My Job for Thanksgiving this year

[SmokinKat]

James is taking his son up to Washington to visit some family, so I'm going to join my best friend's family this year.  The best part (aside from not having to cook a dang thing!!!) is we've decided my official job for the day will be tasting the wines to make sure they're acceptable.  Not just the cranberries that are going to be sauced this year!!  

We butchered seven turkeys this year-- the biggest one dressed out at THIRTY SEVEN POUNDS.  I bought them as chicks way too early, so they got a lot bigger than expected!



Didn't get many photos, since it's messy, messy work, but did get one shot of helper James being the master Turkey Plucker.   Both our hands were so freaking sore the next day!!!  And now the shop looks like a pillow factory exploded next to it, with all the feathers. 



He took a 30 pounder up to his family to cook-- this will be his first solo run on doing a turkey, so send kind thoughts his way.  Have tried to coach him as best I could.  He infused some butter with rosemary, strained it, and injected the bird last night.   Fingers crossed!!

[Pam Gould]

Your gonna have so much fun this year..jealous here..big damn bird too....geezzz  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[teesquare]

THIRTY SEVEN POUNDS?

Are you guys downstream from Hanford? Any of those turkeys glow in the  dark??? ( O.K. - a little obscure reference to a nuclear waste storage facility and Hollywood style take on the possible effects of consuming "tainted" water... )

Wow - thirty seven pounds of tryptophan happy dreams....<slurp...>

[Pappymn]

You would need a chain saw to spatchcock that monster

[squirtthecat]

You're gonna need a bigger boat!

[SmokinKat]

THIRTY SEVEN POUNDS?

Are you guys downstream from Hanford? Any of those turkeys glow in the  dark??? ( O.K. - a little obscure reference to a nuclear waste storage facility and Hollywood style take on the possible effects of consuming "tainted" water... )

Wow - thirty seven pounds of tryptophan happy dreams....<slurp...>

LOL, they are freakishly big!  But Hanford's thankfully a few hundred miles away, so no glowing gobblers for us.   Hmmm... although maybe I should have tested for steroids-- maybe there's a doping ring going on in the barn I'm not aware of!!!! 

There's a poultry processing business about 15 minutes out of town, and we've talked with them a few times.  The biggest turkey they ever did was a few years back, and it dressed out at SIXTY FOUR pounds.   Was some tom turkey that the owners kept putting off butchering (no wonder, right?)  and finally begged the processors to do it for them.  Unreal!



 

[HighOnSmoke]

That is a lot of turkey Kat!

[smoker pete]

WOWZA !!!

Must be something in that Oregon water ... That's a humongous gobbler   

I still remember those gigantic chicken quarters you gave me from your farm a few summers ago. Two of them barely fit in my GMG Davy Crockett but boy were they ever delicious!!

[tlg4942]

That's a huge turkey Kat!  Sounds like a pretty good job tasting all the wines too.
Have a Great Thankgiving!

[tomcrete1]

That's quite the bird! 

[ACW3]

That looks like six months of leftovers!!

Art

[hikerman]

You're gonna need a bigger boat!

Lol!
And with bigger turkeys you need bigger plates!
Those are truly some big birds Kat! Beautiful too!
Yes it sounds like you are going to have a nice leisure holiday and IMO the best wine tasting day!!!!
A good luck shout-out to James on his turkey cook!

[smokeasaurus]

James looks like he his having way too much fun 

[RAD]

Dang!!! How do you cook a bird that big?

[SmokinKat]

James pulled it off!!!   Ended up being done earlier than expected, but got thumbs up all around.  




Now that he's got his feet wet, maybe next year he can cook one at our house, and I can continue my reign as wine-tasting champion of Thanksgiving!