Mac's Turkey

Lol, what a title. Rather amusing if I might say so myself.

Ok, traditionally I have said that my family celebrates The Turkey today. Yesterday after comming home from work I learned that our 20lb Turkey was still in the freezer for no one thought to take it out. So I removed it last night and hoped for the best. I am sure everybody has hoped their turkey would be thawed by Turkey Day unless they always get the fresh birds or one scraped from tha asphalt. well this morning I was up around 6 and found that the bird was still mostly frozen after doing the dreaded leaving it to sit out over night. I know, food poisoning. So I figured I'd give it a water bath for about 5 hours and that would give me plenty of time to cook it and to have the meal around 6pm. So around 11:00 I I took the bird out of it's bath and then wrasseld with getting the dang neck outta the bird. My 15 year old daughter walked into the kitchen and cracked up laughing as I held my arm up clutching the turkey neck still stuck up inside the turkey as I did my best Big Bird Imatation for her. She got more of a laugh out of the fact that I had my arm up a turkeys butt than how bad I was at Impersonating a Big Dumb Bird.

Eventually my 6'2 " 210lb self won the battle with that Turkey Neck that was frozen into a cane shape and all was well. I cleaned up the mess I made, rinsed the bird and toweled it dry. I shoved my stuffing into both ends of the creature and then I smeared some herbed butter that I made up under the skin. I bragged back around my birthday that I had recieved a Calphalon roasting pan with a rack from my wife as a gift. I finally have the chance to use it. A roast just isn't big enough for this roasting pan but the turkey was a perfect fit. I smeared some of the herbed butter over the skin of the turkey. Threw the lid on the roaster and then put the turkey into my preheated 350 degree oven. I was very impressed at the thickness of the roasting pan. It seemed as thick as a cast iron skillet.

The turkey is in the oven by 12:00. I had the chance to run outside and put a new thermostat in my wifes car because her heat wasn't working. I took care of that and noticed that the leak she had a few weeks ago back by her transmission was back. It's going to the shop. I have had enough of that blasted car.

4:00 rolls around and I decided to check the internal temperature of the bird. 165 degrees after 4 hours. Impressive. The roaster pan seemed to increase the speed of the cooking process. At about a 160 degrees I like to take the bird out of the oven, keep it covered and allow the residule heat to bring the bird up to about 180 for perfect doneness.

I have to get the rest of the meal done so I had better get moving. We are having just the basics, some homemade rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet taters, corn and cranberry sauce. And of course the turkey and stuffing.