A very Merry Thanksgiving holiday to our American cousins
 

At least I think that it is Thanksgiving for you in the USA - forgive me if I am wrong.
Have a wonderful time with friends and family.

Thank you LizF - yes it is Thanksgiving, and I should be in the kitchen... but the "bird" can wait!

Thank you!

Thank you, Liz!

The ham, sweet potatoes, and cornbread/sausage/pecan dressing are baking, the Riesling is chilling, and most important, my family is happy and healthy.

There's so much to be thankful for!

Lee Ann

I second lizF's Thanksgiving wishes!

Even though most of us do not celebrate it in Oz, lots of relatives and friends in the US do!

It's a nice thought, to be thankful for all the wonderful experiences many of us have enjoyed!

All the best!

Elendilpickle had me salivating until she mentioned Reisling, which I don't care for. Now if that had been sparkling Red Burgandy or Shiraz I would have hopped a plane and arrived for dinner!
Have a great one!

Or Pinot Noir. I nearly posted and said "skip the riesling" but thought it may sound rude! Anyway, riesling is nice with turkey, but pinot noir or a nice fruity chardonnay is better, imho.

Aren't we the lucky ones, with our choice of wines, lizF? 'Appy days!

Sounds like I have some 'splaining to do... :-)

Normally we have turkey for Thanksgiving. However, our church has its annual business meeting in November, and for some reason we have a turkey dinner before the meeting. Dh decided he was turkeyed out this year and asked for ham.

When I went online to figure out what wine would go well with ham, the site I visited recommended Riesling or Gewurtztraminer, so I picked Riesling.

If we'd done turkey, I think I would have tried a Pinot Noir, but the Riesling went great with everything I served, so I'm happy.

Lee Ann

I am not the person who should say anything about anyone's choice of wine seeing that all I ever drink has to be fizzy -be it white or red. Would not know one wine from another so as long as its cold & fizzy I am happy.

I'm not a wine snob, (YES I AM) however turkey & duck seem to taste fabulous with a glass of chilled pinot noir, especially on 40 degree C Christmas Days like we have here in the Hunter Valley. "Appy days!

Although it is two days later that I read this thread LizF, thank you so much for your lovely thought.

Thanksgiving is our time to give thanks for all our blessings and to enjoy family members (well sometimes they bicker with each other but that usually is ignored). But seriously, it is in a lot of Americans opinions the best holiday of all. No gifts, no religion conflicts, just our day to give thanks for all our blessings.

And on that note I wish to give a big thank you to you Australians who IMHO are a country of grand people.

Do y'all think Liz planned her trip time so she could have turkey left overs this week?

A/D

Hi All,

We spent Thanksgiving week in Florida with temperatures around 85F. Now back in cold Toronto with temps not much above freezing this morning, cold, windy, dark, damp and gloomy.

Friends who now live in Florida told us when they heard about turkeys(ies?) being cooked in deep fat they practically gagged. The proof was in the pudding because when they tasted it, it was pure heaven.

Anyone want to let me know how this is done? Is this just Flordia? Here in Canada we oven roast our birds.

Anyway, belated good wishes for a happy Thanksgiving passed, and hope you all avoided the shopping crush the day after.

Michi, apparently turkey frying is a Southern thing, but it's catching on around the country.

You need a turkey fryer - basically a free-standing burner thing with a really big pot. A bunch of peanut oil is heated in the pot, and then the turkey is carefully lowered into the pot. Apparently they don't take long to cook, and the result is a very moist, delicious bird.

I prefer to roast my turkey so I have those wonderful drippings to use for gravy and to squirt on the dressing.

A/D, you may have a point - at least Liz won't be sick of leftovers, like most of us get after Thanksgiving! :-)

Michi, dh and I actually hit one of those 6:00 a.m. sales - the first time in 22 years of marriage! We got the cordless phone we wanted, and he got a raincheck for something for me. Then we went out for breakfast burritos and visited a coffeehouse to read the paper and relax before he had to go to work. It was actually pretty fun!

Lee Ann

Lee Ann

In these days of cholestrol consciousness I was interested you squirt the drippings on the dressing (stuffing) because I do that when no one is looking in case it worries some guests.

I think that puts the finishing touch to the dressing and gives it a wonderful flavour nothing else can match. And oh, the gravy!

It's about 33C (90F) in Canberra today ... not exactly turkey weather. Of course, that won't stop a lot of people roasting one on Christmas day.

Thanks Liz! We had a wonderful time. It was my very first Thanksgiving with my mother (long story) and we had a delightful time.

Michi - we had two turkeys - one done the "traditional" way in the oven and a smaller one that we deep fried. The deep fried one weighed about 12 lbs (5 1/2 kg.) We have a big pot that we put about 3 gallons (11 liters) of peanut oil in and heat it up to about 350 F (175 C.) You then slowly lower the turkey into the oil and cook for about 3 minutes per pound. The bird comes out golden brown on the outside and juicy on the inside! We injected the turkey with beer the night before to let it marinate from the inside out and that made it even more flavorful!

John in Miami

TG is my favorite holiday, too, though I"m a vegetarian. I LOVE all the side dishes and the generous feelings all around. Much better than Christmas for me.

The first white settlers in Australia were in no mood to thank God for their predicament, quite the opposite, so we have no equivalent to Thanksgiving.

John, it's good to see another health food enthusiast at work. But what do you do with all that oil after the turkey's been cooked? Buy another turkey?

JohninMiami

Our Christmas bird is usually around 23 lbs. Where do you get a pot big enough and on what do you cook it: the stove? the barbeque? or does it come with a cooking element?

Is it possible to stuff (dressing) the bird?
Do you cook it outside?
We live in a condo so I guess we'll have to buy a house!

Thanks. I'm interested and could cook it at my daughter's home where we will have Christmas dinner.

Yes, what do you do with all that peanut oil?

Neil & Michi - the oil comes in a giant jug that we saved to pour it back into after we couldn't use it anymore. Our experience has been that after two or three turkeys, the oil gets too dirty to use. As for disposal, we are fortunate to have a local recycling center that will take it.

I found a good webpage with pictures that gives a lot of detail about the process. Look at http://www.eatturkey.com/consumer/cookinfo/fryturk.html
Basically, you need a big pot, a big burner, 3 to 5 gallons of oil, some type of thermometer for the oil and a cold beer or two for the cook. You can buy the entire kit (oil included) at any warehouse store (like Sams or Costco) or even Target, Walmart, Sears, etc. etc. Price is anywhere from $50 to $100 USD and includes everything you need except for the propane tank. If you have a gas bbq grill, you can just use the tank from it.

John in Miami

That's what I like about Americans, John - you don't do things by halves! I tried to talk my health-conscious wife into this method, but she just shuddered. I think I lost the sale.

Its beginning to sound like we are all suffering from a tryptophan overdose brought on by too much turkey.

A/D

NEWS FLASH

Liz was featured on the evening news tonight:

Streaking at Disneyland

way too many turkey leftovers I guess

A/D

JohninMiami

Thanks for the info about cooking the turkey and the equipment. It makes a good story.

Like Neil, I will probably be vetoed by our family not so much for the calories but for the danger a 25 lb. turkey in grease on the bbq might pose with several small children around. We could alert the fire dept.

But thanks, it was very interesting.

Hi Michi - I wouldn't dare either, although can see deep frying the turkey would retain juices. Imagine after a few glasses of bubbly, in a blazing hot Oz Christmas kitchen, trying extract a large bird from boiling oil - I have enough trouble getting a steamed chook out of the pot without giving myself 3rd degree burns.

Pat

What's a chook?

chook = chicken

As in "Why did the chook cross the road?"

Or "He's running around like a chook with his head chopped off!"

A motorist was driving quietly along the road when, suddenly, his eyes goggled as, believe it or not, he espied a three-legged chook running beside him. It suddenly made a right hand turn, heading up a side track towards a nearby farm house. Intrigued, the motorist decided to follow the chook. At the end of the track, he met a farmer leaning on a gate.

The motorist said, "You probably won’t believe this, but I reckon I saw a three-legged chook running this way."

The farmer was nonchalant in response. "Yep, we breed them here."

"But why?" asked the motorist.

"Well, you see, I like a leg, my wife likes a leg, and me son likes a leg."

"And what do they taste like?"

"Dunno", replied the farmer, "No one can catch the little bastards."