CakeBlast

Until yesterday, I had never cooked a turkey. My wife and I always end up going to relatives house, and we have never brought the bird. So for my first turkey I chose to cook a 22 lb behemoth.

I would have started smaller since our meal will only be shared three ways (and our toddler just turns his nose up at turkey), but this was a bird that had been in our freezer since the week before Thanksgiving. When buying a turkey for 39 cents a pound, I say go as large as you can. Heck, we have a deep freezer so we should have bought two..oh well, next year.

Now I want to tell you about the turkey my family ate yesterday..and today..and probably tomorrow. We will have meat for the freezer after all of our turkey casserole, turkey tetra zine, turkey alfredo, turkey pot pies, Thai turkey with Sesame Noodles & lemongrass seasoning (that I will get around to inventing soon), and whatever other turkey dishes we decide to prepare. This was a delicious, moist bird that I would be proud to serve anyone.

I was quite nervous about cooking a 22 lb. turkey. For tips, inspiration, and flat-out instructions I turned to my friend Google. What I found were numerous spins on traditional recipes. I wrote down all the basics such as cooking times and a really good idea that I found on someone’s website, and went to work.

Ever since buying the turkey, I had considered the prospect of putting the seasoning under the turkey’s skin.  After all, this is how I season chicken. At the website http://www.howtocookathanksgivingturkey.com/ I found out that some people do rub the seasoning under the skin, on the actual meat. The website suggested butter, rosemary, and thyme.

I hadn’t considered butter under the skin, but what a great idea! I decided to incorporate this into my “spin” on turkey. Onto my recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 big-ol turkey
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp marjoram
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1 stick butter
• salt & pepper
• 2 medium chopped onions

First, remove neckbone and giblets from turkey. Set aside for gravy, if desired.

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Infuse dried rosemary, thyme, marjoram, sage, and paprika into half a stick of melted butter. Rub this spiced butter under the skin over the breastmeat. Mix salt and pepper in with other half of your stick of butter and rub on outside of turkey.

Put one tbsp. flour in oven bag and shake around. Then place chopped onions in the bag. Put turkey in the bag, on top of the bed of onions. I set the timer and cooked my turkey for 3.5 hours, but for a different size bird, check cooking times on the website I provided a link to.

After removing the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 10-20 minutes so juices can redistribute. You may also want to check the internal temperature to make sure your bird is at least 175° F.

Enjoy your turkey carved, or for 39 cents a pound you can grab it up and eat it caveman style. Enjoy!

“To talk turkey means to get down to serious straighforward talking” – Dr. Goodword’s Language Blog