So this year we got two turkey's because we never have enough leftover white meat (that's mostly what we eat). I am on a high protein diet (had gastric bypass 4 weeks ago tomorrow!!) and I want to have enough leftover to last a while and give me an option other than chicken and the occassional red meat.
My husband always fries the turkey on our year for it, and my dad always bakes it. Since we are doing two (our year), I want to fry one and bake one. Problem is, neither hubby or I have ever baked one. I have some instructions from my dad and it seems pretty easy, I was just wondering what you all do to bake a turkey.
Thanks!
Reynold's turkey cooking bag. So easy and it's almost impossible to mess it up.
I prefer my turkey to be done the classic way, it's delicious as it is, and I don't like the extra salt that is added from brining, etc.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Well my first thought is to get one of those Reynolds bags. It makes it really easy and fast to cook and turns out moist and delicious. Just follow the directions on the bag for preparing the bag, and then use the directions on the turkey as a guide. The turkey should have a pop up thermometer in it so you know when it reaches the correct temperature. And don't forget to take out the little bag from the inside, with the liver and gizzards in it before you cook it!! Congratulations on your surgery - and hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Oh, and I am marinating my turkey in a brine for a few days before we cook ours - you can google for different brine recipes, it makes a turkey very flavorful but is time consuming. And I usually rub butter or oil with spices all over my turkey before I bake it. Good luck!
We smoke them. :)
I used to bake them and if you get the prepared ones it is pretty much putting it in the oven and waiting for the timer to pop up.
We always brine ours for 24 hours before we smoke them. I don't have the time to type out what goes into the brine but I am sure if you google it you will find tons of recipes. The salt in the brine pulls moisture out of the water and traps it in the turkey. Makes them so juicy!
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Stuffing pulls the moisture out of a turkey, I would not recommend stuffing them. Well that and with the extra moisture the stuffing end up looking like barf.
20 minutes per pound, baking 350*F, covered in foil if the bird is unstuffed.
22 minutes per bound, baking 350*F, covered in foil if the bird is stuffed.
Put a couple of cups of water or broth into the deep baking pan. Try to have the bird lifted up onto a baking rack in the pan. You can season the skin if you want or rub it in olive oil or butter, and then cover it over with the heavy duty foil. Once you do that, do NOT open the oven to baste the turkey AT ALL. The turkey does NOT need to be basted. It bastes itself, and all you do by opening the oven repeatedly is add on to the baking time by losing the heat.
Keep a heat thermometer handy to check the internal temperature of the turkey in case it's ready early or later than expected. About an hour before you think it's going to be done, you can remove the foil completely. This will allow the skin to brown. At the same time you can wiggle a turkey leg and if it's loose, it's almost done.
When it hits the "ready" time on the timer, wiggle the leg again and if it feels like it's about to come off and juices are running clear, it's ready but you also need to check internal temp without hitting a bone. If you hit a bone when you check the internal temp, it will give a falsely high reading.
I like to soak it in brine overnight, but I don't always. Sometimes I stuff, sometimes I don't. If I don't stuff I just cut up an onion (maybe some celery) and stick it in the cavity. I put a pat of butter under the skin on the breast. I rub the turkey down with butter and poultry seasoning. I tent it loosely wih foil after it starts to brown. I baste it every so often. Sometimes I cook it upside down so the juices from the dark meat run down and baste the breasts. It works, but you don't get a pretty bird to present.
Our Turkey's are delicious and we go the easy route.
Clean it .... which means rinse it with cold water and pull out all the yuck on the inside, plus any fat we can get to.
Make a mixture of your favorite spices. We only use garlic and olive oil. Then spread it all over the Turkey.
Buy a Turkey cooking bag, put a little flour in it and spread around. Plop the whole thing in a roaster and follow the directions for cooking from directions that come with the Turkey bag. It will be moist and delicious!
We do not stuff the Turkey. We make the stuffing in a pan.
I agree with Diane. I was a nervous wreck , when baking our first turkey ( always want everything perfect). I used a turkey bag & it was so good! Our family was highly impressed with my skills.
I don't brine. I smear the outside with real butter and sprinkle generously with Tony Chachere's.
I don't use cooking bags. I put it in a roasting pan, stuff it full of cornbread dressing, and baste the living hell out of it while it's cooking. It's never dry, and even my daughter, who doesn'tp articularly care for turkey, will eat it.
We butterfly the turkey and cook it at higher (450-500) temp. To butterfly the turkey, cut out the backbone (makes great stock) using kitchen shears and flatten it out. Push down on the beast bone until it breaks. Then loosen the skin and put a layer of butter (mixed with herbs of your choice) under the skin, it's easier then it sounds. Place it flat either on a broiling pan or on a bed of chopped veggies (carrot, celery, onion). Cooking it this way is lots faster and all the meat finishes at the same time instead of dark meat first.
Just season it well, and yes use the bag and just follow the instructions. I was terrified to do my first one, but it was quite easy. The only big oops: I removed the bag of "stuff" from the raw turkey and was about to pop it in and my husband was like "hey did you check for that bag of stuff? I said yes but he already had his hand in there and pulled out another bag!!!! YIPES! That would have been a problem, I suppose. Who knew? 2 bags. Make sure you clean it out thoroughly and make sure nothing's hidden up there. :P
