Day One Hundred Sixty Two

SUCCESS!  Turkey Nirvana is indeed attainable.
The turkey pit results are in and I'm happy to report that the second try was a success.  Just in case any of you are considering this, I have a couple more improvements I'm going to make before I do this again next week for our early Thanksgiving feast.  Buy a turkey with one of the pop up indicators so you know that internally it got to the proper temperature.  I put a thermometer in it when I took it out and it only registered 140 degrees (poultry should reach 170).  I reasoned it was possible that it reached 170 and cooled before I dug it up but who wants to take a chance of eating undercooked poultry?  For that reason, I popped it in the oven in a roasting pan with the thermometer in to bring it up to temperature which happened very rapidly making me think it was already thoroughly cooked when I dug it up.  When I put a knife to it the meat all just fell off the bones, it was wonderful.


Kim's List of Pros and Cons For Throwing Your Turkey in the Dirt this Thanksgiving:


Pros
1.  It is a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed being involved - this is in direct contrast to them all lying around playing video games and eating hor d'oeuvres that I got up at 5 in the morning to make until it is time to set the table.
2.  You don't have the oven on for hours while you're in the kitchen doing all the other work involved - I usually show up to the table looking like someone dipped me in a vat of gooey water somewhere and then patted me dry, I might look better this year.
3.  While you're building and tending a fire for hours and hours it not only is a great opportunity to socialize but you can clean up the yard as well, I filled two trash bags of stuff that needed picking up and found several items to give away and list on my blog.
4.  The meat is absolutely delicious.
5.  You'll have a great story to tell, a big bonus.
6.  The people you feed will also have a great story to tell; it will produce a meal that is memorable for years to come.


Cons
1.  If it doesn't work, dinner's gonna be late while you throw the bird in the oven
2.  There is a lot of dirt involved, if you're really fussy you might not like it.
3.  You don't have a bunch of juices in the bottom of the pan for yummy gravy and will have to think of something else.  (Flip side is those juices stay in the bird.)  Next week I'm going to put it in an oven bag before wrapping it in foil in hopes of recovering more juices for the gravy.

Ribs

Turkey from the Pit - I browned it up in the oven quickly.

Here are my five items for today:

1.  A baggie full of single stem flower vases

2.  A heavy rectangular glass vase

3.  A full tube of High Shine Hair Gel

4.  A cat dish

5.  A feeder for baby chickens

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