November 17, 2004
A Traditional Thanksgiving- Santa Maria Style
The first Family of barbecue in this part of the world is the Ostini Family. Brother Bill Ostini owns the Casmalia Hitching Post and Brother Frank Ostini owns the Buellton Hitching Post.
A year ago in this column, Frank shared a turkey recipe. Today, we have Mama Ostini’s traditional turkey recipe, courtesy of Sister Terri Stricklin of the Casmalia Hitching Post.
Family matriarch, Natalie Ostini’s recipe, Terri tells me, will serve about 20 people. For a table of ten people, use a 12-14 pound bird instead and halve the ingredients as listed.
Mama Ostini’s Traditional Stuffed Turkey.
Ingredients
1 (25 pound) turkey
1/2 pound sweet butter
Salt and black pepper
2 yellow onions chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 lbs. lean ground sirloin
2 lbs. mild Italian Sausage
2 boxes Mrs. Cubbison’s stuffing mix
2 cups milk, heatedPreheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Remove neck, giblets and liver from turkey. Wash inside and out with cold water and pat dry.
Cook sausage and hamburger. In large bowl combine sausage, hamburger, onion, celery, and stuffing mix. Add milk slowly, a half cup at a time. Season inside of turkey with salt and pepper.
Stuff turkey (both ends), but do not overstuff. You will have lots of extra stuffing. Put this in large baking pan, cover with foil and refrigerate until 30 minutes prior to dinner.
30 minutes before dinner is served, place pan of extra stuffing in oven.
Melt 1/2 pound of butter, pour over turkey. Season outside of turkey with salt and pepper.
Roast uncovered for 45 minutes, then baste every 20 minutes. *Roast between 15 and 20 minutes per pound until internal temperature is at least 165 and no more than 180 degrees F. in the thickest part of the thigh.
Remove turkey and let rest in warm place before serving. Remove stuffing from turkey. Place turkey on serving platter.
Which wines should you serve with this feast? If you’re going for a splurge wine, Terri suggested Hitching Post ”Highliner” made by Gray Hartley and Brother Frank Ostini. “Highliner” is a proprietary blend of the top wines of the vintage. It’s pricey but delicious. Food friendly as all Hitching Post wines are, this wine represents the pinnacle of Santa Barbara County pinot noir.
If a modest wine fits the bill better, one of my personal recommendations and a perennial favorite would be Santa Barbara Winery’s “Beaujour.” Beaujour is a nouveau beaujolais-style wine made from zinfandel-the first of the vintage-young and fruity and perfect with turkey, stuffing and cranberries.
If a white wine fits the bill with this festive fair, I would suggest a hearty sauvignon blanc. This variety is particularly food friendly. The wine that comes to mind is Fiddlehead Cellars Santa Ynez Valley sauvignon blanc, very spicy, rich, and unctuous. Two other tasty sauvignon blancs come from Westerly and from Santa Barbara Winery.
But drink what turns you on! A turkey holds up very well to big red wines, or spicy white wines like sauvignon blancs. Wine is food to be consumed with food. Throw out the rules-drink what you like.
Here’s a twist on the recipe. Both restaurants, the original in Casmalia and the Hitching Post II in Buellton, produce their own proprietary seasoning salts. Casmalia calls theirs “HP Seasoning.” Buellton calls theirs “Magic Dust.”
It dawned on me that HP seasoning might be a good addition to Mama Ostini’s recipe so I checked with Terri. She recommended using it to season the bird, substituting it for the salt and pepper.
Bon appetit!
Wine lover, food lover and Santa Maria Times Wine columnist, Bob Senn, lives in the bucolic Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.
