<p>Mine was filet, so I broiled it, eight minutes on one side, five minutes on the other. (I like my meat cooked! 
) When I flipped it, I added sliced portobella mushrooms which I’d coated with butter (melted the butter in a measuring cup in the microwave, dumped in the mushrooms, stirred to coat) to broil along with the meat. Yum yum yum!!</p>
<p>One year when I was a teen, my dad and I cooked goose stuffed with saurkraut, caraway and apples for New Years. A memorable meal, perhaps the best poultry I’ve ever eaten. The recipe came from the Time Life series of cookbooks, perhaps one on the food of the Austro Hungarian empire. </p>
<p>My sister makes orange duck for holidays, a workable entree with plenty of flavor. </p>
<p>Owl, that’s quite a feast or two. Yes, vegie food can be very time intensive, but somehow less of a bugaboo than that turkey with all the side dishes needing to be on the table simultaneously. I’ve spent more Thanksgivings vegetarian than not. But even if I don’t care about the turkey, all the accompaniments make great cold weather eating.</p>
<p>Turkey is our Thanksgiving tradition, and I’m not planning on switching to anything different soon. I don’t brine it, I don’t mess with deep fryers. It is the easiest thing to cook on the planet! I buy a fresh organic bird, rub it with olive oil, sprinkle it with herbs (stuff some in the cavity as well), shove it in the oven pre-heated to 325 degrees, then test for doneness by sticking my meat thermometer fork in it. For Christmas, I cook salmon or steaks, and for New Years, I make meat and vegetable dumplings.</p>
<p>And if you love the desserts more than the main course, I discovered a good twist on the old pecan pie: Melt 4 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and whisk into the egg-sugar-goo part of the pie. Then add 2 or 3 times the amount of nuts. That way you don’t have a “goo” layer and a “nut” layer, but a single “gooey, nutty, layer”. Next year I will cut the “goo” ingredients in half and cook the whole thing in a shallow pie plate… crust, sticky nut stuff, thin slices… sounds right to me .</p>
<p>We’ll stick with the turkey though I agree that it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Had to to two different types of stuffing this year - didn’t want to abandon my sausage/apple stuffing but had a couple of vegetarians at the table. My oven was bursting at the end!</p>
<p>Next year, I may grill the turkey. Our local farm fresh turkey came out good in the oven though. One thing I can’t figure out though. Last year, I let the temp go to 170 and it was VERY dry. This year, the thermometer was reading between 156 and 160 in different spots but the turkey LOOKED done, so I took it out. It was perfect - in fact…maybe could have been pulled out a little earlier. So what good advice does anyone have out there about the temperature of the turkey and how to tell when it’s done? I only do turkey once per year so I never seem to be able to get a grip on this one! </p>
<p>Regarding goose, a family member cooked a goose at a holiday dinner last year. The meat was OK but there was not enough to go around. One small serving for each person and that’s it. My guys were hungry for more. I guess this particular goose was a lean bird!</p>
<p>I am with BunsenBurner. I think turkey is the easiest thing to cook. Some of you just use hard methods. We pop it in one of those bags after rubbing it with oil and spices and put it in the oven. The last few years all we did was two turkey breasts as we all like white meat. Delicious and very moist!</p>
<p>The NYT recipe I’ve been using says 165deg is fine. I heat the oven to 425 and stick the turkey in (no stuffing, except for celery and onions, and some herbs). After half hour, I cover the breast with foil. After one hour, I take off the foil and begin monitoring the turkey for doneness. A smallish turkey should take between 2 and 2.5 hours.</p>
<p>For Christmas, we’re going to have Cornish game hens. I like goose but there’s not enough to go around.</p>
<p>I agree with ONWARD and BUNSEN, Turkey is very simple and since so many expectations are loaded on the poor bird, folks make the process more complicated than it needs to be. During the winter and fall I roast at least one turkey a month. The simpler the prep method, the better the Turkey. Oil, salt, pepper and upside down in the oven. I never open the oven until the final hour of cooking, so I can start checking for doneness. This year was my sisters turn for T-giving. Her fussing and fuming always kills the poor main course. Some one needs to tell her to just roast the damn thing.
Ah…nothing like the holidays to bring out sibling rivalry!!!</p>
<p>We do traditional turkey at Thanksgiving and everyone seems to like it and expect it. </p>
<p>I did convince my family/extended family to ditch the huge involved meal at Christmas though and for the past few years our family Christmas meal has been appetizers and some of everyone’s Christmas cookies. I LOVE the selection! In addition to the typical pigs in a blanket (mini-hot dogs) for the kids, everyone brings favorites and tries out new recipes so there is a great selection of dips, bite-size things like spinach balls, wrapped water chestnuts, creative cheese things like stuffed brie, and crudites , etc. Since we all bake before Christmas it’s easy for us to just make a plate of cookies and bring it along. Voila, yummy Christmas food perfect for grazing all afternoon!</p>
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After reading the other thanksgiving thread I splashed out and bought an electric roaster ($22 at walmart) to cook the turkey. It was great to have the oven space freed up and the turkey came out wonderful. Wish I had bought it years ago. Now I am wondering if it will work for the Standing rib roast I am thinking of buying for christmas. Those things are expensive so I don’t want to ruin it!!</p>
<p>I threw tradition out the window this year (with the support of invited friends and family), abandoned the turkey, and made a massive lasagna with turkey sausage and various vegetables. Also roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar, and big arugula salad, and a polenta cake with poached pears and homemade pumpkin ice cream for dessert. Everyone agreed it was a huge improvement over the usual fare.</p>
<p>I agree that chicken is, in general, better than turkey. But turkey is is still pretty good in its own right. And the turkey sandwiches on white bread with mayo in the days after Thanksgiving are wonderful.</p>
<p>I’ve never done turkey for Christmas. I always do ham. But I can’t see ever abandoning turkey for Thanksgiving. I’m too much of a traditionalist. Thanksgiving is the only holiday where more or less everyone in the US eats the same thing, and that by itself is kind of cool.</p>
<p>“Thanksgiving is the only holiday where more or less everyone in the US eats the same thing, and that by itself is kind of cool.”</p>
<p>Well said, coureur! That is one of the reasons I love Thanksgiving - no matter how different our religious and/or political views are, we all unite over turkey!</p>
<p>I would never consider changing from turkey for Thanksgiving. We all love it.</p>
<p>As for Peking Duck, I was fortunate to travel to Hong Kong and Beijing a few years ago where I ate Peking Duck for the first time. It was so wonderful that I have never eaten it since as I don’t think it would be nearly as good here.</p>
<p>We actually have two turkeys and a grilled tenderloin; one turkey is smoked which my side of the family loves, and the other is roasted. We have way too many choices at Thanksgiving, but when we try to drop something or chance the menu, we have several complaints.</p>
<p>We never have turkey any other time other than deli meat, so I guess we will stick with the bird on Thanksgiving, although the tenderloin is a favorite of many.</p>
<p>I made a turkey once and only once. Never again. I’m not a fan of standing over the oven for 7 hours. Next time maybe I’ll try duck. It’s my favorite poultry ever. Sooooo good.</p>
<p>Turkey’s just…so overrated. I’ve never had a thanksgiving turkey that wasn’t dry.</p>
<p>7 hours? 7? What sort of monster turkey were you cooking?</p>
<p>I would imagine a turkey cooked for 7 hours would be pretty dry.</p>
<p>But I agree about the duck - I love it.</p>
<p>We make roast chicken and salmon (not all in the family eat meat). Still end up eating waaay too much.</p>
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<p>It HAS GOT to be the preparation. It takes like, two days to make. Duck itself costs less than beef. Count me in as someone who adores peking duck. Unfortunately the one peking duck place I found in New York charges $40+ a person. Good lord.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom-the thing was 20lbs. It was a big bird. First, only and last time I made turkey. Never again. And spending all day over the stove basting the bloody thing with white wine and butter makes me never want to look at another turkey again. I don’t even eat the sandwich meat anymore. I go with prosciutto now.</p>
<p>When I get my own place I’m making a big rib eye roast (unlike tenderloin, it can take some abuse). Steak makes great leftovers.</p>
<p>7 hours! No wonder your turkey was dry. I’m surprised it wasn’t turkey leather by that point. I make a moist, delicious turkey every year using a combination of methods. I use the turn-the-bird-over trick and a few others as well. But the key thing to a successful turkey is DON’T OVER COOK IT. </p>
<p>I think the cooking hints and instructions are way too alarmist about the deadly dangers of under-cooked turkey. Just make sure your bird is well thawed and then use the low end of the range of recommended per pound cooking times. I’ve never had a raw bird or anyone get sick, and the meat is always moist and delicious.</p>