Turkey Giblets.

[AwayWeGo]

It's the never-ending question, every Christmas & every Thanksgiving.

What to do with the turkey giblets.

Cook'm & then throw'm away?

Or just save a little energy by throwing'm away raw?

For sure nobody around here is actually going to actually, like, eat'm.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Fern Modena]

Hereabouts we've always cooked 'em, eaten the interesting parts, and chopped up the rest to put in the gravy...'ceptin' the neck, which is too bony. And no, I won't tell you what the interesting parts are...you'll have to figure that out thru trial and error.

Fern

 

[glenmore]

My folks always cooked them, chopped them up fine, and put them in the best dressing you could ever taste . .

 

[silvib]

I always used them to make gravy in the past. It's a while since we've bought a whole turkey unless I'm cooking for more than ourselves, so don't get them anymore.

 

[KarenLK]

Cook 'em, dice 'em,and throw 'em into the gravy.
The liver I eat myself, usually whole.
The neck goes into the pot and after it and all the giblets are cooked, I cool the neck and strip the meat off and eat it myself.
When you get a breast you miss out on this stuff.
I just bought a whole chicken and it had 2 of something, no neck, and no liver.
I sometimes buy a package of chicken livers. Yes, I am weird. I also like sweet breads.

 

[Fern Modena]

Karen,
You aren't so weird. Whenever my mom got a whole chicken she'd pop the liver into boiling water and flash cook it. Then she'd freeze it, and when she got three or four of them she'd make chopped chicken liver for my dad. With homemade schmaltz, of course.

Fern

 

[laura1957]

In my family the only reason to cook "that little bag of stuff" was to feed the dog and cat. And we would all fight over the skin (nice and crispy!) Now, if I eat with my husband's family - they throw away the skin and fight over those parts noone in my family would touch.

 

[easyrider]

My folks always cooked them, chopped them up fine, and put them in the best dressing you could ever taste . .

Thats where we use them too.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Other Stuff I Don't Eat (Not Just Turkey Giblets).

At my advanced age (pushing 66) I don't feel any obligation to eat any more stuff that I don't like -- not that putting it on my personal Do Not Eat list means it's yucky necessarily, just that there are so many more palatable things out there to munch on that it's foolish to put up with the consumption of any others.

So, for me personally, that's it for turkey giblets & chicken giblets & beef liver & calf liver & any kind of "meat" that comes from those more technical & metabolic parts of the animals.

No haggis.

Also, no more squash, no pickles (sweet or dill mox nix ), no cucumbers, no watermelon rind, nothing like that. Plus, no beets & no cabbage & above all no cole slaw.

No more fish -- most kinds most of the time. For sure no langostinos, no crawfish, no lobster, nothing even vaguely lobster-like; I had to choke down a lobster 1 time & I don't want a repeat of that experience. Also no sushi -- as the late Johnny Carson so aptly put it, I don't want to eat any fish that looks like it should be used to catch other fish.

No lemon pie, no lemon cake, no lemon sauce, no lemon cookies, no lemon custard -- no lemon anything except lemonade, lemon iced tea, & lemon drops. Ditto orange.

No mince pie.

No fruitcake. Sheesh.

No more whiskey or beer or wine (ditto vodka, gin, rum, brandy, schnapps, all that ABC store stuff) -- had my lifetime capacity of all those by the time I was age 45 & I have to say in all candor that I've been having lots more fun after age 45 than I had up to age 45. Who'd a-thunk?

Basically, all it takes to keep me going is just meat & potatoes & salad & fruits & veggies & oatmeal & skim milk & coffee & tea & water -- & I am extremely grateful for all of those. Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.

However that may be, life is too short to eat squash.

So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

And Another Thing Or 2 --

No pea soup. (Bean soup is OK, however.)

No caviar.

No pig feet.

No tongue.

No goat milk.

No hog maws.

No cold potato soup. (Hot soup, OK.)

No cold tomato-veggie soup. (Take it out in the kitchen & cook it -- then maybe OK.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[swift]

In my family the only reason to cook "that little bag of stuff" was to feed the dog and cat. .

Same here. My dog loves the holidays. It is the only time he gets people food.

 

[JudyH]

Oh, Alan...............

Sounds boring

 

[Kel]

Years ago we used to cook them and put them in the gravy. Now we throw them away.

 

[AwayWeGo]

It's Official -- Cook'm Then Toss'm.

Somebody on TV recently remarked that taking out the giblets packed with supermarket turkeys -- you know, heart & gizzard & liver & lungs & pancreas & appendix & I don't know what-all -- is like getting a gift package from Jeffrey Dahmer.

I always thought it would be quicker & simpler & more efficient -- not to mention more aesthetic -- to throw all that stuff away without even opening up the package.

Silly me. It turns out those organs have to be taken out & rinsed off & simmered for an hour or so with chopped onions, etc., and then thrown out.

Who knew ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[MULTIZ321]

For those not familiar with Alan's humor - this is a continuation of a thread started 3 years ago. I did a double take when I saw the "Silvb" post - haven't seen her post for awhile - it was only then I looked at the dates.

Alan, my grandmother used to say that giblet gravy is good for one's joints.

Good thing to keep in mind as you progress through rehab.

Best regards,

Richard

 

[Kona Lovers]

For those not familiar with Alan's humor - this is a continuation of a thread started 3 years ago. I did a double take when I saw the "Silvb" post - haven't seen her post for awhile - it was only then I looked at the dates.

Alan, my grandmother used to say that giblet gravy is good for one's joints.

Good thing to keep in mind as you progress through rehab.

Best regards,

Richard

Sometimes it's entertaining to dust off old threads, for sure.

For the record, we just throw away the bags of stuff from the turkey along with the neck and don't mess with it.

Marty

 

[SueDonJ]

For those not familiar with Alan's humor - this is a continuation of a thread started 3 years ago. I did a double take when I saw the "Silvb" post - haven't seen her post for awhile - it was only then I looked at the dates.

Alan, my grandmother used to say that giblet gravy is good for one's joints.

Good thing to keep in mind as you progress through rehab.

Best regards,

Richard

Well, Alan's first line in this thread is, "It's the never-ending question ..." Makes sense that it reappears every so often.

Dad used to put the giblets in the gravy and stuffing, I love it. But too bad for me, now that I'm doing the cooking nobody else here wants it. So we've gone from serving giblet gravy and stuffing that doesn't get eaten, to cooking the innards "just in case" but throwing them away anyway, and now we just toss them. I say a little "boo hoo" every time.

But they will never take away my mince meat pie even if I do only eat one slice on one day a year.

 

[Timeshare Von]

Funny that this should resurface after a few years.

I boil the entire packet of "goodies" and then use the water plus the good bits in the stuffing. What are the good bits? Anything I can chop up with relative ease. The neck and rubbery piece (heart?) get thrown out. The liver and whatever is sorta "soft" I chop up finely.

I thought about letting Miss Heidi (our dog) chew on the neck but was afraid it would be more like a chicken bone and not good for her so she didn't get that delight.

 

[MuranoJo]

I continue the family tradition and use the giblets and broth from cooking them in gravy and yummy dressing.

 

[Passepartout]

I already dissected the carcass and rendered and deboned it to produce base for some delicious soups and broth. It's chilling now to de-fat. The soft giblets got boiled in a couple cups of water to add to and enrich my beloved pooch's food. The humans here don't do organ meat.

Life is good!

Jim Ricks

 

[pjrose]

Turkey giblets and neck get simmered and then the neck meat and giblets are chopped into the gravy; chicken livers sauteed with the schmaltz (chicken fat) and some onion, and chopped fine to eat with matzohs. The other chicken giblets get tossed out.

 

[mo1950]

I simmer the turkey neck, then remove some of the meat and add to the turkey gravy. Also cook, chop and add other giblets, except for the liver (which we all hate). Give the liver to our two doggies.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving; we sure did at our house.