FAVORITE MEAL ESSAY
Warm kitchen, loud voices, the faint sound of Sportscenter on the television, and the smell of an almost done roasting turkey. Empty tummies waiting to be filled after hours of work in the kitchen to make everyone’s most enjoyable meal. Yearning to be full until you cannot move and catch up on the lives of those we care about around us. Pots and pans banging and bashing. Chaos in the kitchen, but my mom and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When all is set and done, my whole family has plates full of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. With a glass of milk to wash it down. Turkey dinner is a dish that brings us together, to celebrate how fortunate we are and the fact that we have access to delicious food. Alongside that, it emphasizes the value of our family and all that we have.
A 25 pound turkey and all the sides go a long way. The skin is a flawless shade of brown and is crispy but not burnt, perfect to eat, and pretty to look at. Once it reaches 180 degrees on a meat thermometer, we are ready to dig in. Legs, wings, and breast pieces of meat all gobbled up in minutes. The turkey is from Raymond’s Turkey Farm, and is the only place I will eat turkey from. It is all natural and free range, their turkey has a taste like no other. The gravy is also from the turkey farm, which is my family’s little secret…shh! The sides are all handmade by my mom, with the occasional help from me. The mashed potatoes are the right combination of milk, salt, pepper and butter with no lumps. The green bean casserole, my favorite part, includes your greens with extra french fried onions on top. This takes up the biggest section on my plate, which also cannot have any foods touching. Lastly, there is cranberry sauce which is also the first to go! There is just endless food.
Since there is so much food, we have leftovers for days which is a big part of the tradition. My mom does most of the hard work that goes into this meal, so it is important that she is happy with the outcome as well. She mentions, “I also really enjoy making hot turkey sandwiches with the leftovers and dipping my crispy crowns in the gravy too. This also means I don’t need to cook for two days, sometimes even more.” This gives her time to enjoy the hard work she put into it and my favorite dish turns into a couple dishes! The great thing about the leftovers is that there is enough to go around and then some. By the time we are all done eating it is all worth it and we are all satisfied with the outcome.
Family and a good meal are an important way to show thanks for what I have. Thanksgiving is our family’s most cherished holiday and this meal. Our turkey dinner’s crowd has shrunk a bit over the last few years. My grammie is no longer here and my dog isn’t there for me to sneak food under the table to. My parents, Papa, and I keep the memory alive and spread the love we have for family. For my mom, it means just as much to her as it does for me. She exclaims, “Turkey reminds me of Thanksgiving and it is an official dinner at the dining room table with family, and reminds me of the good old days when you were home from school. It also means I can cook for my family and make them all happy!” I don’t tell her enough, but these turkey dinners are some of the moments I cherish the most. Sitting at the dining room table, no phones, no worries, and just conversing about how our lives have been recently means everything. In a busy world, with lack of face to face communication it’s a surreal feeling that I look forward to. All of us sitting on the couch after are practically stuffed like a turkey, almost dozing off, and just enjoying each other’s presence. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Gobble Gobble Gobble. That’s the sound I hear when I walk into my work. Raymond’s Turkey Farm, is where I get the huge turkey and gravy, which are special ingredients that cannot be bought elsewhere. I know all that there is about cooking a turkey and this meal is significant to me partly because of that. I can help my mom cook and get some extra bonding time with her. Since I almost always dissect the food I am eating, my mom made a remark, “You also know where the food is coming so you don’t have to perform surgery on it like most foods you eat.” At the farm, we have 20,000 turkeys and the food tastes like no other. It is fairly pricey, luxury food but it is all natural and I know exactly where it comes from. I have no problem eating it and don’t investigate it, which is such a relieving part of this meal.
Nothing worth it comes easy. Turkey dinner takes hours to assemble and my mom would change how much work it is if she could. When asking her, she commented, “One thing that I would change is how much work it is to prepare and cook this meal. Having to take the turkey out of the oven is a lot, it is extremely heavy, I basically need a crane to move the thing. I also hate cleaning out the turkey, it is absolutely disgusting to see the inside and have to take out the neck and giblets. Luckily, you work on a turkey farm though because you can help me and it isn’t as bad.” My experience with handling and cooking turkeys helps make this dish just that more enjoyable. I can help cook and show my parents what I’m able to do and make them proud. Although, it takes a lot of time, patience, and dedication to make this plate it really is an important way my family spends their time and connects.
Turkey means a lot more than just turkey to me, it is a part of what family and good food means to me. It is something I am passionate about raising and in result, cooking. It is more than just a meal, but an indication that we are fortunate and loved. I look forward to my next turkey dinner immediately after each one ends.
RECIPE:
Ingredients:
- Raymond’s Turkey Farm Turkey (25 lbs)
- Potatoes
- Raymond’s Turkey Farm gravy
- 2 cans of Green Beans
- 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
- French Fried Onions
- Cranberry sauce (1 can)
- Skim Milk
- Salt
- Pepper
- Butter
How to:
- To prepare the turkey you have to clean out the inside, to make sure there are no access parts or fat, if there is you just take it out. Then you put the giblets and neck in the bottom of the pan for flavor. You tie up the turkey using 3 pieces of string and place it in the pan with about a half an inch of water at the bottom. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the turkeys skin for flavor.
- Put the turkey in the oven at 350 degrees, it takes the turkey about 20 minutes per pound to cook. We put ours in 7 hours before we want to eat because our turkey is not stuffed and our oven cooks it faster. Place tinfoil with large holes in it over the turkey until it reaches 165-170 degrees the remove to brown the skin.
- While the turkey is cooking, we get the cranberry sauce in a bowl.
- Also prepare the green bean casserole: You need the 2 cans of Green Beans, 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup, and French Fried Onions. You combine 1 cup of milk, the can of soup, and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper and mix well. Then you can add in the green beans, then mix again, and add the french fried onions. This needs to bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees, the cover the top with more of the french fried onions and bake for an additional 5 minutes and it will be complete
- Next, the mashed potatoes, you get however many potatoes depending on the number of people, and peel them. You then cut them in pieces of equal size and be sure to rinse them well. Next, put them in a pan covered with them submerged in water. Add some salt and boil until the potatoes are soft, when they’re soft you can drain the water. Add the desired amount of butter, pepper, and salt and mix them with a hand held mixer. Stop mixing and add some milk and mix again until there are no lumps.
- In the midst of this get the Raymond’s Turkey Farm gravy and put it in a saucepan and let it heat on top of the stove.
- While the turkey is cooking, you should keep an eye on it and cover it with some of its own juices to keep the meat from getting dry.
- Put the meat thermometer in the turkey to be sure it is at 180 degrees and remove from the oven to cool.
- After it is cooled for 10-20 minutes, you may cut the meat off the bone.
- Dig in!
This is a turkey from Raymond’s Turkey Farm (Shown above). This is a fully cooked and ready to eat turkey that my mom and I made (Shown below).
