And that's not all...........!
My friend gave me a turkey. I thought it was frozen, but it was already in the process of thawing, so I had to cook it. It's for nibbling, dinners and lunches this week.
I pulled up my handy 'How to Cook a Turkey' recipe, and took to washing the bird. I pulled out the neck and wondered where the gizzards and stuff were. Oh well, my last turkey didn't even have a neck inside, so maybe this one didn't have innards.
Hmmmm...I realized there was another end when, after what I thought was a thorough washing, I discovered the buttocks. And the innards. Got that figured out and washed out. Whew!
Now, I couldn't find the weight of the bird anywhere. I searched and searched. No weight. I went to my digital scale and weighed myself (Dear God! I've got to lose weight!!). Then I held the turkey. I've never seen numbers that high on a scale, in my life!! I wish I could tell you it was a 45 lb turkey.
Back in the kitchen, I separated the skin and put butter and thyme in there. Added salt and pepper to the skin and put it in the oven at 475 for 20 minutes.
My in-laws are in town, so I set the timer - 250 for 300 minutes - and we went to tour Chicago!
Only I realized I didn't turn the oven down from 475 to 250!!!!
We headed back home, concerned the loft would be smokin'! It wasn't. I turned off the oven, pulled out the turkey, and found it black in some parts of the skin, but it was actually moist!! Wow!! This is an AWESOME recipe.
Later, when we all returned home, my husband, mother-in-law and I were leaning over the kitchen island, hand pulling pieces off the turkey (If you've never eaten a turkey this way, you should!). By this time, the turkey had dried up a bit but was still great. Lots of juice in the pan.
I commented that there wasn't much meat on the bird. My mother-in-law said, "That's because the turkey is upside down." OMG!
Okay, I think you topped me here... ;-)
ReplyDeleteI don't think you and I should cook a Thanksgiving dinner together any time soon.
I have a recipe for "furnace turkey" where you keep it at 450 the whole time.
ReplyDeleteAnd I cook mine upside down for the first half so the juices run into the breasts. You didn't do so badly.
Sounds like a "happy accident" to me! Looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteOMG LMAO!! You know I have never cooked a turkey because I am to afaid to. You just made it worse for me. That is so funny. It really is a beautiful turkey. I never would have known.
ReplyDeleteJen - I think we should cook together one day. Just think of the bloggable stories we would have!!
ReplyDeleteThreeundertwo - Ooooh, I like that idea. Next time I'll do it on purpose.
Abby - Thanks, but that's not my turkey. It's a pic from the Internet. It was the closest thing I could find to a burnt looking turkey.
FaithChick - It is soooooo easy. You know me, nothing happens the way it's supposed to. Not my turkey - pic from the Internet. You should try it one day with the recipe I linked to. Seriously, it is easy!!