I have cooked Thanksgiving dinners at my parents’ home for the last 7 years. My parents being of Asian decent (and I do have to attribute this more to their palettes than their heritage) have never really been into the whole “big-turkey-and stuffing-and-everything-that-comes-along-with-it”. Then there’s me, the one that wants to fit in and do the American traditions. I would sit down a few days before Thanksgiving day each year and start planning my menu.
The very first turkey we had was a 25 lbs. turkey given to us by this nice lady, Mrs. Lomax, I believe. This was back in 1991. I didn’t have a cookbook or the Internet to show me how to cook this big bird. So I thought to myself “Just stick it in the oven for say…. 1 1/2 hours and we’ll have dinner!” Yeah right. Of course at 15 and not having the right resources or not knowing any better, I had no clue about the “cook for so much time if your bird weighs this much”. So after 1 1/2 hours I took the bird out, the color was nice. Plated it and served it with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls. Ahhh cutting into the bird presented our family with a huge surprise. It was still raw and some parts still frozen! Boy, what a disaster that was. I stuck the bird back into the oven for another hour at 450 degrees. After an hour I took it back out and checked it. Still raw, at least now the frozen parts were thawed out. I was disgusted with it all, to say the least. By now it was almost 7pm. So to make a long story short, by the time we were able to eat the turkey it was close to 7 hours from the initial start time and the bird was totally cut up into smaller pieces. We finally ate it but it wasn’t great. Seriously, nothing to write home about. It was dry and bland. Yuck.
Perhaps this is what set my parents’ expectations of future turkeys. LOL Although the turkeys have become much better over the years, the memory of the first turkey has stuck with my entire family.
I’ve got more Thanksgiving stories, some ‘horror’ stories to add to the mix, but for now I’d like to hear yours.
Email me your Thanksgiving stories, whether good or bad, to asamatteroffood@gmail.com or gotfood13@gmail.com and get a chance to have your story told on my blog!
2 Responses
November 12th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
So, my horror story is this…we don’t do the big (half frozen;) bird, the stuffing, the ham…we go to Old County Buffet. Now don’t laugh. Some of us have teeny tiny families: Mom, Dad, me….so cooking THAT much is usually a waste unless we use one small Cornish Hen, one can of corn and maybe a can of Spam? …so, we discovered Old Country Buffet…its GREAT! and less than $15 a person…if your parents are senior citizen (which they dont like to admit in public, but thats another 10% off!!)..you get everything: Turkey, Ham, Roast Beef, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, Pies!!…not to mention the abundance of all sodas, juices, and every pecan, pumpkin and pleasurable pie you’d want…don’t forget the salads and the soft serve ice cream machine to stuff your face with…So, you leave with a bigger gut than before, someone to clean your dirty dishes after you gluttonously walk to the buffett 5 times, and all for cheaper than the cost of a nice UN frozen turkey!!
OCB is NOT open on Christmas..trust me, we made this mistake two years in a row..bummer.
The moral of the story is: If you dont have a big family, go to OCB where random strangers at table can be the closest family you’ll ever know without the annoyances:)
November 14th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
There is really nothing wrong with going to Old Country Buffet or anything of the sort. I didn’t know they offer all of that!!! Sounds good to me! All the food you can eat. Inexpensive, plus no cleaning?!?!? I’d consider that… For now I think I’m going to start my own family holilday traditions, being a newly wed and all.
The important thing we have to keep in mind is that we are with whom we choose to be with during the holiday season. Big or small, I agree that sometimes I’ve had to not only slave all day in the kitchen but then had to deal with some really annoying family stuff. Ahhh, but that too is typical isn’t it?
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