The Story of a Turkey.

Several years ago we bought a small,chest freezer from a craigslist ad. It has been very useful in our food storage plan.

After Christmas 2013, when frozen turkeys were on sale we ventured to our local grocery store. After choosing a 12 pound turkey we took it to the meat department where we were assured the turkey would be cut in half (while frozen) and we could pick it up the next day (still frozen).

The next day my husband, Eric, went to the store after work. The turkey was not cut in half, the next day the same. Day three the turkey was cut in half but completely thawed which defeated the purpose of getting a frozen turkey. We choose another turkey from the freezer and day four still no turkey. After speaking with management my husband was leaving the store in disgust when he heard over the store speaker system “Eric, with the turkey, please return to the meat department.” Victory at last!

Safely tucked in the freezer the turkey waited for several weeks. Eventually we thawed one half in the refrigerator and roasted it in our stainless steel roaster (thank you Value Village). It was tender and delicious. The leftovers became turkey salad and the bones went into the crockpot with ham bones and scraps from the Christmas ham yielding 10 pints of luscious broth. Labeled “meat juice” by my wonderful Master Food Preserver, Wacko husband, this will go into pots of wild rice soup and other good things.

 

How to Roast ½ a Turkey

6 lb half turkey
sea salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels.
Lightly rub salt into the bird on both sides.
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
Place the bird skin side up on a rack in a roasting pan.
Cover and roast at 350F for 1 hour.
Remove the cover and reduce heat to 325F.
Baste bird with its own juices every 15 minutes
Roast for 1-1/2 hours longer. Remove from oven when thermometer in breast registers 170F. Remove turkey from the roasting pan and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Serve with roasted root vegetables and enjoy!

He also made his fab Turkey Salad spread.

Turkey Salad Sammich Spread

Keep all chopped ingredients a consistent size

4 cups chopped left over turkey meat – both light and dark

3 regular size kosher dill pickles chopped

3 celery ribs chopped

4 green onion chopped

4 ounces black olives chopped

Stir chopped ingredients before adding the following spices

½ tsp ground pepper

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp ground cloves

Stir in enough olive oil based mayonnaise to make the mixture moist put not sloppy.

This is a great sandwich spread on home made sourdough bread and is good on crackers. Fine tune the spices to your personal taste.