Thinking about cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner

[mtemm]

I see you are in western ny. we used to live in syracuse and loved getting fresh plainville farm turkeys! no defrosting at all, and they are really good turkeys. http://www.plainvillefarms.com/

I can even find them at my grocery store here in MA and usually do buy them

oh, and make sure you check BOTH cavities on the turkey!

 

[mhsjax]

Alright folks, you are dealing with a blonde here that mostly cooks things like spaghetti and pizza


SO...I will get a frozen honeysuckle 12lb turkey, thaw it out (how long?) open it's little turkey legs, stick my hand inside, pull out every gooey piece I find, then take it over to the sink, pour water into the turkey, dump the water out, put it in a pan, cover, and then cook? What is the liquid you baste it with? Do you just add water?

Maybe I'll just go to my moms.

Trust me its easy, If you use the reynolds turkey bad, just add some salt and pepper if you like and rub down with some type of oil, Like vegetable or canola, put in the bag and go, no liquid needed, just follow the instructions in the reynolds bag box and you can't miss. TRUST ME.

 

[mhsjax]

The first year we were married, DH mentioned at work that I was making Thanksgiving dinner. Not knowing that I'd been roasting turkey since I was in grade school, a self-important secretary told him to "make sure that she takes that bag of guts out and throws it away." Humph -- I don't THINK so; doing that would be wasteful and deprive me of some of my favorite flavors.

I boil all of them the night before. The only piece I don't consume is the heart, but that makes a very nice treat for a pet who is being tortured by all those yummy roasting aromas. The liver and the stock that it is all boiled in goes into the dressing, and the gizzard and the meat from the neck are chopped fine and added to the gravy.

For the OP, when purchasing frozen turkey, time your purchase against the recommended thawing time for the weight of the bird, so that you can just put it in the fridge when you get home and leave it there until it is time to start cooking. You don't want to have it taking up room in your freezer if you don't have to.

I hear you, my mom would have killed me if I had thrown those little jewels away. I don't chop them up but I do boil them and use them for broth in my gravy and also in my dressing. Wouldn't be as good without it.

 

[C.Ann]

Didn't read the entire thread, but don't do what I did the first time I cooked Thanksgiving dinner.. I forgot to buy a turkey platter and had nothing to place it on!

You can get them in any department store; Big Lots; etc. and they range anywhere from dirt cheap to very, very expensive..

Good luck!