BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?

Subject: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: gnu
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 08:45 PM

Thanksgiving here in Canuckistan on the morrow. I have my way of cooking turkey but the skin does not "brown". It's delicious but it's not "the same". My uncle used to cook his in a brown paper bag and it was amazing! The problem was, he wouldn't tell anyone how he did it and he would chase everyone out of the kitchen when he was cooking. I often wondered if he wasn't simply playing a practical joke on the children... and the odd adult, meaning me.

I went to the Canuck turkey farmers website and watched their video. 325F. I recall years ago when the Health Canada website said all fowl should be cooked at 375F and had recommended cooking times. Now, that website doesn't have any of that but says use a meat thermometer and gives the temps.

So... how do you roast your turkey? I need this info by noon tomorrow so chop-chop! and pitter-patter, let's get atter!

Oh, yeah. Thanks for Mudcat, Max.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 09:18 PM

I usually start the Turkey at 425F then reduce the heat after 30 minutes to 325F. I also usually either brine or do a 3 day dry salt rub process before roasting and order fresh free range turkey and not frozen.

Leaving the turkey sitting out and uncovered at room temperature for 20 minutes before roasting helps the skin dry a bit to insure nice browning and some crispiness to the skin when the bird is done.

Happy Canuck Thanksgiving Day!

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 09:40 PM

Brown paper bag, eh? That reminds me of southern fried chicken getting the covering shaken on to it. But turkey, I dunno.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 11:20 PM

Alright, Gary, you seem to listen to some of the things I say, so I will tell you this, and if you follow the instructions, you will LOVE the resulting turkey:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/brined-and-roasted-turkey-recipe.html

In particular, the BRINE is very simple.
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 oranges, quartered
2 lemons, quartered
6 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs rosemary

(I'll leave this link, in case it is more durable than my searched link: "Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/brined-and-roasted-turkey-recipe.html)

Brine the bird overnight, or at least for a few hours the morning before. Don't use stuffing. Start it in the oven BREAST SIDE DOWN and turn it later as the instructions say.

And most important, when it is out of the oven LET IT REST. Sometimes as long as an hour. It is so much better because the juices stay with the meat, they won't run out like they do if you slice it too soon.

I have a printout of this recipe in my kitchen, and though I also have other recipes, this one says, in my handwriting "USE THIS ONE!"

Capiche?

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Oct 16 - 11:46 PM

How LONG do you guys cook it? I seem to remember it was a certain number of minutes per pound.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: BobL
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 03:56 AM

Depends on the temperature, I once slow-roasted one although it didn't turn out quite as expected.

Having calculated 12 hours at gas 1/2 (250 deg F), I put the turkey in the oven on return from the Midnight service (this was Xmas, you understand). My in-laws, who were staying with us, insisted that this wouldn't be enough so against my better judgement, I upped the temperature to gas 1 (275 deg). By 9 a.m. not only was the bird completely cooked, but the fat has overflowed the roasting pan and put the gas out.

We had our Xmas lunch a bit earlier than usual, and they never argued about my cooking again.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: michaelr
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 07:43 PM

I've tried brining, and found it made the meat way too salty.

The brown paper bag thing works! http://www.food.com/recipe/kidd-kraddicks-famous-brown-bag-turkey-267289

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 07:51 PM

Brine? What are you people DOING!!

Get your turkey from a good supplier that does free-range birds. This is far and away the most important part of serving up good turkey.

Do not be tempted to get a huge great massive bird. If you really need enough to feed the five thousand, buy two smaller ones. Oven-ready weights of 13 or 14 pounds are ideal.

Your turkey should be at room temperature. That means twelve hours out of the fridge or 36 hours out of the freezer (Jaysus though - frozen turkeys - yikes!)

You need a large roasting tin. The foil ones you can buy are good, honest.

Heat your oven to about 190°C. Put your turkey in the tin breast side up. Season it with freshly-ground black pepper and a bit of salt. Easy, tiger. And do not put stuffing in the turkey. If you want stuffing, cook it separately. Ask me for my recipe as long as you think, like I do, that pork sausage meat is essential in stuffing.

Cover your turkey, every bit of it, with rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon. There should not be a single square millimetre of turkey showing.

Put the turkey into the oven. Do NOT interfere with it in any way during the next two hours except, if necessary, to get rid of SOME of the excess liquid in the tin.

After two hours, take off the bacon, which should now be crispy, and allow your hungry family to wrestle each other to the death in order to eat it. Beer is good at this point. Baste the turkey and put it back in the oven.

Keep your eye on it. An average bird will need about one more hour. During that time the skin will crisp, especially if you baste it once in a while. Follow your instincts. If you think it isn't crisping sufficiently, whack the oven up to its maximum for the last ten minutes. When you think it's done, remove from the oven, transfer it to a new tin or plate and leave it for at least 45 minutes somewhere warm. In the meantime, whack up your oven for the roast spuds, and use the juices in the roasting tin to make gravy.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: gnu
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 08:16 PM

For the first time in my life, I followed what the turkey experts (at the Canuck turkey farmers site) said. What a screw up! I cook a mean, tasty turkey. Not today. I shall take Acme's advice next time.

I am serious. I have never been so disappointed... nay, nay... PISSED OFF in my kitchen. I am still pissed off and it's past 9PM. I couldn't even bring myself to eat supper in my foul mood. It wasn't cooked! I had to cook the damn thing for another hour. Oh, I served Mum with what I could serve her without being embarrassed at a half hour late and the veggies weren't hot - had to turn them off for a while. I am really upset. BIG turkey stew coming on tomorrow. Then, a turkey hash and freezing chopped up turkey for sandwiches.

As for the Canuck turkey farmers' website, I flip them the bird.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 08:36 PM

It's like with any big lump of meat thst you want to roast. You just have to keep it simple. I'm having people round for a roast on Thursday evening. I've ordered the biggest shouder of lamb my butcher can provide, hoping for eight pounds at least. We're eating at about six, so I'll put the lamb in the oven at nine in the morning at 120 degrees Celsius and forget it until around 4.30. Just a touch of seasoning and a sprig of rosemary on top.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 09:07 PM

1. Go to here.

2. Follow directions.

3. Heat and serve.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 09:15 PM

Yebbut turkey breast is the bit you give to the cat. The bits of the turkey that are worth eating are the legs, wings, skin and the brown underneath bits.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 09:21 PM

I would think that roasting at 250F is drying, not roasting:>) Might be a good plan for preserving and turning into hardtack.

Sorry it didn't go so well, gnu. That has probably happened to all of us at one time or another. What happened? Too dry?

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 09:42 PM

"You would think," huh? Well try it. Not on poultry, which always has to be roasted at quite high temperatures. But if you roast a big piece of lamb or pork on the bone, slowly, it doesn't shrink and the meat is meltingly tender. I can only tell you. Please yourself. You can always whack up the heat for a while at the end to crisp up the skin or the crackling. It's quick roasting of these cuts that dries them out. Duh. By the way, when I say big pieces, I do not refer to leg of lamb or pork, which are cuts fit only for the cat. Shoulder on the bone for big dinner roasts every time. And don't let your butcher cut out the fillet. Whole shoulder includes the fillet, which cooks superbly when it's in the joint.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 10:04 PM

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving.html

I second what Steve said about procuring a fresh, (preferrably free range) bird if you can get it and afford it. And if you can get it and afford it, probably no need to either salt or brine if you tend it carefully. Because freezing also causes drying, a frozen turkey, untreated by either brine or a salt rub, is more likely to end up terribly dry.

I did a wet brine twice and it was a huge mess both times. First task Thanksgiving morning was completely cleaning out the turkey infused brine from the refrigerator, including the veggie and fruit bins, then thoroughly mopping up then sanitizing the flooded kitchen floor.

I'm not generally a huge fan of turkey and I do like the extra flavor of herbs that brining or doing a salt rub gives, and having played with both, prefer the salt rub, which is quite simple to do, doesn't overdue breaking down the muscle fibers, and does imbue the meat with a lovely, subtle flavoring of the chosen herbs. So I use a salt rub (my generally favorite recipe to follow) even with a fresh, free range bird. Or more likely these days, turkey breast rather than the whole bird.

The other 2 things I like about the salty dry rub is it does build in a bit of margin of error, and can make for better leftovers if I end up freezing turkey. 1. If I'm roasting a turkey it is for a big holiday feast for which I have also chosen to fix way too many side dishes and may be unable to leave one dish I'm prepping alone just when I need to check and possibly remove the Turkey at the end of roasting. The salt rub buys a little time if I leave the turkey in a little longer than absolutely necessary. 2. Left over turkey is dried out turkey. The more moist the left over turkey the less dry in leftover recipes.

I generally follow this recipe for a dry rub. If fixing a turkey breast or very small turkey I may do the breast down thing then turn, or may not. Tenting with foil seems to work fine most of the time. I also play around with oven temps, based on nothing rational and only after dithering for days after researching every English-language site on the web. I am settled on stsrting the Turkey at either 425 or 450F, and reducing the temp to 350 or 325F after 20-30 minutes. Can't tell you what goes into deciding. Probably has to do with size of bird on some unconscious level as well as some weird tactile info taken in while handling the raw bird just before putting in oven. I don' think those 25 degree variants probably make that much difference as the bird has turned out pretty good for years now, regardless.   

this is the recipe I more or less use. I also fine chop fresh sage, rosemary and thyme and just a little garlic and incorporate into the rub. The Judy Bird

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 10 Oct 16 - 10:06 PM

Uhm, I thinking about Turkey, Steve, which is what the thread is about, and was responding to BobL's post about slow roasting a turkey at 250F.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: BobL
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 03:32 AM

Points taken - I probably gave it the first 20mins at a high temperature, and tented it in foil for the slow bit. Can't remember all the details - it was a good few years ago and I've never had the opportunity to repeat the exercise.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 06:00 AM

Yes, I can see I didn't make it clear first time that turkey wasn't counted under big lumps of meat - sorry about that! 🙁

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 06:19 AM

I prefer to have my herby flavours in the stuffing (fresh parsley, fresh thyme, fresh sage - not that dusty powder you get in tiny jars). Just salt and black pepper on the bird, seasoned just before cooking. Get a lemon, cut in half and put it in the cavity with a whole peeled onion. Keeps the beast nice and moist and helps the gravy too. My streaky bacon also adds flavour, stops the breast from drying out and helps to create some lovely fat for roasting the spuds in. I've never eaten intensively-reared turkey that had decent texture and flavour. It must be free range for me. This end, we can get a thing called a free-range Kelly Bronze turkey. If it's well cooked it's nearly as good as, er, a free-range chicken...😂

Now, yanks, why not join the rest of the planet and ditch all this Fahrenheit stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 09:31 AM

Ever had properly prepared wild turkey (the bird, not the whiskey)?

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: gnu
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 10:21 AM

I haven't, Rap. How does it compare?

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: JHW
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 10:30 AM

Unlike the Cuckoo the Turkey is not a pretty bird but is still unkind to cook it

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: gnu
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 02:12 PM

JHW... one should all meat, especially fowl and pork.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: gnu
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 02:14 PM

Oops! *cook* all meat. Fingers faster than brain. Must be the meat.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: leeneia
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 03:16 PM

I have a neighbor who grew up on a farm in Missouri. One day she told me her brother is still on the farm, and he raises free-range chickens.

"Of course they really live in boxes," she said.

Later I got to thinking about the rural Midwest and all its hazards: coyotes, foxes, feral dogs and cats, hawks, large owls, human thieves and vandals. I'm sure the chickens are much happier in their boxes.
===========
How I cook turkey: I buy a Butterball and I follow the directions on the package. But I am considering cooking a turkey in a paper bag, just to play in the kitchen.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Senoufou
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 03:17 PM

Steve is absolutely right in every detail.

(Except I rub butter all over the bird, and poke some under the skin too, before encasing it in unsalted bacon rashers, and I prefer a true Norfolk turkey, very dark flesh and special flavour, rather expensive though!)

And there MUST be lightly-boiled sprouts. Sprouts are to die for. Sprouts are gorgeous.


Did I say I love sprouts?

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 05:47 PM

Good idea to stuff a big knob of soft butter under the breast skin. I'd forgotten that tip. I agree about the sprouts too. They have a bad name because, all too often, soft, loose ones are used, and they are devilishly easy to overcook. I want tight little sprouts and I check them at least once a minute until they are al dente.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 05:51 PM

I've found myself unable to eat chicken or turkey since I started keeping poultry as pets!
They all have names and personalities (you can't eat something with a name)- and I spend much of my time trying to outwit the Pine Marten while allowing poultry to be free range - -- so it would be madness to consider dispatching one to eat myself?

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 05:55 PM

I think we had one of those Norfolk Black turkeys a few years ago. We didn't get the best out of it because it was a bit too big, about 19 pounds, and I made the mistake of stuffing the neck end, which stopped the flesh cooking properly. It was hellish expensive too. It's what persuaded me not to go too large. Better to have two slightly smaller birds, as I said. You get more legs and wings that way too, and wow, two pope's noses!

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 07:38 PM

I've never eaten a wild turkey, well prepared or otherwise, Rap. Like gnu, would like to hear more from you on that!

Sprouts? As in seed sprouts? Or does sprouts refer to some veggie that we on this side of the pond call by another name? Never have heard sprouts and turkey used in the same paragraph before. Say more!

Gallus Mall, I know I couldn't eat any animal I had raised. I have trouble eating game or fish I have skinned, gutted and butchered, or watched the process from killing to ready for the stove. At least not unless it's disembodied parts have dwelt in the freezer for at least a few weeks to allow the denial to kick in.

I can dress and butcher it or I can eat it, but I have a hard time doing both.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 07:53 PM

Brussels sprouts.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 08:43 PM

We just stick ours in the oven, light the fuse, and run!

Charlie Ignoble

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: CupOfTea
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 08:53 PM

I was converted to grilled turkey a few (American) Thanksgivings ago, at a friend's extensive table - about 18 people, 2 turkeys. One roasted in the oven, one grilled outside with charcoal and mesquite.
Exquisite! The stuffing from the grilled bird lasted never made it to the bottom half of the table. I was astonished to find it took about the same time to cook as the oven turkey.

Waxing rhapsodic about this, my "fringe benefit turkey" from work (ONLY fringe benefit), was due for a Christmas day roasting at another family's place. The man o' the house is known as a grilling adept for his summer long cooking of a variety of things on grills, and took this as a challenge. I brined the turkey, and he used mesquite. It needed regular basting, and a pan to catch the drippings. Quite marvelous. Subsequent years we tried other flavored woods, but decided hickory was just... too average, like grocery smoked turkey, and went back to mesquite. I am salivating, just thinnking about it.

Joanne in Cleveland

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 09:44 PM

Thanks Steve. I perhaps should have realized that.

Mom, a very good cook in most respects and excellent at baking, always fixes brussels sprouts with turkey and other winter holiday meals, and I have always hated them and the smell of them. Steamed in the oven in too much oil, and mushy. Can mash them with a fork. Daddy loved them like that, and daddies rule.   So I have never fixed them.

Last winter at a clinic pot luck some one brought tender-crisp roasted brussels sprouts, carrots and onions, very lightly dressed with prepared mustard and just a little olive oil. As she was right behind me in the buffet line I took a small spoonful to be polite. Then she sat right across the table from me, so I had to take a bite. Was focusing on being sure to not wrinkle my nose or worse, gag.

Yum! I went back for a larger second serving.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 11 Oct 16 - 10:24 PM

I always slow cook my family's birds. 275F until internal temp is 5 degrees below the official recommendation. Then remove from the oven and allow the temp to stabilize. When done properly, the temp continues to rise to the recommended level and the bird has always been moist.
As far as sprouts, I sauté chopped garlic in olive or sesame oil, add a little fresh ground black pepper, cut the sprouts in half until slightly brown and serve them right from the skillet. Usually end up doing several batches.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 07:31 AM

I've never checked the internal temperature of anything in my life.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 10:30 AM

How long will a turkey last in a feezer?

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: gnu
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 12:59 PM

Anything kept in a freezer at a temperature of -19C or lower will keep indefinitely. The only problem is "freezer burn"... if there is no air in the packaging, no freezer burn.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 01:44 PM

This may sound bloody stupid but I found a turkey in the bottom of my chest freezer that I'd forgotten I had. It had been one of two that I'd bought fresh then realised I'd bought too much, so into the freezer it went, for a whole year. It was superb.

Chest freezer syndrome, eh? 😳

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 05:17 PM

"Turkey. How do you cook it?" Don't we have enough problems in the Middle East? Oh, never mind!

Has anyone cooked a Kosher turkey? I understand they are brined before being frozen.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Gurney
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 08:24 PM

I've seen it done several times on America's Funniest Home Videos. They seem to drop it into boiling oil very abruptly.
When the Fire Service has extinguished the result, it's done.

Then you rebuild the fence and reseed the lawn.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 12 Oct 16 - 08:30 PM

I only get Empire Kosher. When I have an extra, I have the butcher quarter it for later cooking and consumption. To get extra, your supermarket [Shop Rite, in my case] has to have a deal that, when you purchase a certain value, you get a "free" turkey.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 13 Oct 16 - 08:22 PM

Nice, EBarnacle!

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Oct 16 - 08:34 PM

Thompson's Turkey

or, do a search... dozens of articles on it.
I first saw it in the Sunday newspaper supplement magazine in 1961, I think. Tried it...loved it. It takes work, and is easier with help. I showed it to a friend years later and we shared it several times back in Wichita. Then he moved to Wash DC, and I followed in 1977. I shared it several times with friends here.
   Now my friend from Wichita does it every year, and last Thanksgiving I ate it at his house. I'd guess I've helped with it or eaten it 20-25 times in 50+ years.

Note: everyone messes with the recipe. I almost double the egg/mustard coating and halve the amount of water chestnuts. If you try it, do NOT neglect the basting schedule. You really do need a fairly large bird to do justice to it, but 'adjustments' can be made.

Let me know if anyone tries it...

(oh..BTW.. I also have...somewhere... a copy of the Morton Thompson novel "Joe, the Wounded Tennis Player" where the recipe first appeared.)

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 13 Oct 16 - 10:30 PM

Probably wonderful. Also a recipe that only a person, usually male, would undertake because all they have taken on responsibility for is fixing the turkey - damn the side dishes, house cleaning in prep for the guests, polishing the silver, etc. *grin*

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 14 Oct 16 - 08:19 AM

"How long will a turkey last in a feezer?"

No answers?

Well, I put one in the freezer last night. It was dead this morning!

(Thanks the Jimmy & Eamonn)

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Charmion
Date: 14 Oct 16 - 09:17 AM

Sorry I haven't seen this thread till now.

I am a turkey champ. Over some 40 years, I have roasted them whole, spatchcocked (butterflied) and in parts, both unstuffed and filled with chestnuts and oysters, wild rice, cornbread, sausage and apple, sage and onion and probably a couple more I can't remember now. Here's what I have learned about turkey cookery.

Steve Shaw is right: 15 pounds is about the ideal weight. Bigger, and you can end up with dried-out breast and raw hip joints in the same bird; smaller, and you get mostly architecture. Fresh-killed is best, too; it's almost impossible to assess the condition of a frozen turkey, not to mention the mushiness of the cooked flesh.

The conventional method of roasting -- stuffed and trussed, greased all over, and in a low to medium oven -- works okay if you are prepared to start it on its breast and turn it three times during roasting: first on one side, then to the other, and finally onto its back. Also, it must be basted each time it is turned.

So, if that's how you roll, set the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and get out the heavy-duty rubber gloves; don't try to turn a turkey with tools. Bad things will happen.

I like to spatchcock a turkey. This technique involves cutting the backbone out of the bird and spreading it out flat, the better to cook it quickly and evenly. You need a very large baking sheet or roasting pan; I recommend a trip to a professional cooks' shop to buy literally the largest flat pan that will fit into your oven. Measure the oven rack to be sure. First, lay the turkey skin side down and roast it for about an hour; then, turn it over (rubber gloves again) and roast until done. If you want stuffing, move the half-roasted turkey to a platter, pile the stuffing in the middle of the roasting pan, and drape the turkey over the stuffing for the second phase of roasting.

While this is going on, the off-cuts of the turkey (backbone, wingtips and neck) are boiling up with celery, onion and carrot to the end that gravy may be made.

This year, I bought a teeny-tiny turkey (mostly architecture) and cooked it spatchcocked in the barbecue. It was delicious. It is now gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Oct 16 - 01:24 PM

That's exactly how I make stock for the gravy too, but I never use the liver from the giblets bag. Throw in a bayleaf and a sprig or two of thyme too.

Turning a turkey is just about the most hazardous kitchen procedure of all. Don't wear any clothes, including footwear, that you care about. We stopped turning turkeys a few years ago, and they don't suffer at all. My method of covering the breast with streaky bacon, along with plenty of basting, keeps the breast from drying out too much.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Oct 16 - 11:05 PM

I cooked brown bag turkeys for years when at school.
The pluses:
Turkey self bastes and browns beautifully.
There is no need to constantly open oven and check or hand baste.

The minuses:
You have to gin up the turkey gravy yourself as you don't get much gravy out of the self basting process.

Turkey bags meant expressly for this process are available so you don't have to spend a lot of time greasing up the paper bags.

I knew a guy who thought if you reduced the temperature to about 150 degF and left the turkey in a lot longer he could get a night's rest and wake up to a ready turkey. This resulted in a turkey so dry you had to add water to reconstitute it into turkey soup. But at least he had a wishbone ready to break.

Subject: RE: BS: Turkey. How do you cook it?
From: Janie
Date: 15 Oct 16 - 02:28 AM

Long and short seems to be - buy a fresh turkey - not too large - don't make the mistake of putting in the oven at too low heat for a long time, which is called drying, not roasting. Beyond that, use any number of recipes, methods, assorted oven temps, smokers, grills or turkey fryers, and the result will likely be quite tasty. Eh?