Less stressed Thanksgiving

I have written a little before about some of my holiday cooking practices, though it focused more on using the leftovers:

http://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2012/12/using-holiday-leftovers.html

One of my favorite things about the holiday cooking is that it has gradually become easier, but this was the first year that I realized how much of that credit goes to the upside down turkey.

It is mentioned in the leftovers post, but I cook the turkey upside down. The principle behind this is that gravity pulls the juices downward as the bird cooks. This would be wasted on the rib cage, but is great when the juices are all working their way through the breast meat. This is the bulk of your meat, and the part that dries out most easily.

One of the worst parts about the night before Thanksgiving was mixing the stuffing and then inserting it into the raw (usually still with at least some ice, no matter how carefully you had followed the defrosting instructions) bird. I liked my homemade stuffing, but generally only Mom and I would eat it.

When I considered dropping this step, I was trying to figure out what purpose the stuffing served, and as far as I could tell the purpose was to preserve some of those draining juices. This was not necessary; we had that covered. Having to go back and baste the bird was also a hassle, and I found it unnecessary. I remove the gizzards, neck, and the plastic thing holding the legs together, put the turkey (along with the neck) in a foil lined roasting pan, wrap that foil around the bird, and stick it in the oven. When it should be getting close to done I start taking its temperature, but that's it, and it comes out great.

I thought putting the bird upside down was only solving the issue of dry, white meat that no one really wanted, but really, it was making my life easier in other ways.

The other thing that was valuable was starting this process of deciding what was important and what wasn't, versus what was labor-intensive and what wasn't. The homemade inserted stuffing was a lot of work without much reward, so it could go. A Jello salad had traditionally been on the table every year, but there was so much other food that no one really ate it. Although it wasn't a lot of work to make, it could go. We can have that with other meals, when there aren't so many other options.

It can go back the other way too. For a long time the mashed potatoes had been made from the potato pearls that we would get at the cannery. These were easy and delicious. One year Maria wanted to try garlic-mashed potatoes, and everyone really liked those. Potatoes are more work now, because now they involve boiling, mashing, mixing in, and baking, but it is something that is wanted. (Also, we have started making them with shallots now instead of garlic.)

Traditions can be beautiful things, but they can also be burdens. Consciously choosing what to keep and what to discard can then be very liberating. There's nothing wrong with starting a new tradition.