brined turkey on left, compound butter rub with orange peels in the middle, and cooked turkey with thermometer on the right

My First Thanksgiving Turkey (And a Dead Cat)

Animals, Holiday, , ,

I successfully cooked my first Thanksgiving turkey this year! Here’s the step-by-step process I used to pull it off, along with the rest of my menu.

A different kind of stuffed turkey at the New York State Museum.

But first a shoutout to Tully, our beloved feline friend who passed away shortly before the holiday.

RIP Tully Nudi

We’d had Tully, named for the Firefly Lane character back before the book became a show, for 13 years. She was 15 when she died. For some reason I’d had it in my head that she would go at 20.

It’s tough to only choose a few photos out of the literal shrine I’m building.

Daughter and I were at the grocery store buying the turkey when she started having convulsions, so husband and son took to her to the emergency vet. Where daughter and I ended up going later, to say goodbye. Apparently heart failure is not uncommon for Persians.

I’d be remiss not to give a shout out to Eddie, who we got around the same time as Tully (and they’d lived together previously, fun fact). Eddie crossed that rainbow bridge in 2017 after going blind. Having pets is rough!

Yes, I Can Handle Putting Turkey in a Brine

I didn’t have a big enough pan to put it all in one, so I used two. You *do* need a (brining) bag big enough for it all.

We forged on with the beginning of the holiday season. Having never cooked a turkey before (or hosted this turkey-centered holiday), I did a ton of research and made extensive notes and there might have been a spreadsheet or two.

I decided to keep it pretty simple for the turkey (so no stuffing inside the bird or anything fancy like that), but I decided I could handle doing a recipe with a compound butter rub (recommended by a Twitter friend), and also that brining probably wouldn’t be too difficult.

The Full Menu, Minus Rolls & Pies Brought by Others

This is not from Thanksgiving, but from another time I made a more photogenic version of this stuffing.

Here are the recipes I decided to run with…some are from cookbooks, but I think I’ve found the equivalent online, except the mac and cheese:

This looks like weed, but it’s sage and thyme for the stuffing.

A note on the sweet potatoes: I went simple this year for obvious reasons, but typically when I’m bringing a dish to someone else’s Thanksgiving I make Sweet Potato & Apple Casserole from the Incredibly Easy One Dish cookbook.

I have made the mashed potato, sweet potato, and stuffing recipes several times before; the others were new.

Husband while I’m cooking 900 things at once: “Is it Brussel sprouts, or Brussels sprouts?”

Next year, or if I’m to do it again, I’d switch up the gravy recipes, I’d like to try the stuffing with a different bread, and I’d switch up the green bean casserole. Maybe switch up the turkey recipe, just try something a tad more difficult, since I’m an expert now and all.

Questions Googled During the Research Phase & While Cooking

Spoiler alert: It’s the neck and giblets you pull out of the turkey.

This is not an all-inclusive list:

  • Does the turkey have to be completely thawed when you brine it?
  • Can you cook other things in the oven with the turkey?
  • What do you pull out of the turkey?
  • What’s the best way to reheat cooked whole sweet potatoes?
  • Should you use the giblets and/or neck for the gravy?
  • How many cups are in a gallon?

Step 1: Brining the Bird

Although large, I didn’t have to throw out everything in my fridge like I thought I would to fit the turkey in.

Well, really step one is making room for the turkey in the freezer and then moving things around in the fridge to transfer it over there, and then I also did dethawing in the kitchen sink in cold water while changing out the water every 30 minutes for a few hours, thing.

But then, after it was thawed completely and I had removed the neck and giblets, I made the brine. I’d bought a set of two brine bags beforehand, which thankfully came with some twine that was much better than the kitchen twine I’d purchased.

Note: The brine is supposed to be completely cooled after you cook it, so that’s more time to build into the schedule!

Got both the brine and the turkey into the fridge without spilling TOO much liquid, and brined overnight. Probably ended up brining for about 10 hours altogether.

Step 2: Water Bath & Air Dry

After brining, before drying. (She named him Fishy.)

After brining, I rinsed off the turkey and then let it sit in cold water for 20 minutes. Then, patted it dry, put it in the second brining bag I had, and put it in the fridge to air dry for one hour.

Would it have air dried better if I’d put it in the fridge in some kind of pan or something, with no bag around it? I have no idea.

Step 3: Ready to Roast

Didn’t need the aluminum foil balls, but they almost look like cute potatoes.

So, I bought an aluminum roasting pan, possibly bigger than I needed (I had a 14 pound turkey, which is kind of in between small and large turkey size wise) and what I was concerned was a too-small roasting rack.

I’d read that if you don’t have a roasting rack you can ball up aluminum foil, so I added some foil balls around the rack, but I don’t think it ended up being needed.

I roasted the turkey at 275 degrees F for 10 minutes per pound, or, 140 minutes, covered in aluminum.

Step 4: Rub That Bird & Throw Him Back in the Fire

A roasting rack, oven safe thermometer, and basting tool were among new turkey items purchased for the big day.

I made a compound butter fom the turkey recipe with orange slices and fresh herbs and whatnot and rubbed it all over the bird, including the crevices. Although the turkey is still mostly pale at this point, parts of it are pretty hot.

After the rub down, he went back in the oven, now at 350 degrees, where he remained while I basted every 30 minutes until he was at about 165 degrees F, or in my case, about another hour and a half.

No, I Cannot Handle Carving

There’s one of those joints the chefs in the YouTube videos were talking about.

I made the husband watch videos on how to carve a turkey with me and then had him carve it. He did a great job!

Conclusion: You Too, Can Cook a Turkey

I did tie the legs, but I don’t know that you need to? Anyway, it’s not hard if you have sturdy twine.

Cooking a turkey is not that hard, it’s just time consuming. You do need to do some math, counting backwards from when you want to serve the turkey, remembering to account for dethawing, brining and air drying if applicable, roasting for slightly longer than you think it’s going to take, and then letting it rest for 20 to 45 minutes, depending on how big the bird is.

Really the tricky part, as I knew it would be, was figuring out how to make the gravy, reheat everything, and in my case, make the stuffing (the only thing besides the gravy that I chose to make after the turkey) while the bird is resting, and getting everything on the table at a reasonably warm temperature at the same time.

Viewing Recommendations for Next Year

Pro tip: You can also enjoy these holiday episodes later, while eating leftovers.

This is slightly off topic from the menu, but write this down for next season:

Although we all love Planes, Trains & Automobiles, and that Friends episode with Monica and the turkey, may I recommend for you the Thanksgiving episode of Gilmore Girls (A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving) and of 3rd Rock From the Sun (Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick). No turkey day is complete for me without them!

Read up on the difference between white meat and dark meat >>