<p>25+ Thanksgiving meals eaten at my in laws.
My family complains we don’t have leftover turkey. I have never made a whole turkey in my life. I decided this is the year I will make a turkey either before Thanksgiving or after. Still have to go to my MIL on Thanksgiving day.
Fresh or Frozen?
Any advice? I am planning on cooking it in the oven.</p>
<p>I would love some feedback as well. I have done Thanksgiving dinner for my extended family for about two decades, but have generally used a supermarket turkey (Butterball or such). This year the Trader Joe’s flyer description of their fresh brined turkeys sounds appealing. Has anyone tried them?</p>
<p>All input welcome!</p>
<p>Those TJ’s turkeys are great. Mom60, if you’re in TJ territory, that’s a perfect one to start with–hard to dry out which is easy with most turkeys. Just put a half lemon and some fresh herbs inside (TJ’s poultry mix:thyme, rosemary, sage), season with salt, pepper and dried herbs you like mixed with a quarter cup of olive oil rbbed into the bird, sprinkle with paprika for color and roast according to directions for size.</p>
<p>Is TJ’s worth driving 35 miles for? I keep hearing TJ’s is awesome. 35 miles awesome??</p>
<p>35 miles, heck yes! I drive that far once a month to hit TJ’s and Costco!</p>
<p>We usually have a Butterball. We also usually pick up an extra frozen turkey to keep until Christmas since for some reason many of the supermarkets don’t have turkeys at Christmas and we prefer to eat turkey then also. We also often pick up an extra turkey or two to give to the local food bank so someone else can enjoy turkey as well.</p>
<p>My W cooks the turkey in one of those covered turkey roaster pans and cooks it such that it basically falls apart once we take it out. It cooks faster in the roaster and seems to stay moist. </p>
<p>When having the leftovers, in addition to sandwiches and additional turkey meals, try making some turkey burritos or turkey enchiladas - they’re pretty good. you can also freeze the leftover turkey and make them into the burritos much later for something different.</p>
<p>Definitely worth the 35 miles once in awhile to stock up on some of their unique things.</p>
<p>Ucsd Dad- I heard that Von’s has Butterball turkeys for 8.99 with Vons Club.
I don’t have a turkey roaster pan. Is it okay to buy one of the cheap foil throwaway pans or is a roaster necessary?
I do have a TJ’s. We now have 3 in town but I used to drive 45 minutes to both Costco and TJ’s. Their Thanksgiving flyer came in the mail and it made me hungry. I think I will try their turkey.</p>
<p>Cheap pan is OK. I’ve hosted Thanksgiving in my house for probably 15 years out of my 20+ years of married life, and only got the special pan a couple of years ago. Just make sure you don’t poke a hole in it while the turkey fat and drippings are still in it :)</p>
<p>Try a TJ’s turkey (I get the Costco one), it should be awesome. They even sell the pre-brined ones, I think. Fresh tastes better than frozen, IMO.</p>
<p>First off, the OP should come to my house, because everybody goes home with leftovers. I cook enough to be sure there’s plenty to be distributed, and collect a lot of plastic takeout containers during the year so I don’t have worry about getting stuff back. </p>
<p>But here’s my turkey virgin advice anyway:</p>
<p>If you use a disposable pan, be sure it’s a very sturdy one or you’ll have potential for disaster when you remove it from the oven. </p>
<p>Unless your family is yearning for dark meat, you may want to consider just cooking a turkey breast (or two). Or you can even cook both a breast and a couple of legs (available at some, but not all markets)–the legs will take longer, and you’ll be able to remove the breast first before it dries out. If you’re just interested in the turkey meat and not the “oohs” and “ahs” you get when you present a whole bird at the table, parts are a good way to go–easier to manage all around: handling, cooking, carving.</p>
<p>I’d also stay away from frozen birds–they’re cheaper, but the defrosting process is just a pain and takes up too much fridge space. Just more hassle you don’t need.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>When done properly (which is considerably hard to do), nothing beats a fried turkey. My dad bought a fryer on a whim one year and it’s produced some of the best turkey I’ve ever had.</p>
<p>The San Francisco Chronicle has done a lot of research of Turkey - and I’ve made their best way Turkey a few times now (even when its not Thanksgiving).</p>
<p>[Thanksgiving</a> Cooking Guide — Food — SFGate](<a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/thanksgiving/]Thanksgiving”>http://www.sfgate.com/thanksgiving/)</p>
<p>If I were making my first turkey, I’d use the TJ already brined turkey and then follow the chronicle instructions on how to roast. The disposable pans are fine - but I would put a cookie sheet (preferably one with an edge) underneath and use that to move the pan around. Last thing you want is a 400 degree, slippery, 25 puond turkey flopping around in a pan. The cookie sheet will give you something solid to move around.</p>
<p>My worry is that I don’t want to buy my turkey before Tuesday next week and I need a big bird (for 20 people) so TJ’s may be sold out. Have they sold turkey’s before? I guess I can just go to TJ’s first and if they are sold out, get one at Costco. I have one diner that will only eat all-natural turkey’s so I would really like to snag a TJ’s one. I could go this Friday, but they can’t really sit in a refrig for almost a week can they??</p>
<p>Great minds think alike. I was pondering this very subject last night, did a search, and found this thread from last year: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/789795-thanksgiving-turkey-tips.html?highlight=thanksgiving[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/789795-thanksgiving-turkey-tips.html?highlight=thanksgiving</a></p>
<p>My grandmother used to be up at 4:30 on Thanksgiving morning to make the stuffing, which definitely went into the bird. We use a fresh turkey, unstuffed, and pretty much follow the package directions, but I’m always wondering if we could do better.</p>
<p>I have never used a fresh turkey…my mother kind of scared me off of them ( her experiences made for a dry bird ) I have used butterballs and also Perdue turkeys. I think if you aren’t used to cooking a whole bird, one with the little plastic thermometer is a good start.
Now the next question is , whether or not to brine this year ;)</p>
<p>WOO HOO! Husband just ordered our turkey for pickup next Tuesday afternoon – organic turkey we pick up at the farm. We walk into the barnyard, they grab a turkey on the run, wring its neck, clean it and pluck it right there. It really is not gory, they are so skilled it only takes a couple minutes, and you can’t beat for fresh.</p>
<p>Found this on chowhound [How</a> early can I buy my turkey? - Home Cooking - Chowhound](<a href=“http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/280905]How”>http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/280905), and it says you can pick up a turkey as long as the weekend before but, of course, it’s not talking about a TJ’s brined turkey… It seems like the meat would get soft if it’s in a brine solution for more then a day. How do they do that?</p>
<p>My tips gathered over the years:</p>
<p>(1) I always use fresh turkeys. Frozen just seems harder. Call <grocery store=“” where=“” you’ll=“” be=“” buying=“” everything=“”> and order a fresh one (specify the size). They’ll put one aside with your name on it. (And thanks for the reminder–I might do that today!)</grocery></p>
<p>(2) I’ve tried brining but didn’t notice a whole lot of difference.</p>
<p>(3) My step-MIL turned me on to the cooking bags quite a few years ago. They should be in the aluminum foil/plastic wrap aisle. Follow the instructions and it’s pretty hard to go wrong (plus it really shortens the cooking time).</p>
<p>(4) I always buy a disposable large aluminum pan. Going as sturdy as you can is good (some come with handles), but it’s more important to remember to support the bottom of the pan any time you’re moving it.</p>
<p>(5) Do dig deep into the cavities to clean out the stuff that comes with the bird (organs, gizzard, . . .) DH and I cooked our first small bird when we were first dating. Came out okay but we thought there was kind of a funny taste. Wasn’t til we’d cleaned out all the stuffing that we found the giblets, still in the bag. Oops.</p>
<p>A few years ago, I had a group of varied eaters for T-day. Some were vegans, some at only organic, “natural” stuff, some were on a protein diet, some were just plain fussy. So I did two turkeys, one organic with all the stuff that goes with that, fresh, etc, the other a Butterball. Couldn’t tell which was which at the end of the day. Didn’t make one bit of difference.</p>
<p>I think two smaller turkeys yield juicier breast than one big bird, so that is what we have been doing. We keep one for left overs. No reason why you can’t have turkey on occasions other than T or holidays either, and if you don’t stuff it, it is easy to roast. The meat you get is ever so much better than the sliced deli turkey and we use it for sandwiches, salads and casseroles a lot.</p>
<p>cpt, do you have two ovens? I like the idea of two turkeys, but don’t know how they would fit, even if they are two ten pound birds.</p>