I suggest putting onion, red bell pepper, and celery in the stuffing. This is a good time to include garlic, too!
If you want your turkey to be garlic-flavored, you could rub the inside cavity with garlic powder or roasted garlic. You don’t want to cook your stuffing in the turkey - salmonella is no fun - but in a casserole dish.
My family likes sweet potato pie with turkey. Boil and mash the sweet potatoes. Add butter, honey, and cinnamon. Bake in graham-cracker pie crusts, covered with mini-marshmallows.
One important point - get your turkeys on *early*, and don’t get into the wine too much before you have food ready!
I’ve used those oven bags for turkeys with great success. Very simple.
Though if you’re feeling daring, try this: (bacon wrapped turkey) http://www.chow.com/recipes/11130
And I prefer a pinot noir with my turkey...
What else would be good side dishes?
STUFFED MUSHROOMS
SWEET POTATO PIE
STUFFED ARTICHOKES
Boil the turkey innards to make broth then dice them up to put in the stuffing, (I give ours to the dog, he LOVES it.)
A few years back I made stuffing as above, but added minced walnuts and a touch of cinnamon, the guests loved it, the family did not, that was the last time for that.
Some experts suggest cooking the turkey upside down so the juices run into the meaty part of the bird, not out through the bony part. It doesn't make for the classic golden brown thanksgiving picture though.
Rub the cavity and under the skin with a mixture of softened butter, garlic, and chive (my mother used to do this)
That ought to help.
I agree with Tax-chick to cook the stuffing separately, it is safer. My mother-in-law does it in the crockpot and it is marvelous. Back in the days when my hubby shot wild turkeys, I put them in a roaster with a little chicken broth, an onion, bay leaf, an apple, and wrapped the ends of the drumsticks with bacon slices (and discarded all except the turkey when it was done). You can also “inject” the turkeys with an herbed garlic seasoning to get a good flavor throughout. My mom often inserted small dabs of garlic butter between the skin and the meat, especially on the smaller areas.
Since I don’t cook meat anymore, someone else does the turkey, and I do the sides: sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (with sauteed mushrooms, sliced almonds, and soy bacon bits), a corn and pepper salad, cheesy garlic toast, and a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert (everyone else is bringing pies).
Grandmas Stuffing
pound of each
ground beef
chorico sausage ground or finely diced
2 medium onion
garlic cloves
2 tbls oregano
4 stalks of celery finely sliced
14oz. bag of Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix
2 cans Swanson chicken broth
saute all meats and veggies together
prepare stuffing according to directions using broth in place of water
mix all together
stuff in turkey
cook turkey as directed
Earlier this week, some folks in Plymouth were duplicating the first Thanksgiving feast and those stalwarts wre encasing the turkey in clay and then putting it in the fire.
It looked like they were potters who rolled out the clay on potters tables, but I’m sure you could find something suitable in the back yard. Just don’t get it too wet.
Also, probably not a good idea to build the fire indoors.....also a back yard endeavor.
Turkeys are too complex.
I’m glad we switched to baby seal a few years back.
Do not be tempted to deep fry your first try. Watch someone do it right first. Be prepared to eat at Marie Calender’s as a backup :)
Don’t know if this makes me an expert or not, but I’ve been cooking turkey and dressing for 50 years and haven’t killed anyone yet.
If you live “up North” you may prefer a dressing different than us Southerners, but here goes-—(Southerners use cornbread in their dressing—not as “slimey” as Northern dressing where they use mostly bread crumbs and sometimes oysters and other disgusting things—ugh!)
The turkey is the easy part. Bake at 350 degrees in open roasting pan—about 20 minutues per pound. (DON’T cover with foil, lid, or use a roasting bag)
Drop a stick of REAL BUTTER into the pan and use it to baste the turkey every thirty minutes, using a pastry brush. (Forget the olive oil—too anemic) The skin will develope a nice mahagony color as it bakes and the butter will seal in all the juices. Meat thermometer should read 165 degrees when properly done, inserted in the thickest part of the thigh.
The Dressing————————
Bake a 10 inch skillet of cornbred—iron skillet preferred, and then:
Toast an entire large loaf of bread—can use part leftover bisquets, rolls, etc.-—Bread along with cornbread should total about two gallons of rough bread crumbs—torn toast, etc. Use a very large pan or dishpan.
The cornbread
Mix:
1 and 1-2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 and 1-2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 forth cup of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
About 1 cup of buttermilk—can use milk.
Half stick of butter, melted
Batter should be the consistency of thick cake batter
—use the other half stick of butter to grease the skillet.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
The Broth:
Boil a FAT hen or fryer— about 2-5 pounds— in two or three quarts of water enough to barely cover, along with salt and pepper to taste as in making chicken broth, for the broth you’ll need to moisten the dressing and make the giblet gravy. Add the drippings from baking the turkey along with the left over melted butter that has mixed with the drippings, Or can use canned broth and even chicken bullion cubes—one teaspoon for each cup of water
Remove the boiled hem and use for other uses. Take the the chicken broth and use it to cook:
One large onion chopped
One entire bunch of celery, chopped
Boil abut 25 minutes ‘til veggies are clear.
Pour cooked veggies and broth over bread crumbs.
Cool before adding: (unless you like scrambled eggs)
Seven raw eggs
one-forth cup sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
Half teaspoon of pepper
1-2 Teaspoons of garlic powder
2 tablespoons of celery seed
4-6 tablespoons of rubbed sage—can use more or less to taste. Don’t be afraid to taste the raw dressing to get it right. It hasn’t killed me yet-—better to get the dressing just right.
It’s sometimes difficult to judge the amount of broth you’ll need. May need to make up more broth using chicken bullion cubes, but keep adding broth until the dressing is “mushy” about the consistency of loose mashed potatoes—may need to add even more broth—place in shallow roasting pan or casserole—(You may need two pans—I use 2 of those disposable foil pans they make for lasagne)
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes—dressing should be slightly browned on top—still somewhat soft in the middle.
Never, ever stuff the turkey with the dressing—it won’t cook throughly and you may also find the turkey will still be raw in the middle. People have gotten food poisoning doing this.
The Giblet Gravy-—here I use a short cut...
I use Campbell Cream of Chicken soup thined with half and half chicken broth and milk. Use as many cans as needed. Chop cooked giblets ( heart, gizzard, and liver—go lightly on the liver as it’s pretty strong.) into “gravy” and add chopped boiled eggs. (a couple or three eggs will do.)
The giblet are usually found under the skin at the base of the neck—the turkey neck is usually in the body cavity—hard to get out until the turkey is completely thawed. Giblets can also be bought seperatly in packages in the frozen food section—since in some of the cheaper turkeys they’re missing. Cut the gizzard meat away from the tough grisle as it’s too tough to use. In the “bought” giblets you may find no hearts. Unfortunatly, that’s the best part of the giblets.
write me if you get into trouble. Or I might be persuaded to part with the pumpkin and pecan pie recipe. LOL
This method is not advisable unless you have a self cleaning oven. Clean the oven before and after.
bump
Since the cooking time is estimated on the thickness (which parallels the weight) of the bird, it makes no difference if you have two birds in the oven. Cook them both as if there were one (if they're the same weight), for a 12.5 pound bird in your case.
“Now where did I put my sausage and wild rice stuffing recipe?” top 50.
OFFICIAL THANKSGIVING TURKEY THREAD
Sounds like you’re well on your way.
I put celery and onions in my stuffing. You can either put them in raw, or saute them in butter first. Sauteing them gives it a different flavor.
BTW, I ALWAYS stuff the bird. I just don’t pack it in too tight and have never had a problem with it not getting hot enough.
Sweet potatoes are good to go with, and having something bright green like peas or broccoli looks nice, too.
Here's a carving tip I got from Julia Child (not personally, but from one of her books): Remove the wishbone before cooking. When it comes time to carve the bird, you will find it effortless to remove the breast meat from the bone in two perfect lobes.