We are hosting Thanksgiving this year for the first time. We finally have a house big enough for my whole family, and I just don't have the energy to chase my one year old around a family members' non-baby-proofed house.
We are cooking the turkey, and everyone else is bringing the side dishes. Easy, right?! Well I haven't a clue how to cook a turkey!
If I ask this question of anyone else, they will tell me to brine, baste, truss, winch or tow the turkey and that is all just too much for my brain or body to handle right now. I figured if anyone would understand that I need a yummy but easy way to cook a turkey it is you folks!
So does anyone have any advice or help for this turkey cooking novice?
Posted by BHealthyNow (Member # 22537) on :
The best brine that exists IMO is from Williams-Sonoma. Put the turkey in the brine with water in a brining bag Wednesday morning and let it sit overnight. I also use W-S Turkey Paste, but you could just use some olive oil and salt and pepper to taste before you put it in the oven. The turkey should have suggested cooking time on it. I use a digital thermometer that tells me when it's the right temperature. As it's cooking, be sure to baste (put some of the juices over the turkey) every so often.
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
I think it's easier to get one or two turkey breasts and roast them. That's what I did, and made filling in a separate pan. Sooo much simpler that way.
Then you don't have to worry about the legs and wings being overdone while the breastmeat is still bloody.
If you've already bought the turkey, I hope you got a prebasted one with a pop-up timer.
Don't forget to remove the bag of giblets from the cavity before you put it in the oven, haha. You can still simplify by NOT stuffing the turkey, and doing the stuffing separately.
Carol
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
i've cooked tons but then i'm old fashioned.
take out the giblets!!! massage in combination of pepper, salt, oregano, and sage with butter all over bird.
put in roasting pan and shove in oven. 350 and so much time per pound. i usually had pretty large birds 18 pounds and up and they took all day.
i made sutffing in separate pans. no eggs in water stuffing for me. the old kind, giblets, corn bread, celery, sage, onions, etc.
and oh yeah, my wine cranberries. whoa, are they good!!! sweet potatoes with apricots and usually three pies, pecan, pumpkin and apple with walnut sauce.
oh, i miss those meals....
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
How about just using a turkey bag? Very, very simple.
I always stuff the bird before I cook it. I think the stuffing tastes better if it was inside the bird, but I do make a separate dish of stuffing for those who want "pretty stuffing" instead of "tasty stuffing".
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Be sure to wash down the counter, faucet handles, etc. if raw turkey juices get on them.
I would wear rubber gloves to wash and dress the turkey, I don't like touching the raw meat if I have cuts on my hands. Then, you also have to make sure to wash off the rubber gloves very well when finished. I would dry hands with a paper towel so as to be sure you hand towel stays fresh.
Get someone with a good strong back to put it into and take it back out of the oven. Enjoy. -
Posted by AlanaSuzanne (Member # 25882) on :
Well if I were you (or me at a younger age), I'd say what the heck and just get the turkey from the local supermarket and pop it in the oven to warm it up.
You probably won't do that (and I wouldn't have either back in the day). So just follow what those here advise you do to do about the turkey and be grateful that the sides are being done by others.
I was always Suzy Homemaker making everything from scratch for the holidays and making sure that everyone elses' needs were met: low-salt or low-sugar or low-fat. No one ever brought the sides and I was always half-dead by the time everyone left. It took days/weeks for me to recover.
I learned after several years that I could knock myself out and put out a feast and celebration worthy of a TV show and yet there would always be an issue with what I said, how I said it, why I did something or why I didn't, the way I did it or the way I didn't, who was invited, who wasn't. I couldn't win for losing.
After several years of this crap, I took on a different attitude. As a "sick" mom of "sick" kids I now make sure MY and my kids' needs are met first.
I've saved the suzy-homemaker side of me for my own family and told the rest of them that we'd be going out to whatever restaurant for "name-the-occasion".
I can honestly say that the expense of eating out wasn't much more than having me be the stressed-out hostess-with-the-mostest. And the additional cost was well worth my sanity.
Fast-forward 20+ years: we no longer have the problems we had back in the day as most of the relatives/in-laws are dead (sorry for being blunt, but really it's the truth).
And guess what? We're going out for Thanksgiving dinner with friends of ours.
While I so enjoy the smell of the turkey roasting in the oven, I am so over all the work and stress.
I'm instead looking forward to watching the parade in my pjs with my hubby and kids and later going to a dinner prepared by someone else.
Posted by Misfit (Member # 26270) on :
Randi..I'm like you...no stuffing, I make good old fashioned corn bread dressing. I don't add the giblets though, my DH likes giblet gravy, and there's only so many giblets to go around, lol.
I don't make everything from scratch anymore, either. I just can't. Mrs. Smiths pies are plenty good enough.
I got a loud message from my DD, who is coming with her family of course. I asked her what she was bringing, and her response was "you expect me to BRING something"? UH...YEAH. Either that, or kitchen duty is yours alone. Have fun with that. Guess she still doesn't believe I'm sick.
Next year, we're going out to eat. After what I spent on stuff to make dinner, it would probably be cheaper.
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
you know tho. with just the two us here in texas and no family, we're going out.
now i still make pies cause he's a pie and not a cake person. and if we're going someplace i always do homemade.
but to do all the cooking for two people, no way...
and i couldn't have said it better about family. i remember when somebody would change a recipe "why did you do that, i don't like this, what's wrong with the old stuff" and then one would say "i'm tired of the same old things"....
it got to the point that we said everyone will bring what they want.
and of course the one sister's jerk of a husband had to say "well it's my house and all the food stays here after"...so that didn't work.
seems holidays and relatives don't mix.
so this year we're cruising, even if i have to borrow, beg or steal....
Posted by dmc (Member # 5102) on :
Thank you all for the ideas. I hosting this year too.
The bag method is the way I'm gonna go. look easy.
The ehow link did mention what I heard from a chef. Cook bird breast side down.
ehow suggested doing that the last hour of cooking.
Posted by MamaBear11 (Member # 25116) on :
Thanks everyone! There are some great ideas here. For the first time in a long time, I am actually looking forward to Thanksgiving! The baby will be safe in his own baby-proofed environment and all I have to worry about is the turkey.
The bonus is that I am blessed with a wonderful family and I know they will insist on washing the dishes afterward so I can just sit and relax.
I hope all of you are able to enjoy yours just as much. Happy Thanksgiving!