July 2009 Weddings
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turkey..
I am cooking my first turkey on Thursday. I would love tips, tricks, and ideas/recipes.
TIA!
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Re: turkey..
#1-BFP 08-22-09 ~ M/C 08-31-09 at 5 weeks 6 days
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We always cook ours on Wednesday and stick it in the fridge overnight. We take it out a while before Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday so it's room temperature...once you add gravy on top along with all of your other sides, you can't even tell a difference!
It's great having it done ahead of time b/c carving a turkey is so messy!
I'm cooking my first one as well. My mom always uses the turkey bag. We got some tonight on our shopping trip. they work so well. My husband saw on a big cooking show yesterday that you should let the turkey sit for ONE hour before serving!!!
Good luck with yours. We bought ours tonight...it's 22 lbs and the wrapping says to start thawing it out FIVE days in advance,...shoot
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I generally cook the turkey earlier in the morning. When I take it out, I tent it with foil (I get the extra wide stuff to do this) and lay a really heavy beach towel or two over the whole thing. It stays warm for hours like that.
I have an apple cider brine pinned on pinterest - that's the recipe I was going to use this year. Usually, I just do some melted butter, salt and pepper though.
IMO, turkey is one of the easiest "big" things to make. Good luck!
ETA: I've never used one of the bags everyone else mentioned, but I've never had a problem with it being dry. Just make sure to baste (I use chicken broth/stock for basting) and you should be fine. If the bird starts getting too dark, I tent it in foil in the oven. Do you have a meat thermometer? I use that to check (make sure you're not hitting bones) instead of relying on the pop up things they put in turkeys. I don't trust those.
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I've never used a turkey bag either, but like Kate said, if you baist it and use a meat thermometer in addition to the turkey timer you shouldn't have any problems with it being dry. I usually rub the skin with a stick of butter once or twice while it cooks to get the skin perfect.
Make sure you do the timing math per pound before you put it in the oven and use either a cell phone or watch timer for it to avoid the timer accidentally getting turned off/changed while you make other things.
I don't know if you are a stuffing person or a dressing person, but stuffing that is cooked in the turkey is best IMO and very easy to do. Don't let it intimidate you! Just make sure to check the internal temp of the stuffing when you check the temperature of the bird. The stuffing actually helps everything stay moist.
You will do great!
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I've made a few in my day, I follow my grandmother's recipe, thaw the turkey according to directions, removed innards, rinse turkey, use a stick of softened butter and rub the entire turkey with the butter and douse generously with poultry seasoning. Then place in roasting pan and add 1 can chicken broth and 1 can of beer. Cover with foil and bake. Remove foil towards the end of baking time so outside can brown, probably about 20 minutes or so. It's so easy I always make it this way. Except last year, I used champagne instead of beer because I saw a recipe in Cooking Light and it turned out well.
However, I've heard brining is wonderful too. One day I'm going to try an apple cider brine.
I actually love making turkeys, and like Kate said, it is actually really easy to cook. We do 3-4 per year and I have tried a few different methods and I haven't tried something we don't like, so I don't think you can go wrong with all the great recipes available! My FIL doesn't like anything fancy when it comes to his turkey so when they join us for Thanksgiving I just make it the way my Nana always does, nothing fancy but delicious!
I use the turkey bag and put the turkey breast side down. This helps keep the breast extra moist. I always rub a little butter all over and then salt and pepper it. I place a few stalks of celery and half an onion into the cavity.
not a bag user here....
I always use a specialty salt (last year was a chardonnay smoked sea salt, year before was alder smoked, etc....), evoo and pepper on the skin. Stuff the cavity with oranges, rosemary and onions. Tented until the last 20 minutes.
This year we aren't cooking-woohoo! We are going to a friend's place for Thanksgiving Brunch.