Thanksgiving Fellowship

My Korean Friends had not had a real Thanksgiving Turkey.   I made one for them the night the kids decorated the tree. 

I prepared this dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Shopping for the groceries kept me out of the malls on that day that has become known as Black Friday when everybody gets out to shop for Christmas.   The grocery store was almost empty.  There were fresh thawed turkeys that were marked down to some very small amount per pound.  But they were all over 25 pounds.  I hauled one of them into my cart and made a spin around looking for other things to serve with the main attraction.

When I got home, I remembered that my sister Sallie had told me that she had "brined" her turkey and that it was the best she had ever made.  I took a look on the internet and came up with a brining plan.  I used a clean plastic wash basin and filled it with water and salt.  Some of the sites mentioned that a sweet ingredient is a good foil to the salt, so I poured some honey on top of the brine.  With no room in my refrigerator, I set the whole thing in the sink and put a ten pound bag of ice on top of it to keep it cool.

I have to say, this is a good way to do a turkey.  I did not put stuffing inside it either.  I cut up oranges, apples, onions and lemons and stuffed them inside it.  It came out perfect.

My Korean friends came at the appointed time.  The only Thanksgiving experiences that any of them had involved school cafeterias and church dinners.   I wanted to have them see the whole bird before it was carved. 

They loved it.  Later, while their children and I decorated my pink tree, the ladies dismantled the turkey.  They used plastic wrap to make temporary food handling gloves and they divided the bird into portions to take home.  When the party was over, my kitchen was clean and organized and there was enough turkey for one dinner, carefully stored in the refrigerator.