How You Gonna Cook That Bird?

[Hawkcigar]

We're having a bit of a disagreement at our house. I want to brine the turkey and cook it on my Big Green Egg. My wife wants to do the traditional oven roast cook. I'll probably give in this time and then next month cook a turkey on the Big Green Egg and say, "I told you so."

 

[Miss 1929]

Not this year but...

Lately I do the "drape in cheesecloth and baste constantly with butter" route. I like Garrison Keillor's advice - baste it with a few pounds of butter every 15 minutes, then do it some more...
But the mayonnaise sounds like a great idea! I recently heard of plastering pork chops with mayonnaise before the breading, and that was great... so what the heck.

 

[Miss 1929]

Just in, in my email...

sorry, I can't resist...

 

[Josephine]

I'm going to splatchcock my turkey this year. You cut out the backbone and basically butterfly the bird, cooking it flat. The dark meat, not underneath the bird, cooks faster and the white meat doesn't dry out. Supposedly.

We have stuffing with it, but ours in more like bread pudding than the fluffy "stove top stuffing" you see. Slightly stale white bread torn in pieces, mixed with onions and celery sauteed in a ton of butter, then a few eggs and some chicken stock mixed in to make it a huge wet lump of dense bread. Depending on the year, we either have a ham the day before or the day after TGiving.

 

[raiderrescuer]

More Humor: How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey

Step 1: Go buy a turkey
Step 2: Take a drink of whiskey (scotch)
Step 3: Put turkey in the oven
Step 4: Take another 2 drinks of whiskey
Step 5: Set the degree at 375 ovens
Step 6: Take 3 more whiskeys of drink
Step 7: Turn oven the on
Step 8: Take 4 whisks of drinky
Step 9: Turk the bastey
Step 10: Whiskey another bottle of get
Step 11: Stick a turkey in the thermometer
Step 12: Glass yourself a pour of whiskey
Step 13: Bake the whiskey for 4 hours
Step 14: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 15: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 16: Floor the turkey up off of the pick
Step 17: Turk the carvey
Step 18: Get yourself another scottle of botch
Step 19: Tet the sable and pour yourself a glass of turkey
Step 20: Bless the saying, pass and eat out

 

[Mike in Seattle]

sorry, I can't resist...

One of my cousins sent me the same pic...we've both been telling the other "Oh, go ahead and do it - it'll be funny!" Yesterday she said she'd do it except she felt it needs to be resting on a platter with mai tais and Hawaiian flowers and she didn't know where to find the latter. Called an old friend, had one of her kids deliver a big bag of hibiscus blooms and a pineapple this afternoon.

 

[Vintage Betty]

And for the 5th year in a row...

My wonderful husband volunteers me to cook thanksgiving dinner. Thankyouverymuch. :eusa_doh:

We order an Organic Range Fed Turkey. Standard Roasting ensues. Husband demands crisp skin or the turkey is "wasted". Can't beat the taste.

All other dishes are ordered prepared from the grocery store in advance. Tastes better than my home made stuff which used to take me three days, and costs the same. Cook gets to drink and eat and spend more time with the family with a LOT less stress.

No kidding.

Vintage Betty

 

[ShortClara]

I cook a complete meal for me and my hubby. Turkey stuffed with an onion and usually rubbed in spices and oil, but I may try this butter under the skin thing I'm reading Homemade dressing (made by hubby per his mom's recipe), mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. I'm starting today! Whee!

And yes, a little wine tasting makes it all go so smoo*hic!*ly

 

[imoldfashioned]

Vintage saves the day!

So, this morning I've got the bird washed, stuffed, seasoned--ready for the kitchen twine to do the trussing. Where is that twine, anyway? Gone--that's where! Every twine-substitute in my house contained polyester; since melted plastic was not on the menu I didn't want to use that.

Then I remembered a lot of vintage sewing materials I won ages ago--voila! Coats & Clark's Extra Strong 100% Cotton Button and Carpet thread to the rescue! The label looks 30's/40's ish--worked like a charm. Holiday disaster averted.

 

[vonwotan]

After cooking Turkeys any number of ways over the years, this year, I've dug up some historical recipies and descriptions of meals and opted for stuffed chukar partridge from a recent, and perhaps last, hunt with my dog, venison, several vegetable sides and, my own fresh baked bread. After the guests have come and gone I'll try to write up a better description of the meal. I love the history of food and have been trying to stay faithful to original recipies, cooking methods and ingredients - this is a greater challenge than I had ever imagined!

 

[Hawkcigar]

I'm going to splatchcock my turkey this year. You cut out the backbone and basically butterfly the bird, cooking it flat. The dark meat, not underneath the bird, cooks faster and the white meat doesn't dry out. Supposedly.

We have stuffing with it, but ours in more like bread pudding than the fluffy "stove top stuffing" you see. Slightly stale white bread torn in pieces, mixed with onions and celery sauteed in a ton of butter, then a few eggs and some chicken stock mixed in to make it a huge wet lump of dense bread. Depending on the year, we either have a ham the day before or the day after TGiving.

I have cooked a lot of spatchcocked chickens but never a turkey. The chicken always turns out good and it is my favorite way to cook them. I'm sure your turkey will be quite good! :essen: Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[cooncatbob]

Here's my bird on the spit, 1st picture at the start 2nd an hour in.

Bob.

 

[Caledonia]

So nobody bit?

Mine's gobbling in the yard with a little paper hat on. Happy vegetarian eating folks. It's totally as tasty!

 

[vonwotan]

For those interested in the history of cooking or recipes

These recipes are taken from a New York Times article, The Secrets of the Carver. An Early English Dinner – Studies in the Operative Surgery of Animals by Juliet Corson, published on March 1, 1896. The venison recipe comes from Mme. Jule De Ryther, “a descendant of a line of hunters and hosts whose forest cookery has long been famous” and seems to have origins with early Adirondack hunters and guides. The entire article is quite interesting and available in .pdf format from the NY Times archives. As you can imagine, a few adjustments had to be made but, we were very fortunate that a hunt club we used to frequent down in Long Island, with proper meat lockers, was willing to age our saddle with our other cuts of venison for several days with its cloves. The indented text is taken verbatim from the article.

Roast Saddle of Venison.‚ÄìStick from twelve to eighteen whole cloves in the top part of a saddle of venison and hang it up in a cool dry place for several days, after which lay the venison in a large, deep earthen dish. Then add a sliced onion or the crushed clove of garlic, two bay leaves, one tablespoonful of French wine vinegar, one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, a sliced carrot, then pour over the whole enough good sherry to cover the venison, and let it soak for twelve hours. At the end of this time remove the venison from the marinade, put it in a dripping pan, cover the top with strips of larding pork, sprinkle with salt and pepper, stand it in a quick over for one-half hour, then change the temperature of the over so the venison roasts slowly for a half hour longer. Remove the pan from the oven, lift the saddle tenderly, being careful not to pierce it with a fork ‚Äì if you do it will lose its juice and flavor ‚Äì lay it on a hot platter, and stand it in a hot pace while you make the gravy, which should be made as follows:​

[For the cooking we first wrapped the saddle of venison in pancetta and seared it over high heat until well browned / caramelized, then cooked as we do many roasts – preheat the oven to 500 degrees, place the roast in the oven, after five minutes shut off the heat and allow to cook for ninety minutes without opening the door – for our 5 lb. saddle to be medium rare].

To Make the Gravy.‚ÄìStand the dripping pan on the stove and pour into it the liquid in which the venison has been soaked. Mix two tablespoonfuls of flour in enough sherry to make it the consistency of a rich cream. As soon as the liquor in the pan begins to boil, stir in the flour and let it simmer gently till quite thick. Season with a little salt. Pour the gravy through a strainer, serve in a separate dish beside the venison. The platter should be very deep. Fleck the saddle all over with currant jelly before sending it to the table​

.

[We did also deviate here and used our own relish made from dried currant.]

Broiled Partridge.-Select fine, plump birds, and let them be fresh, for eating stale game is one of those barbaric customs no longer indulged in. Time was when a so-called bon vivant did not consider a bird fit for eating until it had so far decayed that its feathers fell off, or the bird falls when hung up by the tail feathers, but now no one would, if he or she knew it, insult the stomach with decayed food of any sort. Having selected the partridge, pick them dry. This must be done at home, as they are sure to scald them if left to be plucked in the market. After they are plucked singe off the hairs over a little burning alcohol; then split the bird down the back, wipe it dry inside and out, sprinkle well with salt, lay on a well-buttered gridiron, and broil over a good fire, turning them several times. When done, place them on a very hot platter, dot them all over with flecks of fresh butter, and serve. The more simple the manner of cooking a partridge the better.​

[Again we deviated from the original recipes leaving the partridge whole, buttering the cavities, stuffing in some vine leaves and trussing them to keep them moist.]

Needless to say I am quite passionate about cooking, wild game, my dogs and hunting and this year’s meal required quite a lot of advance work, starting last weekend. Both the venison and the game birds were hung for several days before we started cooking and it took three ferries and several hours drive for my guests to transport these ingredients to Boston. I’m a big fan of the slow food movement and love to get my hands on such fresh ingredients and to take my time preparing and eating the meals – guests started arriving at two, we sat down to the meal at three and the lasts guests left shortly before nine. I was quite happy to see second (or more) helpings all around, clean plates and nobody remarked on the lack of desert. Fruit, a bit of cheese, coffee and digestifs finished a wonderful evening.

 

[Ecuador Jim]

As I was making this year's preparations, I was totally bummed watching the news about a shortage of relief flights getting food into Bangladesh. It does change one's perspective.

Then today, I hear about a guy who, in trying to deep fry his bird, set his house on fire, and had first and second degree burns to his face! The house was totally involved when the fire department arrived.

I have much more to be thankful for!