A Healer’s Geste

“Thanksgiving” Turkey

Turkeys go on sale for insanely cheap prices the week prior to Thanksgiving. At the beginning of the month they are generally on sale for 79- to 69-cents a pound — not bad at all. Then, the Monday before Thanksgiving Day, you can sometimes hit upon 19-cents a pound — with a $50 purchase, but with the holidays approaching, that is not difficult at all.

So I purchase a large (over 20 pound) turkey. Several times I’ve gotten comments — “Oh, a big family gathering, eh?” Well, yes, whereever we go for Thanksgiving, it will be a large family gathering….and I will not be providing the turkey. No, this 24-pounder is all for my family of 2 1/2 (although when it comes to turkey, Hans might count as a full serving size). This 24-pounder will feed us 8+ dinners and untold numbers of lunches when you tally up not only the turkey pieces, but the leftovers of future turkey-based soups and casseroles. And all for less than $5.

For the past couple years my strategy has been to buy two turkeys on the Thanksgiving sales. One I cook in mid-December and the other I save for early February. They must be consumed before soup-season is over and while it is still pleasant and efficient to have the oven on all day. This strategy spaces out the turkey and yet takes advantage of the sale. One year I tried three turkeys, but it was just too much turkey, too much of a good thing, too much freezer space!

This afternoon I roasted a turkey. It is in roasting that a convection oven excels. So far in everything else for me it only burns the tops while leaving the middle uncooked. I’m glad it’s an optional setting. But in roasting, convection cooks things faster (it can cut an hour or so off the cooking time of a turkey) while keeping the juice locked in; the convection setting results in a moist and tender turkey. All I did this afternoon was generously sprinkle garlic salt, thyme, and lemon pepper over the turkey; cover it with foil; and bake for 4 hours. I love roasted turkey — I think it’s better than chicken. It has a more interesting flavor on its own.

Now I have the legs and wings, with only a cursory peeling off of meat, sitting in the crockpot with celery, carrots, onion, and the water I cooked some sweet potatoes in. It’s on low. Tomorrow morning I will skim off the fat, then an hour or two before serving I’ll take out the bones, a good shaking should make all the meat fall off, and we’ll have turkey vegetable soup for dinner. In the fridge I have a 9 x 13 full of cut-up turkey that by the weekend will go into the freezer in 2-3 cup portions in freezer bags to pull out for casseroles or soups, along with keeping some of the breast meat for next week’s lunches.

Of course, all this makes me realize I’d be lost without a stand-alone freezer in the garage. My mom “always” had one. Matt’s mom not only always had one — she had 4! So when we moved into our house, she gave of her bounty. Matt’s Winckler grandparents, though it is only the two of them, have two freezers and a fridge in their basement, and had we not received one from Marji, they would have seen to it that we had one. Of course, Matt’s Dorman grandparents also have an extra freezer, as did my grandparents…..so, both of us come from a long line of simply thinking a full-size freezer in the garage is normal. Not only do we have one — it’s frequently full! Homemade applesauce, bread bought on sale, peaches frozen while in season, an extra casserole from a doubled batch, a gallon bag of soup from extra leftovers….what would I do without a freezer?!

Anyway, people seem to think that buying a turkey is only for Thanksgiving itself or small families shouln’t buy a large turkey — but if you’re going to cook one, cook a big one! Cooked meat freezes well, then all you have to do is toss it in the microwave to thaw, then throw it in a soup, a pasta sauce, or a casserole for a simple and quick dinner! I love freezing already cooked meat, whether it be turkey, chicken, or ground beef.