Thanksgiving Disasters, Have You Ever Lost a Turkey?

Most Americans prefer white meat turkey. Strangely enough, the Accidental Locavore’s family is primarily a dark meat chicken or turkey group. One year at Thanksgiving we had about a dozen people for dinner, and when we were done,  the back of the turkey looked like it had been dipped in acid, not a morsel left, but the breast was almost totally intact. The following year I thought I was being smart by ordering a turkey and four extra legs so there would be plenty of dark meat for all. Went to the store, and picked up two enormous (and expensive) bags with the turkey in them.

Thanksgiving morning we took the bags out to see how big the bird was. One giant turkey leg, two giant legs, three giant legs, four giant legs…oops, no turkey. Even in New York City, have you ever tried buying a turkey on Thanksgiving day? We finally ended up with a frozen kosher bird. I”ll never forget my father and I, alternating between a hair-dryer, and water bath. Don’t even start with the “you’re never supposed to defrost anything that way” thoughts. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Finally, after a couple of hours we got it defrosted, stuffed and put it and the giant legs in the oven.  If you’re wondering why we felt the need for a whole bird…inside stuffing. It’s just so much better when it’s cooked in the bird (and I know the same people who are against speed defrosting are probably anti-inside stuffing too…tough).

Dinner was only delayed by about four hours, we were getting low on wine, so everyone was pretty wasted, not to mention hungry, by the time we sat down for dinner. But we knew we had a story for the family history book. Ever since then, we just buy a whole turkey, and if someone wants extra legs, it’s strictly BYO. What was your most memorable or disaster ridden Thanksgiving?

Tagged as: dark meat chicken, frozen turkey, inside stuffing, Thanksgiving disasters, turkey leg, white meat turkey