The Step-By-Step Thanksgiving Action Plan

By Glen Waggoner

Tom Grill/ Iconica

Steps 1-12: Roasting the Turkey

Figure five-and-a-half-to-six-and-a-half-hours roasting at 325 degrees for a twenty- to twenty-two-pound unstuffed moderately chilled turkey.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Lightly cook one cup each chopped carrots and onions for five to eight minutes; chop and set aside two cups each raw carrots and onions.

3. Dry the turkey inside and out with paper towels.

4. Sprinkle the cavity with two teaspoons salt and add cooked vegetables, along with a handful each of parsley and celery tops.

5. With a large needle and strong string, sew down the neck and cent flaps, and truss the legs and wings (nothing looks so indecent as a turkey with legs akimbo and cavity gapping; it deserves a more dignified fate).

6. Rub the turkey all over with soft butter, and place it breast up on a rack in a roasting pan.

7. Insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, but not against bone.

8. Dip a double thickness of cheesecloth (enough to cover the turkey’s breast) in cooking oil and drape it over the turkey.

9. Roast in a preheated 325-degree oven five-and-a-half-to-six-and-a half-hours (see below, step 12).

10. Baste every thirty minutes, at first with cooking oil, then with pan drippings.

11. About one-and-a-half hours before the end of the estimated cooking time, add raw carrots and onions to the pan.

12. The turkey is done when the mean thermometer reads 180 to 185 degrees. (Some signs that it’s getting there: juices run from turkey into pan… drumstick moves fairly easily in socket… lower part of thigh, when penetrated deeply with fork, exudes clear yellow juice… people crowd around the stove saying “I think it’s done” and “looks right to me.”) Remember: the turkey should rest, partially covered by foil, for about forty-five minutes after it comes out of the oven before you start carving it.

Steps 13-24: Making the Gravy

I once celebrated Thanksgiving at the home of a friend who threw out the giblets and made no gravy because she couldn’t bear the thought of toughing gizzards and livers and hearts. She might as well have thrown out the turkey.

13. Chop the neck into two-inch pieces, quarter the gizzard, and halve the heart.

14. Brown the giblets in four tablespoons of cooking oil, drain, and remove from the pan.

15. Cook one cup each chopped carrots and onions in same oil five to eight minutes until tender.

16. Return the giblets to the pan, add one cup dry white wine, two cups chicken broth, and enough water to cover by an inch or so.

17. Add one teaspoon salt, one bay leaf, and one-half teaspoon sage.

18. Simmer partially covered for two and a half to three minutes.

19. Strain, degrease the pan, and return the stock into it.

20. Blend three tablespoons cornstarch with one-fourth cup chicken broth, beat the mixture into the stock, and simmer three to five minutes.

21. Remove from the heat but keep warm on the back of the stove until the turkey is done.

22. When you’re removed the turkey to the platter, spoon fat out of the roasting pan, add the turkey stock, and stir over moderately high heat for five minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

23. Strain into a saucepan, degrease, correct the seasoning, reheat, and pour into a gravy boat.

24. Prepare for a standing ovation.

Adapted from "The Modern American Thanksgiving" by Glen Waggoner, from Esquire's November 1984 issue.

Original here

New honeycomb tire is 'bulletproof'

Posted by Mark Rutherford

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Wausau, Wis., company have come up with a 37-inch, bullet and bomb-proof Humvee tire based on a polymeric web so cool looking there's no need for hub caps.

Resilient Technologies and Wisconsin-Madison's Polymer Engineering Center are creating a "non-pneumatic tire" (no air required) that will support the weight of add-on armor, survive an IED attack, and still make a 50 mph getaway. It's basically a round honeycomb wrapped with a thick, black tread.

The military wants an alternative to the current Humvee "run flat" tires, which despite the name, still need a minimal amount of air pressure to roll and can leave troops stranded after being shot or blown out.

"You see reports all the time of troops who were injured by an IED or their convoys got stranded because their tires were shot out," said Resilient's General Manager Mike Veih. "There's all sorts of armor on the vehicle, but if you're running in the theater and get your tire shot out, what have you got? You've got a bunch of armor in the middle of a field."

In developing the design, the Wisconsin team studied other airless tires, like the Michelin "Tweel," but in the end settled on lessons learned from nature.

The patent-pending design mimics the precise, six-sided cell pattern found in a honeycomb and best duplicates the "ride feel" of pneumatic tires, according to the developers.

"The goal was to reduce the variation in the stiffness of the tire, to make it transmit loads uniformly and become more homogenous," said mechanical engineering professor Tim Osswald. "And the best design, as nature gives it to us, is really the honeycomb."

This particular geometry also does a great job of reducing noise and heat levels while rolling-two common problems with past models.

Costs per tire are expected to be the same or less than current units. Delivery is anticipated for 2011.

Mark Rutherford is a West Coast-based freelance writer. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Email him at markr@milapp.com. Disclosure.

Original here

Brain-dead NYC boy at center of care controversy dies

NEW YORK (AP) — A 12-year-old New York City boy whose family battled a Washington hospital over his care has died in the hospital, the family's lawyer said Sunday.

Motl Brody was pronounced dead Nov. 4 by Children's National Medical Center in Washington, but a machine continued to inflate and deflate his lungs.

His remaining bodily functions ceased Saturday, the lawyer, Jeffrey Zuckerman, said.

"He passed away early Saturday," Zuckerman said.

He said the funeral was Sunday in the borough of Brooklyn.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said she could not confirm any details of Motl's death.

Motl had been diagnosed with severe brain cancer and was at the hospital for six months.

His parents, who are Orthodox Jews, had clashed with the hospital over the hospital's desire to disconnect the ventilator. Although Motl had been pronounced dead, his heart was still beating with the help of a cocktail of intravenous drugs and adrenaline.

That heartbeat prompted Motl's parents to refuse the hospital's request to remove all artificial life support.

Under some interpretations of Jewish religious law, including the one accepted by the family's Hasidic sect, death occurs only when the heart and lungs stop functioning.

That meant Motl was considered "alive, and his family has a religious obligation to secure all necessary and appropriate medical treatment to keep him alive," the family's attorney wrote in a court filing.

The family had asked the hospital to leave the breathing machine on and keep administering drugs until the boy's heart and lungs no longer respond.

Disagreements between families and medical providers over when to end care for terminally ill patients are common, experts say, but this case wound up in court with unusual speed.

On Nov. 2, the family asked a federal judge to block the hospital from doing any further tests for brain activity.

The hospital responded by asking a District of Columbia Superior Court judge for permission to discontinue treatment.

In documents filed at D.C. Superior Court, the hospital said its "scarce resources are being used for the preservation of a deceased body."

Zuckerman said the hospital has filed court papers dismissing its action, which is now moot.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Original here