I was so happy to let my son pick our turkey for Thanksgiving this year and he really really wanted the 20 pounder. I figured that Thanksgiving only comes once a year so, fine, I let him. I did not realize at the store that it would not fit in my huge stock pot for brining. It is sitting in the garage brining in an enormous bucket. Nor will it fit into any roasting pan that I own. I bought a flimsy metal one which we will use placed on top of a cookie sheet for stability. In reviewing roasting time for weight of turkey I came across information that said that you should figure 1 pound of turkey per person. Gee, I'm glad we are having 20 guests. NOT! There are seven of us and three of the seven are age 6 and under so really we are more like five feasters. Holy moly. We have 15 pounds of excess turkey. I do not believe in wasting food when people in the world are starving (yes I finally realized that my grandmother was right about that) so I've got to put this turkey to use. I will be looking up turkey recipes over the next couple of days and would love any suggestions. I am assuming that I will have no problem freezing the roasted meat for use in recipes later, right? I don't want it to dry out in the freezer.
I am going to try a Turkey Hash recipe for Friday's breakfast that my SIL found: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Turkey-Hash-350650
This Turkey Gumbo looks interesting:http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/11/turkey-gumbo-thanksgiving-leftovers-recipe.html
I will make turkey stock in the crock pot from the carcass like the crock pot lady did with a chicken carcass: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/01/homemade-chicken-broth-crockpot-recipe.html
We will of course have lots of turkey meat for sandwiches and I am thinking that using a whole turkey for that and slicing it for lunch meat may be cheaper than the $5.99/lb deli meat. Hmmm. I'll have to give that more thought.
3 comments:
I made turkey stock last night with the carcass of our turkey! It's in the fridge now, need to skim it later today.
I ended up with 32 cups of stock! I used 8 on the gumbo tonight and have several 8 cup and 4 cup bags in the freezer.
I also had SO much drippings (the stuff poured out of the roasting pan) for gravy that I made a ton of gravy. But I still have a lot of drippings (the grease has raised to the top) in the fridge. Should I toss it? Freeze it to make gravy for another meal? Suggestions?
I made the Turkey Gumbo yesterday. Having tossed the carcass prematurely I was left using a combination of Better-n-Broth (8 cups) with 1 can chicken broth and some leftover gravy.
It took a REALLY long time to make the Roux (But I had never made it before) and the soup tastes really salty.
I think if I add 2-3 cups of water, it will be great.
I also used about 2-3 pounds of leftover sliced turkey, which was my goal!
Thanks Jenn
marilyn
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