Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Tales

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

So I gotta tell ya this one.

This year, we're part of a poultry CSA. We have a local farm that's got some hoop houses up and is trying to provide eggs, chickens and a turkey per family over the winter months. It's a bit of an experiment; we'll see. Our farmer's a great guy, we're contributing to local, family farming. It's all good.

So our farmer asks me about chicken sizes; I tell him we don't really care - big is fine because we'll use all the parts.

Well, I think he transferred that to our turkey size.

We noticed, when he delivered the bird Tuesday night, that it seemed, well, large.

D wanted to sleep in today, and since there will only be us and my FIL for dinner today and I could do this menu in my sleep, I said that was fine.

He asked if there was anything I needed before this morning.

I said, "Yeah, please weigh the turkey."

So he did.

24 lbs. 24 unbelievable lbs. There are FOUR of us.

I looked up turkey charts.

Yep, this sucker was OFF the charts.

So... we did what anyone would do. (Cough, cough) or at least in my house. We cut the sucker in half. So I'm now roasting it inside-side-down. And I'm guessing it will cook pretty quick. My FIL, the retired neurosurgeon, supervised the hacking slicing of the turkey in half. BTW... if you ever have to do this, your fabulous herb shears, that you keep pristine are the perfect weapon tool.

So... any guesses how my turkey is going to turn out this year? We love an adventure.

Oh, and to top it all off, my farmer told us we need to keep the fridge REALLY cold since there's no preservatives or anything like that. So we did. And froze our greens and piggy greens.

We're just kitchen geniuses around here alright.

Here's to great turkey tales on your end!

32 comments:

Sister Sassy said...

Thanks for everything :) I'm sure it will be lovely! :)

Dru said...

Happy Thanksgiving!

anno said...

It's going to be great! Hard to stuff, but totally fabulous! (And, just think, now you don't have to worry about what to serve for those other holiday meals coming hard on the heels of this one -- you've just been serendipititiously effecient!) I'm thankful for you, friend -- hope you have a wonderful day!

NĂºria said...

He, he not enough room in the oven!!! Funny :D. Surely it will be good and tasty though.

Happy ThanksGiving girl!

Jen said...

Sassy - you're so welcome! I hope yours turns out well, too - and I'm sure it will!

Thanks, Dru - to you, too!

Anno, as I'm thankful for you. Have a lovely day!

Nuria, thanks so much! It wasn't so much the oven as it seemed beyond over the top for FOUR people - now we'll have another wonderful holiday meal at another time.

April said...

Sounds like there will be a lot of laughter at your household this year, no matter what!

Marianne Arkins said...

LOL... well, leftovers are good.

Do piggys like frozen food? *G*

Happy Thanksgiving.

Jen said...

April - yes, there's no doubt about that!

Marianne - the other half is freezing for another occasion. ;-) And I'm not sure how piggies do with frozen food... it's been interesting. At least that's all that's frozen!

Charity Tahmaseb said...

Oh, man! With your skills, it's bound to turn out great.

Have a fantastic day!

Goofball said...

24 pounds? whaaahaaa :) enjoy.


Have a great thanksgiving

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Now that is one big bird to celebrate Thanksgiving!!!!!!!Have a good one!!!

Jen said...

Charity... actually, it's been... um... interesting - dinner is already an hour and a half later than we'd planned. ;-)

Goofball - we only have half of it roasting - the other half is in our deep freeze.

Val, it is, indeed, huge. Hope you're having a great day up in CN!

Momisodes said...

I would have never thought to cut it in half! I'm sure you'll find a way to make it all delicious :)


Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

p.s. I totally froze my veggies last week, too.

Jen said...

Momisodes - It was okay... a bit dry thought - not a method I'd use again except in desperation, lol. It was a great day, though!

Hope you all had a lovely day, too.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha! Now that's a Thanksgiving story you'll be telling for years to come. So funny!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by today! It was your post on turkey, incidentally, that made me want to write today--I can't wait to hear about your half-turkey! (Pictures, PLEASE?)

My family isn't much for turkey, so we had duck!

Betsy said...

24 pounds?! Man, there's no way that would ever fit in my oven! Even half might be a squeeze! ;-)

I'm sure it turned out delicious! Hope you enjoyed your holiday and that you finds all kinds of creative new ways to work with those leftovers! (and then share them with us, of course!)

Jen said...

Leslie, it was definitely pretty funny from start to finish.

Cindy, I stupidly forgot pics, but I'll put them in when we cook the OTHER half.

Betsy... I think we're all a little overwhelmed with turkey right now. My leftovers tend to be pretty pedestrian - turkey/stuffing casserole, turkey tetrazzini, turkey soup, etc.

Unknown said...

A 24 lb turkey qualifies as a flock of turkeys! Hope your holiday was wonderful.

Jen said...

It was, indeed. I think I'm going to have to have a passel of friends over to eat the other half when we roast it.

It was just fine, though. Hope you had a lovely holiday, too!

Flower Child said...

turkey chili, turkey pot pie...

we used to have 25lb birds but that was when my mom was cooking for 20 people.

good luck!

Luisa Perkins said...

I'm giggling because our turkey weighed 37 pounds. I'll blog later today about how we handled that. Usually we do about a 20-pounder, but this? This was something else entirely.

I hope you had a wonderful day! I hope we can catch up soon.

Mae Travels said...

we had a 13 lb turkey for 10 adults and 3 kids and there's a lot left over, so I can imagine how much you will be eating next week. I hope you enjoyed it!

peter said...

I bet it turned out just fine. You'll have to invite over a small army for the other half.

WIDNEY WOMAN said...

This is too funny. I laughed so loudly, my husband had to come find out what the ruckus was about. Glad to hear it turned out okay, although a bit dry.

A friend told me she had an extra turkey and was giving it to me. I got there, and it was already in the thawing process - we had Thanksgiving at a different friend's home, so I had to cook a turkey I didn't plan on!! -* sigh *- I am grateful to not have to cook meat for a week.

Carol said...

I have a great recipe for turkey tetrazzini that I could share...

Carol

glamah16 said...

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. There is never to much turkey in our house. Poultry sheras are great too.Cuts through the bone.

painted maypole said...

ha ha ha ha ha

from the looks of the food that you post online, I bet anything you cook is fabulous!!

Jen said...

FC - those are wonderful suggestions - especially the chili. I love white chili.

Oh, Luisa, I'm definitely going to have to check out your post! I'll guess you had more than four people eating, though. ;-)

Mae, it was good and we've frozen some of the cooked meat for later and frozen the other half of the turkey for roasting another time. Your Thanksgiving feast looked marvelous!

Peter, we will indeed - an excuse for a party!

Widney - there's something to be said for not cooking meat for a while. ;-) AND for leftovers.

Oooo... Carol, I'd LOVE that recipe, but I'll bug you for it after you finish celebrating - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Courtney - they would have been great had we HAD poultry shears, but my herb shears and my FIL's advice did the trick! ;-)

Thanks so much, PM, but this Thanksgiving was not my best. It was all fine, though. ;-)

Heather said...

Jeez! Ours was 16 lbs (for 5 people), and I still ended up deconstructing the thing before cooking it. Enjoy the leftovers! ;)

Jen said...

Heather, those big monsters are crying for deconstruction. Just wish I'd sort of done things differently - it wasn't the size as much as the admonishments to keep everything icy cold, etc.

Grimm said...

Originally I was thinking you would be having turkey sandwiches for the entire 2009 year!

Never considered cutting one in 1/2, pretty freaking ingenious.

Can't wait to hear how it turns out.