Thanksgiving in America - November 27th

We've had some large rafters of wild turkeys feeding in the fields around our place since mid October. The Tom's haven't been gathering Hens for mating purposes yet but they will begin their gobbling and puffing up soon. Like most males under influence of female allure, they appear to lose half of the already limited intelligence they possess when showing off for attention from the ladies. Few people around here actually try to roast and eat these birds but they make good jerkey.
 
Interesting factoid; the turkey part of Thanksgiving dinner doesn't turn out quite as tender and juicy as it used to because modern ovens vent heat and a lot of humidity out the top. The doors on old ovens were not sealed air-tight, so there was a constant cross-circulation of heat and (most importantly) humidity, and roasted meats came out juicier and more tender.

My gramma roasted turkey the same way after she got her first modern stove (in about 1962) as she did before - she always made a little 3 layers thick cheesecloth blanket, soaked it in hot melted butter and herbs, and draped it over the turkey before sliding it into the oven. Her turkeys came out perfect, imo, but still, she was always a bit disappointed with the oven on her new stove.
 
@Murrmurr, I agree that new stoves aren't what the used to be. I would still love to have an Aga stove, but I know that won't happen. If your not familiar with one: https://www.agarangeusa.com/classic/ranges

I have a roast chicken recipe that you put herb butter under the skin & cook it breast side down. Every 30 minutes you baste with more melted butter. During the last 30 minutes or so, you turn the bird breast side up to brown. Keeping the breast down I found out helps keep the white meat more moist. I've done the same recipe with a turkey & it has helped keeping the breast juicier, but I think part of the problem is how they breed the birds today.

In the spring Hubby brined a skin-on bone-in turkey breast & it came out very juicy. I think I'll try that recipe for Thanksgiving. If you or anyone is interested, I'll find the recipe in the book.
 
Lilac said:
@Murrmurr, I agree that new stoves aren't what the used to be. I would still love to have an Aga stove, but I know that won't happen. If your not familiar with one: https://www.agarangeusa.com/classic/ranges

I have a roast chicken recipe that you put herb butter under the skin & cook it breast side down. Every 30 minutes you baste with more melted butter. During the last 30 minutes or so, you turn the bird breast side up to brown. Keeping the breast down I found out helps keep the white meat more moist. I've done the same recipe with a turkey & it has helped keeping the breast juicier, but I think part of the problem is how they breed the birds today.

In the spring Hubby brined a skin-on bone-in turkey breast & it came out very juicy. I think I'll try that recipe for Thanksgiving. If you or anyone is interested, I'll find the recipe in the book.
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I remember my mom, my gramma and a couple of aunts sitting around the dining table at the old farmhouse jotting down notes in their old cookbooks so that the recipes would work ok with modern ovens. It was hours of one argument after another. :LOL:

I have the cookbook my mom made notes in that day. It's pretty beat-up, and a couple pages are missing, but I use it now and then.
 
Those old books are special to say the least, especially when they wrote or glued cut out recipes in them. I got my Grandma's old cookbook when I was in junior high after she passed. I told Mom I wanted it & nabbed it before my cousin could. In high school, I found a mint condition one at a second hand store that said 1913 which would have been a few years after she & Grandpa married.

Just a thought, do you think a pan of water in the oven would add some moisture in the oven when a bird is roasting?
 
Since preparing a large meal is not advisable for a single person, I get some turkey cutlets (if available), Idahoan instant garlic mashed potatoes, a can of yams and a can of pumpkin (mash those together) and a box of stove top stuffing. Then I make cranberry ambrosia Apple Cranberry Ambrosia recipe for desert, so I don't have a lot of pie hanging around.
 
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The Thanksgivings I remember growing up, my mom would usually invite her mom and step-father for dinner, or we'd go to grandma's house. Since my dad was estranged from his family, whose home we'd go to was never in issue. If it was at our house, my mom would get an assortment of fruit and have me make the cornucopia centerpiece. I still have the basket!

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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

Growing up, we always had the kids table in the kitchen, the grandparents table in the living room, and the rest of the family in the dining room, maybe a young couple at a tray table in the den.
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Today, it’s just me and my memories but I’m good with that.

I would much rather spend the day alone with my memories than be the odd duck in the corner at someone else’s family celebration.
 
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Turkey became a Thanksgiving tradition due to a combination of practical, historical, and cultural factors: it was an abundant, native, and large bird suitable for feeding groups; its association with early American feasts grew through historical accounts and 19th-century media; and it was promoted as the centerpiece of the holiday by influential figures like Sarah Josepha Hale. Modern commercial farming and 20th-century marketing campaigns further solidified turkey's place at the Thanksgiving table.

It's alleged that about 90% of Americans have turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. Other choices are ham and prime rib. Vegans have tofu turkey.

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debodun said:
Turkey became a Thanksgiving tradition due to a combination of practical, historical, and cultural factors: it was an abundant, native, and large bird suitable for feeding groups; its association with early American feasts grew through historical accounts and 19th-century media; and it was promoted as the centerpiece of the holiday by influential figures like Sarah Josepha Hale. Modern commercial farming and 20th-century marketing campaigns further solidified turkey's place at the Thanksgiving table.

It's alleged that about 90% of Americans have turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. Other choices are ham and prime rib. Vegans have tofu turkey.

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I LOVE baked ham. I like it a lot more than turkey and it goes better with mashed potatoes, too. My mom always covered our ham with pineapple rings and used long-stemmed cloves to pin a cherry in the center of each ring. So freaking good!

But they both make great sandwiches, though.

I just flashed-back to me and my brothers helping mom by going through her little bottle of whole cloves to pick out all the ones with a long stem. Smelled nice but it made us really anxious for that ham to get baked.
 
One year my mom thought she would get fancy and wrap the turkey in puff pastry dough. It didn't turn out well, if I remember. The skin didn't brown and it didn't cook through. Probably something she saw Martha Stewart prepare. I think later she found out the turkey has to be roasted like it normally would and THEN put the on dough. I'd hate to think of putting dough on a hot turkey.

Another year she made the best turkey she ever did - she basted it with Blue Nun wine.
 

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