Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. I’m putting this cartoon up to acknowledge my dad who has been ill and just came out of the hospital. My father loves to cook and one of the things I remember about his cooking growing up is his adding too much wine to whatever he was making. I think he thought if a little wine adds flavor to the stew or sauce, a lot of wine would make it even better.

 Thank you Dad for all those wonderful meals even if they didn’t always come out the way you wanted them to.

You can see some of my other cartoons at Reluctant Gourmet Cartoons.

Cooking a turkey is not that difficult. In my opinion, it’s all the side dishes and desserts that become intimidating. But for those of you who are just a little intimidated or “reluctant” about cooking the Thanksgiving bird, here are some basic cooking tips that might help. I’ll also supply you with some phone numbers to hot lines if you get into trouble.

Defrosting a Turkey

First of all, if your bird is still in the supermarket freeze or you own freezer, it’s time to get it out to start defrosting. The classic way to defrost a frozen turkey is in the refrigerator but depending on the size, this can take three to four days or six hours per pound.

This is the safest way to defrost a frozen turkey, but really, who has that much time or room in their refrigerator. Instead, you can thaw a turkey in a sink of cold water. Leave the plastic wrapper on the turkey and place it in a sink filled with cold water. Some sources will say the water should be icy cold so you can add ice if you like, but it is important to change the water every once in a while to make sure it stays cold.

How Long Does It Take To Defrost?

Figure on about 30 minutes per pound. This means a small 10-pound frozen turkey should take about 5 hours to defrost. A big honker 18-pound turkey will take as long as 9 hours. Once the turkey is fully defrosted, be sure to get it back into the refrigerator until you are ready to start cooking it.

Roasting a Turkey

There are lots of ways to cook a turkey including grilling, deep-frying, and the traditional roasting method of which there are dozens of techniques.  Breast up, breast down, high temperature, low temperature, breast covered in bacon, duck fat or tin foil. You name it and somebody has figured a way to do it to a turkey.

Me, I like to roast a turkey at 325°F to 350°F for 15 minutes per pound than crank up the heat and cook it for 10 minutes per pound at 375°F. I’ve also seen recipes that start you at 450°F for an hour and then turn the temperature down to 350°F for the rest of the time.

These times are all assuming the bird is unstuffed.  If you do stuff your turkey, be sure to add an additional 5 minutes per pound but be sure the stuffing reaches a temperature of at least 165°F or you can get yourself sick.

To Stuff or Not Stuff

Whether to stuff the bird with stuffing or cook the stuffing in a separate pan is a big debate in the culinary world.  I’m sure

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I’m working on some new cartoons featuring the Reluctant Gourmet in various cooking senarios. They hopefully will add a little humor to some everyday cooking situations that you may have experienced.

 I will be posting them here on this Blog as well as scattered among my web site pages.

If you are interested in a tee shirt, coffee mug, or cooking apron with this or any of my future cartoons, please visit Cafepress.com where you can find the complete lineup.