Well, I’d never look a gift horse in the mouth. My “principles” are negotiable. LOL
Thing is, I love cooking the bird full of stuffing. It takes longer, but the juice of the turkey soaks into the stuffing making it totally delicious.
We often do both. You don’t get any gravy if you fry the bird, either.
This year, i may make stuffing outside the bird, though. 
I’m not sure my husband will be able to help me stuff it, and even though I’m good with thermometers, there is a larger risk of infection with studying inside the bird, and my husband will still be significantly immune compromised on t-day.
Then fry them. What could go wrong with something still partially frozen being dropped into a vat of boiling oil???
Hint: There’s lots of videos on Youtube &/or tiktok if you’re unsure…or just want to watch idiots in action
There’s a slight risk of infection if you study at the library, just being out in public but it’s a lot less cramped there than in a turkey cavity. What class is he taking?
Heh. I was going to comment about the old Groucho Marx bit, slightly updated for modern sensibilities:
Outside of a
dogturkey, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of adogturkey, it’s too dark to read.
Err, typo for stuffing, if that wasn’t obvious.
It was; just too good of one to pass up. 
I actually prefer studying inside the bird.
At least it’s warmer.
Do the frozen Turkeys still have the pop up thermometers that tells that it is done?
Yep. Which givd the temp in one tiny spot and tell you nothing about a frozen interior jam packed w stuffing.
Not at all…that sounded fantastic!
My must-have is turkey, since that’s what we always had when I was growing up. When it was just the four of us, we would opt for a turkey breast instead of the whole bird; it would be drizzled with olive oil, dusted with salt and pepper, and garnished with slices of apple (removed before serving). Once Dad bought the Holland grill, that’s where the turkey was cooked; it was always super tasty. I still cook mine on the Holland Dad bought in 1996. I did have to skip this during the height of the pandemic, but I was able to get my hands on a frozen duck, which ended up being a really fun change. It was also great with the homemade cranberry sauce that’s a must-have at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Mom even likes it!
I have branched out from plain salt and pepper when seasoning the turkey; I’m leaning toward a barbecue rub this year.
Never-haves: green bean casserole (it made a few appearances during my childhood, mostly because Mom thought some guests might be nostalgic for it); fruit salad (the nameless pink cousin of Watergate salad); mac & cheese; any casserole.
As always requested, I am this year making what I call Deconstructed Green Bean Casserole, and what Cook’s Illustrated calls Ultimate Green Bean Casserole. The concept is, what if you made the traditional green bean casserole, but you didn’t use canned soup or frozen beans? It looks like this: https://www.food.com/recipe/green-bean-casserole-from-cooks-illustrated-201819. That recipe is blatantly ripped off but verified against my big Cook’s cookbook; I’ll leave the copyright issue between Food.com and their god, but that’s the recipe. It’s a true pain in the ass, but you can work ahead, and it is absolutely Worth It for a special meal.
Also by request, I’ll do an apple pie, following a very standard recipe from my Carter-era Time Life illustrated cookbooks. Over the years I’ve learned to never improvise apple pies; I follow the recipe exactly, and that’s Granny Smith apples only, with exactly the amounts of sugar and spices they say; it always works. I do my own version of a food processor pie crust, recipe I think from Rose Levy Beranbaum or maybe it was Martha Stewart. Again, I follow the recipe and no guesswork about the amount of ice water; it just works when I do what they say. The real secret to pie crust, as everybody knows, is to flatten the dough into disks and refrigerate for hours before rolling.
I improvise my apple pie every year, and it’s always terrific.
We’ve gotten confirmation that the cool cousin-in-law is getting to have Thanksgiving with HIS folks, not my wife’s extended family, so since no one else will bake, we’re bringing Garlic Knots (2 batches, plus one batch without garlic for those who find it too zesty!) and a double batch of homemade baked mac 'n cheese (cheddar, gruyère and mozz, mixed in with a cream and milk combo, topped with panko and a final dusting of parmesan).
Ah, but you probably have talent and good sense.
I smoke my Thanksgiving turkey. I usually forgo the normal hickory & mesquite for this meal & use cherry wood chips. This year, I have a couple of other bags of fruit wood that I’ve never tried before. What smoke flavor should I choose, one of the ‘typical’ woods, what I normally use, or one of the new ones?
- Hickory
- Mesquite
- Cherry
- Orange
- Peach
0
voters
I voted peach because that sounds really good. I need to check out what chips are available around here. I just went with hickory because it was the first bag I pulled out of the cabinet. I think I’ll use apple when I do the ribs. Assuming I have enough apple.
I’m the primary Thanksgiving cook, but some dishes are rendered by other attending participants.
ALWAYS A PART OF THANKSGIVING MEAL
Turkey
gravy
cornbread dressing
some form of homemade cranberry sauce
butternut squash, either as soup or pureed vegetable
pumpkin cheesecake
pickles & olives
OFTEN INCLUDED
green beans (fresh steamed w butter, not the casserole thing)
wild rice stuffing
brussels sprouts
new potatoes or mashed potatoes
ratatouille
beaujolais nouveau
rutabagas (often as a casserole)
our family’s fruit salad (apples, bananas, pecans, mayo dressing)
red cabbage
snow peas (as alternative to green beans)
ambrosia (de-membraned orange segments and grated coconut ONLY)
COMMON ITEMS THAT ARE NOT A PART OF OUR THANKSGIVING TRADITION
the green bean casserole with the onion soup bits
the common bready flaky stuffing with the herbs
sweet potatoes with marshmallows
corn
fish / shellfish
spaghetti / ziti / etc
apple pie
marshmallows in anything, really
ham
My inclination is to vote apple wood. But then i realized that i have essentially zero experience smoking meat, and i didn’t really know what most of those will taste like. Can you give us some hints?
Also, i eat smoked turkey once a year (in late summer) and after doing that for a few years, i realized that i prefer it unsmoked. 
So I guess I’m not a helpful vote.
I think you made a good choice with cherry. Peach would also be a good choice. Turkey is a delicate flavored meat, and hickory/mesquite/alderwood would tend to overwhelm. IMHO.
My parents were into smoked turkeys. They started smoking them in the early 70s and never stopped. They didn’t just smoke them for holidays, either. We had smoked turkey at least once a month until I left home. You can get tired of anything, and I was well tired of smoked turkey. I’ll still enjoy it now and then if someone else makes it, but I haven’t been moved to smoke one in years.