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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsYou know it's time for this Thanksgiving classic! Great turkey advice....the best!
MontanaMama
(23,337 posts)I just love her!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,879 posts)1. Buy a turkey.
2. If it's frozen start thawing in the fridge on Monday.
3. Make stuffing. I'm fond of Pepperidge Farm, and I use some combination of cornbread, cubed, and herbed seasoning. Whatever your preferred stuffing is, that's perfect.
4. Rinse the bird under cold water. Take out the giblets, neck, and whatever other dreck is inside the bird.*
5. Stuff the bird. I hope you prepared the dressing early enough that it's no longer hot. There are two places to stuff, and do them both. Oh, and the notion that cooking the stuffing inside the turkey can lead to terrible things happening, is just bullshit. Ignore it.
6. Smear butter, and I mean butter not margarine, over the bird.
7. Put it inside a pre-heated 300 degree oven.
8. I'm hoping your bird has one of those pop-up thermometers. They are wonderful.
9. Check in on the bird every so often. If the wings seems to be browning more than you want, cover with foil. You can also cover the entire bird with foil early on. Just be sure to leave an opening for the thermometric to pop up.
Here's another topic entirely. What do you bake it in? I know most people today use those awful aluminum pans. But let me tell you a story. Many years ago, around 1991 or so, I went looking for an aluminum pan for my Thanksgiving Day turkey, and weirdly enough, they had all been bought up already. This was the day before T-Day. So I went to something along the lines of Bed Bath and Beyond (maybe that specific franchise, maybe something else similar, I don't recall) and they didn't have aluminum pans, but they did have real baking pans. I bought one. It is of some kind of solid metal and has a solid metal rack. As I recall, it cost me $75.00. I want to tell you that was the very best seventy-five dollars I ever spent. The dark metal holds heat in a way the flimsy aluminum pans can't begin to imagine. Plus, the turkey was above the bottom of the pan on a rack. Shall I share that it cooked up in about half the time I'd expected? It did.
So forget about the aluminum pans and buy a real one. Trust me, it's worth it.
Let's see, $75 divided by about 25 years so far. That's three bucks a year. I have no idea what the aluminum pans cost, and even if they are a dollar or less, trust me, the quality of the end product is vastly worth it.
Back to the dinner.
About an hour before you think it will be ready, peel potatoes. Open a can of yams and dump into a pyrex dish. Sprinkle some brown sugar on them. I like peas, so at this point I open a bag of frozen peas and put into a pot. Do the same with whatever vegetables you like.
Fifteen minutes before the turkey comes out of the oven, start boiling the potatoes. If you happen to use a pressure cooker (I don't, so I don't know enough about them) make the appropriate changes.
When the turkey comes out, it will need to sit for about fifteen minutes. Then take the stuffing out and put into a serving dish.
Some fifteen minutes later, whoever is assigned to carve the turkey can start carving.
Around this time the potatoes should be properly boiled. Mash them. I recommend using cream cheese, along with half and half and some butter as the flavoring/mashing elements.
Make gravy.
Whatever other vegetables you're cooking should be done by now.
Dish up everything and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Back in the day, when my sons were little, about every six or so weeks I'd bake a turkey. Usually in the middle of the week. I did not make as many side dishes on Thanksgiving. Sometimes I'd stuff, sometimes not. There would always be mashed potatoes and gravy. Sometimes sweet potatoes, sometimes peas. It varied. The point was the wonderfulness of turkey.
I want to encourage people to make turkey more than once or twice a year. It really isn't hard and it's WONDERFUL!!
* Last year I actually had Thanksgiving with a friend who had apparently NEVER baked a turkey before and didn't know to take those things out. Really? Not to mention this friend was in her forties.
BigmanPigman
(51,624 posts)from scratch when I was 22. I like to cook so it was not a problem. I really don't know why everyone makes it more complicated than it needs to be. It made them sooooooo happy....that was the best part.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,879 posts)I did my first turkey/Thanksgiving dinner closer to age 30, so I am genuinely impressed.
But yes, too many make it more complicated than it needs to be.
orleans
(34,072 posts)i don't eat turkey anymore (or any animals) but it brought back a lot of happy memories of gatherings, and cooking, and home.
i still have the roasting pan my mom used (and i used). it lives in the garage now and i'm not sure i have the lid to it anymore; a vintage black & white speckled "enamelware" "roaster."
you wrote this piece very well.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,879 posts)I am trying to offer a sensible suggestion to you.
Do non meat things lend themselves to roasting?
If not, either save the pan for younger generations who are happy carnivores, or donate them to resale shops. Someone else will be very happy.
And yes, I recall the speckled roaster quite well. Were you thinking of roasting a real turkey carcass I'd offer advice and suggestions, but clearly you don't need that.
orleans
(34,072 posts)it's a weird reasoning on my part but when i lost my beloved childhood home a few years ago i moved into a condo with an electric stove/oven and in part of my protest/rebellion for having to be where i am i have absolutely refused to use the oven. the last time it was turned on was when the inspector checked to make sure things worked before i moved in.
as far as that pan goes i have no desire to give it up--it's part of my childhood and memories of my mom cooking, and then me using it to fix thanksgiving dinners.
roasted veggies are great.
if i want them i have to get them somewhere other than my kitchen.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,879 posts)why not roast them yourself.
Refusing to use the oven is a classic "cutting off your nose to spite your face". Really.
orleans
(34,072 posts)it's just my crazy silent protest against losing my house that i lived in all my life.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,879 posts)you are quite limited in what you can cook. Or do you simply eat all of your meals out?
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I dont do Thanksgiving or any other holiday at home or with friends, but Ill follow her advice on the wine!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,879 posts)Somewhere after putting the turkey in the oven and start the other things I should have said to open a bottle of wine. If you can't get through at least two during the day, there is something seriously wrong with you.
When my sister and I used to trade of T-day (one year at her place, next year at mine) when we lived not too far apart, the first bottle of wine got opened about 45 minutes before the turkey was done. Needless to say, we always had a very good Thanksgiving.
Trailrider1951
(3,414 posts)She would thaw it for days in the bottom of the refrigerator. Then on Thanksgiving morning, she would unpackage it and put it in the roaster on the rack UPSIDE DOWN, with the breast on the bottom and the back on the top. It would go into the oven that way for half of the cooking time, during which all the moisture from the roasting turkey would baste the white meat due to gravity. Then she would turn it over so that the breast was on the top and the back down on the rack for the last half of the roasting time. This would allow the skin on the breast to brown perfectly, while the meat stayed juicy. She never used aluminium foil, and made a perfect turkey for our Thanksgiving.