I had to throw my Turkey in the garbage....and my onions were Gen Altered!

[KoKo]

My Turkey was neckess and gizzardless. I open bird up out of it's plastic bag and it's "innards are empty." I stick my had all though the bodily cavity and my finger waves at me out of it's neck! There are no "innards" to make my gravy with!

I look on the plastic bag at instructions which say: "After removing legs from plastic grip, reach in cavity and remove neck and giblets in pouch." There's nothing....no pouch no innards to make my gravy. So, I open a can of chicken broth and figure maybe that will work when I get to the gravy part...even though no decent turkey gravy comes from a can of chicken broth. Only simmering for two hours with stalks of celery and onions of the neck and adding the giblets the last half hour make a true TG Turkey gravy....everything else is "Applebees."

Next I chop my celery and onions for the stuffing. I had just purchased a whole bag of "Melissa's Organic Onions" for my Dinner. (I've had some odd smelling onions lately, which I thought came from someplace like where ChiChi's got theirs, so I wanted to be very careful.) I cut up my onion and the smell is making me sick. It doesn't smell like any onion I've ever smelled since I 've been on this planet. It smells weird, and this milky substance is oozing out on my cutting board. Onions don't have oozy white substances. Not any I've encountered before. I think it had to be genetically altered!

So, I go back into my frig and find another onion that was bought before I bought the "Melissas Organic bag" and cut that one open. Same smell....same oozy white stuff. I say: "Forget this!...something is wrong with these onions." Get in the car and go to a different grocery store than the one I bought the organic onions and the one in the frig drawer, and look for "regular onions." Being in "not a very good mood" I decide I will stab the onions I see in the bin with my finger nail and sniff before I buy! (I'm not advocating mutilating veggies..and have never even thought of this before, but I was one pretty desperate person at this point), but the odor from the onion was the same one I've known my whole life......A FAMILIAR ONION! I bought three of them and rushed back home to finish my stuffing.

However, the the Organic Onion had been chopped and was already cooking away inside my Turkey, so I figured, hey, I'll have to live with that smell and hope it cooks out.

Needless to say, My Turkey was a DUD! It was tasteless except with an unpleasant undertast of the "Melissa's onion" which lingered on our tastebuds.

What's going on here! Has anyone else had onion problems? And, Organic Onions FGS! What is going on? Is it the GM Foods? Was my onion a sheep in it's former life? It smelled like a sheep! It tasted like mutton. And, what has happened to Turkeys? I haven't had a good one in about three years! I've bought "free range, fresh, and Butterball. Nothing tastes like it used to. Am I crazy here? Please don't flame....."Yes, we know about you.....and we definitely think you're crazy." I only want to hear from ANYONE who's been having weird food problems with veggies and meats lately. The Turkey isn't the only thing.....but I don't want to get into that.

I Love to cook! I know good produce. Somethings wrong! BTW....I was making a pie while I posted last night and the pie was excellent. (Maybe it was that Clark post, that helped the pumpkin pie, lol's)

So we had stuffing, beans, sweet potato's, turnips and corn muffins, but little Turkey, and the gravy was gross. In effect it was a lovely Vegan Meal.....but not what I wanted given all the time I spent preparing it. :-(..........

Next year I'll go out to eat.........Who wants a "sheep in the onion."

Edited for spelling, and typo's galore......I'm really pissed and garbling....not gobbling!

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

1. {{{KoKo01}}}

Damn, that's horrible. I hope you raised some hell at the grocery store; they should take some of the blame for those onions.

[Occulus]

2. We used a fryer last year.

One of those deep-fried turkeys. We did it in peanut oil. It turned out.... yummmmmmmmy. Juicy. Golden (well, not so golden, but when you deep fry a turkey, golden isn't necessarily a good thing). TASTY!!!

I think next year I might get a fryer and do one that way myself. That or a smoker. Smoked turkey, deep fried turkey... both, to me, are preferable to the traditional oven-roast method.

[KoKo]

3. I've heard about people frying turkeys and they are good. But, a

traditional turkey cooked in a normal oven should still taste great. I've made quite a few in my years and they've been crispy and juicy. This one was a "Carolina Pride" turkey from Mount Olive, NC. Somebody forgot the "innards" and this turkey must have had a terrible life or it was that damned onion from hell that did it!

[qanda]

4. What was up with the missing innards today?

My turkey was missing the neck. I was SO pissed off that I sent my husband to the store to see if the meat department guy would give him one. I will be calling Butterball tomorrow morning. I got turkey legs instead and cut off some of the meat from that and boiled it, so it didn't turn out too bad.

I'm sorry your turkey didn't turn out the best. I know that feeling of not being pleased with something you've put your all into. I hope next year will be better.

[quinnox]

5. It can happen

A thanksgiving I had with my sister a few years ago the same kind of thing happened. She made the turkey wrong, and she had several people over that were friends of her husband.

Everyone pretended the turkey was good, but they didn't eat hardly any of it, and no one asked for seconds. LOL it was kind of embarrassing for my sister, but we laughed about it afterwards.

[seaglass]

6. I thought that white liquid coming out of onions was ok.

The onions never smelled or tasted bad:eyes:

I had a difficult time last year getting good onions, no matter where I shopped they had black marks on them or they were rotten or skin was growing inside of them. Never had one that smelled like a sheep though.

Sorry to hear your turkey was ruined.

[pansypoo53219]

7. gizzards for gravy???

i have an old aluminum roaster from an estate sale and practically steamed our turkey. it layed their plat on the pan. i just used the turkey juices and the butter that basted it and had great gravy. the meat thermoter wasn't working either, so the wings and legs got a little too done, but the breast was great.
mmm, leftovers.

[Interrobang]

18. Yeah, I'm with you on that!

I make turkey gravy from the drippings in the bottom of the pan (the scripe, as it were), and if I do anything with the neck and giblets, I boil them up for the cats. Otherwise, I throw them in the garbage. I don't eat organ meat if I can get away with it at all. A little margarine or olive oil brushed onto the exposed side, and some Gra-Vee for the drippings, and I'm all set, just like Mom makes!

The secret to making a really tender, juicy piece of fowl is to cook it counterintuitively -- with the breast meat down, rather than up. That way, it cooks in the juice and stays nice and moist. If you absolutely must have the breast skin browned, you can flip the bird for the last 10 minutes or so. I do this with any bird I'm cooking, even if it's just bone-in chicken breasts I'm simmering on the stove in sauce or something.

[SheilaT]

8. So sorry about your ruined turkey!

Mine was wonderful. Both of my sons worked today (they're employed at a local movie theater) but the person doing the scheduling had them both finished at 6pm, and the meal was just about ready to put on the table when they came home.

Turkey, stuffing (I use Pepperidge Farm corn and herbed stuffings, add some poultry seasonings), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas & onions, cranberry sauce. Oh, and some wine. I start in on the wine around the time the turkey gets out of the oven, so I'm quite mellow and cheerful by the time everything is finished.

[Andy_Stephenson]

9. We had a big ol roast chicken

Turkey always tastes dry to me. Sorry bout them onions.


Oh and we also had

Fresh green beans, taters, homemade cranberry relish, cornbread dressing and Pie...lotsa pie. I make my own crust and it is awesome!

[brokensymmetry]

10. Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience.

I know what you mean about food. Lately, hamburger - plain old hamburger meat - has had the strangest goo that cooks out of it.

But, if I may, the secret I've found on turkeys is to buy the ones major chain grocery stores have on special. Butterballs tends to have so much fluid injected that they aren't as good (IMHO).

I hope your day has gotten better.

[BiggJawn]

11. I think your onions were "bad"

I've had onions rot before, and they get kind of gooey inside and smell strange.

Mom's turkey was fantastic thi year! Tender, moist, and so good. I'm actually looking forward to a cold turkey sammich...

[peacebuzzard]

12. I had a big veggie salad with great "sweet" onions

and corn on the cob, and broccoli and cauliflower w/ cheese. I quit eating fowl a year and a half ago.

[MercutioATC]

13. Organic produce smells and tastes different.

I don't think that was the issue here, but keep it in mind. Bake two potatoes, one regular and one organic. They tasts very different.

I don't know if you're used to cooking with organic produce, but if not, I wouldn't recommend starting with big meals like Thanksgiving dinner. It's good, and good for you, but it tastes different.

[Booberdawg]

14. Don't know what to say KoKo

Maybe it was the curse of that Clark post, LOL! (I was kidding - you just amused me - I don't read candidate posts in GD :))

You just put so much heart and effort into dinner and into this post that I wanted to send you a hug. :hug:

[Turbineguy]

15. Our Turkey was a success

my daughter (who I am crazy about) made the cranberry sauce. I'm planning on recommending it to St. Peter when the time comes. I made my special stuffing with mushrooms and sherry. We had a bottle of Hans Kornel Rouge Champagne of unknown but probably mid 80's vintage.

We listened to the Moody Blues "to Our Childrens Childrens Children" which is so apropos these days. It also reminded me of when FM radio was underground, and makes me happy that I am doing now what I should have done then.

I am Thankful to all of you DU'ers for making me feel that I am not alone watching this Nation being turned into a rubbish pile. And doing something about it.

[KoKo]

16. Thanks all for your Condolences, Tips, and sharing your TG Feast Eats!

I'll miss those turkey sandwiches tomorrow, and I think I'll pass on the "organic onions" in the future and eat the ones with the pesticides that taste like I'm used to! (I'll just make sure they don't come from Mexico!)

Happy T-G, all!

[DivinBreuvage]

17. I couldn't avoid the test tube veggies this year

Normally I steer clear of them (our supermarket carries a small section of "pure" produce, which I always buy) but when you wait till 6:00 the night before Thanskgiving to pick up your sweet potatoes, the pickins are scarce.

The pie didn't taste any different (my ass is expanding even as I type), but I'm still a little shaken over the potato that screamed when I cut it. Even worse, another one rapelled down the side of the counter and is still out there somewhere.

Francoise