Today?s Woman

Today?s Woman

Judy Burtncr

Extension Agent,

Horn* Economies

Did you serve turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner? Did you stop to wonder why? Probably because it has become a tradition. Have you wondered what’s behind the tradition? While cattle roamed the Old West in wild abundance, settleres in the East found cattle to be their most valuable domestic animal. In Plymouth, there was a ruling by the authorities that each cow must serve six families! This scarcity of beef forced the Colonists to substitute wild turkey for beef at the English feast of Martinmas, thereby establishing turkey as the traditional Thanksgiving entree.

Now that the Thanksgiving dinner is over, remember to remove the dressing from the turkey and store separately in the refrigerator. The remains of the bird might be more appealing a little later. If you do not want to use the left overs within two days, package in meal size portions and put them in the freezer to reduce any chances of spoilage. Speaking of spoilage, Thanksgiving is over, but there are other occasions for which turkey is often served. So for a little caution - when thawing out poultry, home econotr_isu> with USDA’s Consumer and Marketing Service warn that you should never allow a bird to thaw at room temperature because the exterior can start spoiling before the interior has completely thawed. The best way to thaw poultry is in the refrigerator. But, if you don’t have room in the refrigerator or want to speed up thawing, you can enclose the bird in a double brown grocery bag and leave it on your kitchen counter. In this way, a cool temperature is maintained on the surface of the bird while the interior is thawing. For turkeys weighing 4 to 12 pounds, allow approximately 12-15 hours. A bird weighing from 12 to 24 pounds will require approximately 15 to 20 hrs.