Christmas, 2018 (Part 2)
So, the basic problem was how to reheat the turkey which was bought a day early, mainly out of consideration for the restaurant workers despite the fact that they clearly indicated on their website that food could be picked up as late as 4PM on Christmas Day? I didn't want the meat to come out dry. To refrigerate or not to refrigerate was the threshold question. The veggies could be dumped into a crock pot fairly conveniently. But, what about the turkey? I don't have a crock pot that big.
The first decision was fairly easy. Refrigerate everything. When staying at the summer house, I've left a box of Bojangles fried chicken overnight from time to time. But, that was just me; I wasn't responsible for feeding anyone else. A whole turkey stewing in is own juices overnight sounded like a potential petrie dish for all sorts of mischief. Then, came a pleasant convergence of planning and execution.
Almost exactly a year ago, I accepted delivery of a brand new stove as part of my kitchen remodel project. It was something of a discovery from the moment I saw its picture in the catalogue. I counted five burners on top and only five dials on its front, unlike my old stove which had an extra dial for the oven.
It soon became clear that this was a modern innovation. Ovens are no longer controlled by a single dial. Rather, they were more like microwaves and controlled by pushing buttons - even the gas ones. It has been a journey of discovery ever since. By pushing a button I could control everything that went on inside my oven from the temperature to how long it remained "on". The "keyboard" gave me choices like baking or broiling. There was also something called the convection heating option. I remembered the kitchen designer trying to explain to me what that was and asking whether that was something I'd be interested in? I honestly didn't understand what she was talking about other than the fact that it didn't seem to make a huge dent in my wallet so, I went ahead with her recommendation ("Everyone should have this.", she said.)
Well, she was right. Yesterday, when Big Bro' did the honors and started carving the turkey while I popped in the dinner rolls, he was astonished at how tender everything was. "How did you cook this?" he asked out of nowhere "The meat's coming off the bone!". I didn't take credit for it. "It was precooked" was a I could manage by way of explanation, largely because I hadn't really figured it out until now: by pushing the button that said, "warm up", the convection heat option had turned my oven into a crock pot big enough for a turkey.
The first decision was fairly easy. Refrigerate everything. When staying at the summer house, I've left a box of Bojangles fried chicken overnight from time to time. But, that was just me; I wasn't responsible for feeding anyone else. A whole turkey stewing in is own juices overnight sounded like a potential petrie dish for all sorts of mischief. Then, came a pleasant convergence of planning and execution.
Almost exactly a year ago, I accepted delivery of a brand new stove as part of my kitchen remodel project. It was something of a discovery from the moment I saw its picture in the catalogue. I counted five burners on top and only five dials on its front, unlike my old stove which had an extra dial for the oven.
It soon became clear that this was a modern innovation. Ovens are no longer controlled by a single dial. Rather, they were more like microwaves and controlled by pushing buttons - even the gas ones. It has been a journey of discovery ever since. By pushing a button I could control everything that went on inside my oven from the temperature to how long it remained "on". The "keyboard" gave me choices like baking or broiling. There was also something called the convection heating option. I remembered the kitchen designer trying to explain to me what that was and asking whether that was something I'd be interested in? I honestly didn't understand what she was talking about other than the fact that it didn't seem to make a huge dent in my wallet so, I went ahead with her recommendation ("Everyone should have this.", she said.)
Well, she was right. Yesterday, when Big Bro' did the honors and started carving the turkey while I popped in the dinner rolls, he was astonished at how tender everything was. "How did you cook this?" he asked out of nowhere "The meat's coming off the bone!". I didn't take credit for it. "It was precooked" was a I could manage by way of explanation, largely because I hadn't really figured it out until now: by pushing the button that said, "warm up", the convection heat option had turned my oven into a crock pot big enough for a turkey.