
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 18, 1994                   TAG: 9411250004
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TALKING TURKEY

The lowly, oft-maligned turkey will have its annual appreciation day on Thursday as the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal. Many cooks across America will approach the fowl with trepidation, for fear they will not serve the bird in the Rockwell-esque golden-brown-drumsticks-poised style.

Butterball's Turkey Talk-Line (800-323-4848) has come the rescue of many troubled cooks and shares some of its most memorable calls:

A Kentucky woman's chihuahua jumped into the bird's cavity while it was being prepared. The dog and turkey became inseparable until the woman cut a wider opening in the bird.

A woman called to find out how long to roast the turkey. When asked how much it weighed, the woman replied, ``I don't know; it's still running around outside.'' Now that's fresh turkey!

A restaurant owner in California wanted to know how to roast a turkey for a vegetarian menu.

``How do you thaw a fresh turkey?'' a caller asked the Talk-Line.

And this just in (a personal experience) ... A nurse stuffed her turkey with rice only to be horrified several hours later (along with her holiday guests) when the door to her oven was blown open and her kitchen splattered with rice and turkey parts. She had used raw rice, which absorbs moisture and expands as it cooks.

The nurse and her friends had Thanksgiving dinner in a local restaurant.

by CNB