Well, the big day is almost here. No, not Halloween. Thanksgiving. The big Turkey day. My first away from home. I am very excited about the prospects of the up-and-coming holiday, and recently I had a conversation with Jeff that went something like this:<\/p>\n
“Hey Jeff, I want to host Thanksgiving.” – me<\/p>\n
“OK. Cool.” -Jeff<\/p>\n
“Hey, I think Jen and I are going to host Thanksgiving.” – Becca, who just had walked in.<\/p>\n
“Oh.” – me (Disappointed because I wanted to cook the turkey)<\/p>\n
“But, can you do the turkey? Please?” – Becca<\/p>\n
“Um, sure, no problem.” – me (Internally screaming YES OF COURSE)<\/p>\n
But now I had a problem. I had to make a turkey. I’ve never so much as thought about roasting a bird. But my friend K can do it, so if she can, I can. Thus, I came up with a six week plan.<\/p>\n
Week 1: October 19-25<\/strong><\/p>\n *Research types of recipes for roasted turkey<\/p>\n Week 2: October 26-November 1<\/strong><\/p>\n *Practice roasting a chicken<\/p>\n Week 3: November 2-8<\/strong><\/p>\n *Practice on a small-sized turkey<\/p>\n Week 4: Nov 9-15<\/strong><\/p>\n *Whittle away recipes, choose favorite 1<\/p>\n Week 5: Nov 16-22<\/strong><\/p>\n *Whittle away recipes, choose favorite 1, buy ingredients<\/p>\n Week 6: Nov 22-27<\/strong><\/p>\n *Discuss with Becca how her oven cooks, lay out final plan, purchase turkey<\/p>\n *Cook!<\/p>\n Now I know that might seem a little ridiculous, but I want my first turkey to be delicious. So I am going to practice. I’ve bought a chicken for this week, and last week looked at some recipes. However today, I was researching a bit more, and I found this:<\/p>\n “Number of Diners:<\/strong> 12. This sounds harder than I originally thought. And that information is from “Real Simple.”<\/a><\/p>\n Real Simple also had this little trick: “Tip:<\/strong> Roast two small turkeys side by side rather than one extra-large bird. They\u2019ll be done in almost half the time.”<\/p>\n I just might, Real Simple, I just might.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, I’d like to hear what you all think–what’s hard about cooking a turkey, what’s easy, what do I need to remember?<\/p>\n I already feel like I need to purchase a meat thermometer, and a baster. So I did some more probing on the website from Real Simple, and found out there are 7 things I should own to make a turkey. This might get expensive.<\/p>\n *Meat thermometer Looks like I have some work to do…next up, “40 ways to Simplify Thanksgiving.” I can’t think of 10 things I’d need to do, let alone 40 things I’d want to make my life easier. Looks like I have some learning to do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, the big day is almost here. No, not Halloween. Thanksgiving. The big Turkey day. My first away from home. I am very excited about the prospects of the up-and-coming holiday, and recently I had a conversation with Jeff that … Continue reading
\nTurkey Size (including leftovers):<\/strong> 16 to 18 pounds.
\nThawing Time (for a frozen turkey):<\/strong> Refrigerator, 3 1\/2 to 4 days; cool water (changed every half hour), 8 to 9 hours.
\nRoasting Time (unstuffed):<\/strong> Roast at 425\u00b0 F for 45 minutes. Cover with foil, reduce temperature to 350\u00b0 F, and continue to roast until a thigh registers 180\u00b0 F, 2 1\/2 to 3 hours total.”<\/p>\n
\n*Baster
\n*Roasting pan
\n*Roasting rack
\n*Carving board
\n*Carving set
\n*Gravy separator<\/p>\n