I gotta say, making a turkey is pretty darn gratifying.
And it gets you respect.
When I tell people that I woke up at 6am to make a 20lb turkey for an indefinite number of people - friends, collegues, and family alike look at me in awe
...or maybe it's just that wide eyed smile with the hanging jaw you give someone that is totally nuts.
I'm taking it as awe.
For some reason, when you're able to endure the process of cooking a bird though, people are really willing to talk with you about it. And ask you all the questions you're totally willing to answer because you're just as giddy.
It's like I matured into this special cooks club.
I hope it comes with a pass to cut the express line at Whole Foods.
Showing posts with label Cooking Turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking Turkey. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
"Miss Funke, We Done Did Good"
Well, we pulled it off. Three roommates with one dream: a Thanksgiving meal with our friends.
I dunno if you had a slow enough Sunday to follow our high jinx, so I'll recap (click links for full blog):
My freelance check came in, and my roommates and I decided to actually go through with our Thanksgiving dinner. (Originally, I held back because I didn't think I could chip in, and we weren't sure if we'd have the time either.)
This meant that I had to cook my first turkey.
Which was intimidating, and sleep depriving.
I learned the biggest concern when cooking a turkey is that it might be dry.
And after all that, no one was showing up.
Well, Fred the turkey took almost 10 hours to cook, and gravy is a lot harder to make than I remembered - here are some tips on making turkey gravy:
The table was upstairs, the boys had put up the mini tree, hung the big bow on the door, and strung the lights. Emily and I brought up the meal- it was a ridiculously large, but absolutely delicious.
Between courses we went across to the park and went on the slides. We learned this helps you make room for pie. On our way back we rung our neighbor's doorbell and they joined us for desserts and another round of the main meal.
Then we all just sat around contently talking about which foods we enjoyed the most, and the ones we didn't get to, but wished we had room for.
Everyone went home with left overs and the accord that we may have outdone real Thanksgiving.
All Emily, Tom, and I know is, we really pulled it off! We put a Thanksgiving meal together, and it was worth every penny.
I dunno if you had a slow enough Sunday to follow our high jinx, so I'll recap (click links for full blog):
My freelance check came in, and my roommates and I decided to actually go through with our Thanksgiving dinner. (Originally, I held back because I didn't think I could chip in, and we weren't sure if we'd have the time either.)
This meant that I had to cook my first turkey.
Which was intimidating, and sleep depriving.
I learned the biggest concern when cooking a turkey is that it might be dry.
And after all that, no one was showing up.
Well, Fred the turkey took almost 10 hours to cook, and gravy is a lot harder to make than I remembered - here are some tips on making turkey gravy:
- DON'T ADD A TON OF CORN STARCH! Man, that gravy tasted nasty...with like a chalky after-taste to boot.
- DON'T TRY TO SAVE IT WITH A TON OF TURKEY DRIPPINGS...it becomes gelatinous and no matter how much stock you put in, it still kinda looks like chunky snot. (It was eventually delicious, but briefly, as soon as it cooled it was grossest fat chunk gel ever.)
The table was upstairs, the boys had put up the mini tree, hung the big bow on the door, and strung the lights. Emily and I brought up the meal- it was a ridiculously large, but absolutely delicious.
Between courses we went across to the park and went on the slides. We learned this helps you make room for pie. On our way back we rung our neighbor's doorbell and they joined us for desserts and another round of the main meal.
Then we all just sat around contently talking about which foods we enjoyed the most, and the ones we didn't get to, but wished we had room for.
Everyone went home with left overs and the accord that we may have outdone real Thanksgiving.
All Emily, Tom, and I know is, we really pulled it off! We put a Thanksgiving meal together, and it was worth every penny.
The Most Expensive Meal for Three
Well, the guests were supposed to show about oh...an hour ago.
Fred is still not done, but we could feed an army.
Our pals who were stoked to come over seem to have forgotten their excitement and won't answer our calls/ messages. You would think free food would lure 20 and 30 somethings. Especially a giant home cooked meal. Emily even made the pies from scratch!
But alas, no.
We are now drinking some left over beer and wondering if it's possible to eat 6lbs of turkey each, and all the sides, and not explode.
The concept of having a pie each to ourselves is alluring though.
We are in need of a Thanksgiving miracle.
Come on Fred, make it work!!!
Fred is still not done, but we could feed an army.
Our pals who were stoked to come over seem to have forgotten their excitement and won't answer our calls/ messages. You would think free food would lure 20 and 30 somethings. Especially a giant home cooked meal. Emily even made the pies from scratch!
But alas, no.
We are now drinking some left over beer and wondering if it's possible to eat 6lbs of turkey each, and all the sides, and not explode.
The concept of having a pie each to ourselves is alluring though.
We are in need of a Thanksgiving miracle.
Come on Fred, make it work!!!
Don't You Dry on Me!
Well, we're at the six hour mark. Fred the turkey is looking pretty good. He's snug in his tinfoil comforter that I keep stripping away every 45 minutes to pour more drippings upon him.
I've lowered the temperature from 325 to 300 in hopes of avoiding any chances of drying him out. It's something Emily and I both fear so much that we added an extra layer of foil on him for good luck.
We're about an hour away from prepping all the side dishes. This should be interesting. We're under the belief that since this is all for fun it won't be stressful- but somehow the three of us know that when we're at zero hour things are gonna be hectic around here. I've gotta go prep myself for the madness, but I'll leave the menu down below for your enjoyment:
I've lowered the temperature from 325 to 300 in hopes of avoiding any chances of drying him out. It's something Emily and I both fear so much that we added an extra layer of foil on him for good luck.
We're about an hour away from prepping all the side dishes. This should be interesting. We're under the belief that since this is all for fun it won't be stressful- but somehow the three of us know that when we're at zero hour things are gonna be hectic around here. I've gotta go prep myself for the madness, but I'll leave the menu down below for your enjoyment:
The Astoria House Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner Menu
- Pigs in a blanket
- Pepperoni and crackers
- A 20lb turkey named Fred
- Sweet Potatoes with Marshmellows
- Crazy/Crunchy String bean casserole
- Mashed Potatoes
- Stuffing
- Corn
- Can o' cranberry
- Corn bread
- Apple Sauce
- Pumpkin Pie
- Apple Pie
- Apple Crisp
All this food, and it looks like we're only going to be about 6-8 people right now...
You are probably wondering if we're absolutely nuts right now. The answer is yes, but we're happily insane.
You are probably wondering if we're absolutely nuts right now. The answer is yes, but we're happily insane.
Flipping the Bird!
When I was watching the instructional video on how to cook a turkey I laughed like a 13 year old when they said quite seriously, "Now you must carefully flip the bird".
Because I have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy.
Other things I will laugh at:
Guys named Dick
Anyone saying "That's what she said."
Fart jokes
Poop jokes...you get the point.
Here's the thing though, I am such an adult that I flipped my own bird!
It was pretty thrilling for a Sunday at 10am.
Reasons why this is so exciting:
-The turkey is 20lbs. and I didn't drop it taking it in or out of the oven in the tin foil roaster we bought at Stop n Shop.
-Fred and I are old pals, and I treated him with the dignity he deserved.
-I topped him with butter and bacon, ensuring everyone will be heart attack ready after the meal.
He's looking decently succulent now. My hope is that he stays that way and I don't space out while working and forget to keep douse him in his own juices.
Cooking a turkey isn't pretty folks, but it's a task I've chosen to take on because....well I'm not really sure why we're doing this besides the enjoyment of food and inviting friends over for impromptu parties. That's enough though, right?
Because I have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy.
Other things I will laugh at:
Guys named Dick
Anyone saying "That's what she said."
Fart jokes
Poop jokes...you get the point.
Here's the thing though, I am such an adult that I flipped my own bird!
It was pretty thrilling for a Sunday at 10am.
Reasons why this is so exciting:
-The turkey is 20lbs. and I didn't drop it taking it in or out of the oven in the tin foil roaster we bought at Stop n Shop.
-Fred and I are old pals, and I treated him with the dignity he deserved.
-I topped him with butter and bacon, ensuring everyone will be heart attack ready after the meal.
He's looking decently succulent now. My hope is that he stays that way and I don't space out while working and forget to keep douse him in his own juices.
Cooking a turkey isn't pretty folks, but it's a task I've chosen to take on because....well I'm not really sure why we're doing this besides the enjoyment of food and inviting friends over for impromptu parties. That's enough though, right?
My First Thanksgiving Turkey
His name is Fred.
Roommate Tom, and new-roommate-Emily, and I named him in the Stop-n-Shop where we found him. We had originally picked out a frozen turkey, named Bill, but after a call to Tom's mom we learned that it's pretty much impossible to defrost a turkey within a 12 hour period. So, Fred was an expensive thawed out bird with lots of watery blood in his packaging.
As the youngest of four children, I've seen a lot of Thanksgiving cooking being done, but I am usually on the sidelines. It was usually my job to do simple things: arrange platters, make appetizers, cut veggies, peel potatoes.
Now, I am cooking my own turkey. I watched a 15 minute video, Emily got some advice from her Aunt Susie, we've got the directions off the package, and I've got 25 years of observation logged. So, at 6 am this morning I started cooking Fred.
I dunno if it's because I've named it, or the fact that I had my hands up it's carcass, but I feel a strange connection to Fred. It's like we're in this together, and you better be freakin' delicious Fred.
I'm off to go peel sweet potatoes, but I'll keep you posted on how this all goes. Especially when I flip the bird. That's gonna be interesting.
Don't fail me now Fred!
Roommate Tom, and new-roommate-Emily, and I named him in the Stop-n-Shop where we found him. We had originally picked out a frozen turkey, named Bill, but after a call to Tom's mom we learned that it's pretty much impossible to defrost a turkey within a 12 hour period. So, Fred was an expensive thawed out bird with lots of watery blood in his packaging.
As the youngest of four children, I've seen a lot of Thanksgiving cooking being done, but I am usually on the sidelines. It was usually my job to do simple things: arrange platters, make appetizers, cut veggies, peel potatoes.
Now, I am cooking my own turkey. I watched a 15 minute video, Emily got some advice from her Aunt Susie, we've got the directions off the package, and I've got 25 years of observation logged. So, at 6 am this morning I started cooking Fred.
I dunno if it's because I've named it, or the fact that I had my hands up it's carcass, but I feel a strange connection to Fred. It's like we're in this together, and you better be freakin' delicious Fred.
I'm off to go peel sweet potatoes, but I'll keep you posted on how this all goes. Especially when I flip the bird. That's gonna be interesting.
Don't fail me now Fred!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)