Thursday, November 26, 2009

Turkey Throwdowns

Ben is the youngest child in his family.  For some reason this means that nobody trusts him. Especially his cooking.  We usually share food assignments with his brother Nathan.  This is particularly hilarious since Ben is one of the best cooks I know.  Nathan is no slouch in the kitchen either. (MMmmmm Nathan's tri-tip steak.) When it comes to family parties we are usually assigned 1 of 4 things: chips, drinks, cookies (Ben's cookies are FAMOUS) or the camera.

NOTE: Ben's cookies are famous and no one can make them like he does.  His dad (DJ) thought he had perfected them while on a mission in Canada.  We had a cookie throwdown at the next family reunion.  Ben thrashed him.

My family on the other hand trusts Ben to cook and often makes him do it.  If you recall, last year Ben made the turkey for my family's Thanksgiving.  It was GORGEOUS and ever so delicious.  So delicious that my sister told her husband and father-in-law that they were going to have to work to make a turkey as good as Ben's.  So delicious that my parents asked Ben to do their turkey . . . even though we weren't going to eat at their house.

Knowing how delicious this turkey was last year, Ben told his dad he would be happy to do one of the turkeys for the Hanson Thanksgiving at Ben's grandma's house.  DJ seemed skeptical but decided to allow it.  Then when it came time to buy the turkeys, he bought two.  A 22 lbs turkey and a 15 lbs turkey,  He gave Ben the little one.   We just shook our heads.

This morning Ben woke up bright and early and in true Hanson tradition, he cut his finger.  (Last year it was me after the Hanson Christmas Party)  He would not be deterred though!  We tightly bandaged him up and he prepped that turkey.

And when it came out . . . a masterpiece.

I called DJ and told him he better not cut his turkey until we got to grandma's so we could have documentation of the turkey throwdown.    Here are the images.



Ben's turkey


DJ's turkey

Due to time considerations each man carved his own.  Ben slipped me a piece.  My mouth sang.  So flavorful and juicy.  Nathan stole a piece and then another and then another and then another. Nathan loved it. Kristy loved it.  Their kids loved it.

The rest of the family started to whisper about the two turkeys.

As we sat down at our table (Us, the parents and Nathan's fam). DJ brought us a plate . . . of his turkey.  We each tasted, not bad but not Ben's.  The plate was immediately sent back with a request for Ben's turkey.  The turkey that was no where to be found.  Throughout the house we heard "Which one is Ben's turkey". Apparently other tables snagged it first and were intrigued when they heard there was a difference between the two turkeys.  All I'm going to say is not much of that turkey made it to our table.

Based on consumption and reactions, I think we have a "Winner-Winner Turkey Dinner"

NOTE 2:  This post is not meant to be disparaging of my awesome father-in-law.  It is just to prove that maybe the Hanson Family needs to start trusting Ben a little bit more. 

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