Roasting a Turkey in 1961 vs. My Backyard Now
In 1961, Cutco shipped a cookbook with every set. I have one, and some of you probably got one with your original knives. The pages have yellowed but the advice inside is a time capsule: roast your turkey at 300 degrees, figure 13 to 30 minutes per pound depending on size, tent it with "Alcoa Wrap," and whatever you do, don't baste.
My favorite part is the doneness test. No thermometer anywhere. You grasp the end of the leg bone, and if the thigh joint moves easily, the bird is done. Grandma didn't have a ThermoPro. She had a feel for it, and honestly, her turkey was probably great.
How it happens at my house now
Our house has hosted Thanksgiving for the past five years, and the turkey happens outside on a Big Green Egg. Somewhere along the way I started keeping a note in my phone. Every year I write down exactly what I did, score the result, and list what to change. It's become one of my favorite traditions inside the tradition.
A few entries from the archive:
2022: 14-pounder, spatchcocked, 24 hours in Lane's BBQ brine, three chunks of hickory, pulled between 165 and 175. Scored it 8/10. The note says use less smoking wood next time and dry it in the fridge longer for crispier skin.
2024: Switched to Meat Church's Bird Baptism brine for 28 hours, then 16 hours uncovered in the fridge. Seasoned with Texas Sugar, Honey Hog, and Spellbound, two chunks of cherrywood, on the Egg at 275. Pulled at 160 in the breast, wrapped in foil, rested in a cooler.
2025: Kinder's brine bucket Wednesday morning, rinsed and dried overnight, on the Egg at 1:25 with the dome at 290. Temp dropped to 250 when the cold bird went in, so I cracked the vent. That's the kind of detail you only remember because you wrote it down.
Sixty-five years apart, the 1961 book and my iPhone note are doing the same job: write down what works so next year's bird is better than this year's.
The part that hasn't changed at all
Here's what stopped me when I flipped to the carving section. The 1961 instructions are still exactly right. Fork holds the bird steady, blade starts near the handle, and you pull back with a long sweeping stroke instead of sawing. The book even tells you to let the turkey rest before carving so it slices cleaner. Ovens changed, brines changed, the thermometer in my pocket would look like witchcraft to the 1961 illustrator. The carving technique is untouched.
So is the tool. The Carving Knife and Carving Fork in those pages are the same pieces a lot of you own right now, and the factory still stands behind every one of them, no matter what decade it left Olean.
If your Thanksgiving table is still missing the real deal, the Carving Set with the knife and fork from those 1961 pages is still made in Olean and still guaranteed forever. And if the set you already own needs a factory-fresh edge before the big day, reach out and we'll point you in the right direction.
Happy Thanksgiving from our table to yours. May your thigh joints move easily.