Turkey Killin'

Ever wonder how an engineer butchers a turkey? Well, I was on vacation most of last week so I thought it would be a good time to butcher the already over-grown turkeys. The biggest problem with butchering birds is plucking. We've used a feather plucker before, but don't personally own one. The one we used in the past belonged to friends who live in the Angola area (which is too far to drive to butcher two turkeys). I thought I'd try a method I'd heard about "through the grapevine". Worked great!

First things first...separate the head from the body. No pictures of the massacre, although we did have quite the time keeping the huge birds from slipping out of the cinch we had them hanging upside down in.

Next...drain the blood.


Next...separate the skin from the neck. Insert a water hose. Pinch off the neck hole and turn on the water hose. NOTE: Make sure the hose is in between the skin and the neck; if you put the hose in the neck cavity, you have a whole new mess on your hands. WARNING: Don't play the video if your at all squirmy. It's not graphic but it does show me man-handling a dead, headless turkey.



The water fills up the turkey (actually separates the skin from the turkey) and, as you see, will burst the skin like an over-filled water balloon. Worked nice. Plus, running cold water over the turkey's freshly murdered flesh helps to cool the meat quicker.

Next...cut off the feet and wings. Ross (our oldest son; 14yo) did a nice job of this.


Move on to removing the skin. We've butchered and skinned chickens before without the water method. Terrible to skin. A feathery mess! The water, although making the bird a little more slippery, keeps the loose feathers more manageable.

Finally, you gut and rinse (Brookelyn [our oldest daughter; 12yo] did a great job). We finished up by wrapping in cellophane and bagging in a clean garbage bag before introducing them to the chickens in the freezer. Actually, we only put one into the freezer. The male we put into the fridge. We knew we were going to eat him over the weekend. And let me tell you, there's nothing like a fresh turkey. And the crazy thing was over 18lbs to-boot! We put him in our big roaster and the lid wouldn't even come close to fitting on. I rolled him onto his side and lid still wouldn't go. We ended up layering the top of the roaster with aluminum foil and setting the lid on top of that. What a meal.

And as for the vacation...didn't seem like a vacation. Had a great time, but Eshell ran me ragged. Two or three trips to Ohio. One to Lagrange. The zoo. Hiking. Read about it at our family journal blog.

A Bagel Victory

My experiment is over. I have proven that a public shaming will motivate even the spiciest of people. The bagel delivery crew showed up last night. And true to her word...a burnt bagel was presented. After we laughed about the burnt bagel I asked "Okay, where are the real ones?" And wouldn't you know it, the sweet girl I wrote about earlier delivered as expected. And I was not in the least disappointed. These were the best bagels I have ever graced my mouth with. And if you know me, you can kind of deduce that I've graced my mouth with many bagels in the past. They were fresh; still warm even. We had to try one as soon as they left. I waited until they left so I wouldn't have to share with them. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about them.
Anyway, I thank you for the delicious bagels, Cassia. And for the world to see your ornery-ness, I present to you the Burnt Bagel.


No, I did not eat it. Only a fourteen year old boy would have eaten this.

Bagels

We have some very dear friends with nine (9) children. They have two young boys, six sweet girls and one, um...one "spicy" one. You see, I have a problem. I love bagels. And wouldn't you know it, it's the spicy one who's famous for making bagels. I've been gently "encouraging" this family to produce the bagels (for me). And guess what...no bagels!! And above that, I'm being threatened that if I do get bagels, they will be burnt. This young lady is famous for her more-than-lightly-browned croutons. Well, my only response is, burnt bagels would be more than what I'm getting now; NO BAGELS!!!