Aging With Grace: Let’s Talk Turkey

If you are making your first Thanksgiving dinner this year, be encourage, 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 bout 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 defiantly 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 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 that 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 a 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 you 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?