Beirut-born Jay Hajj, a Boston chef is America’s turkey master — and thankful every day for his own incredible immigrant success story.
The owner of beloved Mike’s City Diner in Boston’s South End has served fresh-roasted Thanksgiving dinner and turkeyEvery day for 27 years, to loyal locals and political power brokers as well as legions of tourists.
Hajj is a frequent Food Network guest and has made every possible trip to cook the perfect turkey. Below are his top three tips to help you make your holiday bird more crispy and delicious this year.
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Among his tips: Cook your turkey standing up on its legs, not flat on its back — if you have room in your oven.
Hajj stated that turkey tastes great, makes a great meal and makes great sandwiches.
Jay Hajj is the Mike’s City Diner’s chef and he uses brined turkey. Mike’s City Diner offers turkey in many ways every day.
(Photo by Ken Goodman, Page Street Publishing Co. 2017)
“It’s America’s signature dish, and that has a lot to mean for us all.”
Turkey has made Mike’s City Diner an American casual dining landmark.
The Boston Herald proclaimed Hajj Boston’s “Bird Man!” The bold headline on the front page before Thanksgiving was bold. Boston Magazine declared Mike’s Famous Pilgrim sandwich “a restaurant legacy” — and the Food Network named Mike’s Famous Pilgrim one of the five best Thanksgiving meals in America.
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Mike’s City Diner serves turkey hash, turkey soup, turkey clubs, turkey meatloaf and complete turkey dinners.
The diner’s signature Mikes Famous Pilgrim sandwich is an entire Thanksgiving dinner in a single, handheld package.
Mike’s Famous Pilgrim, created by Jay Hajj, is the signature sandwich of Mike’s City Diner in Boston. It’s a Boston landmark known for its turkey dishes. Mike’s Famous Pilgrim was voted America’s Best Turkey Dish by Food Network.
(Photo by Ken Goodman, Page Street Publishing Co. 2017)
It has turkey, cranberries, stuffing, and Hajj’s “fantastic” gravy.
His gravy is made using the drippings of a roasted turkey carcass as a stock.
Hajj devotes an entire section to turkey in his 2017 cookbook, “Beiruit to Boston”: Comfort food inspired by a Rags to Restaurants Story.
“Turkey is America’s signature dish, and that has a lot to mean for us all.” — Chef Jay Hajj
The chapter includes Hajj’s amazing secrets to cooking the perfect turkey.
They include:
Turkey tip #1 – To keep your turkey moist, you can brine it for 12-24 hours
A basic brine is just salt and water. You can add spices to your liking.
Hajj’s brine also includes lemon and orange slices, as well rosemary, sage, and other aromatics.
Turkey tip #2 – Dry the turkey unattended in the frig to get a crispy skin
The refrigerator is very dry. The refrigerator will dry out the skin and make it darker.
Place the bird in the fridge the night before you intend to cook it.
From left to right: Jay Hajj, Anne Burrell (left), Ken Oringer, Lindsay Slaby, Anne Burrell and Lindsay Slaby attend the Wines of Spain Party at the 34th Annual Food and Wine Classic In Aspen – Day 1 in Aspen, Colorado.
(Photo by Nick Tininenko/Getty Images for Food & Wine)
Turkey tip #3 – Cook your turkey standing on its legs to get a more tender turkey
Yes, that’s right. Hajj cooks his birds standing on their legs with a poultry roaster and not flat on their backs like other mortal Thanksgiving chefs.
He recognizes, however, that not everyone can cook turkey in a standing position.
Hajj promises to use the method even if you don’t.
To make your turkey extra tender, you can cook it standing on its legs.
Hajj wrote in his book that “the fat melts in order to make the meat more tender.”
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He also cooks Thanksgiving dinner at home every year for 50 guests from his large Lebanese-Irish-American family.
“We cook thousands of turkeys at Mike’s every year, and this technique is one of our signature secrets,” he says.
The modern recreation of the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Patuxet Museums, formerly Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts. Only half the Mayflower passengers, about 50, survived the first winter in Plymouth — while at least 90 Wampanoags attended the feast, according to Pilgrim Edward Winslow, who offered the only contemporary account of the first Thanksgiving.
(Courtesy Kathy Tarantola/Plimoth Pauxet Muses)
Hajj explained that there are many things to be thankful for in every year. He also said that he is proud to be an American.
Hajj was brought up in Beirut in 1970. To protect themselves from missiles, Hajj’s family would often hide in the elevator shaft of their apartment to escape danger.
They fled to the safety of the United States, and they arrived in Massachusetts, where Thanksgiving was born in 1978.
Hajj Was a young chefIn 1995, he purchased Mike’s City Diner, a struggling Boston restaurant.
He made the diner a national landmark, and his investment in the South End helped make it one of the most fashionable areas in Boston.
On January 18, 2000, President Bill Clinton met with Mayor Tom Menino at Mike’s City Diner. He then ate a plate of eggs and ham. Matt Stone, Boston Herald staff photographer.
(Photo by Boston Herald/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images).
Hajj was honored by the late Boston Mayor Tom Menino with an extremely special guest: President Bill Clinton.
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The visit by the then sitting President of the United StatesMike’s City Diner’s signature turkey dishes have been recognized as a national culinary icon.
“How cool is this?” Hajj writes about it in his cookbook “Beirut to Boston”.
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“This Lebanoni immigrant boy made his name in America, mastering America’s most famous meal: Thanksgiving dinner. It makes me proud.”
