Posted on 11/21/2021 8:38:10 AM PST by mylife
Purchasing and preparing the turkey for Thanksgiving has taken on a kind of mythical status through the years. It's a big hunk of poultry that you only cook once a year, so taking the care to properly store, thaw, and cook the big bird in time for a glorious entrance to the harvest table can be tricky. While it may not be as easy to control for seasonings, cooking times, and temperatures, there is one easy way to start off your Thanksgiving feast preparation on the right foot: Buy the best bird.
To help you decide which turkey to buy for this Thanksgiving, we bought, roasted, and tasted five brand-name frozen turkeys from the supermarket. We had taste testers judge the birds based on tenderness, texture, and flavor to determine a winner.
Here's how we did it. We visited three local grocery stores—Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and Whole Foods—to source our big birds. They were all frozen and ranged in the 12–14-pound range. Two of the birds were not injected or didn't have any added salt, while the other three were already brined in the bag.
(Excerpt) Read more at eatthis.com ...
Well, tastes good and doesn’t send anyone home with anything they didn’t arrive with...
Other than leftovers, of course.
It’s been a long time since I had fresh turkey, when I was a kid, we would go with Dad to a farm and buy one fresh a day or two before Thanksgiving. Mom would keep it in the fridge , take it out T’giving morning, clean it, season it , stuff it, and pop it in the oven.
Humblegunner is sarcastic?
if you have the room, getting any meat at all for under a dollar is a steal....
Yeah, the one we went to didn’t smell good either- couldn’t wait to get outta there!
I’m the experimenting type, she likes to go with what she knows.
I have that roaster too, My!
It was my Moms roaster.
Never a dry turkey with dat!
I am NOT a fan of bread stuffing for the bird.
I think it just is mushy and greasy if cooked
in the bird.
I do a Canadian Meat stuffing for our bird, and
the turkey picks up those flavors and is YUMMY!
Ya gotta use Bell’s Seasoning!
The taste of the meat stuffing is similar to Creton!
Here’s an easy almost fool proof way to make a NO STUFFING turkey (by a person who doesn’t usually cook):
Easy:
Buy Turkey, butter, salt, Herbs de Provence, two carrots, two stalks celery...
Heat oven to 450 degrees (this will be turned down right after you put the Turkey in the oven to the temperature on the plastic covering the turkey comes in).
find large roasting pan
Put two carrots and two pieces of celery in the bottom of the roasting pan lengthwise.(this will prop up the bird and provide the base for gravy if you want to go ‘all the way’ into cooking.
Take bird out of plastic wrap and save plastic wrap for the printed baking times and temps.
Place turkey on top of celery/carrot bed in roasting pan.
Mix 1 stick of softened butter in small bowl with 1 tablespoon *Herbs de Provence, and 1 tablespoon kosher salt or table salt. Mix.
Gently slide fingers under the top skin of the turkey (trying NOT to break the skin and push the butter/herbs de provence/salt mixture under the skin as far as you can get it without breaking the skin... (usually to the back of the turkey and to the thighs... )
Admire your work, then put turkey in oven, turn temperature to what’s on saved turkey wrap, and set timer based on what it says for YOUR turkey’s weight.
Take turkey out of oven when the timer goes off, put it on a platter and leave it alone to rest.
During the rest period you can make the gravy:
Easy gravy: leave carrot, celery, and turkey drippings in the bottom of the roasting pan. Smash carrot and celery with large fork. Put roasting pan on stove and turn on to medium heat.. Add flour to mix slowly ( 1 tablespoon at a time) and mix into turkey drippings until incorporated... keep adding flour and stirring until there’s no fat left and flour mixture turns a very light brown (about 5 to 8 minutes), add water (best water is the water you cooked potatoes in) add water slowly and stir until blended then add another quarter cup of water and stir, etc etc until you have the consistency of gravy you want. Then pull out the stingy parts of the celery that weren’t incorporated and toss... Add salt and pepper to taste...(add a little then taste to see if that’s enough, then add a little more, taste etc until it taste the way you want it to...do NOT over salt)
*”Herbs de Provence”(usually a mix of some combination of: fennel, marjoram, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, and thyme. Can include (or not) basil, bay leaves, savory, chervil, sage, oregano, mint, and lavender)
All kinds of Hierbs de Provence will work so get whatever your store sells in their spice racks...
.
“Herbs de Provence” can be bought in the spice section of your grocery store - don’t try to mix your own - that’s too confusing for a novice cook.
What is Manifold Destiny type cooking?
Easier to do with older vehicles.
I’ve developed an aversion to turkey over the years. Just the smell of it cooking makes me sick now. I’m making glazed ham and fried chicken.
I have the Thanksgiving Publix salt and pepper - bought them years ago... Freepers new to Florida need to try the Publix key lime pie too. Yum yummy...
Hat tip Ms B :)
I just put Italian sausage in my bread stuffing :)
Love it!
We’ve never done it a vehicle still under warranty.
We’re too chicken.
(ha, ha)
Novice? What! I’m still learning to boil water. novice indeed :)
That’s but you lost me at “easy”
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