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Chris Karver grew up in Warminster, Bucks County and is a graduate of William Tennent High School and Villanova University. Life circumstances brought her to Boyertown where she was a Social Studies teacher at Boyertown Area Sr. High School since 1982. At BASH, Chris was also Student Council Advisor for 20 years and a member of the MOMs (a group of eight beautiful women from BASH who “Made Others Matter” by helping staff members in need). A Boyertown resident, Chris has two children: Becky, wife of Rob Rowe, and John; as well as two grandchildren. Since retirement, Chris has been active in serving the Boyertown area as a member of the Junior Woman’s Club of Boyertown, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Boyertown Ambulance Community Service. She also helps with Meals on Wheels. Service is an important part of Chris’s character.
by Chris Karver
To me Thanksgiving is the one holiday of the year where one gets together with family and/or friends just to enjoy their company and to enjoy great food. The feast of traditional Thanksgiving food is something I always look forward to every year. There’s no stress in buying the right presents or any presents at all. The only stress one has is to make sure the turkey isn’t overcooked (which becomes too dry) or undercooked and everyone leaves with food poisoning.
Most Thanksgivings I’ve spent at my brother & sister-in-law’s home with my children, nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends. My sister-in-law and daughter are excellent cooks.
This one particular Thanksgiving my daughter joined my sister-in-law in planning, preparing, and cooking our annual feast.
So my daughter calls me to give me my assignment. I’m to buy a fresh turkey and then “spatchcock” it and put the spatchcock bird in her special brine that includes buttermilk and various seasonings. Okay, spatchcock, got it. I didn’t want to sound like a dummy so I pretended I knew what spatchcock meant. To me it sounds like a dirty word. But like everything else that I need directions on, I go to You Tube. I watched the video on how to spatchcock a turkey and it looked like a piece of cake, easy peasy, no problem!
I saw that spatchcocking a turkey involves cutting the backbone of the bird, then turning it upside down to flatten it out on the pan. This is supposed to make the turkey cook faster and be moister. This is going to be great. I would get to use my brand-new boning knives that I bought at Bed, Bath, and Beyond’s closeout sale.
I first had to get a fresh turkey. Looking up on Facebook, I discovered a turkey farm in Gilbertsville and ordered a fresh bird. A day before Thanksgiving I proceeded to spatchcock the turkey. First thing, take the backbone out of the bird. I had no idea those boning knives were so sharp! Every time I touched one of the knives I got a cut, which required a band aid. When I finished this task, I had several band aids on some of my fingers. But the backbone was crushed and taken out. Now according to the video (which I had to watch several times), I had to turn the bird over and flatten it out.
That turkey had a hump in the middle. Why wasn’t it flat? I gathered all my strength to try to flatten out that bird, but it didn’t budge. Um, what should I do now? I know! I got a bunch of towels and took the turkey out on my breezeway that has a cement tiled floor. I laid a couple of towels down, put the turkey on top, then laid a couple of towels on top of the bird. I then got on a chair and jumped on top of the turkey. It took a couple of jumps, but I finally succeeded in flattening out that turkey somewhat. Now on to make the brine, and put the spatchcocked bird in a roasting bag with the brine.
The brine recipe that my daughter sent was easy enough to make and I must say it was a heck of a lot easier than spatchcocking that thing. After I put the bird in the bag with the brine and tied up the bag, you guessed it – the band aids on my fingers disappeared! I tried to find them in the bag but couldn’t. So, I figured we’ll find them when we’ll remove the turkey from the bag and put it on the roasting pan. Well, we found some of the band aids. I pretended that they got them all, thinking they’ll dissolve when roasting.
To my knowledge no one discovered or tasted the missing band aid(s) and everyone lived. That Thanksgiving I learned how to spatchcock a turkey, along with what’s necessary to have when boning anything -- a pair of cutting gloves, and a box of brightly colored band aids!
More News from Boyertown
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- Doug Hales Redefines Thanksgiving Doug Hales' Thanksgiving realization that redefining his life, over and over, blazing his own trail and believing anything is possible, is as American as "apple pie."
