The first step was confronting the turkey.
I put it in the fridge a couple days ahead of time, so that it could thaw, and I began the great quest for the best way to cook a turkey. I researched online recipes and read all about basting and brining. Jeff, being Jeff, went online to see what science had to say and discovered spatchcocking, the scientifically approved way to cook your turkey. Spatchcocking is the "techinical" term for butterflying your turkey. It involves cutting out the spine, and flattening the remaining turkey, so that you have an even surface to cook. Because you've changed the dimensions of your turkey, it also takes a lot less time. After much soul searching, we decided spatchcocking was the way to go.
The day before Thanksgiving, I started building up my cooking courage by making pumpkin pie, something I successfully learned to do last year. This year's turned out great and had zero drama in the preparation.
I was very pleased with myself and served it up for dessert that night. It got the family's seal of approval. It turns out even picky, Thai baby Elena likes pumpkin pie. She even demanded it for breakfast the next morning. I figured, it was Thanksgiving, so why not.
While Elena was occupied with her pumpkin pie, the serious Thanksgiving cooking began. The first step was freeing the turkey from its wrapping. I managed to royally mess that up by squeezing in the wrong place and causing pink water (don't want to think about it, don't want to think about it) to come gushing out all over the kitchen counter and floor. Thank goodness for Young who came to my rescue, since I was semi-hysterical at that point. We got the spewing thing to the sink, drained it all, and put it back in the pan, whew.
Lesson learned. Do not open your turkey anywhere but in the sink. While Young was bleaching the kitchen, I was reaching around inside the turkey carcass trying to find all the giblets. The neck was right in the middle, but I couldn't find the other pieces. I finally discovered a little bag under the neck flap. This turkey stuff is not for the faint of heart. I got the giblets browned up (I took a picture, but I understand that posting it is unnecessary) and the gravy base started. I decided that next year, that's something I'll definitely do the day before, along with my pumpkin pie making.
Another new adventure for this year was a crock pot stuffing. I love stuffing, so I wanted to make sure I could make my own. I found a recipe online that included instructions for toasting your own bread cubes, since you can't find those here easily. I mixed everything together, put it in the crock pot, and let it cook for a few hours. It made the house smell awesome.
It ended up tasting great too, so it's definitely a keeper. The only problem was that it was enough stuffing to feed a small army, so I may need to cut the recipe in half next year.
With the stuffing cooking away, it was time to remove the turkey's spine. Jeff took pictures while I went at that turkey with some scissors and a knife. Young hovered nervously. I managed to do it almost by myself. There was one rib that just wouldn't surrender. Young was practically bouncing up and down wanting a go at it, so I surrendered the knife and she got through the hold out rib. Like I said, Jeff took plenty of pictures, but I don't think anyone in the internet world really wants to see them. Once the spine was out, flattening it and arranging it on the pan was simple. The ribs cracked with practically no pressure.
The trickiest part was arranging the limbs inside the tray. The instructions said to tuck the wings under the breasts, but those suckers kept popping out, so we finally gave up and left the turkey holding its wings up in horror. We put it in the oven for its 60-90 minute cook time. Elena had discovered the day before that good things were coming out of the oven for this holiday, so she hovered, keeping an eye on the turkey.
Her patience was rewarded with a beautiful, spatchcocked turkey.
The red button never popped, but the meat thermometer said it was done, and it turned out absolutely delicious.
Young had also roasted carrots and broccoli for the girls, so we ended up with WAY too much food at our friends' house, but that's the point of Thanksgiving, right? Everyone ate well and had a great time.
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