Kikk Your Thanksgiving Dinner Up A Notch With Kikkoman – With Giveaway

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This year I was challenged to “kikk” my holiday turkey up a notch by the folks at Kikkoman. I love trying new recipes and love a challenge so I gladly accepted. Kikkoman sent me a box of good stuff.

We received recipes for Savory Turkey Brine, Green Bean Casserole, Glazed Yams and Panko Crusted Potato Cakes. We decided would have a pre-Thanksgiving Day dinner and use all of the recipes except for the yams (yams are not a big hit here).

For the bird you’ll need to start the night before you’re cooking. You have to prep the bird and soak it in the Savory Turkey Brine overnight, or for at least eight hours. The brine is super easy to make.

Kikkoman Savory Turkey Brine

Ingredients

• 2 gallons cold water
• 10 ounces Kikkoman Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons dried sage
• 2 tablespoons dried celery seed
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Directions

The night before roasting, remove giblets and turkey neck; rinse turkey inside and out. In a large stock pot or 5 gallon bucket mix water with remaining ingredients. Stir well until all the salt is dissolved. Place turkey in the pot cover with a lid and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours. Remove turkey from the brine, rinsing well. Follow your regular cooking instructions.

The next morning we drained the brine and rinsed our 22 pound turkey, then cooked according to the tag. While that cooked, we tackled two of the other recipes.

Kikkoman Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pounds fresh stringbeans, blanched
• 5 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 10 oz package fresh mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup sliced onions
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 cup Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs

Directions

Layer the blanched stringbeans in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Melt butter in a large skillet. Sauté the mushrooms, onions and garlic in the butter until the onions are soft, add the can of mushroom soup. Stir to combine soup and vegetables in the skillet, pour mixture over the stringbeans. Sprinkle with Panko Bread Crumbs. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes or breadcrumbs are browned.

We changed this recipe up a little bit. I don’t like mushrooms and RB can’t have them (he gets seriously ill). We omitted the fresh mushrooms. Where the recipe called for Cream Of Mushroom Soup we substituted Cream Of Celery Soup. We also discussed Cheddar and Cream of Chicken but the Cream Of Celery won out.

Lastly, before the Green Bean Casserole and the turkey were done we tackled the last recipe, Panko Crusted Mashed Potato Cakes.

Panko Crusted Mashed Potato Cakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups chilled mashed potatoes
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten, (separate bowls)
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup flour for dredging
• 1 cup Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs
• 3 table spoons vegetable oil for pan frying

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine potatoes, one egg, onion and black pepper. Divide potato mixture into 8 equal portions. Use your hands to form 1/2 inch thick patties. Dredge patties in flour, then in egg and coat with Panko Bread Crumbs. Meanwhile heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add potato patties to the hot oil. Cook until well browned, turn with a spatula and brown on the other side.

We had a bit of a challenging time with these. The directions clearly call for chilled mashed potatoes. I took that to mean not hot but rather cooled off. WRONG! Make sure they’re cold. Make them ahead of time and stick them in the fridge for a couple of hours. The recipe will work much better for you that way. It didn’t take long to figure out what we did wrong. We stuck some potatoes in the freezer to cool them off and tried again. The results were much better. These potatoes are delicious!

Take a look at our finished turkey. Our turkey was super moist and super tasty. When RB went to carve it the meat was falling off of the bone and the bones just about fell off of the body.

And our finished Green Bean Casserole. This was my first time cooking fresh green beans. The flavor of the dish was great, it tasted really fresh.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get a clear picture of our Panko Crusted Potato Cakes. We’ll definitely be making these again. They were delicious! Ours looked pretty similar to the ones in the Kikkoman picture, taken from their site and shown here.

MORE INFO

Kikkoman on Facebook

Be sure to visit the Kikkoman site, where you’ll find a buy one get one free coupon if you visit the Kikkoman Coupons page.

WIN IT!

ONE winner will receive 2 full sized Kikkoman products.

HOW TO ENTER. (MANDATORY)

To enter leave a comment on this post telling me if you’ll be trying any of the Kikkoman recipes this year.

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THE SMALL PRINT.

US addresses only please, no PO Boxes. This contest will end on Thursday 12/02/10 at 11:59 pm est.  If you’ve entered any of my giveaways before then you know that only comments containing all of the requested information will be eligible for entry. The winner must contact me to confirm they wish to receive the prize within two days of my email notifying them they’ve won.  Good luck to everyone!

I received a variety of Kikkoman products and a gift card in order to prepare our meal. This review is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.