Turkey Chili Spaghetti

I'll Get You Next Time Turkey

I really hope the reason there was no turkey this year wasn't because I couldn't cook it.

posted from Bloggeroid

Christmas Turkey

I'm not minding having to cook the holiday meals anymore. And thank goodness for convection ovens- this twenty pound wonder was done in under four hours.

There was a fight over the skin, which was quite tasty. There wasn't much left the next day, but we did manage to make some turkey soup. I didn't take pictures of anything else because I was too busy cooking up a storm.

And speaking of cooking, I have been keeping myself warm on this cold night with tons of baking. Butterscotch cream cheese bars are cooling on the wire racks, and puto seco is ready for the oven. It's the least I can do for the NYE party that I'll be missing.

Either I am too nice or I give in to the guilt way too easy.

M and I will be heading out to Michigan tomorrow to spend the rest of the holidays with his family. I'm not sure if I'll be on much to post, so let me wish you all a happy new year!

Holiday Cooking - Turkey

And the holiday madness continues. Let's recap, shall we? So Thanksgiving has come and gone, and holy cow, it's Christmas already?!? My family does our Christmas celebrating on Christmas Eve, and just like Thanksgiving, the cooking of the turkey is in my skilled (I wish!) hands. Because the last turkey I made was enjoyed by everyone, I'm sticking to the tried and true brine.

The ingredients are simple enough. Vegetable broth, salt, sugar, and spices. I altered the original recipe a bit, which may be a gamble... but then again, you wash the brine off the turkey to remove the excess salt (and everything else). It's cooling down on the stove right now, and will soon bathe tomorrow's dinner with wonderful flavor.

Yes, it is a commercial turkey. No, I didn't buy it. I'm just cooking it. At first I was told it was a 25 pounder. Turns out it's only 20 pounds, but still huge. And my brining bucket plans fell through. I had to dig around to find the largest pot, and it still wasn't big enough.

The solution? Turn that sucker over mid-brine. Ideally, it should sit in the brine for 20 hours, but plans fell through (coughcoughigotlazycoughcough) and it'll be just a couple hours under that. Should still be good though.