Turkey prep and gravy tips, because the sound of typing makes me seem busy...

[Warpy]

4. Nice and informative and you look busy enough to satisfy any boss

My brining setup in New England was a 5 gallon plastic pail I bought at a donut shop, lid included. The lid snapped on securely enough that the trash pandas were flummoxed, good thing because the only place I had to put it was either in a car (my ex objected) or sitting on the deck. After the divorce, any turkeys got butchered down to manageable pieces and could be brined one at a time in the fridge as I thawed them out and used them up.

Yes, brining is that important. Turkey meat has very little flavor, it needs all the help it can get.

My gravy is a bit different, I deglaze the pan with a mixture of dry wine and water (alcohol and fat both carry flavor), then thicken it with buerre manié*, a blob at a time until it thickens sufficiently, cooking it for 5 minutes or so to get rid of any raw flour taste. Roux is good, but if the drippings aren't sufficient, you'll need some chicken stock to thin it out, the boxed stuff is OK.

*Buerre manié is a staple I generally keep in the freezer, it's equal amounts room temperature butter mixed with flour. It is absolutely the thing for thickening pan gravies and some cream of this and that. It is especially useful for pan gravies when you can't be arsed to deglaze and then pour the contents into a measuring cup, increasing the possibilities of burns and spills. It's also useful for weekday skillet gravies. Once you make a batch, it's the easy way out.