We both prefer the “dry”, white, breast meat. Most of the dark meat will be added to our dogs’ meals for the next few days. They love the holidays. And it’s raining here, so wet dog smell is in the air!!!
I like dark meat. I made myself a sandwich an hour or so ago, and I made it with dark meat. (Mrs. L.A. made a breast-meat sanger.)
My mother in law makes several crockpots full.
I prefer stuffing to dressing.
Then you can it dressing and cook it in the oven for about 35 mins at 350F
Turkey broth is wonderful stuff. There are mistakes that people make, though. And doing it right takes a lot of stove time, the bump in your utility bill might not be worth it to you.
The biggest mistake is using too much water. By that I mean that you need a lot of water to cover the whole carcass, but you have to cook it long enough to get all the collagen out of the bones (if you can still see gristle, it hasn’t cooked long enough) and then you need to remove the bones and meat and reduce the stock until it tastes right. Reducing by half is the very least that’s likely to work.
After that, the biggest mistake is keeping any meat that was used to make the stock. The taste from that meat is completely gone. It’s been sacrificed to the broth. If you want to make turkey soup from the broth, set some turkey meat aside to use when you use the broth to make soup.
I put the wings and legs in the stock pot with the carcass (all the bones - I’d add all the skin, but I’d get complaints from people who like skin in the leftovers). You can add a sautéed mirepoix or roasted onions and carrots. If I’m doing that, I do it toward the end. I’ll also add a couple of bay leaves (I have a tree - they’re free).
Don’t add salt or pepper until the broth is fully reduced. Most turkeys have salt on them or injected into them. If you season the broth before it’s reduced, it can end up too salty.
My biggest guilty pleasure is boiling ramen noodles in double-reduced turkey broth. It makes a lovely, sticky sauce around the noodles. Very umami.
That was the thing I was contemplating to do and really finish it up, both thermometer never neared180! I passed and bailed #turkeyfail2020
I cook chicken and Turkey medium-rare. Pasture raised birds, produced locally.
You rendered that beautifully thank you!
Yuur damn straight! I wait all year for the chance to eat turkey. Leftovers are terrific also. Just warmed up with the gravy and stuffing or in a summich. Plus we make soup from the carcass. I grab pieces with salt and pepper just to munch on while watching TV.
Eat more turkey!! OK, so we live near a turkey farm. No reason not to roast a turkey every so often.
I saw what you did there. 
Thanks.
Ummmmm…have any of you guys ever roasted a heritage breed turkey, as opposed to the ubiquitous Broad-Breasted White? I did a ten pound Bourbon Red at 400 degrees for a little under two hours yesterday, after brining in salt solution with peppercorns, fennel and caraway seeds, and fresh thyme and rosemary, and it was a rich and flavorful main course.
I second the previously mentioned Tetrazzini as a fine use of leftovers. Duck Tetrazzini is also wonderful. Chicken tetrazzini is bland in comparison. However, this year’s leftover bird is going into a turkey Biryani tomorrow night.
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I’m ok with turkey but don’t love it…
The Thanksgiving food I only take a token bite of is box stuffing. I might take a full scoop if it’s scratch made with Italian country sausage.
Wow – that’s exactly right.
Truth be told, I like turkey for Thanksgiving. It’s not my favorite, but it’s nice, and it’s traditional.
recipe? I have a lot of leftover turkey…
Yikes! That sounds grossly overcooked. Turkey is not a tough cartilaginous meat that needs to be cooked until it submits.
My 22 pound (unstuffed) turkey cooked for about 2 hours, followed by resting an hour. The outer parts of the breast reached 185 before I turned off the heat, but the very interior was only 135. I thought, screw it, I don’t want to completely destroy the outside. If the inside sits at 135 for an hour it will be pasteurized and won’t kill anyone, and I can serve the parts that are appetizing. But I shouldn’t have feared. An hour later, every spot I jabbed my thermopen into measured between 162 and 165, and it was still moist and tasty.
It would have been better if I’d been able to let it continue resting until the temp dropped to 140 or so, but it was time to eat.
Yup. I bought a local pasture-raised heritage breed turkey. The whole house smelled of turkey. (Still does.) And turkey cooked to 185 is dead and dry. The USDA recommended temperatures are for “kill everything within seconds”. But it you are willing to hold the meat for a while, much lower temperatures are safe.
This reference says it’s best to rest the roast untill the temperature drops to 120.
I knew it hadn’t rested long enough, because a fair amount of juice spilled out when i carved it.
I’m no fan of the whole turkey dinner, but I do enjoy the leftover sandwiches later.
INGREDIENTS:
Leftover turkey, cut into small chunks
Turkey carcass with remaining meat and skin
Turkey drippings
Vegeta seasoning
Small onion, cut into small chunks
Large carrot, cut into small chunks
3 or 4 stalks of celery, cut into small chunks
1 or 2 small potatoes, cut into small chunks
Water and/or storebought chicken stock
2 cups (500 mL) of Bisquick
2/3 cup (150 mL) of milk
Freshly ground pepper
In a large pot, cover the carcass and skin with water and boil to produce a rich stock. When its ready, remove the bones and strip any remaining meat off them and set it aside. (Save the skin for frying crisp.) If there isn’t enough of the carcass to make a really rich stock, you can use storebought chicken stock too.
In a separate pan, saute the vegetables in the turkey drippings. After 4–5 minutes, add them to the pot along with the meat. If you haven’t saved any drippings, use oil or butter instead.
Season to taste with the Vegeta (I normally use 3–4 large spoonfuls). Add freshly ground pepper to taste.
Simmer until the vegetables are soft. Mix the milk and Bisquick and drop by spoonfuls into the simmering pot. After 10 minutes, cover and cook for 10 minutes more.
You can use Pillsbury biscuit dough as an alternative to the Bisquick. Just pop open the can and deposit the biscuits on top of the stew. Cover and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Adjust seasoning to your taste and enjoy!
Me, I’ve always thought dog tasted the same as a wet turkey smells.
Thanks