Home butchering and preserving

Last weekend we butchered our three remaining turkeys, one tom and two hens.  Their finished weights (after cleaning and gutting) were 28, 25, and 23lbs.  Those are very good weights for Standard Bronze turkeys, one of the larger heritage breeds.  The turkeys were seven months old, which is a little older than most turkeys typically are when butchered (usually from 14-20 weeks old).  I pieced the tom completely, we ended up with two 5+lb breasts to cook as roasts, five pounds of ground turkey from the thighs and top of the legs, and five quarts of stock plus another three pounds of cooked meat off of the carcass, wings, and legs.  We cooked the 23 lb hen for Thanksgiving and are saving the 25 lb hen for Christmas and a visit from my younger brother who will be home for the first time since joining the Air Force last April (we love you and miss you Jeff).

Our Thanksgiving meal was lovely, very quiet and relaxing with just my parents and us.  Here is what we ate:

• Roast Turkey and Gravy*
• Mashed Potatoes*
• Braised Carrots*
• Stuffing
• Baked Butternut Squash
• Green Bean Casserole
• Roasted Garlic Soup
• Brioche
• Veggies and dip
• Cheese and crackers
• Deviled Eggs*
• Pumpkin Pie

All of the food with stars were grown on the farm.  Many of the other foods were bought locally.  I have to say the turkey was the best I have ever had.  Due to its large size, we cooked it overnight.  We started it at 500F for 15 minutes and then let it cook at 225F until an internal temp of 165F.  It took over seven hours.  We let it rest for a while and when we cut into it, the juices just poured out.  I have never had a moister bird.  Everything we ate we so great, but the surprise hit to me was the Roasted Garlic soup.  I used a combo of a few recipes, and it was heavenly and sweet.  The only disappointment (and just barely) was the pumpkin pie.  We roasted pumpkins from a local farm but used a (gasp!) store bought roll out crust.  The pie part was perfect, but the crust not so much.  It is worth the time to do it right and I have a few simple pie crust recipes that I will always use in the future.

For the leftovers, we make our traditional “snacker bowl”.  I think this started with Mike and my brother, as a play on the KFC snacker bowl.  You take a little of all the leftovers and layer them in a bowl.  You cover it with gravy and cheese and microwave it until hot.  It is really yummy and very filling. With the bulk of the turkey leftovers I made more stock and four turkey pot pies with my favorite recipe from the Joy of Cooking.  Once you have eaten homemade pot pie, you can never eat any other pot pie ever again.  It will be so nice to go to the freezer and pull one out over the next few months.  When you put so much time, effort, and money into raising your own food, not only do you want to make sure you utilize every bit of it, you also want it to taste amazing.  It is not just food as fuel, but food as pleasure, culture, art.  The kids helped me here and there and it was really enjoyable, despite taking a long time.  Very worth it.  Plus, I know it is a meal that everyone in my family absolutely loves and will eat tons of.

Tomorrow we butcher ten chickens and two ducks.  I went out to the coop today and picked the ones that will go leaving about 30-35 chickens, 11 ducks, and 4 geese to over winter.  That should give us enough so that next year we can raise babies from all of them and only need to buy turkeys from the hatchery.  Next Sunday we will butcher the latest litter of rabbits who will be twelve weeks old.  We will then move our breeding trio to their new indoor hutch that Mike made in our chicken coop.  We think it will give them a little more protection from the elements, plus it will make giving them food and water a little easier for us.  The three hutch components will then be used as private nesting areas for our chickens and ducks come springtime when the rabbits will be moved back out.  That leaves us with only the black lamb to process and he will go to the butcher right after the new year.  Then I will begin my big push to transform all of the wonderful meats and vegetables we have in storage in the basement into ready to heat meals for when the new baby comes.  I find that quadrupling recipes works very well, it gives us a meal to eat right away, plus three for the freezer.  If I do this every week for a few months I will easily have a month or two worth of meals stored up for when we have more important things to do than cook.

Enjoy the season.