Everyday Project Management

I totally bombed the Turducken on Thanksgiving. Yes, I did watch some great You Tube videos on this. Click here to see my favorite. According to this video, you’re supposed to cook the Turducken in the deep fat fryer. But Bob had told me to cook it for about 7 to 8 hours in the oven and I thought the oven sounded a bit safer - especially since my bedroom is right over the garage and if I blew up the garage, I would have to find a new place to sleep.

The first Turducken - I cooked for about five and a half hours. Took it out of the oven to have room to cook a regular turkey (most of my family just isn’t as into experimenting as I am). My well calibrated eye figured the Turducken was done, but then I talked with Bob. He said it needed to be in at least 7 - 8 hours. I plugged the meat thermometer in there. It said - 160 degrees. The cookbook for the turkey said 180 degrees, so I fired up the BBQ Grill and tossed the Turducken out there. Put the teenager in charge and went out for a walk in the woods with the other guests. Came back to a big tale of woe - the oven bag had melted on the Turducken in the grill. GROSS. The beast was petrified - but the internal temperature was 180. The dog didn’t even want it.

I didn’t want to wait a whole year to try this again. Bob agreed to assemble another Turducken in his grocery store’s butchery. This time, I cooked it at 300 degrees, and only until the meat thermometer read 165 internally. It took five and a half hours. I let it sit for about an hour and a half - the internal temperature stayed at 165. Seeing that it was a full four days after thanksgiving, and I needed some help eating this masterpiece, I invited Bob, his wife and a couple other friends over for Thanksgiving 2.0. A far superior feast than Thanksgiving 1.0.

If you can take Mulligans in golf, why not for thanksgiving? Plus this was a good way to integrate lessons learned on my Turkey day project. NOW, I know how to cook a Turducken.