Turkey Time

Since we are going to Carpinteria for Thanksgiving and having grilled lobster and tri-tip with our relatives and friends, I decided I wanted some turkey. Lots of turkey . For sandwiches and turkey curry, etc. So I went and got a 20 pound turkey for 5 bucks at Food4Less, a special deal for buying 25 dollars worth of groceries. Since our oven is broke, I called our neighbor George on the phone and asked if I could please use his oven and in return, he would get half of the turkey. Here is the turkey (just a plain young california turkey, unwrapped of its plastic cover and after having thawed out in the refirigeartor for 4 days. In the past, I have successfully thawed out a turkey in half a day by putting it in a plastic bag completely submerging it in a sink of water.
The hardest thing about doing a turkey is getting that metal clamp out !!!!! Get your sink super clean and put that turkey in there and wrestle with it in there! I took out the giblet bag and opened it and cooked them for the dogs. The bony neck and fatty tail piece I threw away.

Then I rinsed the inside of the turkey really good, and the outside, too. I blotted the inside with paper towel. I decided to stuff the turkey and went the easy route: Stove Top brand! To make it more delicious, I sauted 2 medium onions, chopped, in a tablespoon of buuter. After 15 minutes, I added a cup and a half of diced celery and sauteed that for just a minute. Then I added the Stove Top stuffing (I used 2 boxes) as prepared by package directions. One exception was that I did not put butter in the cooking water because I knew the stuffing would absorb lots of fat and juices from the turkey itself.
Stuffing the turkey and trussing it was a bit difficult. After stuffing and trussing (sticking those pins in and wrapping the string---er, dental floss ...around them, I had to flip it over to stuff truss the neck opening. I also spread some softened butter under the skin of the breast portion of the turkey. Oh, and I salted and peppered and "Mrs. Dash"ed the outside and the cavity before I put the stuffing in.