 We're sharing our time-tested Thanksgiving hosting tips and recipes, as well as plenty from chefs, hospitality experts, celebrities, hosts and home cooks we love. Our goal – sending you into Thanksgiving with a confident smile on your face, and seeing you emerge on the other side with your sanity intact. From the comments: Sweet mother of poultry, the turkey isn't thawed all the way! WHYYYYYYYYY MEEEEEEE?!?!? If you're reading this at any point in the week before Thanksgiving, you have no reason to panic. Sez the USDA's website:
All is not lost - just slowed down a tad. That same, handy USDA site suggests a cold water thaw.
Last ditch? The microwave - if you've got a bitty bird and a bodacious cooking chamber.
But just for a sec, let's imagine that the doomsday scenario should strike. The bird could be used to hammer in tent stakes, your guests were so underfed, they had to make a White Castle run - and they tripped over Uncle Stu where he'd tumbled down pantsless by the hydrangeas. Are these people, your friends and family, really going to love you any less? They are, ideally, rooting for you and ready to pitch in at a moment's notice - even if you end up as the butt of most of their Thanksgiving jokes for the next decade or two. If they give you any lip, just sweetly, politely let 'em know that they're more than welcome to go right ahead and Tofurky themselves next year. Need more Thanksgiving tips? We've got you covered: Thanksgiving is coming; refrain from freaking out |
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My brother got all up in arms this year about having to pluck the bird since every one wasn't going to be able to come. we're going to have a mini-turkey (only 7 pounds) that was frozen earlier this year but I just found out and he hasn't got it out to thaw yet. This is sure to be a memorable year.
Wife and I are having my daughter-in-law parents over for turkey day and we were told this morning that her Mom is a vegetarian no dairy and her Dad is on a low sodium low sugar diet …. good luck at our house even the greens have hamhock/bacon in them with butter and sugar on just about everything. Will try to whip up something (bag of premixed salad from walmart ) but c'mon this is something that should have been told to us a week age veggy/spc diet types need to be a little more responsible speciall when comming over to a Holiday meal.
Mine was fresh, never frozen and has been in the brine for 6 days and will brine at room temp starting tomorrow am for at least 24 hrs prior to cooking. Been doing this for many years....the FDA can stick it where the sun don't shine.
Janet Napolitano says to make sure your turkey is fully defrosted.
Personally I think she is one big turkey that ought to get stuffed.
Have you SEEN Janet lately? Looks like she's already stuffed pretty well, to me!!
I cooked my turkey upside down for hours last year and one of my guests told me that he had seen on a cooking show that you SHOULD do it that way for a little less time than I did. I've since read the same thing, so my face is saved. . . My chandalier also fell off the dining room ceiling last year onto the pickle/relish dishes, butter and my good china right before serving time (thankfully since no one was actually sitting there.) I refused to leave the kitchen but only two crystal wine glasses were broken, the gelatin salad (I'm the only one who eats it) and the butter and pickles had to be thrown out but we had plenty to replace it. Dinner was warmed in the microwave, everyone pitched in on resetting and it worked out fine and will be the most talked about thanksgiving for many years!
Now THAT helps put things in perspective. Thank goodness that it was before everyone sat down and so little was actually lost. In years to come everyone will remember that and will remark how wonderfully you handled it! Kudos to you!
You've gotta stop swinging on that chandelier!
What you do is stack up some old tires to about the level of the floor of your trailer, and put an #3 washtub on top. Fill it with water. Take your garden hose and put one end in the toilet tank and the other out the window, and start a siphon going into the washtub. Put the turkey in the tub and the continual water flow will thaw it in about 3 hours, no matter how big it is.
I always cook my turkey from frozen. If you cook it for 2-3 hours, you can then remove the innards. Depending upon the poundage, you just add an extra 2-3 hours of cooking. Since it retains all of that moisture from being frozen, the turkey comes out juicy and delicious! Don't fret about a frozen turkey, savor it!
I do not handle raw meat. My mother always thawed the turkey in the fridge a couple of days ahead. My father usually one a turkey (at least a 15 pounder) at the Elks raffle. Always Butterball.
Tofurky is an abomination.
Just another example of the liberal media. Here we go again.
My goodness, just another example of a conservative knuckledragging troll not having anything better to do than blame liberals for everything....Keep up the good work moron. Your party is looking really intelligent w/ all those half baked moronic pseudo-candidates they're parading around these days. Slam dunk for the Democrats in 2012...
This is a food blog, please do not bring politics into this.
What has THAT got to do with anything!?!? This is about turkey. Troglodyte!