Posted on 11/26/2002 8:13:06 PM PST by Mo1
I rub the inside of the bird with lemon then drain it because no one but me likes the occasional surprise mouthful of lemon in their stuffing. Broken up loaf of white bread (not hard lumps, but allowed to sit around long enough to get crispy on the outside), a decent amount of chopped onions (not chopped too small, I use one Spanish onion per turkey, but some may not like that much) sage and thyme and one-third pound of butter melted over it for moistening and all mixed together. (I can tell when the sage and thyme are right by smell, and you'll notice I don't put a whole lot of extraneous crap in my stuffing either). It works best if you don't stuff it too tightly, but a whole loaf is too much to get into any turkey (their insides tend not to get any bigger when you get past about 15 pounds), and since I'm a greedy pig when it comes to my stuffing I'll pack it somewhat. Including in the spaces next to the drumsticks. You can also stuff a large amount under the neck skin flap (if it hasn't been removed) then skewer that down. (An alternative if you don't want to pack it very tightly is to wrap your extra stuffing in tinfoil with half the turkey neck inside and cook it along with the turkey. The other half of the turkey neck you might put over the stuffing hole to help try to seal it up, if just tying things together doesn't work.)
Prepare the bird by cleaning and washing, stuff, tie down the wings and try to tie the legs together (they won't cover the hole completely, that why I mentioned putting the half turkey neck over the hole) then lemon, salt, pepper, good paprika all over, the other two-thirds pound of butter in two chunks on top of the bird. Salt, pepper, paprika on top of the two butter chunks or they'll wash away the stuff you put on the bird and leave not much behind. Start basting after two hours (baste gently the first time or two, again to avoid washing away the salt + pepper + paprika), then baste after an hour, then baste every half hour until there's a half hour left to go. If over 15 or 16 pounds, cook covered @ 325 for 15 minutes a pound (take the cover off to baste it anyway), uncovering for good with an hour or two left to go. The turkey should be finished when the drumsticks and wings move easily, but you may want to use your head about the skin if it's cooking too fast or whatever. I've cooked over 30 turkeys, so I've got a pretty good semi-instinctive feel for when things are going too fast or slow and what to do about it and when.
Here's the controversial part: a small turkey (less than 15 pounds) I cook uncovered at 225 for half an hour a pound. Some people say that temperature's too low, you may get bacteria in the stuffing, but I haven't had a problem yet.
Well now I'm really suffering hunger pangs, reading that. Canaduh Thanksgiving was the second Monday in October, the same as your Columbus Day. Oh, well.
I can also boil water. Would anyone like the recipe for that? And I can open beer containers and wine bottles.
From RED DWARF:
EPIDEME
*Dave*... let's run down the rules. If you win: *you* get to live; if I win: you get to die, and I take all your knowledge then I kill you...
LISTER
What? You absorb knowledge from every person you kill?
EPIDEME
So, as you can appreciate, killing you ain't exactly a career highlight...
No offence, but when you're a virus there's not much call for knowing how to open a lager bottle with your *anus*.
A one word mantra that means Pepto Bismol......
You probably play guitar and we all know what comes next.....
He hasn't gotten it yet.
He's getting there fast.
All the libs are getting way too old to engage.
We tired them out....they went to bed.
:-)
A perfect description.....
Can't wait till next time.
:-)
Felt like it took all day to cut the dang thing.
In spite of being way too full (come to think of it, pitiful is way too nice a description) Thanksgiving is awesome.
*Moan*
Goodnightall.
Happy Thanksgiving....Arncha glad itsover.....:-)
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