Tag Archives: turkey

2011 Thanksgiving photos

In poking around my photos, I finally found a few photos from Thanksgiving. Not many, and there are certain recipes (most of them) that we forgot to photograph. And it’s really a shame in the case of the apple-molasses pie, because that thing looked…

Well…

They called it the “Demon Pie”. So, yeah. Maybe it’s a good thing there’s no photographic evidence of it.

Anyway! On to the photos, with just a little bit of commentary for you as well.

I was astounded when I found my turkey’s neck had been left on. I actually wasn’t quite sure what to do at first. I didn’t want to try to roast it with the turkey, as I thought that might make it gross, but what the heck?… Continue reading →

Individual turkey pot pies.

I have to admit, guys, that part of the reason I was so motivated to post Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes was because this thing I threw together didn’t make sense without them.

Well, that’s kind of a lie. It made SENSE, but wasn’t as much fun. So, I bided my time & insisted on doing it “in order”. And so here we find ourselves.

As you may have realized by now, one of the things I’m worst at is coping with leftovers. I’m constantly pushing leftovers on people who come over for even just a normal dinner. With a meal like Thanksgiving, where the foisting of leftover is not just normal, but practically required? Feh!

This is, in fact, a huge part of why I was so worried my initial turkey wasn’t big enough and so acquired a bigger one.… Continue reading →

Thanksgiving Menu & Cooking

Back before Thanksgiving, I was going to post my planned menu. I was going to ask for tips, tricks, and suggestions. I had a blogging plan.

Of course, I also had a turkey plan, and you guys see how well that went. I also had this plan that I’d do a bunch of cooking Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. That went about as well as you might expect.

The not cooking very early? That was totally my fault. Monday and Tuesday rolled around, and I realized my menu was small enough that I wasn’t sure it was worth any possible degradation in quality to cook so early. Though, to try to make sure it set, I think I made the cranberry sauce Tuesday. I may have made it Wednesday morning.… Continue reading →

Next time, I’m doing it my old way.

I went to brine my turkey today. As I mentioned yesterday, I ended up with a 16.55 lb turkey for these festivities.

I wanted to do something simpler than last year’s brine, both in terms of set up & flavor. So, I went poking around. Like last year, someone at one of my other internet haunts recommended a site that I thought looked great. No boiling, clear instructions on just how much salt to use per gallon, instructions on time.

Basically, drop your turkey into your brining bag, dump in enough water to submerge (or basically so), then dump in the appropriate amount of salt. Brine for 12 – 24 hours. (Note, I do not have a bowl large enough, and they do recommend turkey in bag, then whole thing in bowl, THEN water and so on.)… Continue reading →

A funny thing happened on the way to the turkey.

Funny how things change.

So, I just posted a big ol’ thing on this special turkey I was planning on serving for Thanksgiving. A turkey that’s currently in my freezer. A turkey I am suddenly thankful I haven’t started to thaw yet…

You see, right after posting that, my guest list doubled. Which isn’t hard to do. Originally my guest list was two people. Then one of them asked if she could bring two more who weren’t yet in a Thanksgiving celebration. I said yes, then contemplated how 8.43 lbs of turkey seems too little for 6 people.

I mean, it’s really not. It just means minimal leftovers, which is also okay, if not ideal.

Then, on Twitter, a Twitter-only (so far) friend who had agreed to be a delivery point for a local farm said someone backed out on three turkeys, and she needed someone to take them off her hands.… Continue reading →