Thanksgiving

I have to be honest. This is my first year in cooking a turkey by myself. There I said it! First year. Newby. Inexperienced. There we go.

So, I looked to the Internet for advise. First of all, I have an 11.25 lb. turkey in my freezer, as we speak. And I just remembered, it has to thaw! So that was my first question for the Internet. Here's what I found... in case you care:


Refrigerator Turkey Thawing Time (40 degrees F)
Turkey Weight...... Days to Allow for Thawing Turkey
8 to 12 pounds .............2 to 2.5 days
12 to 16 pounds ...........2.5 to 4 days
16 to 20 pounds ...........4 to 5 days
20 to 24 pounds ...........5 to 6 days

I got that from http://www.eatturkey.com/ . I figured since it wasn't called eatRAWturkey .com then we were good to go...

My next question was- how long am I gonna have to cook this bird? For that I went to ask.com:

APPROXIMATE COOKING TIMES
UNSTUFFED
4 to 6 lb breast.....1 1/2 to 2 1/4 hrs
6 to 8 lb breast...2 1/4 to 3 1/4 hrs
8 to 12 lbs................2 3/4 to 3 hrs
12 to 14 lbs..............3 to 3 3/4 hrs
14 to 18 lbs........3 3/4 to 4 1/4 hrs
18 to 20 lbs........4 1/4 to 4 1/2 hrs
20 to 24 lbs..............4 1/2 to 5 hrs
STUFFED
8 to 12 lbs...............3 to 3 1/2 hrs
12 to 14 lbs..............3 1/2 to 4 hrs
14 to 18 lbs..............4 to 4 1/4 hrs
18 to 20 lbs........4 1/4 to 4 3/4 hrs
20 to 24 lbs........4 3/4 to 5 1/4 hrs

There you go...

If you'd like to know how big of a turkey you will need, go to the Butterball website here and go to the right side, where there is a calculator to help you! It also has a how long to thaw? section.

One little handy tip I also found was that you need to let the turkey "rest" after you get it out of the oven, for about 20 min. so all of the juices that went inward during the cooking process, will come back, and make carving a little easier! Also, I think I am going to cook my turkey in a bag. If you don't, you need to baste A LOT, and even put foil over the top of the bird at the start (or at the very end) to keep the top from getting too done and tough. Too much work for me, so we are bagging the bird.

Well, I think I am just about ready. I need to get the turkey out and put in the fridge tomorrow, and probably also tomorrow, I will be making Pumpkin Rolls from scratch (yes, from scratch...). The other items can wait for the day of (which is Friday).

So, I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Remember all of the things that you have to be Thankful for! There are a lot more things then we realize!