Turkey tips

On Thanksgiving, Wood Sprite ran to me and wailed, “Papa is playing with the turkey’s butt! He’s pulling out all of its insides and it’s so gross!” Once I laughed and we talked about how people usually stuff the turkey, she wanted to know why we weren’t stuffing it. I told her like most things in life, there’s more than one way to cook a turkey!

We are not stuffing fans, so we skipped the stuffing. It was as simple as that. Indy slathered it with butter, salted it, and sprinkled it with some seasonings (paprika, seasoned salt and black pepper). He threw it in a roasting bag and roasted it at 325 degrees for four hours and boom, that was it.

You can go traditional with rosemary, sage and thyme, stuff your heart out and make it any way you want; you can also deep fry the turkey. You can baste it every hour instead of putting it in a bag, but it does take more time. You can skip the turkey and prepare crab Rangoon or tofurkey whatever you want! It’s all up to you and it’s your holiday.

If you want some good turkey tips, take it from Food Network, Fine Cooking or About.com. They all have great guidelines to use in creating your own Thanksgiving. But don’t do something the way Great Aunt Thelma says just because that’s the way it’s always been done—feel free to go out on a limb this holiday season and make it your own. DIY culture is very “hip” right now, but the truth is if we aren’t all leading DIY lives we are living someone else’s lives, aren’t we? In fact, I think we should say DIYW instead: Do It Your Way.

But seriously, playing with the turkey’s butt. That one is going in her scrapbook.

Photo courtesy of Wood Sprite