Our own turkey for Thanksgiving, and Brunswick Stew

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you and your family had a refreshing day of gratitude. This whole weekend was a whirlwind for us. I feel like our days go by faster and faster each year. Stomp turned 7 months old on Thanksgiving- he celebrated by pulling himself to standing and climbing to the first step on my kitchen stepstool. I am not ready for big boy days. Blessed time, have mercy on me- let me drink in these baby smells and coos just a bit longer.

We experimented this year by raising three turkeys, aptly named Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. They live on pasture with our other birds and forage for bugs, worms, grass, seeds and acorns. However, they have been much lazier than we anticipated, and plow through grain whenever we provide it. Since we never had the time to separate them from the chickens, they ate the same soy-free organic feed supplement as the chickens. The poor chickens really didn’t have a chance to snack from the feeder- the turkeys gobbled (pun intended) almost all of the supplement as soon as it was presented. One of the chickens retaliates by plucking and eating the Tom’s tail feathers one by one. It’s a totally disgusting snack-  I’m not sure why the chicken thinks she is getting the best of the turkey.  Next year we plan to fence off a large portion of our woods and let our new turkeys forage separately from the chickens.

Here is a picture of the three turkeys.

Butchering the turkey was pretty similar to butchering the rooster. There were some distinctly gruesome differences; from those specific details I will spare you. The feathers were more easily removed than the chicken feathers are (perhaps because that one hen gave us a head start). After all was said and done, Mr. Thanksgiving weighed in at 27 pounds – for perspective, about the same as my three year old.

My precious husband got up early to put the bird on the smoker, and it was truly beautiful when cooked.

We gave thanks alongside a sweet neighbor family, who brought pumpkin cheesecake, homemade pickles, foraged pecans, home-brewed beer, roasted herbed sweet potatoes, green beans, and authentic Greek salad and olives. We provided mashed horseradish potatoes, gravy, fresh cranberry sauce, cooked greens, stuffing, apple pie and of course, the turkey. It was a true feast. We have a simple (and evolving) tradition of sharing the reading of prayers and scripture and then giving specific thanks for something we have been blessed with. Then we pour grape juice from our family Blessing Cup into our individual glasses, say a final prayer, and drink together from our ‘overflowing cups of blessing’. When we first started using the Blessing Cup, it felt sort of stilted and strange, but it felt totally natural this year, and hearing Giggle say “I give thanks for my mom and dad” in that precious almost-not-a-baby-anymore voice awoke something deep inside me. But more on that another time.

By Friday evening, all of the sides had been consumed and we had had our fill of turkey too. I had already been processing the carcass and bones in batches in my slow cooker, producing savory, dark stock. I do keep stock in the freezer but dislike having large amounts there- it’s much preferable, in my opinion, to store ready-made meals vs. just ingredients. So I processed the remaining turkey into Brunswick Stew.

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Brunswick Stew, in bulk (loosely adapted from America’s Test Kitchen’s Cover & Bake (Best Recipe))

Step 1:

• Approximately 8 lbs cooked shredded or diced turkey
• 4 onions, chopped, or about four cups chopped onion
• About 4 cups chopped celery
• several heads of fresh garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (Actually, I forgot to add this at all and must add garlic when I ultimately serve the frozen meals)
• 10 cups smoked turkey stock
• 6 cups water
• 4 quarts canned diced or whole tomatoes (chopped), drained
• 5 lbs. red potatoes, cleaned and chopped small (1/2 inch or so cubes). Do not substitute russet potatoes here.
• 8 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme

The original recipe says to saute the garlic, onions and celery in an oil or fat, but since I didn’t start this process until after 8 pm, I skipped that step and just dumped the raw vegetables into the stock pot. If you don’t have a flavorful stock (for example, you need to use plain, pale chicken broth) I would suggest making the time to brown the vegetables first.

Add the celery, onions and garlic to the remainder of the ingredients from step 1 into a very large stock pot. Put the pot, covered, in a 300 degree oven. It took about an hour for my potatoes to cook to the correct texture, but I checked after 45 minutes. Many people don’t freeze potatoes as they can become floury or mushy when thawed. I rarely have an issue with this, as I use starchy potatoes to start with and then I cook them until slightly under-done. You want some resistance when you poke with a fork. Err on the side of under-done here. They will continue to soften when you reheat the meal, and slightly toothsome is far better than mealy mush.

Step 2:

• 2 lbs smoked ham, cut into small dice (a small picnic ham)
• 4 cups frozen lima beans
• 4 cups frozen corn
• 4 cups frozen sliced okra

If you can find them, discard the bay leaves. Add the ingredients from step 2 and stir well. You can either salt and pepper to taste now, or wait until you ultimately serve the meal to add seasonings. My personal preference when cooking in bulk is to wait until serving the meal, but if you won’t remember to do it later you should either do it now or add a note to your freezer label. Scoop or ladle the stew into quart size containers or bags, cool, label and freeze.

This made a lot of stew. I should have counted, but I didn’t… if memory serves me, there are at least 12 quarts in the freezer. Plus we ate and gave away another two quarts over the weekend. It’s pretty, filling, and satisfying- two or three quarts would make a wonderful and very easy meal to serve your guests for a Sunday lunch after church. Add some bread and butter, hot coffee and good conversation and you’ll find yourself giving thanks all over again.

I’d love to hear from you, Gentle Reader! What traditions do you celebrate at Thanksgiving, and how do you use up your leftovers?