How many have pulled turkey and ham boo boos?

[Dinghy]

Along the same lines as your worst meal, how many of you have fixed a turkey only to find out you didn't take the giblets out of both ends?? Or fixed a ham and didn't see that there was another really tight layer of plastic on it???? I know I'm not the only one, so the rest of you better 'fess up!

 

[Albuburbia]

" Or fixed a ham and didn't see that there was another really tight layer of plastic on it???? "




Oh, yeah. BTDT. Cheers!

 

[Dinghy]

Nothing like gravy with a "slight" hint of a plastic taste is there??

 

[cvk]

Aw shucks Well-----there was the time I fried the steak and there was a thin paper on one side that I fried right on the blasted thing.

 

[occupant]

First Thanksgiving in our first house...First time "feeding" many in-laws.Traditional T-Day dinner...True story...
Thought I'd roast big bird in foil pan.Ya know, them E-Z foil pans? Yea, right...
Only about an hour to go, for big birdie. Start smelling something burning, just a wee bit smoky in the kitchen. Open oven, YIKES, got a lil' fire thing goin on. Grab the salt box, extinguish small fire.Who had an exhaust fan, in those days? Open windows, in November, in Michigan... Lotsa drippin and spittin goin on in there. There was a small hole in the friggin FOIL pan. E-Z, yeah right. Musta been that pound of butter, birdie was roastin in. Gotta DO something with birdie.I know, get cookie sheet and slide under foil pan. Brilliant. Gotta DO something with salty oven mess. Take cookie sheet with foil pan out first, shoot, in nervous haste FORGOT oven mitts. HOT ! Put cookie sheet/foil pan combo on floor, for a minute, to blow on burnt hands. FORGOT new house kitchen had indoor/outdoor CARPET on floor! MIL was early... Walked in just as I removed pan combo off floor only to reveal a perfectly shaped cookie sheet MELT MARK in center of kitchen carpet!
Funny, every Thanksgiving, MIL always reminds us, even 26 yrs later !

 

[MissTina]

............................Reserved space for after thanksgiving.........................

My sister, who is 56 yrs. old, just informed me that she is having Thanksgiving at her house and is doing it all.
(GASP) She never cooks, has never made turkey or ham in her life that I'm aware of so this should be interesting. I don't even think she had a stove until this past spring. Maybe she's been practicing. Or if you don't hear from me or Mistaken1 after Thanksgiving we may be gone for good!

 

[Dinghy]

............................Reserved space for after thanksgiving.........................

My sister, who is 56 yrs. old, just informed me that she is having Thanksgiving at her house and is doing it all.
(GASP) She never cooks, has never made turkey or ham in her life that I'm aware of so this should be interesting. I don't even think she had a stove until this past spring. Maybe she's been practicing. Or if you don't hear from me or Mistaken1 after Thanksgiving we may be gone for good!

Good luck!! My sister threatens to cook every year. None of the family will eat there though!

 

[ShepInTheValley]

I'm sitting here wiping the tears off my face and blowing my nose, ROFL. TOO funny. Gosh... I don't know what my worst kitchen nightmares could be (ohhh RIGHT!). One on the list would be when I was busy making a huge batch of black raspberry jelly and all of the sudden it had boiled over, all across the stove (yes - down into the underneath part), down the cupboard and onto the carpeted floor (not MY idea to carpet the kitchen - it was carpeted when we bought the house). Any of you who have been out in the 90-100+ temps with high humidity, walking thru thorny vines fully dressed to keep from getting scratched up and eaten up by chiggers and mosquitos... picking every single one of those tiny dang berries - YOU know what was going through my mind seeing all that jelly flowing across the stove and onto the floor. Sigh. Since then, I've found that particular burner decides intermittently to raise it's heat level to MAX - at it's own will and without warning.

 

[MissTina]

I need some laughs...who has inside info to share here?
I must retract my afore mentioned space reservation for my sister. She did a phenominal job for pulling off her first Thanksgiving. She had Turkey and Dressing, Cranberry Salad, Green Jello Salad, Bluberry Salad and rolls. Oh yes and fresh green beans and new potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserrole for my niece. I took coconut, lemon and pecan pie plus Bookends Bookstore Caramel Bars. I have no Boo Boos's to report only having eaten almost everything in abundance and gaining 5 pounds, not kidding either.

 

[Dinghy]

I didn't have any boo boo's, just an oh s---t! I put one turkey in the oven and one in the roaster, both on low, overnight. About 1:00 in the afternoon I noticed that the oven wasn't on. I don't know how it happens, but this is about the third year in a row that it's done that, it just shuts off. Luckily it didn't seem to have been off long. The turkey was still nice and hot, so I just turned the temperature up more. I should have somebody come and look at it because 2 of the burners only work when they want to too, but I hate having repair people in, and hate paying for it even more! I bought this smooth top stove about 8 years ago, and I haven't been happy with it from the start. I'll never get another one!

 

[MissTina]

I bought this smooth top stove about 8 years ago, and I haven't been happy with it from the start. I'll never get another one!

I had one in 1990 and I hated it also. It surprised me that is what my sister got and she is happy thus far.

 

[Melodi]

Ham Memories...

The first time I cooked ham in my own apartment....my family had moved to Mississippi a few years before, and I had no idea what a real ham was. The parent of a friend gave me this giant ham and I thought "Oh goodie" and cooked it just like I would cook one of those tiny, pre-cooked hams you get in California. I put it directly into the oven and....

You can see where this is going? More than two decades later I still remember the salty, tough, mess and gigle. Now that I once again live in a place that has "real" hams, I have taught my husband to soak for 24 to 48 hours before simmering. The first time, he didn't know this and since it was boiled, we could at least use the salty results in soup.

There wasn't much to be done with my "first ham" mistake. I have a vauge memory of asking my friend accross the hall (we were all very short of money). I think she had me boil it up and we used it for beans. But I'm not sure.

I only helped cook a turkey once, and it was a burned mess. But then my family always did ham or beef roast for the holidays.

Melodi...in Ireland where they do turkey on Christmas day, but our household does pig instead...

 

[Gingergirl]

Boo-Boo? How about the year we had Turkey-Jerky.

I had always done the turkey in the oven, BUT DH had just gotten his first Weber kettle and wanted to try the turkey in it. So I stuffed the ol' Butterball and handed it over. At the appointed time, we lifted the lid. A beautiful, rich brown skin with an inticing fraqrance...but the built in timer hadn't popped. Better to be safe than sorry, so back goes the lid. An hour later, no pop. Two hours later, no pop. So went ahead and served the shrimp cocktail to stave off hunger. No pop. Had a glass of wine. No pop. Enjoyed the paradise soup at a very civilized pace. No pop. Had another glass of wine. No pop. Picked slowly at the french salad. No pop. Had yet another glass of wine. Everyone loved the pumpkin cheescake and cranapple pie. No pop. Lingered over coffee and brandy. No pop. It is now almost five hours over due, and past the kids bed time. So DH pulls the bird off the kettle and begins carving. Yep, it had turned to jerky.
One of our best Thanksgivings!

BTW, pop or no, we have done the turkey on the kettle ever since.

 

[occupant]

Ahhh, for the love of an instant read meat thermometer. 145 degrees is what you would be looking for, inserted into the turkey thigh. I've lived and I've learned, usually the hard way

 

[A.T.Hagan]

For anyone who has been cooking for any real length of time I think the question would be better phrased as who HASN'T had a turkey/ham/goose/big roast boo boo?

My first ever oven roasted turkey tasted wonderful. You could even have your preferred state of doneness - well done, medium, and rare - all in the same bird. Hadn't thawed it <i>quite</i> enough before it went into the oven.

.....Alan.

 

[summerthyme]

Ah yes- that lovely "glaze" on a ham you didn't glaze...

I suspect NO ONE ever does it twice!

Summerthyme

 

[pkchicken]

For anyone who has been cooking for any real length of time I think the question would be better phrased as who HASN'T had a turkey/ham/goose/big roast boo boo?

My first ever oven roasted turkey tasted wonderful. You could even have your preferred state of doneness - well done, medium, and rare - all in the same bird. Hadn't thawed it <i>quite</i> enough before it went into the oven.

.....Alan.

LOL!!!! Now I'm laughing.....I did that too lol

pk