I Was Robbed!
We're going to friends later for a 5 PM Turkey Day Dinner with all the trimmings. I'm bringing an appetizer and the cranberry sauce. (no not canned!) So I thought I'd make OH and me a 'mini' turkey dinner tomorrow just so we'd have leftovers. I bought an 11 lb turkey and this morning I'm having a cooking jones. I just can't stand not cooking anything today, so I figured I'd cook our turkey and simmer the giblits for gravy for tomorrow. Just maybe have some sandwiches for lunch, mmmm who can resist picking on a freshly baked turkey?
Well, here's where the "I GOT ROBBED" comes in. NO TURKEY NECK was in the bird, just a measly packet of giblits w/heart and liver. WTF? What am i supposed to simmer for the gravy? Bastards!
I managed to wrangle off that 3" portion of the neck remaining on the bird, stole a little skin from the flap that hangs down over the breast/neck opening, cut off the wing tips, grapped that little chunk o fat hanging out around the leg openings and put it all to simmer with a quartered onion skin and all, the tops off a head of celery, a cut up carrot, some sage and parsley from my herb garden, salt and pepper. I guess i'll make the best of a lousy situation.
Should I take my receipt back to the store and say I was robbed? Do you think I'll get a refund? What would you do?
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17 Comments:
If the label indicates that the neck is included, along with the giblets (and you still have the label), then I suppose you stand a chance of getting the shop to cough up a turkey neck (but don't hold your breath... they may not have one laying about). I doubt you'll get a refund, though, given that most people seem to feel that the best place for the neck/giblets is the bin, not dinner.
I hope you got a decent gravy out of what you had, anyway...
mongoose at 10:11AM on 11/27/08
Most serious cooks would never dream of binning the neck and giblits. They make awesome stock for the gravy. Then chopped up in the end for adding back in... hence the name giblit gravy.
nightmoon at 10:24AM on 11/27/08
Yeh, I know, but let's face it, most people who buy poultry are just not serious cooks... many wouldn't even really notice if the whole packet was missing! And yes, I do use the giblets, although sometimes I save them and freeze them for later.
mongoose at 1:53PM on 11/27/08
I'd go back and get something, even if only parts for stock.
@mongoose, Haha, my sister in law's first turkey still contained the packet of giblets when it came out of the oven. She had no idea!
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 2:58PM on 11/27/08
You can always cut off the wings and roast them a bit more and make a stock from them. You can also take the dark meat off the leg and roast that, too.
You'll get lots of gelatinous goodness when you do the stock.
Going to my sister-in-law's for dinner - she's a great cook but it's not the same so I'm doing a mini t-giving too.
Bet lots of people do that.
Nonny at 4:20PM on 11/27/08
I have a question along the same line. roasted turkey for sandwiches is in every deli but what happens to the bones? i love turkey stock and would love to buy bones all year. can anyone buy them retail?
coolname at 5:20PM on 11/27/08
doesn't that just piss you off!!!!! what's going to be missing next?
the pope's nose?????
pooch at 8:17PM on 11/27/08
Whether you get any sort of refund/freebie or not depends on the mood of the manager. Technically, you got what you paid for, since you probably paid by the bird by weight. However, if you're nice about it, they might give you some turkey necks, if they have them separately. Around here, I only saw them at one of the three chains in town, so it's possible that your store may not have any..
@coolname, te bones and all of that aren't going to be at the store, they'll be at whatever place processed the turkeys or where there breasts are cooked. However, you may be able to special-order turkey parts from the meat department, if you really want them.
I've never asked about turkey bones and bits, but I do buy chicken backs, necks, "and other parts" in bulk from the local meat market. It costs me $18 for 40 pounds. Sometimes it's just backs, sometimes there are wings or wing tips -- it just depends on what the processor has left from however they are cutting up the birds.
dbcurrie at 11:30PM on 11/27/08
@mongoose, hey what's up with trashing us poultry loving folks? I don't eat red meat--never really liked it--but I do cook a mean strip steak on the grill and can roast anything to perfection (according to my meat loving household). A nose and a sense of touch are some of the most valuable tools a cook can have--along with an open mind who appreciates constructive criticism.
Curious about your tag--my husband and I, when we were first dating had to feed mongoose for my father in law's lab. He was the first person to have mongoose breed to term in captivity. This was all a part to research how to control their population in a humane way. They were introduced to Puerto Rico, St. Croix and Hawaii to help control the pest population. Now with no natural predators they are the pest. They're quick little buggers and not as cute as Rikki Tikki Tavi. What's your connection to mongoose?
dhorst at 12:18AM on 11/28/08
Thats an idea make the stock w/ what was in the packet as planned whilst baking the turkey, when the turkey is done crave off all the meat and make some more stock with the carcass and add it to the first batch. I don't know if you went back to the store about it, does the store package them their or do they get the turkeys already sealed and that it was the plant itself error?
pjracz10 at 2:54AM on 11/28/08
@carolrsfMISSESTEXAS: Oh yes! I've seen that one before :D
@dhorst: I wasn't trashing anybody!
People who happen to be serious about cooking (poultry or anything else) DO know about these things; the ones who are to be seen rummaging about inside the bird to excavate the neck and giblets.
What I did mean was that most people who happen to be cooking poultry (this isn't restricted to poultry lovers, after all!) aren't that serious about cooking; in fact, most people AREN'T that serious about cooking, it's something they do because they have to.
I don't even think there's anything particularly wrong with that, but it does mean that things like giblets are not likely to be on their (the not-particularly serious) radar.
As a parallel, I'll say that I'm like that about wines, myself; I don't take wines particularly seriously, so there's a good deal I simply do not know, things I would never think to look out for when drinking wine. But I wouldn't consider that trashing myself... I could become interested/serious, at which point I'd choose to learn.
I can't really recall where mongoose came from, although it is a semi-nickname of mine. Something to do with curiosity, I think (often the unfortunate sort that involves experiments to discover what really DOES happen when you blend hot fluids in the blender, followed by experiments in stacking things so I can reach the ceiling to wipe off the soup), and the fact that I'm a bit unexpected in an argument ;)
mongoose at 3:20AM on 11/28/08
Hey mongoose...I am so sorry. Personally, I have found that part of the bird to be a bit of a surprise package...you never really know what you are going to pull out of there. To be safe, next year, buy some giblets that are sold separately and you will always have enough in the refrigerator when the bird doesn't "deliver".
pontato1 at 11:26AM on 11/28/08
I think if you bought a 10 pound or a 12 pound turkey,you would've gotten the neck.EVERYONE knows that odd pound turkeys dont have necks in them.Either that or it was the sneaky bastard they call a butcher.Can't trust them for shit.
onepercent99 at 5:20PM on 11/28/08
@mongoose, sorry if I took your comment wrong--I was just kind of joking around in response. Funny about your tag and being a bit unexpected in an argument since mongoose are one of the only natural predators of cobras--a formidable opponent indeed. And may I also say they are lightning fast--when we fed my father in law's mongoose live mice while he was away, in a 10' x 8' pen, you could toss the mouse into the opposite corner and the mouse wouldn't hit the floor alive. I felt bad--kind of squeamish that way, but still pretty interesting. Hmm, are you quick with comebacks during debates? ; )
dhorst at 7:39PM on 11/28/08
@dhorst: No worries, I just wanted to clarify, if I HAD inadvertently been rude.
That's some impressive speed that you've described; I suppose it was easier on the mice than being chased about for several minutes in a panic.
I don't know that my comebacks are necessarily that quick, but if I care about the topic being argued, I'm very tenacious, and I don't lose my head... the opposite of what most people expect ;)
mongoose at 2:03PM on 11/29/08
My Aunt Jo just wouldn`t have put up with gravy with out the neck!!!
She would have been pissed.
MADDOG2 at 11:32AM on 12/01/08
I had no idea about the giblet packet the first time i made turkey a decade ago! The packet was still in there after I took it out of the oven and I thought i ruined it but it was a paper packet so all was good.
On a funny note I saved my giblets for later and froze them instead of baking them with the turkey and my BIL was SO disappointed, he made a bee line to get them when the turkey was resting and wanted to know where I put them.
love2cook at 11:46AM on 12/01/08