Hello again friends and followers,
It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving Day is only ten days away. Most people stick with the traditional turkey so that’s what we’ll be covering today.
The first thing to determine is what size turkey do you want to buy. How many people will you be serving? How many leftovers do you want? As a general rule of thumb, you should figure on 1 lb. per person for a whole turkey. Buy a larger turkey if you really like leftovers or plan to send guests home with some.
Now we need to thaw the turkey. The two safest ways to defrost a turkey are; 1) in the refrigerator, or 2) submerged in cold water.
To defrost in the refrigerator, leave in the original wrapper and place breast-side-up on a tray. Allow 24 hours for every 5 lbs. of turkey.
To defrost in cold water, leave in the original wrapper, place in the sink breast-side-down. Cover completely with cold tap water, change water every 30 minutes to keep the surface of the turkey cold. Allow 30 minutes for every 1 lb. of turkey.
Once the turkey is defrosted, place it in the sink, unwrap it and remove the giblets (usually in the neck cavity). Rinse the turkey well and let drain for a few minutes. Sprinkle a little salt in both the neck and breast cavities.
To stuff or not to stuff??
If you are going to stuff your turkey, do so just prior to placing in the oven. If you made your stuffing ahead of time, you would want to allow it to come to room temperature as chilled stuffing can cause all kinds of timing and temperature problems. We always make our stuffing first thing on Thanksgiving Day morning.
Stuff the neck cavity first, packing it a rather loosely as the stuffing will swell a little while cooking. Bring the neck skin (if there is any) up and over the stuffing and secure it to the backbone with a skewer. Now turn the turkey around and fill the breast cavity, again, don’t pack it too tight. Next is to keep the drumsticks in place. Some turkeys come with a flap of skin you can tuck the ends of the drumsticks in. Some come with a plastic thing made to leave in the turkey to tuck the drumsticks in. Or you can run a skewer through the ends of the drumstick and secure with kitchen twine.
To roast the turkey, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Place the turkey breast side up on a rack in a shallow roasting pan and rub with cooking oil or cooking spray. We prefer butter and Doug bastes it with more butter every hour. When the turkey is about 2/3 done, cover it loosely with a foil tent to prevent over-browning and to help preserve breast moistness.
Roasting times vary by the weight of the turkey and whether you choose to stuff it or not. A 14 lb. stuffed turkey will take approx. 4 hrs. Most turkeys have defrosting and roasting instruction on the back of the wrapper however, you will need to use a thermometer to make sure the turkey is done and the stuffing inside is hot enough. We don’t rely on the pop-up timers some turkeys have but use it as an indication that it’s getting close to done. A thermometer inserted in the inside center of the thigh (away from the bone) should read 180 degrees and the center of the stuffing should read 165 degrees. When the turkey is done, remove from oven, cover, and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
There are many ways to carve a turkey but here’s our way.
We get out two knives, a long semi-flexible filet knife, and a slicing knife. Using the filet knife, Doug cuts along the breastbone and down around the rib cage to remove one side of the breast in a whole piece. Using the slicing knife, I slice the breast meat thin enough it will make a great sandwich yet thick enough it will hold some gravy on your plate. Doug continues removing the dark meat and arranging it on the serving platter while I get everything ready for the table.
We hope you find this helpful and welcome your comments.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Patty & Doug
FROM THE GARDEN TO THE TABLE
It was nice talking with you both at the store today! 🙂