This is the traditional Riely Thanksgiving feast!!!

Stuffing:
You’ll want to start making this first so that you can get the bird stuffed and in the oven.

• 1 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
• 3 stalks of chopped celery
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 sticks of butter (not margarine!)
• Sage
• Poultry seasoning
• 2% or whole milk
• 1 1/2 lb Pepperidge Farms Herbed Stuffing Crumbs (This is one large and one small bag)
• Pepper
• Salt

Melt 1 stick of butter in a frying pan and saute the celery, then add the onion and saute it until it’s clear. Remove from heat. Melt a second stick of butter and add sliced mushrooms and saute them as well. Add celery and onion back to the pan when the mushrooms are done. Season with ground sage, poultry seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. I tried to get an exact amount of each seasoning from my mom but she wasn’t much help…It’s roughly two parts poultry seasoning to three parts ground sage. Just make sure that you’re very liberal but remember that you can always add more seasoning later. Add mild to the saute pan until it’s ~2/3 full. Heat until you start to see tiny bubbles forming at the edges and then remove from the heat (“scald” the milk) and pour directly into 1 1/2 lbs of Pepperidge Farms Stuffing in a separate bowl. Add whole milk until the stuffing is sufficiently moist but not runny. Taste stuffing and add more seasoning until it tastes good. If necessary add more sage, poultry seasoning, salt, or pepper. Stuff your bird with the mixture. Extra stuffing can be cooked in a dish alongside the turkey.

Prepping and stuffing the turkey:

Make sure the bird has sufficient time to thaw and remove the plastic bag with containing the “giblets” (innards) to use for gravy. Wash and dry the bird real well. Remove any remaining quills and pinfeathers and dry the bird really well (inside and out). Make sure to remove any blood or remaining entrails from the inside of the bird. Fill the neck and main cavity of the bird with stuffing and close them. You can use either skewers or string to close up the ends. Extra stuffing can go in an oven-proof dish and cook along with the turkey. Place the bird into a large, disposable aluminum turkey pan and season the bird with salt and pepper. Put dollops of butter on the top of the bird. Cover with aluminum foil, shiny side down, but do not let the foil touch the skin of the turkey (make a “tent”). You want to seal the edges of the foil around the pan to keep the steam in as much as possible. If the foil and skin touch, they may stick together. Cook the turkey at the temperature and length of time indicated on the turkey packaging. According to Mom Riely, you may need an extra 30 minutes worth of cooking. Halfway through cooking, baste the bird. One hour before it’s supposed to be done, remove the foil and rub butter all over the breast and put the turkey back in the oven to finish WITHOUT the foil (this is to brown the bird). The turkey is done when you can wiggle the legs and they feel loose, and you can poke the turkey at its thickest point and the juices run clear. You can also use the pop-out timer that comes with the bird.

Giblet Gravy:

• Water
• 6 chicken boullion cubes
• Turkey giblets
• Chopped fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp celery seed
• 1 onion, peeled and quartered
• Celery tops
• Flour
• Milk
• Water
• Salt & Pepper

Rinse and clean all of the gizzards and make sure to remove the green stuff from them. Dry them well. After you’ve prepped the turkey and put it in the oven, start cooking the giblets by putting them in a large stock pot filled with water, 6 boullion cubes, 1/4-1/2 cup chopped parsley, the top 3-4 inches from 4-6 stalks of celery (the leafy part), ~one tablespoon of celery seed, salt, pepper, one peeled and quartered onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce and let it simmer. Let it simmer 4-6 hours or as long as the turkey is cooking. Keep adding water if the level gets too low, but let the liquid reduce so that the final volume is ~1/2 of the starting volume by the time the turkey is done. When the turkey has finished cooking, remove the bird from the oven but do not cut it right away. Remove it from the pan to the serving platter (do NOT throw away pan or turkey drippings!) and let the bird “rest” so that the juices can seep back in. Pour the giblets/broth through a strainer, reserving the broth. Recover the giblets from the junk that’s in your strainer and allow them to cool until you can handle them without scalding your fingers. Grate/chop all the giblets except the heart. The neck meat you will need to cut away from the bones by hand and then finely chop the meat. Put the aluminum turkey pan with drippings on top of the stove and turn the burners on high/med-high and bring the “juices” to a boil. Add flour to the drippings a little at a time with constant whisking to create a thick roux (roux = fat+flour). The amount of flour will depend on how much “turkey juice” you have. The more flour you add the thicker the gravy can be so add flour accordingly. But add it a little at a time and whisk briskly to prevent clumping. Let the roux cook/boil for a few minutes to get rid of the “floury” taste. Add reserved giblet broth to the roux until you have the desired consistency. Thickness is a matter of personal preference (of gravy that is). You can also add whole milk in addition to the broth to help liquefy the gravy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped giblets for the last two minutes before serving to heat them through. place in a gravy boat with the reserved turkey heart and serve. Whoever scoops out the heart gets good luck!

Serve with Mamma’s yeast rolls (see recipe), mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and a “log” of canned cranberry sauce. Finish off the meal with Grandma Nielsen’s pumpkin pie and Mom Riely’s Apple Custard Pie topped with homemade whipped cream. Then unbuckle your belt, sit back and watch some football while you attempt to digest..