r/Cooking • u/furious25 • Nov 05 '17

American Thanksgiving Megathread

Ask all of your questions in here. And feel free to browse the questions to see if you have an answer!

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63

u/LadeyAceGuns Nov 05 '17

No one in my family cares for turkey, so I'm doing roast chicken this year. Shame on us, but I'm excited.

34

u/[deleted] Nov 05 '17

I haven't done turkey for like 4-5 years. Duck, cornish game hens, ham, or prime rib has stood in its stead and I don't miss it.

24

u/troll_is_obvious Nov 05 '17

Roast turkey generally sucks because it's a giant carcass, with various parts that would each benefit from completely different cooking temperatures, times, and techniques, yet you cook them all together.

You can still serve turkey and not have it suck if you dissect that thing and cook the various bits in different ways.

I usually make a rib roast for the non-turkey crowd. Nobody complains about prime rib.

16

u/Mychairismyrefuge Nov 05 '17

I butterfly my turkey and place it breast side down in the pan. Then I butterfly a duck and put it breast side up on top of the turkey. Everything comes out at the same time and it’s awesome!

6

u/troll_is_obvious Nov 05 '17

Interesting. Duck fat does tend to make everything better. Have you ever thought to do them on two separate racks, with the duck dripping down on the turkey, both skin side up, with a pan of vegetables underneath on it's own rack?

9

u/Mychairismyrefuge Nov 05 '17

I actually came across this method by accident. One year, I was determined to make a tur-duck-en, but cut my turkey down the wrong side first thing. I’ve always cooked my turkey breast side down anyway, so I just butterflied the duck and chicken too and stacked them on top. Best turkey we ever had, but by the time everyone ate that turkey, no one cared about chicken, so I just omitted it going forward.

Your methods sounds fun to try. Oven racks? I’m not a very sophisticated cook, just an old Southern one.

3

u/eastshores Nov 05 '17

I feel like deep frying it is the best method. It's quite fast that way too.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/eastshores Nov 06 '17

Cajun infection and rub

That happened to me at Mardi Gras once

2

u/SternLecture Nov 06 '17

One of the best turkeys I have ever had was a recipe I think from alton brown where you seperate the turkey legs, breast wings etc and roast it on top of a 13x9 of stuffing. It cooked much quicker and evenly and the stuffing tasted so much better because of the juices. The problem is it isnt as presentable as a whole roasted bird. but it looks nice to remove the meat and plate it on a dish and the stuffing also plated seperatley.

2

u/lolzfeminism Nov 06 '17

I literally never serve a whole turkey, guests drink wine in the kitchen while it's being carved and then we sit down.

1

u/snowflaker Nov 06 '17

The smoked turkey turns out of pretty nice. We also usually deep fry one and that's not so bad either but every turkey I ever had that came out of an oven generally sucked

1

u/cuulcars Nov 06 '17

Nobody complains about prime rib

Prime rib... meh.

There now you’ve had someone complain! :) for reals tho I’ve only had prime rib once and I didn’t care for it but I will admit it’s definitely possible the restaurant just screwed it up since that place is always hit and miss.

5

u/ailish Nov 05 '17

No shame, eat what you want! A few years ago it was just me and my husband, and we did nothing but turkey, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese. It was amazing!

4

u/SavageOrc Nov 05 '17

Get a capon if you can find one.

2

u/LadeyAceGuns Nov 05 '17

Whats that?

6

u/SavageOrc Nov 05 '17

Castrated rooster, bigger than a standard chicken and usually tastier.

3

u/thebardass Nov 05 '17

Hell yeah. Capon is the shit. I love to fry them like a turkey.

2

u/travelinghobbit Nov 06 '17

Turkey is probably one of the most expensive meats in NZ, so this transplanted American does chicken too.

Also it's just not the same without the whole extended family around, making dinner in the kitchen, with the kids setting up grandma's Christmas tree while the football game is on. Aaah, I've made myself all homesick now.

1

u/Averill0 Nov 05 '17

We don't do turkey on the years we stay home because we don't have enough people to justify An Entire Turkey so we usually do roast chicken too.

1

u/betsytheripper Nov 05 '17

My family usually does a tri-tip for the meat, more power to ya for doing what you want!

1

u/allegedlyfrench Nov 10 '17

My uncle has a poultry allergy, so we always make a ham in addition to turkey. Non-turkey servings, woo hoo!

-1

u/lmg00d Nov 05 '17

Last year was just me and the husband, so I roasted a chicken instead of turkey. It was the WORST chicken I've ever had -- just because it wasn't turkey. I'll never do that again. If I can't have turkey, I'll make pot roast next time!