ROSANNA’S TURKEY TIPS
Our turkey tips are simple:
- Get a good turkey.
- Do not overcook your good turkey.
Choosing a turkey is the single most important thing besides time and temperature. I always cringe when I hear people say “Turkey is so tasteless!” and think “Well, you obviously haven’t eaten a Bauman turkey”
It’s a shame to dread the turkey at the Thanksgiving table, so here’s some tips to fix that:
LOCAL: Finding a local turkey allows you to verify the quality of your bird. Turkeys raised in small batches on family farms are typically raised on pasture, which gives the bird great flavor and tender meat. They’ll be more expensive than those turkeys the grocer gives away, but for the one meal a year that turkey Is the center-piece, it’s worth it.
FRESH: The biggest reason folks purchase an unfrozen turkey is to ensure that it is fresh. Some turkeys sold at Thanksgiving are over 5 months old, but a fresh one (especially if it’s local) is only a few days old. Fresh poultry does have a better taste, but it isn’t easily described or discerned. If you purchase a fresh turkey, you’ll want to get it from the farmer/grocer as close to Thanksgiving as possible, as they usually have better cold storage facilities.
The SIMPLEST way to keep your FRESH turkey safe till you cook it: Our recommendation is to put that bird in an ice chest with a bag of ice as its companion. Close lid. Stash in your garage where the temps are cooler than your house–unless you have a curious dog that resides there! Turkey is cool and safe for up to 7 days, typically. (Depends heavily on the quality of your ice chest! You should do a welfare check on day 2 just to make sure your baby is chilling fine.) Also an excuse to get some good winter-time use out of hubby’s expensive Yeti splurge!
GIBLETS: Please, please, don’t toss that giblet pack! We just spent an entire week cleaning. those gizzards until our fingers were too stiff to straighten. If you toss it, I will mourn all the hours of my life that have been wasted cleaning those gizzards. At the very least give them to your pet. There are no bones, and the organ meats are extremely nutrient-dense. In fact, I suggest you try a little culinary tourism and try them with an open mind. A lot of folks use the giblets for gravy, but we never have, It seems like a good way to waste giblets and ruin good gravy. At our house, it’s a race see who will get a piece of the heart, liver or gizzard. What do we do to make the giblets attractive instead of repulsive? Nothin’ special, actually. Since we don’t cook our stuffing inside the turkey, we let the giblets be, and they usually cook up fine in their little plastic bag. Leaving the giblets in a bag ensures that they stay moist. A moist cooking method is the most important thing, since the giblets are ultra-lean protein and easily dry out. Giblets should be treated like any lean meat and cooked low and slow. A gizzard roasted in this manner will be as tender as any roast, and just as flavorful.
ROASTING: When cooking for a crowd, we don’t bother about getting a picture-perfect table turkey. We go for flavor and stress-reduction. For best results, cook the turkey with its breast- down in the roaster. This helps ensure the breast meat doesn’t dry out. If you want a moist table bird, go for an oven bag. Oven bags make transfer to a serving platter easier, and still retain moisture. If you are roasting a heritage or pasture-raised turkey remember that, since they have less fat, they will roast faster. Folks only end up with dry meat from a pastured turkey if It’s been overcooked.
SEASONINGS: For most cooks, the seasonings and basting sauces are the most important part of the turkey recipe. For us, it’s something we try to remember before we stick the turkey in the oven. Honestly, when you have a good quality turkey, the recipe is an afterthought. This fact cannot be over-stated. I don’t know of anyone in my extended family who has a “turkey recipe”. We usually rub the bird with liquid smoke and maybe sprinkle some garlic salt on top. That’s it! Don’t mess with a complicated recipe; it will just detract from your great-tasting turkey!
Our turkey tips are simple:
- Get a good turkey.
- Do not overcook your good turkey.
Choosing a turkey is the single most important thing besides time and temperature. I always cringe when I hear people say “Turkey is so tasteless!” and think “Well, you obviously haven’t eaten a Bauman turkey”
It’s a shame to dread the turkey at the Thanksgiving table, so here’s some tips to fix that:
LOCAL: Finding a local turkey allows you to verify the quality of your bird. Turkeys raised in small batches on family farms are typically raised on pasture, which gives the bird great flavor and tender meat. They’ll be more expensive than those turkeys the grocer gives away, but for the one meal a year that turkey Is the center-piece, it’s worth it.
FRESH: The biggest reason folks purchase an unfrozen turkey is to ensure that it is fresh. Some turkeys sold at Thanksgiving are over 5 months old, but a fresh one (especially if it’s local) is only a few days old. Fresh poultry does have a better taste, but it isn’t easily described or discerned. If you purchase a fresh turkey, you’ll want to get it from the farmer/grocer as close to Thanksgiving as possible, as they usually have better cold storage facilities.
The SIMPLEST way to keep your FRESH turkey safe till you cook it: Our recommendation is to put that bird in an ice chest with a bag of ice as its companion. Close lid. Stash in your garage where the temps are cooler than your house–unless you have a curious dog that resides there! Turkey is cool and safe for up to 7 days, typically. (Depends heavily on the quality of your ice chest! You should do a welfare check on day 2 just to make sure your baby is chilling fine.) Also an excuse to get some good winter-time use out of hubby’s expensive Yeti splurge!
GIBLETS: Please, please, don’t toss that giblet pack! We just spent an entire week cleaning. those gizzards until our fingers were too stiff to straighten. If you toss it, I will mourn all the hours of my life that have been wasted cleaning those gizzards. At the very least give them to your pet. There are no bones, and the organ meats are extremely nutrient-dense. In fact, I suggest you try a little culinary tourism and try them with an open mind. A lot of folks use the giblets for gravy, but we never have, It seems like a good way to waste giblets and ruin good gravy. At our house, it’s a race see who will get a piece of the heart, liver or gizzard. What do we do to make the giblets attractive instead of repulsive? Nothin’ special, actually. Since we don’t cook our stuffing inside the turkey, we let the giblets be, and they usually cook up fine in their little plastic bag. Leaving the giblets in a bag ensures that they stay moist. A moist cooking method is the most important thing, since the giblets are ultra-lean protein and easily dry out. Giblets should be treated like any lean meat and cooked low and slow. A gizzard roasted in this manner will be as tender as any roast, and just as flavorful.
ROASTING: When cooking for a crowd, we don’t bother about getting a picture-perfect table turkey. We go for flavor and stress-reduction. For best results, cook the turkey with its breast- down in the roaster. This helps ensure the breast meat doesn’t dry out. If you want a moist table bird, go for an oven bag. Oven bags make transfer to a serving platter easier, and still retain moisture. If you are roasting a heritage or pasture-raised turkey remember that, since they have less fat, they will roast faster. Folks only end up with dry meat from a pastured turkey if It’s been overcooked.
SEASONINGS: For most cooks, the seasonings and basting sauces are the most important part of the turkey recipe. For us, it’s something we try to remember before we stick the turkey in the oven. Honestly, when you have a good quality turkey, the recipe is an afterthought. This fact cannot be over-stated. I don’t know of anyone in my extended family who has a “turkey recipe”. We usually rub the bird with liquid smoke and maybe sprinkle some garlic salt on top. That’s it! Don’t mess with a complicated recipe; it will just detract from your great-tasting turkey!
My Grandma’s Stuffing Recipe
We could go to all that effort to stuff our turkey, but then we’d worry if it was fully cooked down inside there, so we don’t hassle with it. By baking our stuffing in a pan, it is moister and not as dry as most.
At Thanksgiving at my Grandma Bauman’s, the stuffing is called “dressing”. Maybe because It’s not stuffed? She makes three 9×13 pans and there are never any leftovers, it’s that good. I don’t figure that’s the case with most folk’s stuffing.
This recipe works best if you are planning on de-boning the turkey before serving, as it calls for cooked turkey and broth. However, you could skip the meat and just use canned broth.
INGREDIENTS
12 cups very dry white bread, (preferably homemade) cut in small cubes
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup chopped celery
4 cups milk
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups turkey broth
¾ teaspoon black pepper
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup cooked turkey meat chopped
2 teaspoons sage
INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix together and pour into greased 9×13 pan.
- Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or until center sets.
- The time depends greatly on how dry the bread cubes are.
Tales of Thanksgivings Past
Thanksgiving season 2013: Rosanna with one of the largest turkeys of the year (left), an oven-roasted Bauman bird, a much younger Joanna with the last of the turkeys.
Our family looks forward to Thanksgiving as much as Christmas. This is because Thanksgiving symbolizes so many things.
Thanksgiving usually coincides with the last of our harvest season, when the crops have all been brought in, so it is a bit of a harvest celebration for us, as we give thanks for the bounty and blessings that were reaped this year.
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of our farm’s “winter break”, when we have fewer animals to care for due to the cold weather. After spending five solid days dressing nearly 1,100 turkeys, we are extra thankful for a day of rest. I calculated that I lifted 25,000 pounds of turkey with my left hand and I counted 19 cuts and one blister on my hands. It is definitely time for a break.
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