I am so in Thanksgiving mode, which means that I have started something that I really enjoy. All of my food shopping is done, including my vegetables as of about an hour and a half ago. K and I dropped off the soda and a few other sundries at the Sibs', where she and Wonderful Niece were already starting to cook stuff. Clearly, Niece is keeping her mother together throughout, which is fine by me.I feel somehow much more organized this year than I ever have been before, and I am in some ways, although I haven't started cooking yet. In an hour or two, I'll make the pumpkin pies, and then get the sweet potato/pineapple/marshmallow things ready so all they'll need tomorrow is heating up. (The marshmallows go on at the end, which means at the Sibs', and Little K likes to do that, but he's a bit under the weather this year, so no food prep for him this year, I think.) But I have all my ingredients sorted into bags, and I got a ton of aluminum cake pans with covers, which is what we put everything in. It's easier to transport and easier to serve. I'm thinking we may have six (!) sweet potato thingies this year, and maybe five or six trays of stuffing (which the Hubs will make tonight; it never cooks in the bird), and god knows how many trays of roasted vegetables. I roast them on cookie sheets -- I have four -- and then combine them in the serving pans.
And the birds. I got two 11.5 pounders this year. The Hubs carves them at home and puts them in the pans divided by dark and light, so we'll have many of those as well. I told bluesleepy that I would describe my turkey technique because it always comes out great and moist and I've never had a problem in nearly 30 years.
- Buy a Butterball, if this is new to you, but any turkey will do, fresh or frozen. I buy my turkey(s) the Saturday before Thanksgiving and put in the fridge right away, so it's good and defrosted by Thursday.
- Before you throw away the wrapper, check to see how long it should be cooked for the size of the turkey you've got. Rinse out the turkey and throw away all the giblets unless you need them for something. We keep the neck, and cook it along with the bird, and snack on it when it's done. Yum.
- Okay, here goes. As you're preheating the oven (to the temp it says on the wrapper; I think it's 325) melt a stick of butter in the pan you're going to cook the bird in. When the butter's all melted, take the pan out of the oven and :
- Liberally sprinkle the melted butter with Bell's Poultry Seasoning, or whatever brand you have. Bell's is the only brand I've ever seen. Swirl it around so it blends a little.
- Cut a length of cheesecloth that will cover the turkey. Place it on top of the butter and press it in so that it soaks up all the butter. Pull the cheesecloth over to one side of the pan and put the turkey in. Bring the cheesecloth up and over the turkey so that it's covered.
- There you go. Pop it in and baste it an hour later without moving the cheesecloth. Baste it every half hour after that. About an hour before it's done, baste over the cheesecloth and then gently pull it back and baste the bird itself, then put the cheesecloth back. Repeat this a half hour later, but this time, take the cheesecloth off and get rid of it.
- You'll know it's done when you pierce the turkey with a fork near the leg and the juices that come out aren't at all pink. Actually, it's the Hubs who always tests to see if it's done and makes the official pronouncement.
It's not rocket science and it's not brain surgery, and for all I know, everyone makes a turkey like this. My mother used foil instead of cheesecloth, and when R was living in Wales for a year and made a Thanksgiving turkey, she couldn't find cheesecloth anywhere. I've never made it any other way.
Okay. R has arrived and K is off for work shortly -- she's on from 5 to 10 today -- and then we will begin.
Good holiday, everyone.
*Oh, almost forgot. Erev is Yiddish for "the eve of", as Jewish holidays generally start at sundown the previous night, so Erev Yom Kippur means the evening before Yom Kippur, really the evening that Yom Kippur is starting.
