Day 19. You Shall Know Us by our Heaping Plates
HOME– Seven days, people! Only seven more days until we feast like proper pilgrims. It’s all up to us, you know. Husbands, siblings, parents, neighbors, children, cousins, judgmental in-laws (!), will be at our table, waiting for our masterpieces, hungry for our finest holiday offerings.
We have the whole holiday sitting squarely on our shoulders, like a plumped-up and plucked, naked turkey. We need to think fast.
Are you leaning toward the organic, free-ranger, the super-chesty big bird or the Tofurkey perhaps? Then there’s always the laced and stuffed traditional turkey or the store-baked?
So many decisions, so little time. Thank goodness for traditions. Traditions help take the stress out of the gobbling cacophony of choices.
About seven years ago, I saw an opening. Deep-fried, spicy turkeys were all the rage down South. Were they everywhere? Dunno. But, around here, we are shamelessly fond of the deep-fry process. Anyway, we invested in the gear and went to work. The men in the family took over the bird duties.
They cook it outside, where they sit around and ponder mechanical problems, weaponry and tell tall tales about shrimping season while staring at the massive pot of boiling oil. It’s so primal and so…outside. Out of my kitchen.
They take gallons of peanut oil and fire it into a rolling boil. It’s quite dangerous. And yes, there have been accidents. Terrible accidents. One year, a woefully unattractive, and by that I mean, a perfectly good wooden deck, was ruined. Eventually it had to be torn down.
Note the gloves. Gear is very important. You don’t want to maim yourself doing this. Safety first. Women and children, BACK!
But, I digress. The important thing here is tradition. We have a new tradition. And it’s become my very favorite Thanksgiving tradition. The women of the family can now concentrate on the rest of the meal inside, in peace.
And for this, I am thankful.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
I wish I could do that deep-fried turkey. Sadly, i gotta stick with the traditional roasting. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ;-D
November 20th, 2009 at 5:24 am
I’m hosting Thanksgiving for the first time…not quite sure what I signed up for. I’m also going to try the Spatchcocked turkey method (not only am I hosting for the first time, but I’m also experimenting. Obviously, I’m not thinking clearly.) But I’m excited!
November 21st, 2009 at 5:51 am
We don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving although I was invited to have dinner with a family in Vancouver. Although they’re not really Canadian at all. It would be great to be invited again with a real Thanksgiving dinner, preferably in your home.
November 21st, 2009 at 8:44 am
I have never tried this, and there are only men in my (immediate) family!
November 21st, 2009 at 8:56 am
Yes, but I think there are at least two of you who are great cooks! Doesn’t Sip cook, too? No men in my family cook. They just eat. Well, and now they fry the turkey.
I have to say, fried turkey is amazingly moist with spicy and sinfully crunchy skin. It’s always turned out beautifully with the exception of one year, (the Big Accident year) when they took it out, cut it open, saw it wasn’t cooked, and they put it back in. Bad move. It “over-fried” very quickly after that. But, it was one of my favorite Thanksgivings. We laughed all afternoon.