A New Twist for Preparing a Holiday Turkey

As the holiday season is rapidly approaching many homemaker's thoughts turn to how to make this year's Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys even more spectacular than last year's. You can walk into any grocery store, supermarket or bookstore and have your taste buds start watering when looking at the hypnotic baked and roasted turkeys that adorn magazine covers.

This article is going to describe a really quite tasty culinary process for ensuring this years' turkey stands out in the history of holiday turkeys. The turkey will not only stand out as a culinary success, it may even start a new family tradition that all family members will want to carry on when they host their own holiday dinners.

Okay, what is this new twist to making a memorable Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey, you ask? Well, the secret is in the twist of a knife. When you are preparing your turkey for the oven, take a small paring knife and stab the turkey in the meaty portions and then poke or insert a tasty treat into each stabbed area.

Some ideas for tasty treats to insert into the slits created by the knife are: cloves of garlic, walnuts, pecans, raisins and pieces of dates, apples, onions and peppers. You can be creative and insert more than one type of taste sensation. It's up to you. Be imaginative and think out of the box when deciding what foods to add to the turkey. Your bird will be as individual as you are.

Now, as good as this new twist is all by itself, it can get even better if you add a little tradition to the insertion of food items. When you are ready to pop the bird into the oven, draw all family members and guests around the table and let them insert the food items into the turkey. Ask them to think about a wish they want to make or a blessing they want for family and friends during the coming year. When they make their wish or say their blessing out loud, they poke their food item into a slit in the turkey. It is a good idea to encourage family and friends to make as many wishes or blessings as they want. The more hidden tastes in the turkey the better the turkey will taste.

Another tradition you might want to consider establishing might be to ask each family members and guests to think about all of the special things for which they are thankful. As they mention their individual thanks, have them insert a food item into the turkey.

It is a sure bet that this kind of preparation, of not only the turkey but spirit of those soon to enjoy eating the turkey, will make this year's Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday meals not only tasty but memorable as well.