This year my beautiful sister urged strongly to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving. So we allowed it (I didn't want to do it - tedious, time consuming, laboring.. and if you screw it up, YOU'RE ROAST!) I was right by her side (well, only a phone call away) while she dredged this daunting task.. uncharted waters here, folks. Matter fact, I'm pretty sure it would be better fitting to say, "uncharted rainforest floor" considering she doesn't cook much outside of the crockpot.
we wondered into the abyss... of deep, dark, scary.... lemme stop :)
This turkey was the mother of all turkeys. I'm pretty sure she hand picked the largest one they had, on purpose. You know, so it would take three years to thaw. 25 pounder. I think she paid $6 for it. I can't PAY for someone to find me these kinds of deals. I digress.. First error of her ways: she froze the turkey before gutting it (and I will give you one guess as to who was making the giblet gravy - we'll get to that in a minute). She decided to pull it out of the freezer on Monday to start thawing it. I SUGGESTED tossing the fat mother into a cooler Friday morning - bathing it occassionally with ice, topped wtih Brine, of course. She didn't feel comfortable with this. She was apparently worried we were all going to die eating tainted meat. No worries, Dooms day is right around the corner on the 21st anyway so what's the big deal!? So instead, she first asks, "what's brine?" and, at this moment, I let out a deep, long sigh and thought to myself "THIS, is going to be fun" and I'm fairly certain I had a smirk on my face, too:)
Plans got all backwards and wrapped around and switched up for Thanksgiving in our blended households so we weren't cooking the turkey until Saturday after Thanksgiving Day. Good thing- because the turkey was still frozen on Friday. Would you like to know why? Because it was sitting in a stainless steel roasting pot, in brothy salt water in the fridge. Have you ever put a drink into the fridge with ice in it - and come back the next day and it still has ice in? Well... our turkey was THAT ice cube. No lie. I pulled the turkey out of the roasting pot and put it in the sink. Filled the sink with water and covered it with a large platter and a towel. She has animals. They were sneaking around me the entire time trying to worm their wet little noses up high enough to sniff out what was going on above their furry heads. I kicked them out several times. I swept the decks - and terrified that I would have "A Christmas Story" episode, I kept popping my head back in the door to be sure no mongrals were on the counter. Including the sneaky little cat. Turkey is still froze two hours later. I have errands to run. I pin down the towel with pots and rush through my day so I could get back to her house.. make sure the bird was still safe in the sink.
It was. *whew*
Stuck my hand down his hollow carcuss and... still frozen... so I swept a little, watched a little TV, cleaned the kitchen, tried to find ground coffee but wasn't so lucky. Few hours later, SUCCESS! I was able to pull out the neck and bag of "guts" and get to work. I seasoned her "brine" with Sage and Poultry seasoning, chunked apples and onions and smashed up some garlic, threw it inside the bird and threw the bird back into the roasting pot and back into the fridge. Off to chopping the giblets. This was my first time EVER having to do this. Mom normally did it.. and MY FIRST ERROR: cutting the giblets before cooking them. I completely ruined myself for giblet gravy. Ever. Everything went into the fridge to be cooked the next day. I finally went home.
The next day I make cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes before heading over.
Easy Taters!
2 lbs russett potatoes - cut into chunks, skin on (great flavor). Boil until soft. Mash with 1/2 stick of butter and milk or half & half.
I grate in (1) shallot and (1) garlic clove (depending on how large), 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and ocassionally chop up some green onions. Makes it look pretty :)
1 bag of cranberries (about a pound)
1 orange
about a cup or 1 1/2 cups of sugar
about two cups of water
Boil water and sugar until sugar is fully dissoved (about 5 minutes) in a large sauce pan. Toss in your cranberries and let cook until all cranberries have "popped". You will hear them. It's fun to cook this stuff (lol). Add the juice of one orange and TADA! Now.. I have made this several times and each time it has tasted different. I sometimes have to add extra juice or extra sugar. When I have to add extra sugar, I toss in some organic cane sugar to taste. Just... to taste!
Off to my sister's I go...
Everything seemed to be in order... cooking four things in the oven at once, causing it to take longer made the turkey go in kinda late.. hmm..
It's close to dinner time. I need to start the gravy. I pull out the neck and giblets and get to work. In the meantime, we check the temp - it's close to 170
. Check it in another spot - just at 165. So I told her it would be OK to leave it out - just keep it covered and it will stay heated through.......
I threw the neck into some chicken broth and let boil - I threw the giblets in a small pan and cooked up with a some chicken broth as well. WHY I didn't do this together, I have no idea. I like to make things as difficult as possible.
(this isn't mine - but should have been!)
I wisk in some corn starch into the giblets, add in some drippings from the turkey, little bit of sage, poultry seasoning, salt, wisk wisk wisk. I pour in the "juice" from the neck (probably about a cup) then add some additional chicken stock. wisk wisk wisk.
For this to be my first gravy, I was very impressed! looked great! (I removed the giblets, though - my previous day encounter, I just couldn't do it.. ) and PUFF. I'm covered with cornstarch! My BIL apparently thought covering me with it would make this process move along faster. No, that's now how you get gravy!
Brother In Law begins to cut the turkey. IT'S PINK. At the leg. HOW did this happen! the corn casserole and biscuits are in the oven so we don't have room! We throw the oven "stuff" onto the grill and throw the turkey back into the oven. The lovely BIL keeps an eye on it - and it's finally done. Whew!
In the middle of getting everything "prepped" to eat and on the counter and biscuits on the table I realized the gravy didn't look like gravy anymore. It looked like hot grits soaking in butter. Or, "Brain Matter Batter" as my BIL would say. WTH happened! It sat for 20 minutes... so, my only conclusion is the following: it's not my fault.
It IS slightly possibly the turkey juices were too greasy, causing everything to separate. I can't help my sister got a greasy turkey. Probably why it only cost $6. I kick into overdrive and start throwing some more gravy together! Melted a couple pats of butter, tossed in some flour, wisk wisk wisk. Few tablespoons of cornstarch, started adding chicken stock and turkey drippings. wisk wisk wisk. Sage, Poultry seasoning, salt, wisk wisk wisk. Now, let it sit for just a minute or two. Ahhhh, PERFECT gravy. Second time is a charm...
Now, I learned several things from this day:
- allow the temp in the center of meat to get 10 degrees above "cook" temp;
- even if you don't initiate trouble, BILs bring it;
- mom should totally cook the giblet gravy for many years to come;
- Sis should totally cook the turkey again for many years to come;
- remind turkey do'er next year to THAW it :)
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