There will be three turkey dinners this Thanksgiving. Yesterday I cooked the first one. Remember the post from yesterday where I was cooking Vince’s 22 pound turkey. It was delicious but it was a bit of a fiasco.
Vince found a calculator at Butterball’s website that said a 21.65 pound turkey will cook in 3.5 – 4 hours. I told Vince that I always allowed 15 minutes per pound. For a 22 pound turkey, that would be 5.5 hours. Nope . . he was sure it would take 3.5 hours. We started cooking it at 1:30. At 5:30, the internal temp was nowhere near 185°. I had to put the rack on the next to lowest slow to fit that big bird in the oven. I have the same roasting pan I’ve used for 20+ years but this one almost didn’t fit. Even with the wings tucked behind the bird, there was a part of them hanging over the side, dripping grease in the oven, smoking and making a mess.
There was no use complaining about it because at that point . . there was a 22 pound turkey in my oven! Couldn’t change it and . . there’s another one in the freezer. I told Vince . . we’re smoking the other one. Grease can drip down as much as it wants.
I made cornbread dressing and sweet potato casserole. When the turkey was finally done, at 7:45 p.m., only because I turned the oven up and switched it to convection, then I still had to bake the dressing and sweet potato casserole. I had made the giblet gravy earlier so I just had to heat it up. Yep, we ate at almost 9 p.m. Then we let the turkey cool, pulled all the meat off the bone, put everything away and collapsed . . full and tired.
Even though it was way later than we wanted to eat, it was all so good. I think I could eat turkey and dressing at least once a week.
Every year at this time, Vince and I have a debate about the gizzards, liver and heart. He won’t eat those parts. He doesn’t mind that they’re in the gravy. He gives them to me if he gets them. I don’t see how anyone can not love gizzards. I boiled all that stuff with celery, onions, bay leaves and got the broth for the gravy. Then I sliced the gizzards and they are so tender by the time I add them to the gravy. I could eat gizzards and gravy any day . . but Vince doesn’t like them at all. I think it’s not even the taste . . it’s just the idea.
One thing for sure – we have enough food in the fridge to last us for a long time!
Sherrill Pecere says
Ooo, I’m with V on the gizzards and stuff. My mom LOVED them and it totally grossed me out. But when did V start thinking YOU needed any help in the kitchen. I woulda told him OUT! I started using cooking bags long ago to prevent the ‘grease drippage’ and think it even speeds up the cooking time. Smoked turkeys are yummy. You’ll definitely have turkey coming out the ears which isn’t a bad thing.
Helen says
As kids, we fought over the heart, liver and gizzard whenever we had turkey or chicken! Still love it to this day. I, like the Sherrill said, use the oven bags for turkey. I have used them for years and am always pleased with the results and the easy cleanup.
danielle says
I used to love when my mom fried up the gizzard when she was making fried chicken! Hubby chops them up fine and you never can really find them in the gravy……the neck meat and the other parts go to the dogs
Joyce says
My mother claimed all gizzzards for herself. That was fine with me…I have never found them appealing.
Peggy Barcelona says
My husbands favorite part is the tail, YUK! Other than that one flaw he’s a pretty good guy
Rebecca in SoCal says
There is some truth to what you say about the “idea” of gizzards. I’m surprised to hear that it’s tender.
What we jostled for in my family was the crispy skin! You don’t get that with the bags. I just have to consider…is it worth the clean-up?
dezertsuz says
Paul loved gizzards, and I don’t. LOL He was always happy to get them, and I was always happy for him to have them. 15 minutes/pound is what I’ve always known, too. That sounds like a mess that I hope has a self-cleaning oven! That works well. Sounds like you have plenty for Rita and for you for a while.