"Sadie's Tender Turkey Secret"

Several years ago I had Thanksgiving at my house, and when we went to the table to cut the bird, someone said: "Ah-Ha! Now I know your secret!" and getting scared... I'm thinking "uh oh... you do?" and they replied "Yes, I see you leave the giblets and neck and all in the plastic bag while baking and that must be how you got your bird so tender" at which point I just started laughing because I totally forgot to take the giblets bag out of the turkey's butt before baking. duh.
Guess I just had a lot of other things on my mind at the time, like maybe 15 adults and 12 kids?
Well, I don't recommend preparing your bird this way but hey.......

LOL! That reminds me of when I worked in a kitchen at a nursing home. This was a long time ago - I think I was 19 or 20. The supervisor wanted me to put a ham on to boil. They would make a puree for some of the patients that couldn't have regular food. So, I went into the walk in freezer, got something out that resembled what I thought a whole ham might look like, and got it boiling. Well, the next day, my supervisor informed me that I had boiled a turkey - giblet bag and all. Talk about gross. LOL! Worst thing is that my ex-mother-in-law worked there with me. Needless to say I heard about that over and over and over until I got divorced. LOL! I like to think I've come a long way since then.

I actually just did this the other day with a whole rotisserie chicken! I swear I checked in the cavity for the guts, but didn't feel them. These days, 3 out of 4 whole chickens I buy don't have the guts, so I figured they weren't in there.

For dinner, I cut a breast off for DW and leg quarter for me. Later that night, I carved up the rest of the meat and was boning it for sandwiches that week. As I was working the carcass, I saw something inside. Looking closer, yep, there were all the guts just lying in there. No bag, but they were fully cooked.

Interestingly enough, having the guts inside didn’t change the flavor.

When I was young, maybe about 12, my mother was in the hospital throughout the holidays. I was supposed to cook the dinner. On the phone, Mom assured me that Mrs. Z, from across the street was going to come over at a set time to help me get the turkey in the oven.

Well, she showed up as promised, and looked around for the bird. I explained that it was in the freezer, where it had been ever since it came home!

She buttered it up, put it in a low oven, giblet bag and all, and let it thaw and cook at the same time. All I remember is that we ate late, and no one got sick!