Turkey Talk for 2014

[duluthralphie]

I'm thinking it would be a Julia CHild gourmet effort!! Deboned and duck stuffed inside the turkey, I'm just guessing though. I'm happy with getting most of the feathers off and shoving the bird in a cold oven, and turning it on!! ROFL

You're suppose to take the feathers off?

 

[chickadoodles]

Since it is turkey time . . .

Two birds went to processor on Sunday. One at 15#, a New Holland male that had impressive growth; and a cross bred hen at #10. SOld to the same customer at about $5/pound.

Eating at SIL on THursday and she is serving TUrducken. I"m not sure what to think. SOmehow this is just WRONG. lol

We eat turkey year round. Not just at the holidays anymore.

Chickadoodles--- hope you have a pan large enough!!! A 35#er is the largest I've roasted and it required a new supersize roasting pan AND foil extensions to make the pan bigger. lol Hope you post pics of this beast.

It is being smoked by a friend of DH's and we are picking it up today after 2. I will get a pic of it after we get it home. They do shrink down a little in size after they cook. But we will see. lol

I don't think I could eat turducken. I have never ate duck!

 

[R2elk]

I'm thinking it would be a Julia CHild gourmet effort!! Deboned and duck stuffed inside the turkey, I'm just guessing though. I'm happy with getting most of the feathers off and shoving the bird in a cold oven, and turning it on!! ROFL

Actually its a chicken stuffed inside a duck which is then stuffed inside a turkey. I suspect that you are correct about them being being deboned. In the grocery store the turduckhen comes in a box.

 

[chicken pickin]

It is being smoked by a friend of DH's and we are picking it up today after 2. I will get a pic of it after we get it home. They do shrink down a little in size after they cook. But we will see. lol

I don't think I could eat turducken. I have never ate duck!

Last year we cooked up a 37lb turkey in the oven. I thought for sure it wouldn't fit but it did. Your 40pounder should be tight but do-able.

This is my last years 37lb turkey. Also a tip, you could try cooking it breast side down. Appearance wont be as pretty but all the juices flow down through the breast making it really moist and juicy. I believe this is the turkey that I took out and cooked upside down my family thought I was strange. Turns out they think its a great idea now. I cant seem to find any more pics though. Ill keep looking.

 

[duluthralphie]

I saw a "professional" chef on TV yesterday preparing a turkey.

She butterflied the turkey and laid it in top of dressing to cook. She claimed by cutting it down the back and butterflying a turkey you can lesson the cooking time from 5 hours to 90 minutes.

she also claimed the meat will be more moist with the shorter cooking time.

I am going to try this with my chicken. ( I could not bring myself to kill my turkey, call me softy). My chicken is 11 pounds.

 

[TeaChick]

too bad you're in the deep south! I"m in northern NY and have 3 left!

Thanks! =)

This will be my forth year to have my own turkey for Thanksgiving but this is the first time I ran into this. Wondered if someone has had this. I had a 1 1/2 yr. old that I used for this year and when I started processing I found a large fat sack at the neck and chest area. I cut out most of it and looks like it continues to the leg area. Wonder if this is because they haven't had enough exercise or is it the food they eat? Any feed back is helpful. Also, wonder if others have such a time with hatching turkeys. Not near as easy as hatching chickens!

I haven't processed turkeys, but I have done chickens. The last one I did was a LF Cochin male who had just started crowing (about 8 mos old). He had a bunch of fat inside and outside the body cavity. I was pretty disappointed to find that he had so much fat and feathers and very little meat. He was about the laziest of my chickens as far as foraging goes, and mostly ate the fermented scratch grains and DD fed him more gamebird crumbles than I liked, but he was her chicken, so I just advised. I also wondered if it was b/c the others I had processed were in summer and this one just as the weather was beginning to cool off, and maybe he was bulking up for winter. I don't really know, I'm just throwing this out there b/c I had a somewhat similar experience and I'd like to know too.

Looking for (more) advice/suggestions. 1) I now have many sets of hearts/gizzards/liver/necks. Should I freeze them in sets for future use or make one giant batch of broth and freeze.
2) freezing individual breasts. Should I freeze them plain, add broth, or perhaps ital dsg?
Thanks very much.

From a kitchen standpoint, I would think that would depend on how you intend to use them. We freeze all the giblets together after they've rested and then use whatever whenever. If we were to use them to make broth, we would just pull out the whole bag to make broth/stock out of at the same time.
As to freezing breasts, if you freeze them in the broth, then they're basically marinating as they defrost, so if you need some that are like that, then go for it. We (I mean those of us who cook, not me) freeze them plain b/c we (again not me) use them in many different ways and don't necessarily want them frozen with broth.
Not much help, huh?

Question: what does ital dsg mean (or is it a type-o)?

I'm thinking it would be a Julia CHild gourmet effort!! Deboned and duck stuffed inside the turkey, I'm just guessing though. I'm happy with getting most of the feathers off and shoving the bird in a cold oven, and turning it on!! ROFL

That's how I cook!!!!!

 

[TeaChick]

You're suppose to take the feathers off?

It is being smoked by a friend of DH's and we are picking it up today after 2. I will get a pic of it after we get it home. They do shrink down a little in size after they cook. But we will see. lol

I don't think I could eat turducken. I have never ate duck!

Oh, duck is yummy!!!

And, I'm sure it would be even better cooked inside a turkey (just to keep it on topic lol) with a chicken!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:

I love duck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Turkey is a close second.

Quote: Everything my SIL serves comes from a box. Many years ago DH and I decided to roast up a turkey for our home no matter where we celebrated with family. We just needed really good tasting food on Thanksgiving, even if it was eaten after we got back home. lol

Turducken--- turkey, duck and chicken?? too dar n much work.

Quote: Oh it looks lovely!!! I totally agree-- roast breast side down. My mother used to flip the bird half way thru raosting. Lord what a hurculean effort. Took the two of us to get a hug bird safely turned. When I started roasting my own turkeys I gave up on the turning long ago as I couldnt handle a big bird by myself. Discovered a good thing, just as you did.

 

[Book Em Danno25]

Hi

hi!!!

 

[Arielle]

I saw a "professional" chef on TV yesterday preparing a turkey.

She butterflied the turkey and laid it in top of dressing to cook. She claimed by cutting it down the back and butterflying a turkey you can lesson the cooking time from 5 hours to 90 minutes.

she also claimed the meat will be more moist with the shorter cooking time.

I am going to try this with my chicken. ( I could not bring myself to kill my turkey, call me softy). My chicken is 11 pounds.

I love cooking shows!!!!!

Yah, I bet the time is reduced, but for me I dont care as the heat heats up my house ( yay) and it roasts overnight ( yay) and we wake up to a wonderful aroma ( yay). I actually get up during hte night to check the bird. A BBW takes the whole night. A heritage is much shorter. Ask me how I know!