Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful day, filled with great company and good food. I have a lot to be thankful for, including getting to spend the holiday with my family. Over the years I think I have cooked every part of a Thanksgiving meal, but have never been responsible for the whole meal. Kudos to those of you who pull off this incredible feast every year!
I realize that this post is too late for this year, and some of you may not want to look at turkey, stuffing, or mashed potatoes again for another year, but I wanted to share some of my lessons learned when it comes to cooking the turkey (though I’m certainly no expert), as well as the recipes we used this year.
Turkey Lessons
- Don’t forget to defrost it. In college, my roommates and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner at 7H (our apartment) because we got a “free” turkey from Harris Teeter. Two of the three of us didn’t eat meat at the time, so we were useless. Needless to say, the turkey did not get defrosted in time. After a last minute trip to the store, we served Thanksgiving dinner with Cornish game hens. We also didn’t have enough plates for everyone, so some people had to use baking dishes and pie pans.
- Don’t forget to take the “bag of stuff” out of the cavity. I think 2008 was my first attempt at cooking the turkey, for a Thanksgiving potluck that I was hosting. Bryan and I both had to call our Moms to figure out what we were supposed to do with the surprise bag of stuff we found in the cavity. Once we figured out that we were supposed to take it out, I’m pretty sure we just threw it out. I now know it’s the neck, and you can put it in the bottom of the pan to flavor the pan drippings that will be used to make the gravy. It can also be used to make stock. GTK, good to know.
- Duck fat is the secret ingredient. For last year’s Thanksgiving potluck, Mark and Jimmy kindly offered to make the turkey, which involved a special order of duck fat from Williams Sonoma. Jimmy is also nice to have around to carve the turkey, since he’s a surgeon.
- A meat thermometer can be your best friend. This year, my parents’ friends were cooking the turkey in a brand new oven. When it was supposed to be “done”, it looked pretty white and thanks to the trusty meat thermometer, they knew it wasn’t done as the internal temperature was only 120 degrees. With a little more time and a little more heat in the oven, they got it up to a perfect 165 degrees, and it was delicious.
We were in charge of the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. We used the old school Campbell’s recipe for green bean casserole.
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| Classic |
For the mashed potatoes, I used a mixture of 1% milk and half-and-half. I also added the roasted garlic. I added the milk and butter mixture a little bit at a time, because you might not need it all…often I don’t even measure out the milk and butter.
Sour cream mashed potatoes
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| So much better than that canned stuff! |
Kara Cooks and Eats 