'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Posted on 11/18/2007 5:38:00 AM PST by PJ-Comix
Okay, we are just a few days away from Thanksgiving so let this thread be the Official Thanksgiving Turkey Guide. Tips on preparing turkeys and the trimmings. I am really posting this thread out of ulterior motives. I just bought two Thanksgiving turkeys and assured my wife I know everything about how to cook them. She doesn't since she is from Venezuela. Problem is that I fibbed a bit. My main experience in cooking Thanksgiving turkeys before was merely heating up pre-cooked turkeys. This time I will be doing it almost from scratch.
Okay, I do have one small tip. I was originally intending to buy the turkey either today or tomorrow. However, while I was looking at the Butterball turkeys in Winn Dixie, one of the guys from the meat department called me over and informed me he was about to bring out a bunch of Honeysuckle White all natural you turkeys and that the cost would only be 69 cents per pound!!! I decided right then and there to buy the Thanksgiving IMMEDIATELY since that turkey supply at that price might not last. The only problem is that I wanted at least a 20 pound turkey and the Honeysuckle White young turkeys came in smaller sizes so I bought TWO turkeys. One about 13 pounds and the other 12 pounds. Total cost under 18 bucks. Then when I bought them, the Winn Dixie self serve machine popped out a $10 off coupon towards an purchase of $50 or more which I will use on Wednesday to buy LOTS of trimmings, wine, etc.. I don't know if there are Winn Dixie stores in your area but you might want to check this out. (Note: I am not associated in any way with Winn Dixie).
Okay, I could use a few tips myself. Should I cook the two turkeys together estimating the total time based on 25 pounds? Also I would like info on preparing the trimmings, especially the stuffing, etc.. My idea is to take the meat tidbits that come with the turkey and chop them up and then fry them to mix with the stuffing. What else can I mix with the stuffing? Also we have a big supply of olive oil here so I would like to use that to baste the turkey. How often do I need to baste? Since I am a garlic person, what is the best way to incorporate garlic with the turkey?
On the side there will be white wine, pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce. What else would be good side dishes?
All info about turkey and trimmings preparation from you Freeper chefs would be appreciated by myself and others.
Or both? ;^)
For the liquid, I make a stock out of the neck bone, wish bone, liver, kidneys, heart and gizzard. Once the stock is made, I chop up the tender giblets (the dog gets the gizzard and heart) and any meat I can get off the neck bone and add this to the stuffing (or the gravy). I do not publicize that part, but it will make your stuffing taste wonderful.
I use the broth and pretty much the same spices and herbs that I use for the turkey. Your stuffing will taste just as it would have if cooked inside the bird.
'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
That looks good, but what’s everyone else going to eat? :-)
I find you can get those plastic buckets at the supermarket in the bakery. They ‘re usually messier, having had frosting in them, but they are free. I wash them out in the yard or driveway.
Only if you're going to put one turkey inside the other one, or (God forbid) cook them in a microwave. In conventional or convection ovens, for the most part, the birds will cook based on their individual weights. Basically, you must use a meat thermometer to know when the turkey is done. When I cooked turkey in the oven, I preferred a larger bird because I had a good hour after the turkey came out of the oven to bake the side dishes while the turkey rest.
Don't forget to let the turkey rest before carving. That is probably the #1 cause of dry turkey. It allows the turkey to finish cooking, redistributing the juices back into the meat, in addition to driving your guest mad with hunger, which is essential to getting them to overeat, swearing all the time that it's the best meal they've had in their lives. Which, as we all know, is the whole point.
I don’t boil the liver with the other giblets, it’s too strong flavored. I fry it separately if I want to use it.
LOL ... that’s always the backup for people who don’t know how to cook and their unsuspecting guests!!
This year? ... moose sausage and venison stew. And if that doesn’t fill ‘em up, the fresh baked bread will! Yeehah! ;)
At that temp, maybe both, but definitely the turkey’s. Aluminum foil cools surprisingly fast.
PUT ON BIG OVEN MITTS!!!!!
Then slide the pan partway out of the oven and use tongs to loosen the foil. Then pull the foil off the pan.
BE CAREFUL!!!! You can easily get steam burns uncovering the turkey.
LOL.
I was wondering about saving the guk. Yuck. ;-)
That sounds good, but the moose sausage might trigger PTSD if anyone’s sister is present. :-)
A good thermometer checking the inside temp can insure safe cooking of dressing in the turkey.
I love the wild rice recipies . . .
with either walnuts or pecans or pinon nuts . . . maybe even some water chestnuts . . .
But then I like cornbread stuffing, too.
Y’all may get me to cooking again this season yet. So much bother for so few of us still around. LOL.
Love the left overs and Furrs doesn’t furnish those for free!
We ALWAYS put stuffing in the turkey — for decades. No one has ever gotten ill. Load it up with sage, celery and onion and I’m happy and so is the family.
A popular side dish I make also used some stuffing. Mix 4 to 5 cups of prepared stuffing with a couple of cups of fresh or frozen (thawed) broccoli and cauliflower florets and a bit of chopped onion. Put in a huge casserole dish and mix a can or two or undiluted mushroom soup with the stuffing/veggie mixture. Top with 1 1/2 cups of Cheddar cheese and bake about 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
This means there is plenty of stuffing to go around and some for later. We don’t like giblets, so the gravy is from the brown pieces and drippings from the bird, thickened (not too much) with Wondra flour and salt and pepper.
Your advice is thoroughly sound, of course. However, acoating of PAM or equivalent on the foil will lessen/eliminate any sticking problem. Might have to replace the foil halfway through cooking, depending on shape/size of the oven. Either way, not a big deal.
And, don't tell anyone, but once the bird is at 120 or so, I **do** insert the stuffing and cook it inside the bird. Sam and Ella have yet to be sighted in my kitchen. ;^)
Working up a couple of pie recipes for this year. A chocolate-molasses pecan pie with a mint ganache is coming along and should be ready-for-prime-time come Thursday. BTW, **DO** get FReeper DianaFromWisconsin's recipe for her Queen of Sheba torte; it is absolutely fantastic. If you don't mind a little extra work (and the QoS torte does take a bit of it), you might be interested in my recipe for Stoplight Pie, too.
Oh, yeah. A little for the brine, a little for the pumpkin pie. The rest is fair game;-)
Early in the morning, start cooking the smaller bird in a large slow cooker crock pot(set it and forget it!). Then oven-roast the larger bird as you normally would. The two birds will taste the same, you’ll have plenty of meat to serve, and the roasted bird will make a good table presentation.
Alton Brown on Food Networks "Good Eats" did an awesome episode on deep frying turkeys. A lot of very good ideas, including a demonstration similar to the photo you posted of what can happen if something goes wrong. He stresses a lot of very important points, like #1, making sure you don't overfill the fryer, making sure that the turkey is completely defrosted and dry, placing the burner on either your lawn or something non-flammable well away from anything combustible, and how to actually get the turkey into the hot oil (he used an aluminum ladder as a "gantry" along with some pulleys and 50' of laundry line. Mark
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.