turkey

Dec 22 2013

Cooking my first Turkey

I have never cooked a full turkey on my own. Today will be my first time cooking a this glorious bird, in a new oven at that. I’m hosting a misfits Christmas dinner this even. If you know where I live, you could probably come and get some food as well.

First off I needed to figured out how long to cook it. I consulted my dad, who said 30 mins for every pound. Another article online said 16 mins per pound, while a friend said 20 mins per pound. I’m going to go with 20 mins per pound as the average and closely watch the meat thermometer.

I’ll update this post as I go along.

Update #1

I think the biggest thing people screw up when cooking a turkey is removing all the “goodies” inside. Sure, I knew they were there, but when I pulled out the neck and stuck my hand inside the bird, I didn’t think there was anything else. I was wrong. About an hour into the cooking, I reread the directions and noticed the park about fulling out the giblets from the neck area. So that happened.

I don’t know how long the turkey will actually take, so I’m closely watching the thermometer. Before putting the bird in the oven, I lathered it in butter, a lot of butter. I then put a small layering of bacon, because I like bacon.

We are coming on an hour and a half in the over and the bird is almost starting to read a number on the thermometer. I read somewhere to baste the bird every 30 mins. I attempted this but there was very little drippings in the bottom to work with. I’m hoping as the time goes by that more shows up so I can keep this turkey moist.

Also at this point the Turkey is uncovered in the hopes that a nice brown skin is created.

Oct 08 2012

A Bacon Weave perfect for a sandwich

The idea must have come from Pinterest, as that seems to be origins of all my cooking ideas lately but none the less it is a good idea.

That idea being to weave strips of bacon into the perfect size for a sandwich and then bake it.

I always keep a stock pile of bacon in my freezer just incase of emergencies but you can go to the store and get yourself a pound of regular bacon. I then cut the bacon in the middle, halving the strips into little strips, which are around the length of a piece of bread.

You just simply have to weave those trips 3 by 3. The resulting weave should be about the size of a piece of bread. I laid them out on a cookie sheet with tinfoil.

I cooked the weaves on a broil in the oven and flipped them over when I felt they were cooked on one side.

That is it. It is perfect for putting in the fridge and pulling out when you want to have a sandwich.

It is especially good on those leftover turkey sandwiches.

Oct 07 2012

We had Thanksgiving at my house

For the past two years I have been away from home for Thanksgiving but I didn’t mind, I really enjoyed myself. Both times I was taken in by someone else and took part in what I call a Misfits Thanksgiving, where most of the people have no family in the community but come together with friends. I am very thankful for those people.

So this year I wanted to host my own. We had a small group of us who enjoyed the most amazing meal ever. I don’t think I have experienced a more relaxing day in a long time, than I did on that Saturday.

You will note in my many photos below that most of them have my good friend, James Rubec, in them. He was by the house most of the day prepping and cooking Roxanne, our turkey. While I wasn’t taking photos I cooked up several dishes of my own, there is just no evidence of that happening.

For the 6 of us we had so much food and my fridge is completely packed the morning after. Besides the turkey and stuffing that James cooked, I cooked my famous Scallop Potatoes and a Sweet Potato Pie… and bread that we forgot to eat. We also had maple glazed brussels sprouts, a nice fresh salad, a thanksgiving pizza and a homemade Pumpkin Cheese Cake.

The day, the food and the evening we all amazing. I’m thankful that it all happened.