Last year I thought I found the bomb turkey recipe. It's supposed to make the turkey look like the one's you see on TV. Y'know, shiny and glossy and perfectly brown and shit.
It did! It looks just like the shit they show on TV. It was a beautiful bird, juicy too. But what they don't tell you is that those beautiful birds aren't very flavorful.

For the folks who will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year; Has anyone thought up or started shopping for their Thanksgiving feast stuff yet?

Any ideas on some new things rather than the old run-of-the-mill stuff? Any exciting, spicy, or unusual turkey ideas? I don't want to fry one because I am accident-prone and will likely set the neighborhood on fire if I tried that.
What are some unusual dishes your family has that you enjoy?
(for the record, I am drinking and feeling a bit chatty)

Wow, and I got all excited when I saw your thread because I´m Turkish and you wrote Turkey with a capital "T" , as in Republic of Turkey.


"Turkey" sounds weird anyway, it´s actually Türkiye, and the name "turkey" supposedly originated from American turkey merchants who sold the birds to Turkish merchants, hence their name first became "Turkish birds" or something like that, and later simply "turkey".
Funny trivia : In Turkish, turkeys are called "hindi", which is a language in India.

Did you coat or glaze it with honey or sugar to make it look shiny and crispy or simply salt and water ? Or did you use caramel ?
Frying stuff is not my thing, besides, the deepfryer has to be HUGE to fry a big turkey in it, and it is not very healthy.
Back in the days when the Americans were still here, we would just eat a traditional thanksgiving dinner with them, with corn, mashed potatoes, turkey, cranberry sauce and other things but I think these days it would have to be something more spicy for me . Then again, keeping it old school also has its charm. Make some roast vegetables and potatoes with thyme and rosemary and garlic with lots of olive oil as a side dish and keep the rest classic.

Muse made the most delicious turkey when I was visiting her once. If I still ate meat, that would be the recipe I'd want. I remember dumping wine in the roasting pan, but that's all.

I am making my sweet potato cheesecake. It is a request every holiday season.


I think i am going to re-name it "you won't be single long sweet potato cheesecake". It was a closing deal for Big Daddy. Once he had a taste, he wasn't going anywhere.

I cannot wait! I am going to see my mom

I know, doesn't sound that exciting to some of you but I have not seen her in 14 months.
I love her Thanksgiving dinners! It is going to be so much fun cooking with her.
This is going to be my hubby's first Thanksgiving and it falls on his birthday.

MrsMdiver said:

awwwww!! That sounds awesome!


This year is going to be tricky for me, as it's my first thanksgiving as an official vegetarian. I haven't told my family yet, and that's gonna be a weird thing to deal with.

CarrieMpls said:

surprise them with a nice tofurkey!

I order a Turducken which arrives frozen. It's Cajun seasoned. Delicious. Once roasted & carved; each slice has chicken, duck, turkey & stuffing.

CarrieMpls said:

I have a feeling this one will be much different for me as well. We will be at my uncles and this is his first Thanksgiving since his wife passed away.
We are going to be at his beach house and knowing him he will want to have crabs, fish and duck for Thanksgiving.

I am going to just be thankful for the time with my mom.
Oh and enjoy the Pumpkin Pie with Cool whip!!

XxAxX said:

Or a rubber shoe...either way it tastes the same

As far as sides go, this recipe is the bomb...




http://southernfood.about...90911u.htm

Honey said:

Did you put that duck and chicken into the turkey,or does it come like that (hence the name turducken )? Looks complicated.

OK I get it now, it comes frozen with all those ingredients already inside.

Something about that turducken is freaking me the hell out


....but I'm sure it'll taste great, it just looks pretty odd

thekidsgirl said:

Yeah, it freaked me out , too. I don´t like stuffed animals in general. As an ex-vegetarian, I still feel very uncomfortable about eating meat and stuffed meat is just a bit weird to me but I bet it tastes good....I love Cajun food, it´s just so hard to find. I once heard about a camel stuffed with a lamb, which is stuffed with some other animal, which is stuffed with chicken, it is supposed to be some middle eastern specialty but I have never actually seen it.

KoolEaze said:

Yes, it comes like that.

There are site that give step-by-step instructions with photos for cooks who wish to give it a go from scratch.

KoolEaze said:

thekidsgirl said:

It's the shape. It still looks like a regular turkey, and it shouldn't.

KoolEaze said:

holy animal stuffing!

I am not a fan of turducken...but am very excited that for the first time in over 5 years...I get to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Will be traditional turkey, sausage stuffing, cream cheese potatoes with chives, creamed corn...the whole thing.
I know it sounds silly, but I am really looking forward to cooking!!!

KoolEaze said:

I rubbed my turkey with canola oil. Then put it in a 500 degree (farenheit) oven for 30 minutes. Then lowered the temperated to 350 for 3 hrs.
That made the skin very shiny and crispy on the outside.The only thing was that some people that do it this way says it makes their oven smoke. It didn't smoke when I did it though. The roasted vegetables would be a nice new addition to the menu.

Honey said:

this looks good... I like mine baked too ... I see some folks deep frying their bird and it's slightly dangerous if you're not careful..

No matter what recipe I use, it should always turn out golden brown

I just get one of these...



and stuff it with some of this...


and walla.perfect turkey!


[Edited 11/2/08 9:00am]

i've never brined mine before so i think it might make an interesting change for this year, but first i'll experiment with turkey breast though it seemed to work quite well with chicken.

It's gonna be my first thanksgiving and i am really looking forward to it. I really want to help cook, i am gonna be my mother in laws sous chef.....or bitch as my missus calls it
[Edited 11/2/08 2:09am]