Turkey Day

About a week and a half ago I purchased a frozen 12 lb turkey for $7. It was a relatively good price. But I had no more room in my freezers, so I stuck it in the crisper bin in my second kitchen fridge (on a ventilated enclosed patio). Friday I noticed it was nearly all thawed out, so I made plans to complete the thawing Saturday, and cook it today.

Yesterday I drained off the juices, removed the ice still clinging to the nooks and crannies, dried it as much as possible and gave it a good coating with Southwest Seasoning, bagged it and put it back in the crisper. Today I noticed it had emitted more juices. Drained those, sprinkled more seasoning on it, put it on a spit, and ran it in the propane fired rotisserie out on the outer patio. That one has a back burner for the rotisserie, as well as three grill burners. Took about 2-1/2 hours to cook to good temp. The only part that didn't get hot enough was around the wishbone (I use a meat thermometer). I fed those bits to the cats. The rest is delicious. The bones will go into making a stock, the extra meat will get frozen for later, and the thighs will be consumed over the next day or two.

The cats already got the giblets.

I'm tempted to pick up another small frozen turkey today ($.39/lb), but I really don't have room for it. Darn! I prefer the smaller birds because they are younger and more tender, and haven't had their breasts grown to unnatural bigness like older birds. I prefer the dark meat.