Thanksgiving and Smoke

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, so I volunteered to do the turkey again. I did it last year and it turned out well, so I was feeling pretty confident. I learned from my mistakes before and got the turkey out of the freezer well in advance so that it would be good and thawed on Thanksgiving day. I brined it the day before and it was looking awesome. I put it in the oven with plenty of time to cook, and the smell was killer! We were off to a good start!

Jacob was in charge of fruit and, as usual, did an extraordinary job, making apple turkeys. We had an insane amount of pies, thanks to Tessa, Dominika, and Mom, and all the food was fabulous.

With about an hour left for the turkey to cook, we started hearing hissing noises from the oven and realized that the juices were overflowing and spilling on the bottom of the oven. We lived in a state of smoke for the next hour or so, as those juices continued cooking on the bottom of the oven. Apparently the pan we'd used didn't have sides high enough to keep everything in. Woops. It was a bit chilly for a while, since we had to keep the windows open to ventilate, but I didn't mind since I was chillin' by the oven anyway.

Aside from the juices mishap, the turkey was looking good so I put the thermometer in, but it was only reading 120 degrees and it's supposed to reach 165! I was fretting because everything else was ready, but the turkey was still far from cooked. We just hung out, waiting, and my dad decided to chop down the dead tree in the backyard, since he'd planned to do it after dinner anyway. Totally normal for Thanksgiving, right? My mom and the kids helped haul the smaller pieces to the house once he cut it up.

Campbell's adorable cat hat that has a tail on the back. It flips up when she squeezes the pompom on the front.

The turkey was looking pretty cooked but the temperature wasn't really improving much, so finally Tessa and I decided to just pull it out and check it. The skin was crusty and when I cut into it, the meat fell right off the bone! Our thermometer had been totally off! I was so furious. I had been so careful, and here I had overcooked the turkey because of the stupid thermometer. We must have caught it in time, though, because all the meat was still really good, and with the juices, it wasn't dry at all!

We had planned to play some games, but everyone was so full and tired that we ended up just playing a bit of Catch Phrase before people started trickling out. This is the only picture I have of a large group of us. Not pictured: Tessa, my dad, Jacob, or Shear and Tabitha - friends of Isaac's from work. I'm so thankful for this group of humans!