Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - Jennifer Reese [96]
“I know you do,” I said. “But I think we have to get rid of them.”
“Thank you,” said Isabel.
“No!” Owen said. “I love the turkeys.”
“They’re not pets,” I replied primly.
“Yes they are. Pretty much.”
“Okay, here’s the deal,” I said. “If you go out and play with the turkeys for an hour this afternoon and every afternoon, we can keep them.”
And so that day, after school, Owen dutifully went outside to play with the turkeys. Fifteen minutes later, he came back in. “You can do it,” he said, “but I don’t want to watch.”
When my father came over a few days later, Owen turned on the TV very loudly and we killed the turkeys. It occurred to me standing there with those two unwieldy birds dead at my feet that I could just put them in the trash.
But no. I couldn’t. My father went home and I set up an old propane burner in the driveway, boiled a ten-gallon pot of water, and dipped the turkeys, one at a time. Then, in the wintry dusk, I crouched in the gravel and plucked them bare. I cleared off the kitchen counter and lined it with newspaper. Cleaning those big birds took close to an hour and the mountain of gore was chilling to behold. Then I put the turkeys in black garbage bags, rubber-banded them shut, and stuffed them into the freezer. It felt more like cleaning up a crime scene than putting aside stores for the winter.
Months later, we finally hauled those turkeys out of the freezer. The hen was a fat beauty on the platter but, even brined, she was as dry as any turkey I’ve ever eaten. Perhaps drier. The six-pound heritage bird looked like a long-legged chicken. In my butchering, I had broken off the knob at the end of a drumstick, which now resembled something out of a horror comic. Contrary to everything I’d read about the succulence of heritage turkeys, he too tasted like every turkey I have ever eaten. Perhaps drier.
TURKEY
Make it or buy it? Buy it.
Hassle: Yes
Cost comparison: After killing, plucking, and cleaning, I paid close to $7.00 per pound for my heritage bird. I could have bought an organic heritage turkey for $7.00 per pound and avoided the mess. The other bird wasn’t a heritage bird and for her I paid effectively just over $2.00 a pound. Going rate for ordinary turkeys at Safeway: $1.00 per pound. Of course, my turkeys had okay lives, however short. That’s something. If not enough.
CHAPTER 16
THANKSGIVING
Even if you don’t kill the turkey, you probably like to cook something from scratch on Thanksgiving. But do you have to cook everything?
STUFFING
I grew up on Pepperidge Farm stuffing and I like it more than I probably should. Those little cubes of sagey bread develop a custardy texture that is quite appealing. But commercial stuffing has none of the depth and character of homemade stuffing. I once did a side-by-side tasting of homemade stuffing and Pepperidge Farm. Mark said, “Yours is better.” I said, “Can you elaborate?” He said, “Tastes better.” And walked away.
I can do better than that. The bread has some chew to it and the pieces vary in size and crustiness, which makes eating it more interesting. The flavors are fresh and round, not cloying and monotonous.
Make it or buy it? Make it.
Hassle: It takes maybe 5 minutes longer to make scratch stuffing than to mix Pepperidge Farm.
Cost comparison: Homemade: $0.99 per cup. Pepperidge Farm: $0.89 per cup.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the casserole
8 cups bread cubes (any kind, or a mixture of sandwich bread, levain, croissants, whatever; crust adds texture)
1½ cups pecan halves or pieces
1 big onion, chopped
1½ teaspoons dried sage, or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped
½ cup currants
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt to taste
2 cups chicken or turkey stock
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 2-quart covered casserole.
2. Spread the bread cubes on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven until firm but not totally desiccated. Coarsely chop the pecans, spread on another cookie sheet, and