Any Turkey Day Mishaps?

[tvguy]

Make caramel out of it for something else. It'll last longer that way, too.

My wife is talking about making an early batch of Christmas fudge.

 

[princesscinderella]

Well, first mishap, minor. DW is making the pies today for our Thanksgiving gathering tomorrow and opened a can of sweetened, condensed milk instead of evaporated mil for the pumpkin pie. No biggie, we had plenty of both types of canned milk on the shelf, but the unused opened one may go to waste.

She should have used the condensed milk in the pumpkin pie instead. My pumpkin pie recipe uses it and they turn out amazing.

 

[fla4fun]

It was just going to be my sister and me, but we were still going to do a turkey with all the trimmings...then our oven broke last night. Thanksgiving dinner is in the freezer and we ordered delivery for dinner today.

About ten years ago, my sister turned on the oven, turned her back to it to finish the turkey prep, and when she turned back around the bottom element was going up in flames! Fortunately we have a countertop roaster that held the turkey, and a countertop smart oven that handled the rolls and casseroles. We went out on Black Friday to get a new element from the appliance repair store.

Another year the dishwasher quit right after we loaded it will all the pots, pans, and dishes from the meal. We had to go out on Black Friday that year and buy a new one.

This year went very smoothly in comparison. We had a slightly smaller turkey than we would have liked (I got the largest one I could), but at least we didn’t have to go shopping on Black Friday!

 

[tvguy]

She should have used the condensed milk in the pumpkin pie instead. My pumpkin pie recipe uses it and they turn out amazing.

Well, as the only one in the house who eats pumpkin pie, and as the lone diabetic in the house, I think it's a good thing she didn't add that extra 21 grams of sugar!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Another year the dishwasher quit right after we loaded it will all the pots, pans, and dishes from the meal. We had to go out on Black Friday that year and buy a new one.

oh wow that really sucks to have that happen then. I mean glass half full it probably was on a sale..well hopefully.

 

[disykat]

The only thing that went wrong was that the turkey didn't put out that much juice for some reason. Our gravy mainly tasted like chicken broth.

 

[happily single]

My bird started out a respectable 22 lbs. It should’ve taken close to 5.5 hours to cook, I checked on it at 3 hours, and the skin and meat were all shrunken back, the drumsticks looked like lollipops, with like w.t inches of bare BONE showing and all the meat balled up at the top of the drumstick. And the opening to the back cavity where I had needed to quarter my onion to be able to fit it inside, had ‘expanded’ and would have easily accommodated a softball.

Most surprising of all— it was cooked! Yup in just three hours @ 320 F!! But, of course, it was still sadly, white, because it had been covered with foil.

Well, I hadn’t even assembled my stuffing or green bean casserole yet at that point, because I had timed out when to do each thing, and I was planning to put those things in the oven ~45 mins before we ate. I still needed to get the huge pot of potatoes going, which I had also expected to take about 40-45 mins. My son, who was bringing his awesome homemade rolls, wasn’t coming for an hour yet either.

I panicked a little. Turned off the oven, and began getting the stuffing and casserole ready to go in. Turned the potatoes on, and began getting the gravy going.

So then 20 mins before the stuffing was finished, I turned the oven back on at 365 on Convection to brown the skin, and make sure it was still warm enough. Once it came out of the oven though, I realized it just looked so sad and deformed, I made DH carve it at the counter, and served it sliced on a platter. I probably didn’t need to worry about browning the skin.

It was all yummy, and somehow the turkey wasn’t too dried out— drier than usual, still not bad. But man, that bird was strange.

And, I always, always have at least a gallon sized baggie of meat left over. Sometimes I even send some home with the kids and still have almost a full gallon baggie left. This time I have 3/4 of a QUART-sized baggie, that’s it!! (plus the wings which I sent home with my son because dgd wanted them)…

So I think this turkey was really, *really* fatty— much more so than it seemed when it was raw. I was very disappointed. I’ve never had a bad Butterball before… but this year I feel jipped, for sure. I couldn’t even bring it to the table whole. It looked like some sort of mutant alien bird. bird.

I saw someone post in a Costco Facebook page that the same thing happened to their turkey. They posted a picture and it was wild. The entire middle was missing!

 

[NotUrsula]

The food was fine. Something else, however, put the hurt on big time.

Yesterday morning, DH (who is a very early riser) walks in and wakes me up with the words, "We have a problem." I immediately tensed, because every time he does that it means some kind of disaster has happened: flooded basement, huge tree down in the yard, etc. This time it was the overnight demise of our furnace. Luckily we were not hosting anyone, but it has been a wee bit chilly in this house for the past 2 days. Our HVAC service sent someone out this morning, and sure enough, it's a goner. As the central A/C is 14 years old at this point, we took their Black Friday offer of half-off the A/C and a big rebate from our local utility company if we replaced the whole system all at once.

Nothing like getting hit with an unexpected bill for $12K just before Christmas. We get to shiver until Monday, when they will come back out and replace it. (Luckily it has not been super-cold this week; I'm just praying we don't get sub-freezing weather before Tuesday.) To add to this disaster scenario, this was the third of our 3 major gas appliances to bite the dust in the past 30 days. First the range went just before Halloween, the water heater a week later, and now the furnace.

 

[dreamer17555]

Flu happened but luckily my family believes firmly in the restorative properties of a ‘do over’ so we will attempt it again once everyone is well.

Funny thing is we all got our flu vaccines but it still hit hard and fast.

 

[leebee]

@slo WHAT WAS THAT??

 

[DodgerGirl]

In our house Thanksgiving was kind of crazy yesterday. For one thing my mom followed the Butterball turkey cooking instructions on how to cook our turkey as we have been a fan of Butterball for many years and while I was in my room watching game shows my parents were cleaning our family room while the turkey cooked and then when the turkey was finally ready we were eating and we noticed something was odd with our turkey and my mom thought it wasn't ready so Dad had to microwave our turkey slices so we could eat but the turkey still tasted weird. But in the end Dad fixed it and it was a perfect 10 because the turkey slices tasted even better

 

[slo]

@slo WHAT WAS THAT??

A huge spider
My DH’s bar is in his rec room in the basement.
We get some pretty big spiders down there

 

[Wood Nymph]

Most surprising of all— it was cooked! Yup in just three hours @ 320 F!! But, of course, it was still sadly, white, because it had been covered with foil.

That happened to me, too. It was the first time I baked a turkey that was not stuffed. It was an 18 lb turkey that was supposed to take 3-1/2 hours to cook according to the Butterball turkey baking times. But it was thoroughly cooked in about two hours. I moved up the serving time by about 45 minutes and it all worked out perfectly. But I wouldn't have served so many appetizers if I knew the turkey was going to be ready when it was.

 

[Babs Johnson]

About ten years ago, my sister turned on the oven, turned her back to it to finish the turkey prep, and when she turned back around the bottom element was going up in flames! Fortunately we have a countertop roaster that held the turkey, and a countertop smart oven that handled the rolls and casseroles. We went out on Black Friday to get a new element from the appliance repair store.

Another year the dishwasher quit right after we loaded it will all the pots, pans, and dishes from the meal. We had to go out on Black Friday that year and buy a new one.

This year went very smoothly in comparison. We had a slightly smaller turkey than we would have liked (I got the largest one I could), but at least we didn’t have to go shopping on Black Friday!

That reminds me. About 15 years ago my in-laws were making the stuffing to bring over and while preheating their gas oven started smoking and there were flames inside. They had an emergency gas shut off switch in the pantry area so it was quickly extinguished. They brought the uncooked stuffing over to bake at our house.

The oven was at least 20 years old, not worth fixing, so we all went out on Black Friday to Sears to buy a new one. Not at 6am, sometime in late afternoon.

 

[AprilsZoo]

Only one mishap but it ended up turning out great. I had forgotten to buy evaporated milk for my scalloped corn. I found a can in my pantry "best by 11/2019"...decided not to risk it. Mom said she had some so I sent my DH to pick it up. Her can was "best by 11/2022". Tried to pour it into the measuring cup and it was solid chunks (ugh). So, went on to plan C and subbed some heavy cream I had just purchased. My family said the scalloped corn tasted better than ever...happy accident!

I’m glad your Scalloped Corn turned out well. Sounds like you have a new improvement to your recipe. It sounds yummy. I don’t know that I’ve had “Scalloped Corn.”

I once had a corn dish (brought over by a lady from church as part of a dinner for my family after I’d had surgery) that she called “Creamed Corn.” Her recipe had evaporated milk or cream, cream cheese, and a lot of butter. Does this sound like yours?

Just as an FYI: If the can of milk was not bulging, it was fine. The fat will settle out and clump up, but once you heat it slightly and whisk it, it re-incorporates.

Now, after the Best by date, it will no longer have the same nutrition profile, because the vitamins will break down. But it’s perfectly safe. Manufacturers must put a Use by or Expiration date on products that have a hard and fast date after which they should be considered bad, spoiled or at least regarded with a healthy dose of suspicion.

If it has a Best By or For Best quality date you have a great deal more latitude. Especially if it is canned, or bottled with a safety button on the lid that pops up when the seal is broken… As long as the can is intact, not bulging, not dented (although very few dents affect the integrity of the can… it’s possible that it will) and in the case of bottled goods, the safety button is depressed until after you’ve opened it, it is safe to eat, or use in recipes.

Bulging cans are always bad— don’t even bother opening them, especially if it’s a tomato-based product: it will spray out and make a right mess.

This info comes directly from a couple canned product manufacturers, as well as from Gerber Baby Food Company. *(see note at end if you want the whole story )

On a separate note, it seems like most evaporated milk I buy lately, is pretty “chunky” even when it’s well within its best by date. DH bought evaporated skim milk last year, iirc, and it was fluid— but yeah, can’t go by it’s solidity, or chunkiness. It always looks normal once I’ve whisked it and/or heated it gently, depending on how it’s being used. For instance, it mixes into pumpkin pie filling well without heating, but it takes a little extra whisking. My Kitchen Aid mixer makes quick work of it, when I bother to get it out.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
* Yes, there’s a story there… actually a couple stories.

Once, I found several jars of baby food that had gotten shoved to the back of a high shelf in the cabinet. When I found them, they were at least a couple years past their date, I’m sure… One looked semi-separated, like a watery later on top & between the jar and the food— I think it was Macaroni & beef or something similar. Anyway, that one went into the trash. The others looked ok, so I called Gerber’s hotline listed on the label. They informed me that the food was safe so long as the little safety button was down on the lid, and that I should listen for a “pop” when opening the jar. Even the Macaroni dinner would’ve been fine, just stir it back up, they said. The best by date was only there to note the time period where the manufacturer guarantees the nutritional content of the product. ​

Years later, I called Campbell’s Soup Co. to prove to my MiL that I wasn’t going to poison and kill her with some “expired” cream of mushroom soup I was using in a casserole. (At DMiL’s house literally anything past the date on the pkg is thrown away immediately. Like a day after… sometimes even before. She won’t even use milk if it’s within 3-5 days of the expiration date. ​

[Once we sent her some really fancy chocolates, and later when we asked if she had enjoyed them, she told us that she’d immediately thrown them away, and we shouldn’t order from that company again— because the candy was already “spoiled” when she got it. She never even opened it. The date turned out to have been a Batch date on a sticker indicating when the chocolates had been made. When she got them it was about 2 weeks past the Batch date— so very fresh candy. But she threw them away. They were expensive, too. ​

I told her from now on, if she ever gets a gift from us that , for whatever stupid reason, she doesn’t want— put it aside, and give it back to us the next time we see her. I was so frustrated! ]​

I’ve also called about some sweetened condensed milk that was given to me by my sister when I wanted to make fudge, I think. ​

​

My point is that every company told me the same thing: if the can is undamaged, sealed, and not bulging… it’s perfectly safe to consume regardless of the date on the package. Gerber and Carnation did say that the contents could look different — separated, or discolored… but still safe, if cans or jars are intact.)​

 

[AprilsZoo]

I saw someone post in a Costco Facebook page that the same thing happened to their turkey. They posted a picture and it was wild. The entire middle was missing!

That’s where I bought our turkey— Costco! I guess I’m glad that it wasn’t only me. I think a lot of us deserve refunds. It was so stressful trying to get my sides ready super quickly and hoping my son would arrive before the bird was overcooked.

Thing is, if this had been my first turkey, I might not have realized I should check it with a thermometer at that point. I very well might have left it cooking for too long, and completely ruined it.

It did turn out ok, but it was definitely drier than usual, because I was just about to start basting it… but at the point I took off the foil, it was done.

Here’s another weird thing… the instructions were different this year. I didn’t see them until later, because I’ve been making turkeys for 35 years… so I didn’t open that little packet with the “cooking and carving instructions” right away.

This year is the first time I’ve ever seen it say to not cover the turkey or the pan with foil at all unless it’s getting too dark in the last hour of cooking. It didn’t say anything about basting at all. The way I’ve always roasted turkeys, and how the instructions always were in the past, was to use foil to make a “tent” over the turkey, and to put it back after basting. Until the final hour of roasting, when you remove it to let it get nice and browned. It also specifically said “Do not *** water to the roasting pan” — not that I do, but I can’t recall it being mentioned before.

I don’t even want to think about he turkey jerky I would’ve ended up with if it hadnt been covered from the start.

 

[nancipants]

Not this year, but one year my mom couldn't figure out why the gravy wasn't thickening and was tasting very strange.....until she realized she had mixed up the powdered sugar canister for the flour canister. Definitely a dump it out and start over moment. Very funny!

My husband did this once with the Christmas roast beef.

 

[snowwite]

Clogged the sink with potato skins. Note to self: throw them in the trash next time.

Oh no. We had to replace our disposal once because of potato peels. I learned a lot of colorful Scottish sweary words that day.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

My Thanksgiving disaster was that I broke my ulna and radius in my forearm on Nov 12th during my first ever pickleball lesson. It was a bad open fracture. I had surgery to repair the bones with plates and screws on Nov 14th. I was in no shape to prep and cook a whole Thanksgiving dinner. Instead we ordered a complete dinner with all the sides and an oven ready seasoned turkey from our local Italian market. Everything was delicious, and I had lots of help with set up and clean up. It was a really nice, non stressful way to host the holiday!!!

 

[mickey916]

’m glad your Scalloped Corn turned out well. Sounds like you have a new improvement to your recipe. It sounds yummy. I don’t know that I’ve had “Scalloped Corn.”

It is very yummy. It's my MIL's recipe. It uses a can of creamed corn, 2 beaten eggs, 8 oz of evaporated milk (or heavy cream LOL), 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 T of flour, salt, pepper to taste and 2 T of butter. You make a white sauce from the flour, butter, salt, pepper, and milk (cream) then mix everything together, place in a casserole dish, top with crushed ritz crackers mixed with 1 T of butter and bake at 350 for about an hour.