Thanksgiving dinner glitches

[Jenise]

I've got three to share:

I was preparing the turkey and roaster. He (she?) was laying in the rack and I stood him up to spray the breast with olive oil before laying him down. I held him in a sitting position and started spraying liberally, and the light was such that I could see quite a bit of overspray--landing on the fresh pumpkin pie right behind the roaster. SHIT. Paper towels to the rescue there.

Then it turned out that I didn't have any maple syrup with which to both flavor and sweeten my cranberry sauce. So I scrounged the pantry and came up with pomegranate syrup, which I used less of than I would maple and supplemented with a big scoop of brown sugar. With the juice and zest of one orange, the result was quite tasty.

My stuffed turkey was going to require a minimum of four and a half to five hours roasting time according to the conventional table for a stuffed bird. At four hours I did the first exploratory temperature check: 175 degrees. YOW! I don't know how it cooked THAT much. It was almost 13 pounds. Fortunately I'd brined it, so the bird wasn't dried out, but it was definitely done-done.

Any glitches at your house?

The worst ever. I broke my mixer (see other thread) making bread to take to my cousins. I stepped out of the kitchen and the bowl shield got jammed between the dough hook and the bowl.

The turkey here was done 45 minutes earlier than anticipated based on cooking tables (from the label) too, Jenise. And my oven is calibrated and everything.

I wonder if this is another case of the Food Police trying to save us from ourselves (and the producers from lawsuits, she added cynically).

[David M. Bueker]

Actually things went very well yesterday, except that the gravy had a ljust a ittle burned taste to it (I think the brown sugar from the brine infiltrated the turkey juices and carmelized a bit.

Other than that...even today's turkey stock is delicious.

Kitchenaid did the walk off the counter.
Still works.
Hardwood floor in the rental house has a big dent.
Could have been worse.

We cooked the turkey differently this year, as we do most every year. Did not brine as we haven't worked out the logistics in our new house. So we modified a recipe out of the Nov 15 WS; yes WS.

It was a fifteen pounder fresh. After cleaning and drying we rubbed it with halves of a head of garlic and tossed into cavity. Ditto with halves of a lemon. Added sprigs of thyme and rosemary along with salt and pepper to cavity. Rubbed outside well with EVOO, and seasoned with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Inserted long stairless steel skewers into each thigh. Put on a rack in a shallow roasting pan and into a 450 degree F oven for a half hour. Removed and dropped temp to 350. Place foil over breast of bird and put back in oven for 2.5 hours. Bringo, 160 degrees and perfectly cooked. Will do it that way again.

Kitchenaid did the walk off the counter.
Still works.
Hardwood floor in the rental house has a big dent.
Could have been worse.

Try spritzing some water on the dent. Place a damp towel over it and heat it with your iron. Most, if not all, of the dent should come out. If a little dent is still left, I have another trick for you.

I bury my mistakes....

And I bury Paul. Goo goo ga joob.

Everything went perfectly here, other than everyone eating my ravioli in greater quantities than expected... I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[Jenise]

And I bury Paul. Goo goo ga joob.

Everything went perfectly here, other than everyone eating my ravioli in greater quantities than expected... I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

You mean the kitchen gods owe you one. Well, there's always Christmas. Oh wait, you're Jewish....

We ate with friends. But made the dressing, baked it and took it over. the hosts had gotten a late start on the turkey, so dinner was pushed forward a couple of hours. In the meantime, the dressing cooled.

Just before dinner the host had forgotten that the dressing only needed re-heating and re-baked it. Oh well, Twice baked dressing can be a bit dry, but if you use enough gravy...


Richard

[Jenise]

Oh, Richard, how disappointing. You go to all that work and then have that happen--and I'm sure it looked already baked, too. All you can do is grin and laugh about it.

I have one other story--all of a sudden everyone got tired and started yawning, but the evening was still young and no one wanted to go home so we made a pot of coffee. One of my guests immediately helped himself before I got the condiments out. He likes black with sugar, so he helped himself to a big spoonful from the little white ramekin next to the stove.

That held kosher salt. I saw it and said nothing, not wanting to miss Jeff's face when he took that first big sip....

He likes black with sugar, so he helped himself to a big spoonful from the little white ramekin next to the stove.

That held kosher salt. I saw it and said nothing, not wanting to miss Jeff's face when he took that first big sip....

Sorta like the look on the faces of people one year at the NM Fair who took a bite of our cotton candy that was accidentally made with salt instead of sugar.

Just finished lunch; burp! Now there is nothing left from Thanksgiving except three beautiful quarts of turkey stock.

[Jenise]

Lunch? Beat you: I had the last of the dressing for breakfast. And yesterday the last of the gravy made a splendid sauce base for the meat mixture in a Shepherds Pie.