All things turkey
There is little doubt that one of the most important parts of a Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey…at least in most households. And I always have to think of Christmas Vacation and the delicious turkey they have there when it comes to carving it up.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the U.S. at Thanksgiving—that’s one sixth of all turkeys sold in the U.S. each year. American per capita consumption of turkeys has soared from 8.3 pounds in 1975 to 18.5 pounds in 2006. That’s a lot of tryptophan!
When selecting your bird, you’ll need to consider how many people you’ll be feeding. With a whole turkey, you should generally estimate about 1 pound of bird per person coming to dinner. So if you’ve got 12 adults coming, you’ll want a turkey about 12 pounds. Fairly simple, right? If you’re getting your turkey from a free range farm, you probably have ordered it already…but it may not be too late to get one still.
If you go with a frozen bird, don’t forget to begin thawing it in your fridge several days in advance. An 8-12 pound turkey will take 2-3 days to thaw. My mom always started the thawing on Thanksgiving morning or the night before, using a sink full of cold water (30 minutes per pound). BUT if you have cats, beware. They may outsmart you. One year, our cat decided she wanted to start Thanksgiving dinner early and carefully balanced herself on the bird while it floated. Then she ate through the plastic and helped herself to fresh turkey until we discovered her!
Once the turkey is thawed, you will want to rinse it off (don’t use soap – yes, I do know someone who did this and it was not me!) and check for any feathers that may have been missed before, especially around the wings and legs. Use the neck, giblets, heart, etc from the body cavity (usually all nicely packaged in a little bag in American birds) to make broth. Put everything in a small pot and cover with water. Add spices (i.e. bay leaves, pepper, garlic); bring to a boil and simmer until tender and meat falls off neck.
Last year, I tried something new: brining a turkey. It’s a simple process, where you let the bird soak for 24-48 hours in a bath of spices. It will leave your turkey so moist and tender, it may end up completely falling off the bone when you go to carve it. The breasts literally just lifted off the bird in complete pieces. We had a 15 pound turkey so putting it in a pot was not really an option; especially since it needed to go back into the fridge. But it turned out that our electric cooler was just the right size! We only had 24 hours to brine the turkey but it was plenty. Don’t be scared to play with the ingredients a bit either.
The Best Brine Ever
INGREDIENTS
- 2 gallons water
- 1 1/2 cups canning salt
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
DIRECTIONS
- In a cooler, mix together the water, salt, garlic, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Ice it down (or plug in the cooler if you’re using an electric one like we did) and soak turkey for 2 days before smoking or roasting.
When you’re ready to start cooking your turkey, there are several options. Some people like to stuff the bird with stuffing/dressing. I prefer that the dressing goes in a casserole dish in the oven where it can get a bit crispy.
Thanksgiving Turkey Like Mom Makes It
INGREDIENTS
- 1 one large onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 apple
- A couple peeled garlic cloves
- A few tablespoons pepper corns (you can use lemon & pepper and garlic powder as well)
- Olive or vegetable oil
- Garlic powder
DIRECTIONS
- Stuff ingredients into the body cavity. Tie or “truss” the legs together with string (if it did not come with a wire or plastic tie.) Put a couple pieces of onion/apple in the neck cavity as well.
- Take the wings and fold them behind the neck (like you would put your arms behind your head!) Tuck the neck flap under the body.
- Place a cake cooling rack in bottom of roaster so the juices drip down underneath. (You’ll use them for your gravy and broth later.) Use olive oil or vegetable oil to slather your bird for it’s “tan” in the oven. Use your hands but be certain to sanitize your hands, sink, tools, etc. afterward to prevent salmonella bacteria growth. Sprinkle with garlic powder
- Place turkey in the roaster or large deep pan in oven without top or foil until the bird begins to brown. Oven should be at 325°F (160°C). Baste the bird with the drippings as it begins to brown.
COOKING TIME:
8-12 lbs – 3-4 hours
12-16 lbs – 4-5 hours
16-20 lbs – 5-6 hours - When it’s looking almost cooked, place a foil “tent” over it to prevent burning the top of breast and legs.
- When done, remove from roaster pan onto a platter and allow to cool. If you use a meat thermometer, it should register 185°F in the muscle or the legs should wiggle freely like they are about to drop off! Do not poke it with a fork!
GRAVY
- Put 1 cup of drippings from turkey into a Dutch oven. Add two cups of broth from turkey giblets. Bring to a boil.
- In a separate glass, put about 1 cup room temperature water and add 2 Tbls flour. Blend with a fork.
- Slowly add ½ half mixture to Dutch oven mixture, stirring with a whisk constantly until thickened. Add more of flour mixture if it does not thicken. Season to taste (salt, pepper, etc.) You can add the pieces of turkey neck cut into small pieces or diced boiled eggs.
DON’T THROW OUT ANYTHING FROM THE ROASTING PROCESS!! Make turkey noodle soup!
Use the onions, etc. from body cavity, to season turkey noodle soup. Put the whole leftover carcass (bones) into a large pot. Add the drippings and leftover giblet broth. Boil all the turkey from the bones. Cool and pick out the bones.
Add cut up carrots, celery, peas, potatoes, etc. Cook until tender. Season to taste. Add noodles and you have a totally different meal from your leftovers!!
Looking for more Thanksgiving recipes and tips? Visit The Thanksgiving Countdown
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That sounds so good!
I’m cooking thankgiving dinner this year for my parents and inlaws, for the first time, so thanks for the turkey ideas.
I almost bought a turkey from a local lady, but they were HUGE turkeys. I don’t think it would have even fit in my oven. Plus they were $90 for one turkey. A bit out of my price range this year.
Hey good for you! I was pretty intimidated about doing the full dinner last year, but I love entertaining and everything turned out so well – I can’t wait to do it again next year. And of course this year cooking with my mom and Stefan’s parents over Christmas will be great because we’re going to basically have a Thanksgiving dinner then too.
$90 for a turkey! Good grief! That’s extreme. He would have to have been hand fed pieces of gold that I could harvest…or at least silver lol. Hope he was at least HUGE! Like 25 pounds or something
[...] Turkey (brined 24 hours in advance) [...]