Here Turkey Turkey Turkey...

This is the post where you get to hear the rest of my cooking a turkey for the first time story, but lucky you, now you get PICTURES!

The first part was already covered, so here are the pictures that go along with the previous post. Above is the mixture pre-boiling over...

And obviously, this is AFTER boiling over. The nice this is that I didn't have to skim anything off the top of the mixture...

These are the ingredients that went into the brine.

This is the turkey post brining...and thoroughly defrosted, slightly covered in butter and almost put into the pan at the left.

Oh, and here is a picture of the bucket with what's left of the brining mixture...

...and another picture of the bucket. Apparently I was attached to it and it was very important to document.

And here is the lovely turkey in the oven bag which is in the pan which is in the oven which is preheated...

Let me tell you, putting a buttered raw turkey into a great big plastic bag is no easy task. And I had to do it TWICE! I forgot to follow the instructions on the Reynolds oven bag box to put a tablespoon of flour into the bag and shake it around to keep it from bursting...did you know flour can keep a bag from bursting? Yeah, neither did I. 350 degrees...

For 3 1/2 hours. I made the clock, oven and even the turkey nervous watching and looking at it...

And here is the finished product!! Now, don't let the somewhat blackened skin turn you...it's the butter that burned...next time I am going to listen to my Daddy and use oil.

I'll tell you what, nothing made me happier than seeing the little red thingy on the bird popped out...it means the turkey was done! Man, it was SOOOOOOOO yummy!

And this is a bowl full of turkey drippings!! And there was at least another 2-3 cups in the oven bag after I pulled this out...I still need to figure out what to do with all of this lovely juice...

And here is the gravy I made, not from the drippings, but from the broth from the giblets. I took pictures of the giblets, but I decided they really are gross, so I am not showing you.

Here is the carved bird...

And the table we sat at to enjoy all our lovely food. The turkey was SOOOOO good and juicy. We (my cousin and I) had to make a Walmart run, so I'm glad I started the turkey when I did...it was still nice and warm by the time we got to my other cousin's in-laws home.

It was so fun to have Thanksgiving with so many of my Madsen cousins! And to steal a thought from a friend on Facebook, I am so glad I didn't kill anyone from food poisoning.