Sunday, November 27, 2005
Thanksgiving in Germany: Part 2
At 9am we had to begin the cooking. We were lucky enough to have a class from 10-12 that normally we would be okay skipping for one day, but this week we were being assigned a project due at the end of the semester. Naturally it seemed like a good idea to go. We managed to get the stuffing finished and stuffed into the turkey before class started, and I was also able to complete the gorey job of hacking off the turkey's neck.
Turkey's in Germany just aren't the same as in America. There were no giblets, just a large cave. However there was a gigantic neck still stuck to the turkey that had to come off. The rest of the turkey was the same as in America, no more surprises.
Well, until we had to seal one side of the turkey up. Normally large metal pins are used to cover up the front of the turkey. We didn't have any of these and definitely didn't have the time to go find them. However, Brittany did have metal forks. It did the job.
When cooking the turkey, we forgot to add water to the pan. This meant we had relatively little broth to work with for making Brittany's noodles. We were worried that not only would the turkey not come out ("Where's the broth? There's no liquid!") and also worried that we'd have to eat the noodles plain. Normally her noodles soak up the broth and they use them instead of gravy. But now we were stuck without the ability to make gravy or noodles.
Jäger sauce to the rescue! We were kind of embaressed about using it with our study abroad advisor coming and all, but we had no choice. For the purposes of Thanksgiving, Jäger sauce has been temporarily renamed to "American Hunter Sauce." This "hunter sauce" did prove to be an excellent substitute for gravy.
And finally, after about 5 hours of cooking, we were ready to actually eat. The turkey came out with incredible skin thanks to my frequent buttering. Overall the meal was nice. Alec brought beans in a lemon sauce, Chris brought ice cream and whipped cream for the pie, and HP brought some nice white wine.
But I am never cooking thanksgiving in Germany again.
Turkey's in Germany just aren't the same as in America. There were no giblets, just a large cave. However there was a gigantic neck still stuck to the turkey that had to come off. The rest of the turkey was the same as in America, no more surprises.
Well, until we had to seal one side of the turkey up. Normally large metal pins are used to cover up the front of the turkey. We didn't have any of these and definitely didn't have the time to go find them. However, Brittany did have metal forks. It did the job.
When cooking the turkey, we forgot to add water to the pan. This meant we had relatively little broth to work with for making Brittany's noodles. We were worried that not only would the turkey not come out ("Where's the broth? There's no liquid!") and also worried that we'd have to eat the noodles plain. Normally her noodles soak up the broth and they use them instead of gravy. But now we were stuck without the ability to make gravy or noodles.
Jäger sauce to the rescue! We were kind of embaressed about using it with our study abroad advisor coming and all, but we had no choice. For the purposes of Thanksgiving, Jäger sauce has been temporarily renamed to "American Hunter Sauce." This "hunter sauce" did prove to be an excellent substitute for gravy.
And finally, after about 5 hours of cooking, we were ready to actually eat. The turkey came out with incredible skin thanks to my frequent buttering. Overall the meal was nice. Alec brought beans in a lemon sauce, Chris brought ice cream and whipped cream for the pie, and HP brought some nice white wine.
But I am never cooking thanksgiving in Germany again.
