Thanks Sherry, Shauna & Keith for the turkey encouragement! Here's how it all went down.
Saturday before Thanksgiving
around 12:00pm: Place turkey in a pan in the fridge to allow sufficient time for thawing.
Thanksgiving Day
9:30 am: Set turkey on counter to come to room temperature
10:00ish am: Ewwww
- remove turkey from packaging
- try to pull out giblet bag
- hold turkey while Nicole pulls out giblet bag
- swiftly toss giblet bag into trash (don't care if it makes good gravy. eww)
- pull out neck bag & swiftly toss it into the trash
- mixture of laughter & heebie jeebies while Nicole & I rinse turkey and try not to drop it into the sink or on the floor
- set turkey in roasting pan & prep with salt & pepper
- stuff cavity with onions, lemon, fresh herbs, celery, carrots & garlic
- rub skin with butter
10:30am: throw turkey in oven
shortly after: get ready for the day & appreciate that I scheduled shower time after turkey prep time. Have I mentioned eww? Raw turkey is gross.
1:30pm: check turkey temp. It's close to being done. Take the lid off the roaster to help brown the skin.
3:00ish: dinner time
- no complaints or death. I think it was a success. ;)
I'm actually very pleased with how my first turkey attempt went. I thought it tasted great, though I'll allow people who were there to weigh in more objectively on that. At any rate I'm happy to have conquered turkey cooking (though really it's not as difficult as it's often made out to be) & I look forward to many more home cooked Thanksgiving turkeys. Except the prep part. Eww.
Saturday before Thanksgiving
around 12:00pm: Place turkey in a pan in the fridge to allow sufficient time for thawing.
Thanksgiving Day
9:30 am: Set turkey on counter to come to room temperature
10:00ish am: Ewwww
- remove turkey from packaging
- try to pull out giblet bag
- hold turkey while Nicole pulls out giblet bag
- swiftly toss giblet bag into trash (don't care if it makes good gravy. eww)
- pull out neck bag & swiftly toss it into the trash
- mixture of laughter & heebie jeebies while Nicole & I rinse turkey and try not to drop it into the sink or on the floor
- set turkey in roasting pan & prep with salt & pepper
- stuff cavity with onions, lemon, fresh herbs, celery, carrots & garlic
- rub skin with butter
10:30am: throw turkey in oven
shortly after: get ready for the day & appreciate that I scheduled shower time after turkey prep time. Have I mentioned eww? Raw turkey is gross.
1:30pm: check turkey temp. It's close to being done. Take the lid off the roaster to help brown the skin.
3:00ish: dinner time
- no complaints or death. I think it was a success. ;)
I'm actually very pleased with how my first turkey attempt went. I thought it tasted great, though I'll allow people who were there to weigh in more objectively on that. At any rate I'm happy to have conquered turkey cooking (though really it's not as difficult as it's often made out to be) & I look forward to many more home cooked Thanksgiving turkeys. Except the prep part. Eww.
Comments
One of these days, we're going to have to do Thanksgiving together...and I'll leave the turkey to you!
haha yeah turkey insides are nasty, but at least they bag up the guts for you. And the bags were white so I didn't even have to see them!
We do need to do Thanksgiving together someday. I'm totally fine with being in charge of the turkey. You can be in charge of green bean casserole (blech) and other things of course. I may even be willing to concede pumpkin pie if I can keep apple. :)