Turkey Tips

Yeah, this was well-planned.

Marilee got the idea about a week ago to do something I'd never really heard of, but in hindsight, makes perfect sense.

Cook your Thanksgiving turkey in a crock pot.

Judging by the search results through Google, everyone else had thought of this, just not us.

Here's what has transpired in the last twenty-four hours, give or take, in a somewhat chronological order:

Marilee: "You have a project".

Me: [Shuddering]: "What?"

"Find out why it's not a good idea to cook a turkey in a crock pot."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because all I can find is how to cook turkey breasts in a crock pot, but not the whole turkey. There must be a reason."

Search terms are everything, folks. Searching for " Cooking turkey in a crock pot " won't get you specifics. Searching for " turkey 'crock pot' whole ", well, now you're talking.

So I do my search, and in a few moments, I have the answer.

"Other than finding one that FITS, there should be no problem."

Fast forward to this morning.

"We have a problem."

"WE?"

The turkey towered over the top of the crock pot by a full six inches.

Marilee, just having extricated the crock pot from its hiding place in the secret cabinet off the kitchen had just pulled the turkey from the refrigerator, and had plopped the carcass in the crock pot.

"We need to pull the legs off."

Fast rewind to family Thanksgiving feasts of the past - 40-50 years ago. My Dad was the turkey carver. Watching that time-honored tradition is burned into my conscience as I'm sure it is yours.¹ But there's one thing I always recall. My sister Karen would always want the leg. Never fail. But there was one thing for certain - the leg was attached during the carving process.

Thanksgiving 2010 will be remembered as the one where Bob carved a wet, slippery turkey before the turkey was cooked. [I'll spare you the details - I would never have been a surgeon.]

So the legless - and wingless - turkey will be simmering away in the crock pot, but carving won't be necessary as the meat will likely just fall away from the bones.

Look in this space for the outcome tomorrow.


¹ Yeah, we're carnivores. If you're a vegetarian - or vegan, for that matter - this is what carnivores do. Get over it.