Today Richie, Rachel and I dressed ONE of Grandma and Grandpa's turkey. We call it TURKEYZILLA. Both of their turkeys are big but we chose one to be our Thanksgiving dinner. These birds seem to be in constant display mode and gobble when they hear any sudden sound. We have also discovered the turkeys do not get tired of gobbling.
As a kid I remember raising both the bronze and white turkeys. I think the bronze have beautiful feather iridescence. We have given both these birds very specific and intimate names. The one on the left is called December and the one on the right is called November.
Turkeys have an interesting featherless head (vulture like). The colors of their heads intensified when in full don't mess with me display.
November and I spend our last moments together before starting its journey to our thanksgiving table. I really do not enjoy this part of the process and approach it as humanly as possible.
Boy do we have a lot of feathers to pluck. 
We plucked the turkey in the shade under the apple tree. This process was very time consuming but eventually we got most of the feathers out. If you find any feathers in your dinner blame Richie.
Lynne, Heather and Jessica kept their distance. Lynne was good enough to take a picture of Richie and I before she left the neighborhood.
Richie continued with a pair of pliers. The big wing feathers were very difficult to completely remove.
Look at the size of this wonderful bird. I am carrying it to the table to remove the visceral contents.
At this time Rachel came and joined us. Here I am trying to get the hard to remove stuff along the back bone of the turkey. 
The hardest structure to remove was the turkeys neck. Wow they are tough. We finally got the pruning shears and removed the neck. 
The turkey came indoors and Rachel continued with feather removal. As you can tell I got a little aggressive with the removal of the crop exposing some of the meat. Lynne will drape the meat with cheesecloth drenched in a marinade. Thanks to Rachels detailed observations the bird became mostly featherless.
Richie takes a break and takes an image of Rachel and I. Rachel was a big help and cleaned up the entire kitchen while Richie and I cleaned up the outside. After this shot we weighed the bird...... 38 lbs. Wow !!
Turkeyzilla had a hard time fitting in the cooler. Looks like we will have to make a few modifications. We look forward to a great Thanksgiving meal tomorrow with some fresh turkey and great family and friends. We hope you all have the same. 
It is very hard for me to look at these pictures as it brings back a lot of memories. It even goes back to Rachel when we use to go for a walk to see the ducks Love Dad
ReplyDeleteAs well as all the ones in San Diego, like the old fishing bond
Thanksgiving was alot of fun and i am very greatful to Richard and Dad cause i know that i couldnt do that so thanks. And Mom you had amazing food, and Jessica and Rachel you are both amazing in the kitchen, If Angie and Chad could have been their it would have been perfect so we missed you both, cant wait till christmas, love you all!
ReplyDeleteHey Heather it was very nice to here from you. Thanks for being a big help getting the kitchen set up and assisting mom. "You Da Women"
ReplyDeleteNovember and December eh? Haha, I think I probably would have been off at some other part of town with mom, but I can't say that I am not jealous of you family members with the stomach to do all of that on your own. I wish I could, it's comforting to be that self reliant. Maybe if you guys wait long enough to do that with December I'll have Chad help you out ;)
ReplyDeleteMiss you
Angie
I had a lot of fun learning about the anatomy of the turkey! (Dad is always teaching me, and I love it) :) Thanks Dad and Richie for letting me help you guys!
ReplyDelete