Thanksgiving 2011 Happenings

So I bought this precooked 10 pound turkey a week before Thanksgiving and I had to thaw it in the fridge for a few days. Last year I blogged about roasting my first turkey using a countertop roaster I just bought < http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2010/11/great-turkey-roasting-experiment.html>. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of brining, buttering, seasoning, cooking, and washing this year so I took the easy way out. Well it turned out the turkey I cooked last year tasted better than the store bought one probably because of the brining. I’ve been eating turkey for the last few days now and will be doing so for a few more days.

When I arrived at the family Thanksgiving party last Thursday afternoon, the first person I saw was my cousin and her 2 year old daughter. I brought a gift for my niece because we were also celebrating her birthday. My cousin brought to my attention the shirt my niece was wearing. It said “big sis”. I didn’t get it right away until I noticed my cousin’s slightly rounded belly. Perfect! My birthday present happened to be a doll which laughed, cried, and said mama. My niece can practice on it while waiting for her new brother or sister. I’m happily looking forward to having a new niece or nephew come May of next year.

The hostess, another cousin, is a cooking show fan and she frequently applies what she learns, and dinner was wonderfully tasty as usual. That’s why I always go to her parties when I’m not working. While the Thanksgiving and birthday celebration was going on, singing broke out in the form of karaoke. I even managed to record a video of my uncle singing a duet with his brother in law. You can always tell it’s a Filipino party because inevitably, karaoke breaks out. You can watch the video here: http://youtu.be/hGojd3TIBS4 . Just prepare your ears for semi sweet sounds of the duo.
A lot more pictures than usual were taken due to the proliferation of digital cameras from young and old folks alike. A celebrity was even present – the girlfriend of my nephew was a finalist in this year’s edition of So You Think You Can Dance TV show. She just came back from their post competition tour of the country.

The best part of dinner aside from the company? Dessert, of course. I couldn’t get enough of the pumpkin cobbler and pecan pie bites. So scrumptious that I just had to take some home. Thanks cuz, for a wonderful Thanksgiving Day party. As you can imagine, it wasn’t only the turkey that was stuffed.

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The Great Turkey Roasting Experiment

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Everyone! Did I tell you I bought a countertop roaster last week? It was on Sale at Target for 27 bucks. Of course a few days later, Walmart came up with one for 19 dollars. I didn’t want to repack the one I had and return it to get the one at Walmart, so I left well enough alone. It turns out Walmart had a limited supply anyway and my coworker had to buy the one left on the display shelf without a user’s manual (I had to download it for her). Well, I bought a frozen turkey a few days later and thawed it in the fridge. The great turkey roasting experiment would commence a couple of days later. Why was it an experiment? Because I’ve never roasted a turkey before other than observing an ex gf do it a long time ago.

When I got home from work Monday morning, I got my crockpot, which was the biggest container I had in which the 10 pound or so turkey would fit, mixed up some salt in water to make brine and soaked the turkey in it overnight. I didn’t know anything about the proportions of salt to water so I just dumped it in there until I thought it tasted salty enough.

The next day, the experiment started. I took the turkey out of the brine, patted dry the outside and the inside of the bird, peppered it, then as a shortcut, instead of rubbing the outside with butter, I just sprayed it with butter flavored cooking spray. I know, I know, it was a few days early but I already had an invitation from my cousin for Thanksgiving Day dinner. So 10 pounds x 15 to 17 minutes at 350 degrees would be between 2 ½ to 3 hours. I checked my watch, it was 8:00 a.m., so I set 11:00 as my target finishing time. I went out for a run then lifted some weights while waiting for the turkey to finish cooking. After about 2 hours and 40 minutes I detected a smoky smell so I checked the bird. It appeared well done so I turned off the roaster. I took it out of the pan and let the bird breath while I took a shower. When I finished, it was time for lunch and to taste the result of my experiment. Well, other than the slightly dried edges of the legs and wings, I was pleasantly surprised that the bird tasted quite good, although a little salty. The skin was crispy and the flesh was tender overall. The hard part was washing the roasting pan afterwards because it was so big that it didn’t fit in my sink. Otherwise, I deemed the experiment a success!

By the way, these roasters appear to have been made in the same factory in China because the instructions are the same between the Rival, Sunbeam, or Oster brands. Very much like treadmills and other exercise machines, they just attach a different brand name on them.

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