Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-12
Facts Concerning the
Thanksgiving Turkey
---- By Sister Mary

Are you thinking of ordering
your Thanksgiving turkey? Perhaps
these suggestions will help you TO
serve the best one on record.
a turkey, to be in its prime, should
be of last springs Matching. This
means that the bird will weigh from
eight to ten pounds. OF course, there
are turkeys less than year old
weighing several pounds more, but
to be on the safe side order from
eight to ten pounds, preferably a
hen" and yours can't help but be
tender.
An eight to ten-pound turkey will
serve six or eight persons.
If you must serve more people,
use two eight-pound turkeys rather
than one very heavy one.
A young hen turkey should be
plump, have smooth, dark drum
sticks" and the cartilage at the end
of the breast bone soft and pliable.
IL these conditions do not hold, have
none of the bird, for a poor, bony
turkey weighing eight pounds would
be tough and old.
If a turkey more than eight or
nine months old must be used. a
"gobbler" usually will be found to
be better eating.
Why is Thanksgiving?
When you are planning your dim
ner, think for a minute of the tradi-
tion back of the present Thanksgiv-
ing day and keep your menu simple
and homely. "Hors d'oeuyres" have
no place on a typical American
Thanksgiving dinner table. Let the
turkey hold the center of the stage
SO to speak, and build the dinner
around it.
If you must prepare and serve the
| dinner without q maid, do all the
| things it's possible to do the day be-
! fore Thanksgiving. Make the cram
| berry sauce, stone the raisins for the
pudding, have the pumpkin ready tc
make into pies, the salts and peppers
filled and shining, and all the little
| things attended to that takes sc
much time and thought at the las
minute.
If "big dinner" can be prepared
with a calm mind and without rusf
and furry, it's really lots of fun.
How's This Menu?
This menu is simple and may sug.
best other possibilities to you.
Tomato Bouilion
Roast Turkey Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes Giblet Gravy
candied Sweet Potatoes
Creamed Onions Celery
Peach Pickles Rice Pudding
Pumpkin Pie Coffee
Nuts Fruit
The centerpiece could well bi
made of fruit and nuts. A pumpkin
bowl with bitter-sweet spilling ovel
the edges and trailing q bit on thi
table is attractive and colorful. Th'
red and yellow checked apples, whit
and Tokay grapes and dull tones o
nuts in the brilliant pumpkin yellow
| make as artistic q decoration a
heart could wish.
Roast Turkey
Your butcher should dress tn
turkey. The giblets are usually pu
loosely back inside. Remove thes
and let stand in cold salt water I
cover while washing the bird itseli
To wash the turkey rub the insid
thoroughly with salt. Then let col
water thoroughly wash and rinse OF
every trace of the salt. Scrape tn
outside with the dull edge of case
knife, keeping the turkey under Wa
ter and taking care not TO break til
skin. Scrub well with the palm {
the hand and wash through man
waters. Rinse the giblets under run
ming water. Truss and stuff.
To truss a turkey, draw thigh
close to the body and tie with
stout wrapping cord. Draw wing
close TO the body and use a larg
trussing needle to sew through tn
body. Make a half-inch stitch /
one wing and sew back through III
body and tie with cord on othe
wing. When the turkey is ready t
be served cut the knot and pu
cord out by the stitch. The ski
should be sewed together over tn
stufiing. Do not stuff the turke
too full, for the stuffing swells dur
ing the roasting and may burst tn
bird.