I ask because of all the jokes made in the media about leftover turkey. Every columnist uses this as a standby. Radio DJs love to make references to it. Every article in the food section discusses it.
But, really…who has THAT much leftover turkey?
I don’t host a dinner, but every year I roast a turkey. This year I roasted a 14# bird…and I carved it up and froze half. I’ve been eating a lot of turkey, but not enough to be sick of it.
(BTW, the NT Times has a great video on how to carve a turkey. And the key is to do it as soon as it’s cool enough to handle. Very little meat is wasted, and the process goes really fast. Whenever I leave it on the skeleton, it all dries out in a day. I carved it all and wrapped it tightly…it’s as fresh each day as it was on the first day.)
So, yeah, I have a lot of leftover turkey and I’m eating a lot of turkey…but I’m just ONE person. I only eat turkey once a year and I love it. And, honestly, it doesn’t taste too much different from chicken. Different, but not like the difference between lamb and steak. I eat chicken at least twice a week and I never get tired of it. Do people really have THAT much leftover turkey? Don’t you have entire families eating it? The way people go on about it, you’d think people were eating it three meals a day for three weeks.
We had a 16 pound bird for 9 people. I think I may have wound up with perhaps 4-6 cups of leftover meat, most of which we ate over the next 3 days (the last of it got dumped into the stock last night and will now be eaten as turkey noodle soup).
Of course, I also bought a second turkey, Friday, since Whole Foods had some leftover organic/free range birds and them’s the tastiest so I roasted that last night, and now have an entire bird-ful of leftover meat. Probably 12+ cups of meat but I haven’t really measured. Plenty for a lot of meals (most of it will be frozen).
I too get it off the bone as soon as possible - the carcass goes straight into the soup pot thereafter (it sure won’t fit in the fridge with all the other leftovers!).
Most Thanksgivings there is enough turkey left for about 3 days worth of sandwiches for my grandmother and I. Thick, delicious sandwiches. With stuffing smeared inside.
I had nearly 3 quarts of turkey meat leftover, so it was wrapped, bagged and tossed into the freezer.
I’ll be able to make some nice, tasty turkey soup this winter.
It was not a whole turkey, but a very large turkey breast that was part of the Marie Callender’s feast.
I had enough left over for several meals until I decided to freeze the rest in plastic containers along with some of the leftover sides. I think I have at least six containers with big portions of turkey in each.
I cooked a 23 lb Turkey for ostensibly 2 people. I have a lot of left overs. Like too much. Probably 10 pounds of it is going into a mega chili pot in about a month.
None - because we went to our daughters’ for Thanksgiving. But she has tons. Not to mention two frozen ones still in her freezer - for under $3.00 a 17 lb turkey with $25 purchase, who could pass it up? She’s set for months now.
I kind of miss it - but we also have it Christmas eve, so I just have to wait a bit.
so I roasted that last night, and now have an entire bird-ful of leftover meat. Probably 12+ cups of meat but I haven’t really measured. Plenty for a lot of meals (most of it will be frozen).