Thanksgiving in Parts

November 16, 2019 7:39 AM

I would like to have the leftovers for Thanksgiving dinner. We can't do a whole turkey, so I want to make sandwiches instead. I'd prefer to do my own roasting -- or I'd rather not have deli slices. Where can I get turkey legs and/or roasting parts in Burien/Seattle WA?
posted by duckus to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Not roasting a whole turkey makes sense. But why not buy a whole small turkey and dispatch it into roastable parts yourself. Turkeys are easy to quarter with basic kitchen knives. Then you have 2 breasts and 2 leg/thigh quarters you can roast for sammies and chuck the wings and breast/rib carcass into a pot to make stock for a ton of tasty gravy. Should be able to get fresh or frozen in a range of sizes from 8 to 24 pounds at every food store right now.
posted by chasles at 7:48 AM on November 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I did this a couple of years ago: making the next-day sandwich as the day-of Thanksgiving meal. In order to avoid roasting a bird or buying deli slices, I picked up some smoked turkey legs--you can throw them on the grill or in the oven with a bit of liquid to bring them to life before chopping for the sandwich. Turned out amazing! Just an option to consider that helps minimize the work; I made every other aspect from scratch which already took plenty of time so buying the pre-smoked legs didn't feel like too much of a cheat. Generally available at standard grocery stores; if not, your local Asian/ethnic grocery would almost certainly have them.
posted by youarenothere at 7:58 AM on November 16, 2019

If you call the Prepared Foods/deli section at Whole Foods, or maybe even PCC or Metropolitan Market, and speak to a manager (do this ASAP rather than later!) they may be able to help you out.
posted by mollywas at 8:15 AM on November 16, 2019

Turkey breasts are pretty readily available at least around this time of year. Brine it for maximum flavor, then roast it. Perfect amount for dinner and a few days' leftovers.

If you don't see it in your regular grocery poultry section, ask. They'll order them for you. I've called ahead and asked for non- injected breasts, and my local safeway was able to get that for me in a few days. (Don't brine a breast that's already been injected with juices.)
posted by hydra77 at 9:06 AM on November 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

I have purchased turkey legs for very cheap from Whole Foods around the holidays. Presumably because there is much more demand for breasts as a stand alone cut. They cook up great seasoned, wrapped individually in foil and thrown in the slow cooker for 6-8 hours (no liquid required).
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:38 AM on November 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Yeah, on the Friday after Thanksgiving you can get turkey thighs and drumsticks for $.49 a pound at the Whole Foodses near me; I never see them pre-Thanksgiving but I bet they have them if you ask (though probably not for $.49/lb). Any place with its own butcher counter that sells turkey breasts probably has some legs lying around back there.
posted by mskyle at 12:17 PM on November 16, 2019

Turkey will be on sale the week of Thanksgiving(also Christmas), like, crazy affordable. I'll buy a turkey, hack off legs and thighs and split the breast, making 4 parcels. It will not be pretty, but I have not cut myself doing this, so, success. 2 turkey thighs makes a good pot of soup, the legs are fun on the grill (caveman, lol) and you get 2 breasts to roast. It does take up some freezer space. My grocery will have separate parts, esp. breasts, have seen legs and thighs. Ask at the butcher counter. I've also split a turkey down the middle for a roast.
posted by theora55 at 1:03 PM on November 16, 2019

Absolutely - cut up a small turkey.

The breasts you can take off in one piece - skin attached. Lay it skin down and you can do a "book cut" the thickest part so you can open it up like a book and get a fairly regular flat rectangle of meat.

Take the thigh, do a Y-cut on the inside along the axis of the bone. Discard bone. You might want to book cut the thicker end.

At this point you can do an overnight brine, then rinse off before seasoning. This will give the meat that "silky" texture of deli meat.

Lay the opened up thigh on top of the opened up breast (skin down). Roll it up, wrap the skin around the log, stretching it so it holds the log together, and either tie up or use toothpicks to pin the skin down.

Stick a thermometer down the middle along the long axis. Rubbing some dark vinegar into the skin can make it darken/ crisp up a bit more. Bake/ Roast until internal temp is ~10' less than "lowest safe temp" and Broil until ~5' less than "lowest safe temp." Remove from oven, let stand, and the internal temp will hit safe temp.

Slice against the long axis.

The drumsticks cook up will in a slow cooker - if you have a bunch of duck fat lying around, they confit up amazing. The carcass, wing tips, neck - throw in a big pot with a bouqet garni, some chopped up onions, carrots, celery and a bit of salt. Boil that thing until the meat falls off bone, strain, adjust salt.

Use this to make gravy (~1 tbsp butter, ~1 tbsp flour to ~1 cup liquid); melt butter in a pot, make a roue, add broth slowly while stirring until you get the consistency that you want.

For stovetop dressing/ stuffing, melt some butter, season with white pepper, garlic. Brush onto bread slices. Toast bread. Cut into big croutons.

Take the inside bits (gibbet, liver, heart, etc.) and chop them up. Fry with chopped up onion. Add croutons. Add broth while stirring until you get the desired consistency.

--

If that's way too much food, you can do half a turkey and freeze the other half (just remove the breast, don't book cut it, remove the thigh but don't remove the bone - wrap individually in food wrap, the half carcass, if you can fit into a large ziplock bag, great - you might have to break it down some more).
posted by porpoise at 1:21 PM on November 16, 2019