Flash Back Friday - The Turkey Experiment (Part 2)

I had originally thought that this morning I'd be getting up at 3am to prep our turkey before work. Today we're having our Thanksgiving Office Party! But after discussing it with the boss, we decided that we'd prefer warm turkey over cold turkey at lunch, so I'll be returning home before lunch to grab the hopefully cooked - "just right" bird. This meant that instead of waking up when most college kids are heading to bed, I could wake up our normal time and still be at work by 8:30.

This morning my husband jumped out of bed at the usual time (5:45am) and did his morning routine, and then asked if I'd be getting up or sleeping in....
"Yeah... I'm getting up..." I replied with my eyes still shut.
"You can sleep in, honey, if you'd like."
"I have to prepare the bird..."
I finally rolled out of bed at 6:10 and began making stuffing muffins while he made himself breakfast. Around 7:30 I finally got around to prepping the turkey.

I had a quick chat with my best friend on my way home from work yesterday and she mentioned that she'd prepared the Thanksgiving Turkey the last 3 years. She suggested twisting the wings backwards so that the turkey was propped up in the pan while cooking. I spent a good 20 minutes this morning trying to figure out how the heck to twist these wings backwards. "It'll feel like you're breaking them, but you wont." she told me. "As if the bird was reaching for it's own shoulder-blades." After much fiddling around, and nearly throwing the slippery 12 pounder on the floor a half a dozen times, I finally got one wing twisted behind its back. "What the heck!? How does this work?" I nearly gave up after getting one pinned. But I was too determined, "It can't be THAT hard!". I finally toughened up and decided that even if the wing broke, it wouldn't matter that much, so I put some force into it and pinned that sucker behind it's back. And, to my surprise, it did feel like it was going to break, but didn't! "Woohoo! Wings Pinned! Dana wins this round! Take that sucker! Hope you can handle the heat, because you're going in the OVEN!!!"

I seasoned the inside and out with salt and poultry seasoning (because I was in a hurry and was out of pepper). I stuffed the inside with slices of Granny Smith Apples which I had tossed in some more poultry seasoning, onions, sage & thyme. I have no idea if that's a good combination or not. I've heard of people using oranges and pineapple, so I figured apples would work too...

I had overestimated the capacity of our turkey's cavity and was only able to fit about one apple inside. I had cut 3, as well as 2 whole onions, so I threw the rest of the apples, onions, and spices around the outside of the turkey to cook. I'm hoping this will help season the juices so that I can make a tasty gravy!? I also sprayed the skin with a bit of oil in hopes it will make it crispy? Again, no idea if this will work.

Into the oven goes the bird at 8am. They say it's about 15 minutes for every pound of meat. Being that this is a 12 pound bird, I figure it will take about 3 hours. I won't be home to baste the bird while it cooks - so hopefully it doesn't dry out too much! I think the brining will help in that regard? Keep your fingers crossed!