We headed over to the Butterball headquarters bright and early this morning, ready to learn everything there is to know about turkey. Or as much as possible anyway. We were welcomed warmly by the Edelman staff, Butterball instructors, and Butterball Turkey Talk-Line ladies.
For those of you who don’t know about the Turkey Talk-Line, it’s Butterball’s phone number you can call for all your turkey-related questions during the holiday season. Seriously, you can ask anything. The Talk-Line is staffed by some of the ladies we met today (more of whom we’ll be meeting tomorrow) and they’re complete turkey experts and so, so nice. No matter what your turkey issue is, you can get some help by calling the Butterball line.
First, we learned the basics of getting a turkey prepared for cooking. They explained the packaging of the Butterball turkey; it has an easy-lift handle and is very simple to remove from the packaging.
Our favorite quote of the day was, “When are you ever going to see 12 raw turkeys lined up again?” Good point!
And then we got to prepare our own turkeys. This is the first time either of us have prepared a whole turkey, so we were anxious to get to work on them!
We learned all about stuffing turkey, proper temperatures and handling, and more.
Chris from Notes from the Trenches, Susan from Friday Playdate, and Casey from MooshinIndy are also blogging their way through Butterball University.
We loved Butterball instructor, Carol’s super festive turkey socks! And instructor Marty had the most adorable wishbone earrings. Clearly, these ladies love turkey!
Do you realize how many different ways there are to cook a turkey? We learned about tons of them and got to watch lots of demonstrations, including cooking a turkey in a microwave! Each of the 12 turkeys was cooked a different way and the final spread was nothing short of beautiful:
And then the moment we had been waiting for the entire day… We finally got the chance to try all the wonderfully cooked turkeys.
We loved the convection oven turkey, foil-wrapped, and oven cooking bag methods. But really? All were amazing.
Even the microwaved turkey was not bad. You never would have guessed the whole turkey was cooked in a microwave! Quite impressive.
And then we learned two ways to carve a turkey. Carving is something I’ve always been scared of, but they made it look so simple.
And then we gave it a try and it really wasn’t as difficult as we thought.
Of course, we had some fabulous teachers.
After eating all that turkey, can you believe we were still hungry a couple hours later? We headed out to dinner at La Sorella Di Francesca and dined on bruschetta and calamari for appetizers.
Chels had the wild mushroom and truffle oil flatbread.
And I had the Linguine all Amatriciana with pancetta and onions.
We took a group photo with the other bloggers, Edelman girls, and Butterball brand manager before heading back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we’re going back to headquarters to attend the Turkey Talk-Line kick-off where we’ll be meeting more of the Butterball Talk-Line team and learning more about turkey, of course. Including… deep frying it!
Be sure to follow Butterball on Facebook and Twitter as well. We’ll also be blogging for Butterball this holiday season on their blog.
We can’t wait to learn more tomorrow… And um, eat more, too! This is definitely one of the best paying-jobs we’ve ever had!
[Sues and Chels]
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Chels – love the necklace!
I have always been terrified of turkey and thought I’d never give it a whirl until I was forced to if I were hosting a holiday. But, now I might even willingly try to do a Butterball one. It doesn’t look too difficult! Excited to see how Day Two goes!
Thanks so much for sharing pics! One year I called Butterball talk line around Thanksgiving – they were VERY friendly and extremely informative – good luck to you both and cant wait to hear about Day 2!
it looks like you girls are having an amazing time! i can’t wait for you two to come back and test out your turkey cooking and carving skills!
I can’t wait for the full download! You both look like you had a blast and Chels- just a guess here- but did Susan Wagner LOVE your outfit? Bet she did.
Oh! I want to be there. Looks like fun. I’d probably learn a lot since I’ve never cooked a Thanksgiving turkey alone.
It was so wonderful to meet both of you!
I LOVE that necklace!! The turkeys look great. I cannot believe you cooked one in the microwave!!!
Oh how fun!! I actually grew up and went to high school in Naperville, that’s so funny that’s where Butterball University is! Check out if Cookie Dough Creations is still downtown, they make the best cookies ever!
yuuuuum!!! those turkey pics make me wish it was thanksgiving TOMORROW!!! i can’t wait to hear about day 2 of turkey-time!!!
Okay, I work at Edelman so BBall-U is already legend in my mind. So excited to get the deets through your eyes. Also, Chels, that necklace is seriously rocking the apron!
You ladies made it a hundred times more fun and made me go home and buy all new clothes. You’re that cute.
After reading this and seeing all of these pictures I need Thanksgiving to hurry up. Even though you still may need to fight your Dad on making the the turkey, you just made your argument much better
Looks like you ladies had a great time!
Ya’ll need some Turkey Socks!
Oh yeah… See, holy necklace! :-O
The first turkey I ever made in my 20′s was a disaster.
I cooked the giblet package still in the plastic bag in the middle of the bird!
I like to use a Reynolds Oven Bag, I swear it works, my bird is always moist and comes out perfect every time!
I love the socks!
It looks like you had so much fun!!! And now I am craving turkey…