Let's Talk Turkey: A Second Cup Retrospective and Cooking Suggestions
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12:00AM First published 11/12/08
If you are making your first Thanksgiving dinner this year, be encouraged, turkey is the easiest thing to cook. You prep it, put it in the oven - heat and time do the rest. As always, I have some unsolicited grandmotherly advice on the subject:
If you have never made a turkey before, get a self-basting one. This is not the time to worry about artificial ingredients or whatever people complain about with self-basting turkeys. As you get more experience roasting turkey, you can branch out into organic, fresh, soy turkey, wherever your bliss leads you. The first time out, go for the turkey with the safety net. In addition, if you buy a frozen turkey, it can take days to thaw. Read and follow the thawing directions. Thawing out a frozen turkey is definitely not something you can do at the last moment.
Early in the month, buy one of those big disposable roaster pans. After the stress of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, that is one less thing to clean. You want to buy it early because by Thanksgiving they are not easy to find (I know whereof I type). An instant read thermometer is very helpful also. Basters - never saw the point, get one if it makes you happy. Putting the pan on a cookie sheet will make it easier to remove the turkey from the oven.
To stuff or not to stuff the bird? Do what you want. Heed the safety warnings on stuffing turkeys. Guests who get food poisoning will not be happy campers. Personally, I find unstuffed makes for less stress.
If you do not stuff your bird, do put a couple of halved apples in to the turkey cavity. You can seed the apples, but you do not have to peel them. This will help keep the turkey moist while it roasts.
It is better to depend on your instant thermometer than the little pop up timer to tell when the turkey is done. You want an internal temperature of 180 degrees F before you remove it from the oven. I prefer 200 degrees, but that is just me.
Gravy, if you feel adventurous try making your own, but have a couple of jars of ready-made hiding on your pantry shelf. If your gravy comes out well, you are golden and the jars can go to the nearest food bank. If not, you are covered. Gravy is important at Thanksgiving.
The biggest problem with making a Thanksgiving Dinner is timing and cleaning. You are making an usually big meal and your house has to be cleaner than usual. Two big tasks to be completed at about the same time. This, plus the odd cousin, politically out spoken uncle and the female family member who is always complaining, is what makes Thanksgiving dinner stressful.
Usually there are more dishes than burners and more to food to cook than oven space. The more you can prep the day before the easier your day will be. This is no time for pride, if someone offers to bring a dish, LET THEM. If they offer to come over and help clean, LET THEM.
A detailed list of what you are serving, when it has to be cooked either on a burner or in the stove, will make your life easier. Start with your planned estimated serving time and work backwards so you know at what time each dish has to be cooking. Turkey has to sit for a while, so food that has to be warmed or cooked can go in the oven during the turkey’s resting time. (That is the technical term for when meat sits out on the counter so the juices have time to settle: resting)
That is my grandmotherly (bossy?) little list.
Anyone else have turkey day advice they’d like to share?
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Reader Comments (9)
Great suggestions. I find making stuffing separately works great and then you don't have the salmonella risks and you don't have to forgo not having any. Add some of the turkey drippings to carry the flavor over. When you get a little more experience, brining the turkey helps adds to the flavor and keeps the turkey moist.
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I use the turkey bags, too. They make sure the turkey is super-moist and yummy!
Great suggestions, it took me a while to come to this but I am there.
Glad you included the thawing instructions, that had been a problem for me with my first turkey many many years ago.
What a great list of turkey cooking tips! I haven't cooked a turkey yet but I'm sure I will sometime in the future. So I've printed out your tips to save for reference.
Thanks for sharing!
My family is pretty small. About 5 people usually show up for Thanksgiving dinner so we always get a large chicken. It's soo much easier, cheaper, and there's always leftovers.
Great tips! This will be very helpful.
Great list!
One more to add - don't waste your money on a frozen turkey. spend the extra few bux to get a fresh turkey. What's the difference? Flavor!!! Fresh turkeys taste wayyy better than frozen! We just get our local supermarket brand fresh turkeys.
Great tips about cooking the turkey. You do things like I like to do, keep it simple. I won't add the stupid. LOL But those are great ideas.