How to Prepare a Turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner
The New England style festive dish- Turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner. So far as I remember myself our Puritan grandparents had accepted no other way of dealing with the Turkey bird for the festive dish.
Draw your bird very carefully. Singe and pick out all pin feathers from the Turkey- may take half of a day for the big bird.You will need to soften the skin and the muscles of the bird to have it soft and palatable. Therefore, a good scrubbing with a good brush and a mild soapsuds loosens the material which should be scraped off from the skin of the bird. Fasten the wings of the bird to the body of the bird and the legs of the Turkey together. Otherwise the bird may be too big for the height of your oven. Fill the fowl with traditional dressing, which should be closing all the natural openings of the bird with a stout bread crust.There will be much bread you will need to do this. Lay three or four strips of the bacon across the body of the whole turkey and place the bird into a very hot oven for half an hour- to have a nice crust; then lower the heat of the oven to a low oven for no less than two hours or the time needed to make it tender. The Turkey takes more than 6 hours usually to bake correctly. Baste your bird with the drippings from the baking pan every half hour. The turkey in New England is traditionally garnished with water cress and a very tart jelly.