Thanksgiving has always been a huge thing here; for most of the last 15 years, I've been the organizer, host, and main cook. (And main house cleaner and dish washer. Story for another day.) Over the course of the last several years, though, the entire family has moved away to a couple of states east of here. So we'll probably do a big thing over there sometime in December.
But that means that this year's Thanksgiving is a much, much smaller affair, with just the three of us. At the same time, I stumbled across a 27-lb turkey, which is all but unheard of these days and especially this year. So, because the risk is smaller, I'm going to cook it as my first bird, the one I use for leftovers and stock, FROM FROZEN. At 15 min per lb for a thawed bird, I'd be looking at 7.25 hours; most of the sites suggest to increase that by 50%, so I'm looking at 11 hours minimum.
Finally, due to some health issues, I'm trying to trim down the menu calorically as well. So vegetables will be baked, roasted, or steamed, in very little fat. The one exception is my stuffing, because shut up.
So. This year's slimmed down menu:
Turkey 1, from frozen. Verdict: The bird was just too big - by the time the internal breast meat hit 165F, the thighs were nearly 200F, and even the outer breast meat was 180F+. I think it could work with a much smaller bird; might try again next year.
Turkey 2, bone-in turkey breast with herb gravy.
Stuffing: Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Sausage, but replacing the sausage with bacon.
Sweet potatoes: Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Vegetable: Honey-glazed carrots - no recipe, this came from the store
Green vegetable: Green salad - no recipe, this came from the store
Cranberry sauce: Cranberry Sauce with Port and Cinnamon
Dessert: Store-bought pumpkin pie with Reddi-Wip.
Up next: Turkey soup with egg noodles, fresh carrots & celery, and leftover sweet potatoes.
No comments:
Post a Comment