The Bird's the Word Part I

So luckily or unluckily, for the second year in a row, I have a freshly slaughtered turkey. My turkey was alive this morning and tonight it's not. My friend works right next door to a slaughter house and every Thanksgiving his company gives him a locally slaughtered turkey. Last year we spent Thanksgiving with his family, and his wife, a former vegetarian and my very good friend, basically said, "hell no, I'm not touching that bird!" I was given the honors to take care of it and who better to do it, but me, a girl who spent the first six years of her life on a pig farm. Okay, pig farm sounds too grand. We had about half a dozen pigs and they got slaughtered one every now and again. I told you pork was big in the Philippines. I figured I could handle  it the bird. 

My friend dropped off the bird after work, remarking that he was actually given the option of picking out his turkey of choice. I didn't care for that. I liked the idea of an anonymous bird kind of like the ones you get at the supermarket. When he left, I got a chance to work on the bird and work on it I did. It still had some feathers on it that I had to pull out and when I cleaned its cavity it was still warm inside. Needless to say, despite my farm background, I got the willies! It was just so intimate!  It all turned out well though. The bird ended up being so tender that the meat actually fell off the breast bone, and I may be biased, but I think it was the best turkey I ever had. When my friend told me that they were going out of town for the holiday this year, but that I was free to keep the bird, I was incredibly pleased. I offered to pick it up from my friend's job. It was really unfair to have him lug a bird on the subway again for a bird he wasn't even going to eat.


"The Horror! The Horror!" So night when I went to pick up the bird, I completely forgot that his job was right next door to the slaughterhouse. Or maybe I didn't realize it was so close. They had a huge window right in front where one could see all the live turkeys. There weren't very many, but they all seemed like such nice birds. Not nice as in meaty, but in nice as in nice to be an animal friend. The thing is, despite being a meat eater, I really love animals. I tend to eat meat and try to keep the Lion King's "Circle of Life" song in mind. I also make an effort to eat humanely treated meat. The turkeys all looked like they were having a good and comfortable time, but when my friend came to the car window to give me the slaughtered turkey I couldn't help but flinch. This use to be an animal friend and now I have to dress it! I was very sad and mumbled about it all the way home to my husband who thought it was all so hysterical. 

After picking up some steak tacos (you see my hypocrisy right?), I had to get the party started. I started off by making something sweet and comforting and not birdlike. Homemade, pumpkin pie anyone?

Then I got my Pomegranate Sangria going. Mamas are coming over and I got to get them to relax. What's more relaxing than sangria? I like to make my sangria the night before so that all of the fixings really get a chance to meld together. This what I get together for my sangria. If you try this you will never buy that random jug of generic sangria again!

• 1 bottle fruity red wine
• 2 cups pomegranate juice
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup Triple Sec
• 1/4 cup simple syrup (equal amounts sugar and water, heated until sugar dissolves, cooled)
• 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 large orange, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 green apple, cored, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 cup red grapes, sliced in 1/2

Mix all those ingredients up, cover, and chill overnight to get this amazingness. Serve over ice.

Despite all distractions I knew I had to work that bird. I really wished that I could get down with that sangria sooner or at the very least a nice apple cider with brandy. I uncovered it...

and it wasn't that bad. Of course, because it looked nothing like the birds I saw in the window and because I knew I had a job to do. This is Thanksgiving baby and I had to man it up. Kind of hard to do being a woman, but you know what I mean. With cleaver in hand, I cut off the neck, cleaned its interior,  wrapped it up in saran wrap, and threw it in fridge. Out of sight out of mind. 


I then got going on my homemade turkey stock. I really do it all homemade, that's how I roll. I took the neck and gizzard chopped it up and threw it into my good friend the dutch oven to brown over oil. I added chopped onion, celery, and carrot and cooked until soft. Then I placed two cans of chicken broth, eight cups of water, some dried thyme, fresh, parsley, and black pepper in and got ready to simmer for two hours.

With half an hour left, It is smelling up a storm and making me look so much forward to tomorrow's meal. It is going to be amazing. I am so tired though. I just need to strain the liquid, let it cool, and throw in the fridge overnight to really flavor it up. I am going to try to blog on and off tomorrow so that I can share the process with you. It 's going to be a huge day of cooking. Wish me luck. xoxo happy nibbling!