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Turkey Flambe
A Holiday Tradition
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Greetings!
This
year I am giving thanks to you.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to ready my newsletter.
And thank you for taking time to send me kind notes telling me about the value you
get from reading this newsletter. I appreciate you!
Every year I like to share this true story of Thanksgiving splendor - My non -
cooking Sister in Law and The Flaming Turkey. I've heard from a few of my
subscribers that they actually print out and read this story at their family holiday
table - because hey, what about unintentional flaming turkey isn't funny. I
hope you enjoy reading it (or re-reading it) as much as I do sharing it each
year.
Have a safe and happy holiday,
Karen *************************
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When
Thanksgiving Turkey
Goes Wrong - Horribly Wrong
When I married my husband, I knew that he was, well, food preparation
challenged. My husband isn't allowed in the kitchen anymore and anyone
who's known me for awhile knows the popcorn story and why that's so.
But what I didn't know was that this inability to prepare food had also
infected his sister.
One of our first Thanksgivings together was especially memorable.
Now, you have to understand that at the time, my sister in law lived in San Rafael in a home
nestled in the hills with lots of trees and narrow twisty roads. Getting up
there was always an adventure. It's also interesting to note that my sister in
law and her entire family was on a first name basis with most of the members of
their local fire department - because they set things on fire in the kitchen so
often.
Anyway, back to my story.
This year we were running late because I had forgotten a special bottle of wine
I wanted to share and we'd gone back home to get it.
Dinner was supposed to be served at 4:00 and we finally arrived at 3:30.
As we walked down the path to their front door, we were greeted by my sister in
law yelling, "Gang way - watch out - coming through" and out of the
front door she ran with a pot of heavily smoking artichokes. Little did we know
what was in store.
As we walked in the kitchen, we noticed on the table a completely uncooked
totally raw - turkey. (Remember dinner was supposed to be ready in a half
an hour?)
"Oh don't worry" they said, "we're barbecuing the turkey and it
only takes 45 minutes"
Except the barbecue hadn't been started yet.
It seems they were just getting to that when they discovered that the
briquettes were wet. So rather than going to the store and getting new
ones they decided that they had a solution to getting those wet briquettes to
ignite - - - gasoline!
So, just imagine if you will a wooden porch, with overhanging pine trees. Yeah.
After a dose of gasoline, they were right - the briquettes did light - shooting
3 foot high flames onto the eves of the wooden house. So they put the lid
on the Weber and proceeded to wrap the turkey in aluminum foil.
"Don't worry, this is how we had planned on cooking it anyway."
Finally as it was getting dark they were ready to put the turkey on the grill.
Quickly they opened the lid. The column of flame shot up anew and they
literally threw the turkey on the grill and slammed the lid down.
After a few minutes we saw seriously angry flames shooting out of every air
hole in the barbecue. Some were leaking out between the top and bottom of the
Weber. The fat in the turkey had reached flash point and it was burning out of
control.
About 30 minutes (and several glasses of wine) later, it was decided that the
turkey was probably done cooking and we should probably take it off the grill.
A roof high column of flame shot up as they took off the lid. OK, so how
do we get the turkey off the grill with all those flames?
Using a fireplace poker, the turkey was pushed of the grill where it landed on
the wooden deck, still burning furiously. The fat of the turkey and the
foil were one as it kept right on burning.
By now there was talk of calling the fire department. But rather than do
that, it was decided that someone needed to "put the turkey (fire)
out."
Of course, using a fire extinguisher would wreck the turkey (like it wasn't
ruined already?) so my father in law and my nephews grabbed the first thing at
hand - bathroom sized dixie cups - and began to "spoosh" the flames
out.
After a few minutes (and a bit more wine) it was finally out.
Now, I don't know who decided it was still edible - but as was family tradition
my father in law carved and served that turkey - crispy on the outside and raw
on the inside - and we ate stuffing and burnt artichokes while we enjoyed
taking pictures of the inedible bird.
That day we were thankful for the day, the adventure and that we didn't have to
call the fire department.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and those you hold dear.
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Karen
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