I have never understood why anyone would
roast the turkey and shuck the clams
and crisp the croutons and shell the peas
and candy the sweets and compote the cranberries
and bake the pies and clear the table
and wash the dishes and fall into bed
when they could sit back and enjoy a hamburger.
Some Turkey Facts
The largest turkey in history was raised in the United Kingdom and tipped the scales at 86 pounds, approximately the same weight as an 11-year-old child.
Turkeys have about 3,500 feathers at maturity. Most feathers are discarded, but some are used for pillows, Native American costumes, or as quills for pens. The costume that "Big Bird" wears on "Sesame Street" was made of white turkey feathers, which were then dyed to bright yellow.
The Executive Pardon tradition was started when President Lincoln supposedly granted a pardon to a turkey in order to placate his son, Tad. One Christmas, Tad Lincoln befriended the turkey that was to become Christmas dinner. Tad interrupted a Cabinet meeting to plead with his father to spare the bird. The President obliged by writing a formal pardon for the turkey. Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented two turkeys to the President of the United States. The President does not eat them. He "pardons" them and allows them their days on a historical farm.
Turkeys have heart attacks too! When the Air Force conducted test runs and broke the sound barrier, a flock of turkeys nearby dropped dead from the shock of passing jets.
Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining.
For their first meal on the moon in the historic 1969 voyage, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aidrin, ate turkey and all the trimmings in foil packets.
In England, during the 1700's, turkeys were walked to the market in large flocks. Turkey farmers often covered the bird's feet with little booties to protect them on the long journey to the London Market.
In Honor Of The Turducken
Now here’s something that I wish I had invented -
down and a layer of dressing, often sausage based, is layed on. Then the deboned duck is laid on the turkey with another layer of dressing. The chicken is draped upon the layer of dressing and a final layer of dressing is laid on the chicken. The birds are then folded over the dressing and the turkey is suitably trussed to hold it together during the cooking process.
The birds need to be cooked for about 12 hours to assure doneness throughout. If you really want to cook this behemoth, I’ll leave the final recipe and cooking temperature up to you. If, on the other hand, you would like to purchase one (off of the Internet, of course), try the Cajun Grocer. You can purchase it with various options for Cajun sausage and cornbread dressing. Be forewarned that the shipping cost will exceed the cost of the Turducken. They also offer a Quaducant -
Now, if you are really adventurous, I hear that in South Africa they have something called an Osturducken. That would be, get this, a Turducken stuffed inside of an Ostrich! Yum, yum!!
Thanksgiving Day, a Retrospective
While the birthing pangs of Thanksgiving began with the Pilgrims, it would be many years before Thanksgiving Day as we know it was fully formed.
In autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims, who had landed at Plymouth the previous year, had much to be thankful for. As was their custom in England, after the harvest, they gathered to celebrate their bounty. Coincidentally, Massasoit, the Great Sachem, or chief, of the Wampanoag people made the two-
To celebrate recent victories over the British, General George Washington ordered his Army to set aside December 18, 1777
, as a day for “solemn Thanksgiving and Praise”. This was the first official date of Thanksgiving in the newly formed United States of America.
In 1841, a letter by Pilgrim Edward Winslow was discovered in which he stated that the Pilgrim celebration in 1621 was the “first Thanksgiving.”
In 1846, Sarah Josepha Hale, poet and New Hampshire native, began a campaign to name the last Thursday of September as the national holiday, Thanksgiving.
On August 6, 1864, seventeen years after Sarah Hale began her campaign, President Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving after the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. (The celebration of victories by two of our greatest presidents probably inspired the Thanksgiving Day football game that would come later.) After receiving a letter from Sarah Hale, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day.
Bowing to pressure from the National Retail Dry Goods Association to extend the Christmas shopping season, in 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt changed the date to the next-
ow the NRF, must be laughing all the way to the bank now that the Christmas season starts before Halloween.)
Finally, on November 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress officially changing the national Thanksgiving Day to the fourth Thursday in November and thus ending the nation’s two years of confusion.
On November 17, 1869, the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph published the following proclamation: "Foot Ball: A foot-
After a long and protracted labor, the birth of our modern Thanksgiving Day was finally complete. And so in our times it has become a day of friends, family, football and feasting. And, thanks to our Pilgrim forefathers, a day to give thanks for the many blessings we have in this life.
