"Freedom From Want" by Norman Rockwell
I'm really excited that I found a frozen Honeysuckle turkey for 59 cents a pound. So I was able to get a 19.32 lb turkey for $11.40! He's been in my freezer for about two weeks. I will need to take him out and put him in the refrigerator on Tuesday next week so he will be plenty thawed out by Thanksgiving morning.
I have been roasting my turkeys in a roaster oven for quite a few years now. They can be purchased quite inexpensively these days and I love using it for holidays because it totally frees up my oven space for other things.
If you are new to roasting Thanksgiving turkey, here's how you do it: Take your thawed (or fresh) turkey and wash it in the sink. Be sure to remove all giblets that usually come stuffed inside. Mine go directly into the trash, though I know some wonderful cooks who use them in their gravy. Pat your turkey dry with a towel. Take Crisco (I like the butter flavored) and spread it all over the outside of the turkey. Then stuff the turkey with the dressing you made the night before. (see below) Fill up both cavities. If you still have more, you can stuff it under the skin on top of the breast! It tastes so much better when stuffed in the turkey than baked separately in a pan. Use those turkey lacer pins that you'll find at the grocery store to help close up the cavities. I usually don't bother with the string. Follow the directions on the packaging for roasting time and temperature, which varies according to the weight of the bird. Just figure out what time you want to eat dinner, and allowing about 15-30 minutes for the turkey to set after it is finished roasting, and time to carve it, just count backwards to see what time you need to have it in the oven. If you are using a disposable aluminum roaster pan, be sure to put a cookie sheet under it for support. I start out with mine covered, either with foil, if I'm roasting it in the oven, or with the lid of the roaster oven. When it is nearing the time for the turkey to be done, I remove the covering so that it gets nice and brown on the top. By the way, you'll need a turkey baster to catch up the juices and drizzle them over the turkey frequently while it is roasting. That's all there is to it. Simple!
For years and years my mom and I have made our bread stuffing with a recipe right out of a 1961 Betty Crocker Cookbook (which gives permission to quote brief passages). We actually triple the recipe, but I will give it to you here as it is printed. Now I know it is not fashionable these days to be using what I call "puff" bread, plain white, inexpensive bread. But this is the one day of the entire year I break all the (new) rules for eating high fiber bread and err on the side of what really tastes great! I know there are a million recipes for all kinds of fancy stuffing out there, but I guarantee you, THIS is the recipe that everyone will not be able to get enough of. That's why we have to triple it!
Bread Stuffing
(3 qts. for a 12-lb. turkey)
1 cup butter
3/4 cup finely minced onion
12 cups coarse or fine bread crumbs or cubes
1 1/2 cups chopped celery (stalks and leaves)
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. dried sage, thyme or marjorm
poultry seasoning (to taste)
Melt butter in large heavy skillet. Add onion and cook until yellow, stirring occasionally. Stir in some of bread crumbs. Heat, stirring to prevent excessive browning. Turn into deep bowl. Mix in remaining ingredients lightly. For dry stuffing, add little or no liquid. For moist stuffing mix in lightly with fork just enough hot water or broth to moisten dry crumbs. Cool and place stuffing in bird when ready to bake.
Tips: Instead of using packaged bread crumbs or cubes, buy a couple loaves of soft white bread. Take a bread knife and cut it into small cubes and measure them out. Save any extra bread slices for your left-over hot turkey sandwiches. I cook both the onion and the celery in the butter in the skillet, then add about one half of the bread cubes. When you turn this into the mixing bowl with the other ingredients, it should be plenty moist and I don't add more liquid. I cover the bowl of stuffing and refrigerate it overnight. Do not stuff the turkey ahead of time, only just before you put it into the oven. Sometimes my refrigerator is so full the night before Thanksgiving that if it is cold enough outside, I just put my covered bowl of stuffing in my car until morning.
Tomorrow I will tell you how to make the best mashed potatoes and gravy, just like grandma used to make!
"Come ye thankful people, come
raise the song of harvest home
all are safely gathered in
ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide
all our wants to be supplied
come to God's own temple, come
raise the song of harvest home."
-Henry Alford-
graphic from www.penniwigs.blogspot.com
