Thanksgiving Turkey

We didn't really have a recipe for this, and B did most of the turkey wrangling. Our turkey was 13+ lbs., and we followed general instructions from the USDA. It took several days to thaw in the fridge, and then B extracted the giblet bag and the neck from the 2 cavities and rinsed the bird out in the sink. He inserted some stuffing, tied the legs together with some string, and placed the turkey in an aesthetic pose in the roasting pan. Turkey was roasted in the oven at 325° F for ~4.5 hours, until the little button popped and internal temperature was ~150°. We covered the turkey with foil for the first 1.5 hours, then uncovered, buttered the top, and basted every 20 minutes thereafter.

Pre-Thanksgiving Warmup

Having no nearby invitations for Thursday's big meal, B and I decided on Friday that we should try our hand at doing the whole thing for ourselves (plus one turkey-crazy cat). So we filled up the propane tank, assembled a menu, made a special trip to Providence to get some needed equipment, and did most of the grocery shopping. B has also done a lot of internet research on how to handle turkey. Neither of us has ever cooked a turkey before, and I am an off-the-wagon-for-the-holidays-only vegetarian, so this will be a big adventure. And no, we are not going to deep-fry it.

Items on the menu include: one 13-lb turkey (the smallest available on Sat.), gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans w/ mustard seed, salad, cranberry-orange relish, vanilla ice cream, and pumpkin pie. Mmmm...pie.

Hopefully the leftovers will last us all the way through until we leave town for AGU.