KITCHEN TIPS at T W R - T. T. T.

Turkey Tips  Tricks  &  Trivia

Thanksgiving turkeys will be plentiful and usually all kinds of good prices. Our tip here is to buy a turkey bigger than you will eat at the Thanksgiving meal if you like leftovers. For the two of us we have found a 15-pound turkey works for us.

We tend to make a big deal of holiday meals. We go all out at Thanksgiving, making stuffing and all the trimmings. We cook the turkey according to the directions except we pull the bird out of the oven every hour and baste it with butter, turn it around 180 degrees and return it to the oven. When the turkey has reached is final temperature, we take the bird out and set it on the chopping block to rest and let the juices do their thing.

The first thing is to remove the stuffing from the neck cavity and then the rest of the stuffing from the body. In years gone by, we have put oyster stuffing in the neck cavity. With the turkey resting on the chopping block, we’ll get out a couple knives. The first being a fillet knife. We use a long fillet knife because of the flexibility of the blade. We’ll proceed to get close to the breastbone and remove one side of the breast. Patty will carve the breast, while I proceed to remove the leg and thigh and go after the dark meat. At this point, we usually put the gravy, potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, etc. on the table and proceed to have a fantastic Thanksgiving supper. 

After supper we will cover the remining bird and refrigerate until Friday. Over thanksgiving weekend, we will often have another meal or two, maybe a turkey sandwich, etc. Usually, Fri. or Sat., we take all the rest of the meat off the bones. We will put the bones into a pot, cover with water, add seasonings and cook the bones down to make broth. Sometimes we roast the bones with some cut celery, carrots, and onions until lightly browned. Then cover with water, add some seasonings and simmer. This makes a richer, more flavorful broth.