Thanksgiving

Melba's Jammin' wrote:

(And our tradition never did involve carving a bird at

Quoted message said:

table. To me, BFD.)

But didn't you miss the smell of it roasting that day??
Goomba

Christine Dabney said:

One suggested to me (knowing that I love to cook) that she could go
pick up some pies from Costco, since it would save a lot of time, and
"Costco does a great Pumpkin pie and other desserts that are just
like home made". She suggested that we didn't need to kill ourselves
doing this, which is true, but I am not going to sacrifice flavor and
quality in the interest of expedience.

I suggested to her that I preferred homemade. 😉 Now I am wondering
what her idea of good homemade food is, if she thinks Costco pies are
just like homemade.

Christine

Are the Costco pies bad? The hardest part of a pumpkin pie is the
crust. The filling is just mixing ingredients together and baking and
should be very easy to do in quantity.

I make pumpkin pie for holidays, but I have had some nice commercial
ones.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Curly Sue said:

I make pumpkin pie for holidays, but I have had some nice commercial
ones.

To me, a pie is only worth eating if made fresh. I can handle homemade
pie leftover, but commercial pies have nasty crusts to begin with and
don't improve with time between baking, purchase and consumption. It is
one of those items that I'd be sad to eat knowing it could have been
soooo much better if I'd done it myself.
I like to make my pies early on TG day. While I'm doing the stuffing and
prepping the bird the pies are baking. Just a nice time early in the AM
for me alone and worth the hour of lost sleep.

"CooberGirl" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1130157054.2f40514f0f950e04faf037e60817fe36@teranews...

Quoted message said:

Here is a great hint to save time for Thanksgiving or Christmas if you
are cooking a Turkey.

You can precook and slice your turkey up to a month ahead. Then, on the
day; while all the side dishes are cooking; you take a roasting pan and
line it with LETTUCE. A couple of layers. Put your turkey in, you can
separate dark and white meat.

Wait a minute. What has the sliced turkey been doing for a month? :-) I
think we're all assuming it was frozen. Any special instructions for the
wrapping and freezing? Do you defrost overnight, or just chuck it on top
of the lettuce frozen?

I don't think I would use this method for Thanksgiving dinner, but it
might be handy to know about if you're making a huge dinner...e.g. a
church supper or something like that.

Anyhow, for me, the best part of Thanksgiving is not the turkey. Every
year, my in-laws go up to Pennsylvania and get a fresh turkey from this
specialty turkey place. I'm no more impressed with it than I am with the
previously-frozen supermarket turkeys my mom used to buy. I'm a side dish
girl, myself.

Chris

You freeze it. Oh, yeah! stuffing, sprouts, corn pudding, squash. Yum!

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1130174476.a9286604f9f0c62cde1ea0e78f82fc00@teranews...

Quoted message said:

"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1130157054.2f40514f0f950e04faf037e60817fe36@teranews...

Quoted message said:

Here is a great hint to save time for Thanksgiving or Christmas if you
are cooking a Turkey.

You can precook and slice your turkey up to a month ahead. Then, on the
day; while all the side dishes are cooking; you take a roasting pan and
line it with LETTUCE. A couple of layers. Put your turkey in, you can
separate dark and white meat. Cover with another couple of layers of
lettuce and put the lid on. Put in a 325* oven while you are cooking
the potatoes and veg and reheating the gravy and stuffing. I imagine
the stuffing can go in the oven too. Usually by the time everything
else is ready, and you take the lid off the roasting pan it will be
steaming and the turkey will be moist and delicious just like fresh
cooked.

This was a hint on a local TV station by the weatherman's mother who has
been doing it this way for years. And I've been watching the station as
long as he's been on there and everyone there raves about the results.

MoM

The world is full of people who rave about bad food. Sounds like a
disaster.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

And just how would you know? I know the woman is a fantastic cook.
Actually, so am I. If the idea I suggested
turns out a product just as good as fresh roasted turkey, why not do it
and spend the time saved with the family instead
of in the kitchen.

But then, there is always someone who will knock a good thing.

MoM

1) Anyone with a moderate amount of cooking experience knows that leftover
turkey cannot be as good as fresh no matter how you do it, unless of course
you are used to bad fresh turkey. The lettuce leaves simply stink of
gimmick.

2) Perhaps you are one of those people who have bad taste and love their own
cooking. If you enjoy it, great, but don;t expect others to fall for it.

3) 95% of roasted turkeys are awful, but most people do not know any better.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

kilikini said:

You've just gotta have the garlic. Hands down. You gotta have the garlic.

Well, let's post that recipe, dang it! 😉

nb

Bob Terwilliger virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz said:

well be cooking -- but that doesn't preclude drinking wine as well.

Just make sure you've finished all your knife work, first. 😉

nb

"notbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

kilikini said:

You've just gotta have the garlic. Hands down. You gotta have the

garlic.

Quoted message said:

Well, let's post that recipe, dang it! 😉

nb

When I've roasted the birds in the past, I've put pats of butter, cloves of
garlic and rosemary under the bird of the skin. Then I slow roasted the
bird, breast side down, at 275, until internal temp goes to 160. Turn up
the heat of the oven to 500 and crisp the skin.

I don't roast birds anymore.

Now, we take 2 sticks of butter, LOTS of garlic powder ("real" garlic won't
fit through the injector) and about a half jar of a typical sized honey bear
and inject. It looks like a large syringe. We inject the bird all over the
place until our mix is gone and set it on the smoker with hickory and cherry
wood. The temp in the cooker should be between 250 - 275; if temp falls,
add more fuel.

I swear, it comes out so juicy. It's a no-fail bird. The only problem is
that you can't eat the skin because the skin turns out black-ish and
rubbery. But, but, but, the meat underneath? Absolutely to DIE for. This
is it for me. This is the ONLY way I will ever eat turkey again.

kili

Curly Sue said:

Are the Costco pies bad? The hardest part of a pumpkin pie is the
crust. The filling is just mixing ingredients together and baking and
should be very easy to do in quantity.

I make pumpkin pie for holidays, but I have had some nice commercial
ones.

Sue(tm)

I remember a pumpkin pie cooking contest on food-tv. I forget the town
but most competitors said canned pumpkin pie filling makes the best "blue
ribbon" pies.

I enjoy bakery bought pumpkin pies.

Andy

Peter Aitken said:

The lettuce leaves simply stink of
gimmick.

I've seen the lettuce leaf idea suggested for reheating good leftover
prime rib before. Never having tried it I can't say?
Goomba

Curly Sue said:

Are the Costco pies bad?

Quite the contrary, they're excellent. I was given a Costco pumpkin
pie by a local used car dealer last year. He was standing out in
front of his lot with a big stack of boxed pies on a car hood. As I
walked by, he said, "Wanna free pie"? I looked around for the lurking
salesman waiting to pounce, but the expected catch never materialized.
"Heck yeah", I replied. He handed me a pie and resumed his
conversation with another fellow while I walked off with my prize,
wondering what was wrong with it. When I got home and tried a slice,
I was amazed at not only how good it was, but how large the pie. Must
have been near a foot in diameter. Without a doubt the best commercial
pumpkin pie I've ever tasted. I'll be buying a couple this year and
trying their other pies.

nb

Peter Aitken said:

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1130174476.a9286604f9f0c62cde1ea0e78f82fc00@teranews...

Quoted message said:

"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The world is full of people who rave about bad food. Sounds like a
disaster.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

And just how would you know? I know the woman is a fantastic cook.
Actually, so am I. If the idea I suggested
turns out a product just as good as fresh roasted turkey, why not do it
and spend the time saved with the family instead
of in the kitchen.

But then, there is always someone who will knock a good thing.

MoM

1) Anyone with a moderate amount of cooking experience knows that leftover
turkey cannot be as good as fresh no matter how you do it, unless of course
you are used to bad fresh turkey. The lettuce leaves simply stink of
gimmick.

2) Perhaps you are one of those people who have bad taste and love their own
cooking. If you enjoy it, great, but don;t expect others to fall for it.

3) 95% of roasted turkeys are awful, but most people do not know any better.

Peter is 100% right this time, as he usually is. Only fair to say so
since I disagreed with him about pesto.

Rodney Myrvaagnes J 36 Gjo/a

Kansas--working to become a science-free zone

On 24 Oct 2005 15:49:02 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"

virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz said:

Boron said:

By the way, some of Costco's baked goods are very good. The trick is
knowing which ones they are. They have some of the best croissants I
have had on the East Coast. Just heat in a hot oven. Their rugelach
are wonderful, too, as are their pound cakes. I am not a fan of their
pies, but that is because of the crust. Their fillings are often very
nice.

My local Costco regularly carries ciabatta from the La Brea Bakery, which
is one of the best bread bakeries in the country. It's fantastic stuff. But
pies are a different story. To my way of thinking, the pie crust is the
most critical part of the pie, and if it's not good, then the pie isn't
good.

Agreed. If the crust isn't worth sneaking around and breaking off
little bits, then it's a failure.

Still, I'd be more than happy to spoon out some of their fillings and
scarf them.

Quoted message said:

The best pie crust recipe I've found is the one from _CookSmart_. It's got
cream cheese in the crust, which makes it a bit unusual, but wow, it makes a
terrific cherry pie.

Bob

I use Cooks Illustrated pie crust (uses both butter & Crisco), but
what makes it a success at my house is the flour. For ages I never
made a decent crust. I used KA flour all the time because it was great
for bread baking. Since switching to Hecker's flour, my pie crusts are
delicate and flaky.

(end of testimonial)

Boron

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:27:02 GMT, [email hidden] (Curly

Sue) said:

Christine Dabney said:

One suggested to me (knowing that I love to cook) that she could go
pick up some pies from Costco, since it would save a lot of time, and
"Costco does a great Pumpkin pie and other desserts that are just
like home made". She suggested that we didn't need to kill ourselves
doing this, which is true, but I am not going to sacrifice flavor and
quality in the interest of expedience.

I suggested to her that I preferred homemade. 😉 Now I am wondering
what her idea of good homemade food is, if she thinks Costco pies are
just like homemade.

Christine

Are the Costco pies bad? The hardest part of a pumpkin pie is the
crust. The filling is just mixing ingredients together and baking and
should be very easy to do in quantity.

I make pumpkin pie for holidays, but I have had some nice commercial
ones.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Great filling. Lousy crust. The crust is just too thick. That makes it
gummy.

Boron

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 17:33:40 -0400, Goomba38 <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Curly Sue said:

I make pumpkin pie for holidays, but I have had some nice commercial
ones.

To me, a pie is only worth eating if made fresh. I can handle homemade
pie leftover, but commercial pies have nasty crusts to begin with and
don't improve with time between baking, purchase and consumption. It is
one of those items that I'd be sad to eat knowing it could have been
soooo much better if I'd done it myself.
I like to make my pies early on TG day. While I'm doing the stuffing and
prepping the bird the pies are baking. Just a nice time early in the AM
for me alone and worth the hour of lost sleep.

My sister and I chat long distance while we make the pies in the early
AM hours. It is too difficult to gather up all the kids for a 12 hr
each way Thanksgiving, so talking while cooking is the next best
thing.

Chocolate pie & lemon meringue are the traditions around here. No
pumpkin or apple at all. OH, and I have to make double the needed
crust so I can sprinkle some with cinnamon and sugar and bake it for
the kids to eat like cookies.(the kids are 18, 18 & 21)

Boron

kilikini said:

[snip]
I swear, it comes out so juicy. It's a no-fail bird. The only problem is
that you can't eat the skin because the skin turns out black-ish and
rubbery. But, but, but, the meat underneath? Absolutely to DIE for. This
is it for me. This is the ONLY way I will ever eat turkey again.

Sorry, the roasted, crispy, crackly, oh so flavorful skin is the best
part of the bird beyond a doubt. No way would we give that up. -aem

In article <[email hidden]>,

Goomba38 said:

MoM said:

You can precook and slice your turkey up to a month ahead. Then, on the
day; while all the side dishes are cooking; you take a roasting pan and
line
it with LETTUCE. A couple of layers. Put your turkey in, you can separate
dark and white meat. Cover with another couple of layers of lettuce and
put
the lid on. Put in a 325* oven while you are cooking the potatoes and veg
and reheating the gravy and stuffing. I imagine the stuffing can go in the
oven too. Usually by the time everything else is ready, and you take the
lid off the roasting pan it will be steaming and the turkey will be moist
and delicious just like fresh cooked.

There is something sooooooooo wrong about this, to me. Part of my
pleasure is the smell of roasting turkey (as well as all the labor) on
the actual day of Thanksgiving. It feeds into my need for tradition.
What do you serve and carve at the table? I don't have any trouble
preparing a large meal with many different items on that day. It just
takes planning. I had a neighbor once who roasted then sliced the turkey
the night before and just let it sit out. It was so unappetizing, as
well as a huge bacterial risk.

I can see why a very, very busy person might do this but to me, what's
the point? :-( If I work Thanksgiving (and I usually do), I just have it
on that weekend instead...

Since I work night shift tho', I might actually be able to pull it off
if I prepare everything the day before and get it ready to go, and just
start cooking when I get home and skip that morning workout. That would
put me home about 07:30 am and I have to go to sleep by about 2 pm or so.

Cheers!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

In article <1130174476.a9286604f9f0c62cde1ea0e78f82fc00@teranews>,

MoM said:

"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1130157054.2f40514f0f950e04faf037e60817fe36@teranews...

Quoted message said:

Here is a great hint to save time for Thanksgiving or Christmas if you
are cooking a Turkey.

You can precook and slice your turkey up to a month ahead. Then, on the
day; while all the side dishes are cooking; you take a roasting pan and
line it with LETTUCE. A couple of layers. Put your turkey in, you can
separate dark and white meat. Cover with another couple of layers of
lettuce and put the lid on. Put in a 325* oven while you are cooking the
potatoes and veg and reheating the gravy and stuffing. I imagine the
stuffing can go in the oven too. Usually by the time everything else is
ready, and you take the lid off the roasting pan it will be steaming and
the turkey will be moist and delicious just like fresh cooked.

This was a hint on a local TV station by the weatherman's mother who has
been doing it this way for years. And I've been watching the station as
long as he's been on there and everyone there raves about the results.

MoM

The world is full of people who rave about bad food. Sounds like a
disaster.

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

And just how would you know? I know the woman is a fantastic cook.
Actually, so am I. If the idea I suggested
turns out a product just as good as fresh roasted turkey, why not do it and
spend the time saved with the family instead
of in the kitchen.

But then, there is always someone who will knock a good thing.

MoM

But on Thanksgiving, it's _traditional_ to spend half the day in the
kitchen, and family participates. ;-) I spend that time cooking with my
family!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

In article <[email hidden]>,

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

aem said:

MoM said:

And just how would you know? I know the woman is a fantastic cook.
Actually, so am I. If the idea I suggested
turns out a product just as good as fresh roasted turkey, why not do it
and
spend the time saved with the family instead
of in the kitchen.

But then, there is always someone who will knock a good thing.

Leaving aside whether pre-cooked, frozen, thawed, reheated turkey
slices can ever be as good as freshly made and carved, it doesn't even
sound like big time savings to me. The only part of the process you've
really eliminated is carving. It isn't as though roasting a turkey
involves much more than turning on the oven and sticking the bird in.
For us, the carving and presentation of the bird is part of the fun of
the day, and you've taken that away. -aem

It's the timing and getting the birdy out and sliced and the gravy made
from the drippings and the potatoes mashed and everything needs to be
ready and hot at the same time. Dressing cooked outside the bird seems
to be in vogue now and that takes some of the pressure off. Some
people just don't function well when they're under stress. I can deal
but I know those who can't.

The year that I did the turkey the day before and had it and the gravy
all ready was the easiest and most pleasant Thanksgiving Day I've had.
I was drinking wine with my guests instead of buzzing about in the
kitchen. Food was good, too.

There is a difference tho' making it the day ahead of time and
refrigerating it, versus making it a MONTH ahead of time and freezing
it! :-)

Mom and my favorite part of thanksgiving was usually the leftovers the
next day... Re-heated roast turkey on toast with lots of butter as open
faced sammiches. ;-d

Cheers!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

In article <[email hidden]>,

kilikini said:

"CooberGirl" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:%ua7f.2791$Yn4.2488@trnddc03...

Quoted message said:

"MoM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1130157054.2f40514f0f950e04faf037e60817fe36@teranews...

Quoted message said:

Here is a great hint to save time for Thanksgiving or Christmas if you

are

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

cooking a Turkey.

You can precook and slice your turkey up to a month ahead. Then, on the
day; while all the side dishes are cooking; you take a roasting pan and
line it with LETTUCE. A couple of layers. Put your turkey in, you can
separate dark and white meat.

Wait a minute. What has the sliced turkey been doing for a month? :-) I
think we're all assuming it was frozen. Any special instructions for the
wrapping and freezing? Do you defrost overnight, or just chuck it on top

of

Quoted message said:

the lettuce frozen?

I don't think I would use this method for Thanksgiving dinner, but it

might

Quoted message said:

be handy to know about if you're making a huge dinner...e.g. a church

supper

Quoted message said:

or something like that.

Anyhow, for me, the best part of Thanksgiving is not the turkey. Every
year, my in-laws go up to Pennsylvania and get a fresh turkey from this
specialty turkey place. I'm no more impressed with it than I am with the
previously-frozen supermarket turkeys my mom used to buy. I'm a side dish
girl, myself.

Chris

I agree. Side dishes rule! The turkey is, well, just a turkey. I've never
been especially fond of turkey, though. My husband's turkey is good,
however. He injects it with garlic, butter and honey and then smokes it for
about 4.5 hours. It comes out juicy, sweet and smokey. From now on, that's
the only way you'll see me eating turkey.

kili

Ya wanna save time, deep fry it!

I wish I wanted to take the expense to do that. I've had deep fried
turkey and it's utterly amazing!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson