Cold Birds

Yesterday we managed four turkeys before the rain and wind and lack of propane drove us to quit. I am actually very excited; we kept one 'whole' for Thanksgiving (a big tom!) - wrapped fancily in two giant black trash bags. The rest we dismembered and put in gallon ziplocs. This is what excites me... Instead of figuring on one big roasted bird every 6 weeks or so (and then getting sick of it before week's end), I can put a pair of hindquarters in the crockpot, or half a breast, or put a pair of wings and a back into the stockpot and make a delicious soup - and I can do each of these meals several times! Yay!

Hubby has his own bags of gizzards and necks, and I actually kept the feet - yes the feet! - to make hearty, healthy, freakishly bizarre gelatin-based stocks/sauces. I'm not sure how to do that yet, but you can be sure I'll blog about it if/when I do.

The last bird we plan to do today... and because we don't have ANY more freezer space, we'll probably roast the whole thing as soon as we hose out the body cavity. (Hmm... 'hose out the body cavity'... that's not a phrase I get to use very often.)

Last year all our turkeys got killed (before we had a chance to do it), and we haven't had tender, tastey turkey in the freezer for a long time (the beast that broke the counter was too big/old/obnoxious to be roasted). We're so grateful.