The Cracked Pot

Thanksgiving Recipes: Turkey and Gravy

(Not a turkey, but close enough?)

Here it is: the main event.

Cooking your first turkey can be an intimidating prospect. Mom makes it look soooo hard, doesn’t she? But it couldn’t be easier- I think it’s all just a ploy to get out of doing the dishes.

If you’ve got the dough, invest in a non-medicated free range turkey. You can order these ahead of time from a local butcher. If you live in the Vancouver area, Famous Foods, Capers and Choices are all good locations if you don’t have a local butcher. By far, Famous Foods has the best prices. Most of the local turkeys will come from J.D. Farms in the Fraser Valley, which is a great operation run by a decent guy. Very good quality. They have a handy little search for a store near you tool too. Expect to pay around $40-$50, or $20-30 for a cheap 2-headed, 3-winged Butterball. Yech.

As far as size goes, you want to account for about 1 to 1.5 pounds of turkey per person, and don’t worry- you’ll still have plenty of left overs. Turkey soup, turkey pot pie, turkey sandwiches, turkey fajitas, turkey a la king, turkey…

Keep reading for the recipe and play by play.

› Continue reading

Tags: cook turkey, gravy, how long, how to make a turkey, make gravy, roast turkey, stuff turkey, thanksgiving, thanksgiving recipe, thanksgiving turkey, turkey, turkey timing