That turkey is done-and it is DELICIOUS??!!!!!!!


Well if anyone for whatever reason was curious as to how it turned out and what advice helped me in getting this gargantuan bird from freezer to table, well here s the story. I took advice from many of you - and reverted to the old fashioned way of family cooking
Since leezia and others were so concerned about salmonella safety, I did decide to thaw it in the fridge. Took 4 days and wasn t even fully thawed then! But enough for me to pull out and discard the gizzard, etc. I spent and hour and a half cooking at a low light, then could remove the neck from the cavity, and discard that silly plastic thermometer pop up thing i.e.- my word if I m worried about health why would I want to cook plastic?


I removed the turkey from the murky fluid and set it in a new clean pan. I want you to know that bird STILL was not fully thawed! And I was getting a little daunted if not thoroughly annoyed by the printed instructions and the entirely unhelpful lady at Shady room phone support who glibly suggested if I had any questions to read the instructions. Which states for a 15 pound bird (so they say on the label but it felt more like 25 to me) I should cook it for 3 hours - to which I reply: are you kidding me????? It takes me 2 hours to cook a small chicken in my stove. 3 hours wouldn't ' t cook a wing on this pterodactlyle.
And then I decided to go back to my roots - to cook the turkey the old fashioned folksy way that had gone back generations. Sooooooooo.... I said goodbye and fare thee well to the tongs and the turkey baster, spices and lid I d purchased for this very occasion and did it the old school way: I cut up a half dozen onions. I poured a half cylinder of water into the pan with turkey and onions and threw a handful of salt over this bird- made a tent of aluminum foil , shoved it in the oven at 350 (Farenheit) on this side of the pond, cued in some Judy Collins for aural assistance- and that s it. I cooked that sucker for 2 days!!well let s say overnight and half midday. I turned it off from time to time & met it sit in a hot oven for a few hours, I don t know why my ancestors did this bit we did. Total actual cooking time- 8 hours . Plus standing time. And it s PERFECT -succulent and delicious and immersed in a kettle pond of onion gravy. I didn t even have to carve it- meat fell right off the bone?? as it always did in my house.

So it s all been transferred to another smaller bowl and ready to be served this weekend. Except the leg. My favorite part. Well ya know I DID have to sample it best to see it was okay for company. So it ll be missing a leg before the guests get at it. Who s to know.? With a bird this scrumptious no one should complain - and with a meal this
time consuming, no one should dare.

Wonderful help from all you catters and next year, for sure, we re eating out! I m glad I ve done it but unless they invent a self cooking self serving bird, I ve done my job for the holiday, the year & 21 st century.