TRADITIONS: NEW YEARS TURKEY

It seems that every culture in the USA has their own food traditions for the different holidays ... especially New Year's Eve/Day ...

Down south, Black Eyed Peas & Collard Greens are the staple ...
On the East Coast, it's seafood ...
On the West Coast, it's Tapis and other quick grab foods ... basically, what we call a "Smorgasbord" or a buffet.
In the Southwestern states, they tend to eat spicy foods - the more spicy, the better for the New Year (as I understand it)
I don't know what they do in Alaska or Hawaii ...

In OUR HOUSE ... and I don't think it's regional, just us ... we make a TURKEY ... yup ... again.

This is the third bird of the season - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years - and it is ALL OURS!!!!  Just the members of the household ... lol ... 

It began a long time ago, in a house far away ... well St. Paul ... when we found that the turkey we got from the other 2 holidays just didn't seem to go far enough ...

Thus, the New Year's Bird was born ... only back then we did it in the regular oven ...

When we moved, we took over doing holiday meals, but after everyone else in the family took what they wanted for leftovers ... well, we were pretty much left with the bones ... although, there were a couple years where those seemed to disappear as well.

We used to use my mother's ROASTER - it was a Oster from the 70s, avocado green, but even 40 years old it still cooked like the day she got it. But more on this later.

Hubby just bought me a NEW roaster oven for Christmas this year ... yay ... so I thought I would share my experience ... if you are still here.

NEW YEARS TURKEY
ingredients
One bird, we tend to get about 20# birds
3-5 ribs of celery
1 onion, quartered
Old Bay seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Yup, that's it - we kept it very simple.

Thaw the bird - watch out for holes in the bag, we had a water fountain show up on ours, since we water bath thaed it ... luckily my daughter mopped my floor for me so the animals stayed out of it and I didn't have to take my gloves off.

Remove the neck and innards - liver, heart, gizzard, etc. - and pat the bird DRY ... yup, dry that bird with paper towels and make sure you toss those towels in such a way they can't cross contaminate your kitchen (I like to put them in a zipper bag along with the bag the bird came in) ... once this is done, switch your gloves.

Now is the time to be VERY CAREFUL not to touch your spice bottles with any body part which touched the bird or bloody parts ...

COAT - lay it on thick - the bird with Old Bay & salt ... rub it in very well, get it into the skin, and don't forget the inner cavity ... get the ribs, the breastbone, and the back bone - don't just sprinkie it in, RUB IT IN ... 

lay 3 ribs of celeray across the rack or bottom of your roaster, it will add flavor but is mostly to keep the bird off the bottom ... break and stuff 2 ribs INSIDE the bird cavity.

Slip the onion INSIDE the bird as well, making sure to put some into the neck cavity.

DO NOT ADD WATER ... this is a dry roast.

When your bird is done, LET IT REST for at least 30 minutes - so the juices can got back into the meat. DON'T SKIP THIS PART, or you will be eating cardboard-like bird. Trust me, I've years of experience.

Put you bird into the roaster - I put mine on 350F and inserted a temp probe (hubby loves those electronic ones).

He has assumed the bird was about 20# ... it's what we usually buy .. so this bird was supposed to take 4 hours to cook.
I set my timer.

a little over 2 hours later - the3 alarm went off.
Breast had it 165F .... but the bird just didn't look done, so I moved the probe - figured I must have hit a bone - and the temp did drop .... a little bit.

Half hour later, the alarm went off again ...

so I pulled the probe - thought maybe it was busted - and let the bird cook ... at the 3 hour mark, or so .... I checked the bird - and shut off the heat.

It was DONE ... it was OVERDONE ... it was 190F in the breastmeat ... about 195F in the thigh ...

Not as dry as we thought it would have been, but a little dry ...

Next time ... I will trust the PROBE!!!!

Bird fed 5 - 4 adults, one toddler - and we still had extra for later.

Oh, those innards??

I cook and eat them - I put them in my Instant Pot, 1 cup water, innards/neck in a stariner/steamer, a litle salt, a little pepper, and then 30-45 minutes later ....

Oh I love my innards!!!!!

My sister-in-law calls me a Hillbilly - but I wear it with pride, son ... they are real good eatin'!!!

Tried giving my grandson some of the liver - he spit it out and made a face .... don't worry, I'll hook him in on it sooner or later.