Unofficial Turkey Day Thread

Opinipundit ^ | 11/24/10 | traderrob

[traderrob6]

OK folks, lets talk Turkey. I just put my 18# bird on in a Bradley smoker with light Applewood for two hrs. then 215 deg. for another 9 hrs.

Green bean casserole already done, just waiting untill20 minutes before dinner to put it in the oven with 1 1/2 cups cheddar to finish it off. Needless to say all other bases are covered....sweet Yams, Taters, gravy, etc etc will wait untill tomorrow.

Please, post what your doin with your bird.

[TheMom]

Dressing, mashed yams with pecans, green bean casserole (made with my own cream of mushroom soup & fried onions) are all baked and ready to be reheated tomorrow. Getting ready to bake two buttermilk pies.

Tomorrow morning the 20lb turkey will go in the oven, basted with only two sticks of butter. At some point tomorrow the mashed potatoes, broccoli & cheese sauce, giblet gravy & yeast rolls will be added to the menu.

[JimSEA]

My wife has very convenienty not learned to cook traditional Thanksgiving / Christmas dinners so the task has fallen to me (she has managed to learn how to eat and enjoy the feasts). So I am cooking the traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet yams, etc. All from scratch. In return, I am never subjected to black Friday shopping. Good deal all around.

[mylife]

Where is the “I hate sweet potato goo with mini marshmallows” thread?

[goat granny]

One way to tell if the turkey is done is if the drum stick easily falls away from the bird. The bags for roasting turkeys works well also and the turkey stays nice and moist...

I just got back from my daughters house, for years her kids and I make the stuffing the night before....One of my granddaughters is home from college and wanted us to make it this year....missed a couple of years when they were teens..

3 loafs of dried bread--2 large onions chopped fine--5 large stalks of celery chopped fine---sage (to taste or smell) poultry seasoning (to taste or smell) we like lots of seasoning. This year we added 2 cups of finely chopped pecans (no walnuts in the house) Bread-- tear slices into the size of 50 cent pieces...mix together with hands, cover and let set overnight....I like to add a handful of raisins, but no one else likes raisins...

For us, we go by the smell as to how much poultry season and sage we add..

Any stuffing not in the bird is baked in the over with a little broth added for moistness, cover and put in oven 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before dinner, can be put in 1 hour before dinner depends on size of baking dish...there are then 2 types of stuffing. I like from the turkey, some of the family prefer the baked stuffing...( for 19-20 pound turkey) daughter stuffs turkey lightly, I put more stuffing in turkey than she does, but its her turkey not mine....

My mother use to add pork sausage to stuffing, but why have a turkey if you want pork.. HAPPY TURKEY DAY TO EVERYONE..

[RckyRaCoCo]

If you never tasted a brined bird, boy are you in for a treat!

I agree....was going to do the Good Eats brine again...but have to find a good recipe to make my own vegetable stock.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

I was about to give you a PING to this thread..
LOL

[Talisker]

In the past I have brined and it has turned out nicely. Yet. I am too lazy this year and keeping it simple with both the ingredients and the process and the practice turkey flavor was still very nice. The juicy part I will let you know about tomorrow.

With a little care I feel pretty confident about the dark meat without brining. But white meat is another story. It wasn't until I brined that I finally got good white meat - and wow, was it good. Fully cooked but still super moist, even juicy, while the dark meat was also perfect.

It is an extra step to set it up the night before, but hey, that's what a nice scotch is for - to be able to heroically bear the brutal winter labor of preparing the bird against all odds, uphill both ways, in a snowstorm! : )

[mylife]

Lose the pecans, add diced carrot and cooked drained ground sausage, and you have my recipe.

I always make the night before, but the sausage goes in at the last minute.

[mylife]

You know where to find me LoL

You off for the holiday?

[traderrob6]

LOL, you haven’t tasted mine. My wife actually told me after tating it that I didn’t have enough green beans in it.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

I have to work a four hour shift from 2 to 6 pm.
Not too bad..
We will have a Thanksgiving “supper” instead of dinner.
Mr B will cook/baste/watch over the turkey while I am at work.
At least it’s time and a half, and I get another 8 hours pay for that day besides!

[kickonly88]

Deep fried is goooo ooood. My lovely wife is making a cheese cake and home made noodles from scratch tonight. Tomorrow I will put the bird in a bag and throw it in the oven, then a tour of the iron pile before the feast!

[mylife]

Just add canned if you think you need it.

Water salt and sugar do all the work.

I think the rest is mostly show.

[mylife]

You Sir, have just discovered the secret of cooking.

Take your time and cool your thirst!
It’s a battle that can be won!

[mylife]

Not to bad.

Have a Great Thanksgiving Ms B!

[sweetiepiezer]

I make the orange/cranberry one also, along with the fresh cranberry one.

[mylife]

I have 6 days left to work this year and the boss started pushing some project that needs to be done by years end today.

I’ll come in for that good money, but I dont think they will allow me to do it on vacation, only on holiday.

[bigheadfred]

If you use a meat thermometer make sure it doesn’t touch the bone. I go at 450 degrees for the first half hour, then reduce to 300 for the remainder. I do a tight foil tent on mine. I check it at around the 4 1/2-5 hour mark. 22 lb. bird this year. When the thermometer is close I untent to brown it up more. I always twist a drumstick. I like mine Done.

Since the outside temp is supposed to be around -12 tomorrow, we’re sticking him in when we wake and then huddling around the stove til he’s done. Prolly have dinner inside the oven this year.

[mylife]

The orange/cranberry one is THE BEST!

[Viking2002]

We're doing Thanksgiving at my step-son's house again this year, and a dozen or so in-laws, outlaws, and various young-uns will be there. He's throwing a 25-pounder in the Orion smoker, and taking care of the pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, yeast rolls, and associated sides. My wife just went by the church and snagged several folding chairs from the community center because it's getting too big for his dining room, and with the weather forecast appearing to temporarily cooperate, he wants to have dinner outside in the back yard. We're in the middle of prepping our contribution: sauteing celery and onions for the sage stuffing and cornbread dressing, the wife is making squash casserole, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole, and she's cooking a great apple crisp. I say great because the apples in it are off of the tree in our front yard. (If you don't own a good apple tree on your property, you are really denying yourself a relatively low-maintenance piece of living Americana.) And I'm also roasting a big-ass smoked ham starting at 07:00 sharp, a 12-pounder if it's an ounce. Studded with whole cloves and glazed with 100% pure, dark amber maple syrup from sugar maples grown in the United States of By God America. Several pounds of taters have been peeled, cubed, and are in the stock pot with sea salt for boiling and smashing in the morning. We're also arriving with a very large bottle of good German Liebfraumilch. Then, when we abscond with some leftovers and get back here to the Viking Lodge, I'm shoving that good old-fashioned sage stuffing up the keister of a young 11-pound Tom, then basting it in white wine and slow roasting it for the rest of the day. Our Dachshunds know the ritual, and are already milling around the oven in anticipation. Even the neighbor's dog next door knows she's going to get fed right. And I should have Ye Olde Yule Tree up in the living room by the time that golden-brown bird springs forth from the roasting pan.

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for his name is Obama."