I love turkey! When the holidays come around, our local grocer offers great prices on the birds. I had my husband pick up two 20 lb. turkeys for 48¢ per pound. That is such a great price for our area, so of course I took advantage of the sale.
Last week I had thawed one of them in the refrigerator to make turkey stock and to pressure can the meat for the pantry shelf. I thought I was done canning for the year, but then.... well, you know!
I cut up the bird into sections. The legs, wings, back and giblets all went into the roaster with onions, carrots, celery and some salt and pepper. I covered the turkey with water and cooked it for about 6 hours.
Meanwhile I cut up the breasts and the thigh meat into chunks and simmered it on the stove until it was half cooked. I got the jars washed and heated while the canner was heating up.
I filled pint jars with the meat, added 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and filled the jars with the cooking liquid leaving a 1" headspace. I processed them in the pressure canner for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Later that afternoon, I removed the meat from the roaster and took all the meat off the bones.
I double strained the vegetables from the broth and brought that to a boil with the turkey meat. I had enough room in the canner to add three-pint jars of stock.
I still had to process all the leftover stock. By the time I got all the meat processed, I was too tired to do the stock. I put it in the kettle on the back porch to do the following day. The temperature that night was to drop into the high 30's so it was safe to keep outside.
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The following morning, I skimmed off as much of the fat as possible and brought the broth to a boil while the quart jars were heating up in the oven.
I now have 7 quarts and 3 pints of turkey stock, plus 9 pints of meat processed for the pantry. I was a bit of work to get it all done but I know we are certainly going to enjoy it this winter.
I had saved a little bit of the meat and made turkey noodle soup with it for dinner. It was absolutely delicious and sure did hit the spot.
Thanksgiving Day
One week later, the second turkey was up for preparing for the big day.
Since there were only three of us for dinner, I decided to cut the bird half and freeze the rest. I put the rosemary salt I make onto the skin along with some sage and thyme and a little olive oil. I covered it with plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.
The turkey only took 1 1/2 hours to roast to the perfect temperature. After resting for a bit, it was time to serve up the meal. I had sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, stuffing, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower for sides. Of course, hubby got to have the cranberry relish I had made for him.
All in all, Thanksgiving Day was delightful and quiet compared to years past when I used to serve 21 people. Times have changed and we actually prefer it that way these days. Have a great weekend everyone!
