In honor of the election, I asked Chatbot to create an image of a patriotic turkey.
It’s Monday before Thankgiving… do you know where your Thanksgiving turkey is? if still in the freezer, drag it out stat! You’ve got 2 days if you’re going to brine it, 2 1/2 days otherwise, so not a minute to waste. Most food safety experts would say you should defrost in the refrigerator, but when time is short we tend to “forget” ours on the counter for a few hours right at the beginning, until the surface is just beginning to soften and still below the 39 degree setting of most fridges.
After we defrost our Thanksgiving turkey we’ll repeat the dry-brine method which turned out to be a hit in 2023*; from that point we’ll follow the method first described several years ago:
We’ll cook our turkey this way following the options from sfgate.com with a light brining, stuffing, and roasting at moderate heat with a paper towel or cheesecloth covered with oil or butter over the breast till the last half hour. We’ll use this stuffing recipe, though we’ll dial back the spices because we will be using our bread machine bread for stuffing which has the spices already mixed in, accompanied by fresh cranberry sauce which, according to our taste test, is the best option and very easy.
The next day we’ll have turkey sandwiches on some good stiff country sourdough with leftover stuffing, gravy, wilted salad and cranberry sauce, nicely lubricated with Durkee’s Famous Sauce. And then the real work begins as we figure out what to do with the remaining 15 pounds or so of turkey.
*We follow the first part of the recipe where you dry the bird, generously coat it with salt and let it cure a day or longer in the fridge. After that we proceed with our usual method.
No turducken? I may buy one of the frozen turducken rolls after the holidays. Leftovers? Soup/stock and/or “turkey and biscuits” AKA al la king. Freezes well.
We have turducken… do a search and you’ll find Philip Henderson’s turducken method which was posted last T’giving.
I have roasted more than 200 turkeys. I have even made Turducken seven or eight times. I have cooked whole turkeys in several different ways, I haven’t deep fried a turkey yet, but don’t plan to either. This year, for my favorite Holiday, Thanksgiving Day, I am using ground turkey to make Turkey lasagna. I will likely purchase a turkey after the holiday, when the price drops, and roast a turkey next week. I use the entire bird; I particularly like to use the carcass to make turkey soup. I freeze some of the turkey and some of the turkey soup. I eat roast turkey, I cut the breast in slices for sandwiches. I cube some of the chicken and make turkey stew. The next day I transform the turkey stew into turkey curry. For the stew I use potatoes, onions, bell peppers, celery and daikon radishes. Sometimes I had hot peppers into the stew. I like it hot, hot, hot. Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone. We have a great deal to be thankful for, mostly the love of family.
After Thanksgiving? Here in NY the birds are currently 39 cents a pound pre-holiday. I have roasted fewer than 100 turkeys but zero which were dried out and not delicious. This year I’m trying a second stuffing in the neck cavity using left over cardamom date bread, with some ground sweet Chinese sausage added just for fun.
I’ve eaten, never made, fried turkey and smoked turkey. Can be good. The family occasionally did the horribly dangerous, too low, too slow, overnight method. Williams-Sonoma has the technique. The drawback is depending on when you put it in, the turkey is done at breakfast. A good start on leftovers! Saves bacon and eggs for another day.
My mom was not much of a turkey cook, so I had to make my own tradition as an adult. Early on I got the idea that someone needs to get up super early to make the stuffing, put it in the bird and load it in the oven. This was a low and slow cook method and the turkey came out early pm and was too dry. Now I take my time, get a good night’s sleep and the meal is served maybe 4-5 pm. Much more civilized.
I am not going to fry a turkey. Seems like a waste of good oil, plus you have to buy a device you’re going to use once a year, and a good way to set your house on fire or go to the ER with third degree burns. Otherwise it’s a great concept. Smoking on the other hand is a worthy pursuit and I’ve often done it with good results. Bought a second of the 39c a pound turkeys this week which will go in the Weber Bullet come springtime.