Hospital Dietary Staff Offers Tips for Sumptuous Thanksgiving Turkey

             When you consider the sheer number of Thanksgiving turkeys being defrosted at this very moment in refrigerators and sinks across Georgia, one thing is for certain:  culinary disasters of all shapes and sizes are on the horizon.

            Take into account the woman who baked her bird with the bag of giblets left inside.  Or the aspiring cook, who arose at 4:00 a.m., stuffed her turkey and forgot to turn on the oven.  How about the couple that ended up in the emergency room after the wife tried to lift the 25-lb. turkey out of a flimsy aluminum pan and the juices burned her husband’s foot?  And last, but not least, the poor Kentucky woman who couldn’t get her tiny Chihuahua out of the turkey carcass. 

            If the pressure to prepare the perfect Thanksgiving feast has you in knots, don’t panic.  We have two experts nearby who can help you cook like a pro and prepare a turkey so beautiful it could grace the front of Bon Appétit Magazine.

            Lillie Mae Raymond and Charlene Key, employees of East Georgia Regional Medical Center, have been cooking in the hospital’s cafeteria for a combined 72 years. Lillie began her career at the age of 16 and learned from the many experienced cooks employed by the hospital in the 1950s.  “Cooking a turkey is easy,” says Lillie.  “Keep it simple and the turkey will turn out perfect every time.”  This year the East Georgia Regional’s dietary staff will cook 220 pounds of turkey to feed the 24-hour holiday staff of 170, hospital patients and their families plus visitors and guests.

            Cooking the perfect turkey begins by stuffing the empty cavity with apple, onions and celery.  “Cut and quarter these fruits and vegetables,” says Charlene.  “The special ingredient here is the apple which makes the turkey moist and juicy.”  Charlene adds that any type of apple works fine.   Next, generously season the outside and inside of the turkey with pepper and Lawry’s seasoning salt.  Use melted butter and brush the butter over the entire outside of the bird.  “For a 12-lb. turkey, one stick of butter would be used,” adds Charlene.  The last ingredient is paprika which is liberally dusted over the entire turkey.  Next, add some water to the base of the pan and make sure the turkey is cooked breast side up.

            Interestingly, both cooks insist that basting is not necessary.  Their marching orders continue with the turkey being covered with aluminum foil—and tightly.  “We don’t just tent the foil on top.  We wrap it snugly around the pan and seal her up,” says Lillie.  Another tip the cooks offered was to spray the underside of the tin foil with cooking spray so it won’t stick to the top of the turkey when you finish baking it.  Because of the various sizes of turkey, the two cooks insist on using a meat thermometer.  Place the meat thermometer in the breast of the bird before you place in the oven.   Interior breast meat should be 170 degrees and 180 degrees for thigh meat.

            The 12-lb. turkey is placed in a preheated 350 degree oven and cooked for 3 to 3 ½  hours.  “For each pound, you need to cook the turkey 25 minutes.” adds Charlene.  After the designated time, you should find a succulent, golden brown turkey ready to carve.  But, just in case Murphy’s Law occurs, remember that East Georgia’s cafeteria is always open and will be serving some of the most crowd-pleasing turkey dinners on Thanksgiving Day.