Turkey thread Okay, /ck/...let's talk turkeys. I've

>>8233345
Stuff that shit in the turkey unless you have a ton of people to feed

>>8233388
>>8233388
Nice trips/dubs, friendo-o. I actually have about 13 people to feed so probably gonna have to cook a larger bird

Here's what I've done the last few times I got a [frozen] turkey for Thanksgiving:

Put the turkey in the fridge a week before.
When it's thawed just enough that I can cut into it with a little effort but it's still relatively frozen, separate wings, legs and back from the breast.
Separate drumettes and wingtips from flats.
Separate drums from thighs.
Refreeze drumettes, flats, drums and thighs for future use.
Continue thawing breast, back and wingtips along with the neck and giblets.
Three days to TG, debone the breast, trying to keep it as one whole bit of meat. If I accidentally cut it into two, it's okay, though.
Truss the breast and brine it for three days; re-fridge the rib bones.
On TG, remove the breast from the brine, pat dry and season.
Roast in hot oven; meanwhile, put neck, back, wingtips and ribs into pressure cooker with water to make turkey stock.
Strain stock and discard bones.
Make a medium roux and compound it with finely chopped onion.
Divide the roux in half and compound one further with some finely chopped giblets.
Add stock to both sets of hot roux to make gravy, one plain and the other giblet and salt them to taste.
Freshly powder dry minced onion and add to giblet gravy for a more onion-y taste.
Remove twine from breast, slice and serve with various Thanksgiving-y sides. I like:

Starch:
• bread dressing (like stuffing, but in a pan rather than in the bird)
• garlic mash
• macaroni and cheese
• bread

Veg:
• bacon collards
• butter-braised carrots and parsnips
• eggy peas
• tomato succotash
• crumb-stuffed mushroom caps

Condiments:
• cranberry sauce (I don't like it, but others do, so I've made it before)
• both of the gravies as well as pan jus from the roast

Beverages:
• beer
• wine
• mo' beer
• mo' wine
• water

Keep in mind, I've never cooked all of those things for one Thanksgiving, but I nearly always cook collards and usually cook mash over all other starches

>>8233345
Cook at a higher heat for less time. Don't baste your turkey, constantly opening your oven allows heat to escape, meaning a longer cooking time is necessary which will lead to a drier bird.

>>8233420
>Dressing

Are you by chance Canadian? I've never heard of dressing in the US but it seems very widespread in Canada.

>>8233397
>Nice trips/dubs
Please go back to the kid boards.

>>8234483
not him, but i'm from the american south and we call it dressing

>>8233420
OP here

Thanks for the post. I think I'm going to do a lot of what you said but I am going to keep the legs and the wings on there.

Also your sides are pretty awesome...I'm assuming "garlic mash" is what we in the United States down south would just call "Mashed Potatoes" with garlic.

I love the roux ideas.

>>8233437
Good point. I'm just afraid of it being too dry though!

>>8234489
no u

>>8235149
Georgiafag here! Nice to see you Southern bro!

>>8234483
Nope. Euro living in the US. I've heard the distinction between stuffing and dressing from my ex's family who are USican southerners.

>>8235425
>garlic mash
Yeah, mashed potatoes and garlic. I steam my potatoes with the garlic cloves, mash it all up then whip it with cultured cream (it's thick like sour cream or creme fraiche, but not nearly as tangy) rather than butter and fold in herbage, usually parsley. Chives are nice, too.

I separate the breast from the rest of the bird because the parts each cook at different rates and boneless breast meat is the easiest to slice and serve. And, believe it or not, there's plenty of leftovers because I'm feeding fewer than ten people and a large breast yields about 4lbs of boneless meat which is itself about sixteen reasonably sized portions.

>roux ideas
Well, how else are you meant to make gravy?

Don't stuff the cavity full - it stops the internal cooking process. Put a 1 inch layer in there at most.
Pack butter under the skin but layer fatty bacon over the breasts and remove it for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Put the stuffing in 2" balls around the turkey and some in a seperate pan for cooking.
Use the stuffing flavoured liquid from the turkey to make gravey but skim the fat off first.
Never basted a turkey in 30 years and never had a dry or uncooked one.

gravy*

>>8235631
separate*