Turkey Day preparations

Last year I brined a whole turkey and smoked it. It was a little too big and the top of the breast was a little dry. Dark meat was wonderful. I’ve been very successful with a turkey breast before, so I’ll next time I’ll limit the whole turkey to 16 pounds. Should be much better. BTW my car (portable) refrigerator is perfect for thawing and later brining a whole turkey.
 
We planned our T-day grocery shopping around turkey deals. We ended up with 3 birds. One for the big day has been brining for a couple of days and will come out tomorrow morning and then soaked in fresh water over the next 24 hours, changing the water every 4 hours. (The bine did it's job curing the meat, the rinse/soak leaches the salt out of the meat so it's not over seasoned) The other 2 bids I had the butcher cut down the middle so I can cook a half-turkey 4 more times over the upcoming year.

Fresh avocados this morning from Grocery Outlet, 6 of em for guac and chips. Little smokies thawing and will be slow cooked in a pot w/BBQ sauce and served with toothpicks. A cutting board and knife with a whole smoked pheasant I shot this season for the guys to whittle away on as they hang out swapping brag stories. Lays classic potato chips and onion dip rounds out the pre meal nibbles.
The turkey will smoke with apple wood from our orchard and the drippings added to the gravy. 3 kinds of stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted veggies fresh from the garden; broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, red and orange bell peppers, mushrooms. Sweet potato souffle, mashed potatoes, (both potato styles from the garden as well), green salad (lettuce from the garden), home-made sour dough rolls, home-made cranberry sauce. Gravy and lots of butter too!
I almost forgot, Salmon season is on this year and I am roasting a salmon fillet for those who don't like turkey. Left over salmon is mixed with cream cheese for crackers when everyone is gone is one of my favorite left overs. I will probably set out some of the dungee crab we got while out fishing as well; setting the pots on the way out, hauling them up on the way in with everyone on board with limits. (It was a 6-pack smaller boat out of Emeryville)
I'll be at SAM's tomorrow, Wednesday, in the morning, 8am for us Exec members, to get an apple pie and a pecan pie. I've tried to make as-good and can't... yet. They use Honey Crisp apples and my Honey Crisp tree is a bit too young to produce more than a few. Next year maybe... SAM's promised me they will have fresh-that-morning pies ready when the doors open and will be baking pies all day tomorrow. I bought an ice cream maker from the Good Will last week and tried it out; works great, so fresh homemade ice cream to go with the pies.
There will be Martinelli's for the kiddos and my son from Napa is bringing the wine. Coffee and hot chocolate with whipped cream for later as we sit around the patio fire ring out back pickin'. We have guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and bass players in the family. Or watch what ever sporting event is on the TV.
Both sons and all their family will be here for a total count of lucky number 13. As far as I know, none of the grand kids are bringing a date.

Everyone spending the night, and tomorrow we are taking them all to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra in Sacramento. 3pm show. From there, everyone heads their ways back to their own homes. Until Christmas that is...
Cheers!

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We are hosting DS, DD/DSIL and the two grandkids (3-1/2 and 1-1/2) for Thanksgiving this year. We shopped yesterday and bought a 22 lb turkey. The ones on special at 55c/pound with a $35 grocery purchase were only ~12-13 lbs or 20-22 lbs so we opted for the bigger one since I like leftovers.

It seems every Thanksgiving I like the turkey so much I find myself wondering "Why don't we have turkey more often?"... because the birds are so big!

Anyway, we'll try to do a lot of the food prep tomorrow to reduce the pressure on Thanksgiving Day.
 
Quiet this year. No traveling. We already have the turkey ( a free one just because we spent $30 shopping) and all the food we need for Thanksgiving . We will not have to deal with the local Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving food shopping madness in this area, especially at Costco 😂. DW rules the kitchen and cooking, so we will do that on her schedule. I am in charge of desserts and snacks, mission already accomplished :) .

Youngest DS who lives nearby will come over, along with a couple of friends who are not able to get back to their homes due to the work schedule, to hang out and watch football. He got a free Turkey from work that will also be cooked and given to his friends.

We will have an extended family Zoom among my other kids, my siblings, my nieces and nephews and our families for an hour or 2. In the evening we may head to nearby friends for dessert and the late game.

Tomorrow looks like the last real warm day for a while, so I may at least get out the outside holiday lights and get them up, but not plug them it. I might try to sneak in a round of golf in the early afternoon. From my experience the course is usually not very busy the day before Thanksgiving, so a quick (about 2.5 hour) round is possible. :dance:
 
It’s been a rough couple months so I’m only having 8 for dinner and 3 of those are children.

I do love cooking though.
I’ll roast a turkey with stuffing and the usual sides after the bird goes in the oven I’ll start smoking three racks of baby back ribs. Guests are responsible for desserts and will be forced to take leftovers home.
 
Don't really cook much during the year, so no different for Thanksgiving.
Going out to a good local restaurant.
 
We normally go to Flemings Steakhouse for our Thanksgiving meal. This year we have decided to cook and invite friends who don't have family in town over. One is a widowed lady who lost her husband 7 years ago and she is in her 70s. The other is a couple whose children are in Amsterdam and Seattle and not visiting this year. The last time that we cooked any kind of real meals at home was about 2 years ago, since we pretty much eat all meals excpe breakfast out.

We will be having turkey, trying it out in a turkey bag this year (first time), with Rainbow Chard, mashed potatoes (friends bringing), mushrooms, cheeses with crackers, warmed nuts, grapes and figs, garlic bread, waffles with mixed berries and whipped cream. No pies. :)
 
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I'm doing the turkey in the Orion Cooker (smoker) that I modified to be fueled with propane. It's a sealed chamber (cowboy cooker) with the turkey, a handful of wood chips and a drip pan.

I do the America's Test Kitchen method of laying the breast on ice while the thighs warm up a bit. It probably doesn't make that much difference, but I've done it that way a few times and it might prevent the breast from overcooking and getting as dry. I load the bird up with temperature probes and cook it at a fairly low temperature (which I need to look-up from a previous year's notes). Then shut off the heat just before it hits the target temperatures.

We're feeding only 7 this year, DW's brother and a smattering of his family, so pretty laid back. All adults this time, which will be nice and chill.
 
Skippro33, the trans Siberian Orchestra used to come to Reno every year in either November or December and we always went. They are absolutely fantastic. I really hate that they quit coming here.

Since it’s just my oldest son and daughter-in-law, now we go to a local restaurant for our turkey meal at lunchtime instead of cooking. It’s always good, reasonable and they don’t allow children which is a plus.
 
I wanted prime rib, but I got out voted. Everyone else wants turkey, so turkey it is. I'm also the only one that likes pumpkin. My wife will make me a small pumpkin dessert that is so good. Graham cracker crust, cheesecake, pumpkin pie on top of the cheesecake, with a pecan crumble topping. It is amazing.
 
Be going to our son's Family home for the day. The two granddaughter I can't wait to see. Its been a couple of weeks since I have seen them. The little one will be 3 last day of January and is so loveable and been fun to watch her grow in life.
DIL will have her mom/dad brother and family and sister and family. Be busy but I always have a great time with DIL dad we have known each other for 30 years or so.
 
pb4uski said:
It seems every Thanksgiving I like the turkey so much I find myself wondering "Why don't we have turkey more often?"... because the birds are so big!
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We do bone-in turkey breast in the crockpot one or two times a month. Just sprinkle Lipton Onion Soup Mix, turn it on low, and wait for the meat probe to beep at 165. It does that meal, the carcas makes turkey soup and we have turkey sandwiches. The price can be wildly different at times, but even at its most expensive, it's reasonable for the amount of protein.
 
We do bone-in turkey breast in the crockpot one or two times a month. Just sprinkle Lipton Onion Soup Mix, turn it on low, and wait for the meat probe to beep at 165. It does that meal, the carcas makes turkey soup and we have turkey sandwiches. The price can be wildly different at times, but even at its most expensive, it's reasonable for the amount of protein.
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We tried that last year. Our crock pot cooks a little hot, and after 8 hours, it was still raw in the center. We don't have one of those beeping thermometers. DW doesn't really like turkey, anyway.

We're meeting family and friends at a casino Thanksgiving Day Buffet this year. It's about 50 miles away.
After last year's fiasco, DW stated unequivocally that she's never making a Thanksgiving dinner again.

So it's going to cost us $30 per person, plus tax & tips, but... Happy Wife, Happy life, right?
 
ArmchairMillionaire said:
We tried that last year. Our crock pot cooks a little hot, and after 8 hours, it was still raw in the center. We don't have one of those beeping thermometers. DW doesn't really like turkey, anyway.

We're meeting family and friends at a casino Thanksgiving Day Buffet this year. It's about 50 miles away.
After last year's fiasco, DW stated unequivocally that she's never making a Thanksgiving dinner again.

So it's going to cost us $30 per person, plus tax & tips, but... Happy Wife, Happy life, right?
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If your crock pot doesn't cook your turkey breast after 8 hours, you need a new crock pot.
 
RetiredHappy said:
If your crock pot doesn't cook your turkey breast after 8 hours, you need a new crock pot.
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Our Crock Pot isn't all that old - maybe 6 or 7 years. I think the turkey breast might have still been frozen in the middle. Everything else we cook in it gets overcooked if we don't keep an eye on it.

But maybe a new one is in order. The problem is that the new crocks are so much more porous than the older ones. (ours included)

DMIL has an older one that cleans up so much nicer.
 
ArmchairMillionaire said:
Our Crock Pot isn't all that old - maybe 6 or 7 years. I think the turkey breast might have still been frozen in the middle. Everything else we cook in it gets overcooked if we don't keep an eye on it.

But maybe a new one is in order. The problem is that the new crocks are so much more porous than the older ones. (ours included)

DMIL has an older one that cleans up so much nicer.
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I used to cook turkey thighs and drumsticks with daikon radish and carrots in a crock pot when I was working. I would come home to delicious turkey soup and had it for dinner with another side.
 
After many decades of cooking up our TDay feast from pretty much scratch, this year, for the first time, I'm hitting the easy button.

Smoked turkey breast, gravy, and cornbread stuffing all ordered from an upscale market, and a pumpkin pie dropped off today by a marketing-savvy realtor.

I made homemade cranberry sauce yesterday, leaving just green beans to steam and season on the big day.

Other plans, instead of being a slave to my kitchen all day, is to enjoy a walk on the beach with family before we eat, and then return to the beach before dessert to watch the sunset.
 
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old medic said:
Getting to the holiday cram season.... We dug out the boxes of Christmas stuff that the DW has promised to go through for the Umpteenth year... Got the outside lights hung, fake tree up... In prep for the 1st wave I have been busy with getting the turkey into the brine to smoke Thursday, roasting Pumkin for the GS to make pies and DW is working on a cherry bourbon sauce for the ham she's baking.
Hoping Street will send me some bread......
What's y'all's plan of attack?
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I'll hang the wreath on the front door on or about December 15th. At about the same time I'll put up the table-top tree and other inside decorations. That will all stay up until January 2nd.
 
aja8888 said:
Since I now live in an apartment, I will go to DD's house for the T Day event. Otherwise, just watch sports on TV and walk my dog.
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I thought you bought a new small house. Did I mistake that or did you get rid of it? I sometimes think I'd like to move into an apartment again in the future but it has been so long I'm not sure I remember what it is really like.

I'm doing nothing festive for the holiday so no prep needed.
 
We get a fresh bird from a local farm; I picked it up this afternoon. The pumpkin for the pies is from our garden, as are the sweet potatoes, and all the various and sundry herbs and spices. The young wife spent the day cooking all the stuff that can be cooked in advance, and I, between other obligations, spent the day cleaning up the kitchen. For about the last ten years, we host Thanksgiving and the sisters in law in Pennsylvania host Christmas.
 
I’m having a heck of a year, so picking up the T-day turkey breast meal from upscale market, enough for just DH & I. I’ll visit DM also and bring a pie, but not staying to eat. And yes, walking before and after!
 
I am a little tired of turkey so we are doing the prime rib mentioned upthread. Going to have some nice homemade horseradish sauce, cream corn, cream spinach, roasted new potatoes, homemade cheese cake and homemade gingerbread. Pretty much just like the pilgrims ate :)
 
Kings over Queens said:
I'm rooting for you! Read some recipes, watch you youtube instructional video's. The crust is arguably the hardest part. Make sure to preheat your oven!

You'll be fine, it will be great.
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THEN go to Costco. :facepalm: :2funny:
 
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