no resemblance (other than the literal description) with the American dish of the same name. Aside from the differences in seasoning, this dish is made with lima rather than navy or similar small beans.

The secret to prebranac (as I learned it at this opportunity) is a ton of onions. The approximate ratio of onions to beans in this recipe is six onions (medium-sized yellow onions) to one pound of dry beans. The onions are simply peeled, cut into thin half-rings, and then sauteed with some vegetable (0r similar) oil. Throw in a few minced cloves of garlic for some extra flavor. In the meantime you will want to rinse and then boil the lima beans. When the onions are sauteed, add them to the beans. When the beans are thoroughly cooked, mix in some salt, some sweet paprika (enough to turn the mixture slightly red), and a couple of bay leaves. Spread the mixture in a baking pan and bake the beans at 450 degrees until well dried. The result should be a slightly addictive comfort food whose nutty sweetness is a combination of carmelized onions and the beans' natural flavor.

Russian salad

Russian salad is a mayonnaise-based salad that is delicious on dense, chewy bread. Its main ingredients are chicken (alternatively ham), eggs, carrots and potatoes. The approximate amounts of these are one chicken breast, four eggs, two carrots and two potatoes. These are boiled until the chicken is well cooked and the vegetables are quite soft. They are then finely chopped and mixed with sour cream, mayonnaise, and mustard into a thick salad reminiscent of egg salad. The dressing is nearly entirely mayonnaise: the sour cream and mustard are only for flavor.

Cole Slaw

It was great luck that my mom brought her super industrial-strength food processor, which came with a 1 mm shredding blade. We used it to turn three heads of cabbage into a very fine shred. We then peeled and shredded half a dozen large carrots. The dressing was made from six cups of apple cider vinegar, three cups of sugar, 1 cup of light oil (vegetable or canola), three tablespoons of celery seed, three tablespoons of finely ground mustard, and a few teaspoons of salt. Allow the slaw to wilt overnight. Turning occasionally is recommended.

Roasted Peppers

These peppers are another favorite from Serbia. They are made with bell peppers--however many you want. Cut the hearts out and remove them. Roast the peppers on a grill until the skins are charred. Close them in plastic shopping bags to cool. When the peppers have cooled off, peel them by hand. When they have been peeled, cut them into parts--halves or smaller. Mince a lot of garlic--about a half-clove per pepper--and mix it and the peppers with a dressing of mostly light oil to a small amount of vinegar.