Roasting A Turkey

[autowasherfreak]

I just started a new job as a laundry aid at a nursing home, and they gave all their employees a free Butterball turkey. I have mine roasting in a Nesco electric roaster at this very minute, and it smells wonderful. I seasoned with the salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. I usually put the turkey in one of those plastic roasting bags, but I forgot to buy some this year.

 

[lotsosudz]

You will be amazed!

When using an electric roaster, you will be amazed at how tender and juicy they turn out. I think part of the reason,is that they heat all the way around the bird, and there is much less surface area that you are heating. I will say with roaster cooking, keep an eye on it, as they cook faster than a regular oven, stuffed and unstuffed,so keep your instant thermometer handy and ready! I find if you rub the bird with olive oil and spices before roasting, you will not have to tent it with foil, in the roaster, thus turning out a really golden bird. I think it is funny, that most people, think cooking turkey is so hard, and complicated! I find it as easy as cooking a simple whole chicken, except it is bigger, and maybe a little more awkward to manuvever. I have cooked them myself since I was about 12 years old. My mother was glad to hand the job over to me, as she was always afraid that the bird would be dry. I have never had one turn out dry yet! You can brine them, or just throw the thing in the oven, and with a little know how of cooking, you will be just fine. Don't forget, there are hotlines out there, to help you as well,if you are not sure, and of course the internet! Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

 

[autowasherfreak]

It turned out delicious and very moist. It was done sooner than I anticipated. Even my gravy for the mashed potatoes turned out really good, first time and certainly not the last time for using Wondra.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Good for you, Jim! I've heard the stories of woe as well, and don't pay any mind to them. I rub the skin with softened butter, then sprinkle it with pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion and poultry seasoning, but never use a bag. I do tent the bird until the last 1/2 hour or so, then remove the foil.

I also stuff the cavity with quartered onion, quartered orange, peeled garlic cloves and fresh herbs from the garden (sage, rosemary and thyme). I do start the pan with maye a cup of white wine and a cup of canned broth. A few carrots and a couple ribs of celery are cut and thrown in the pan to flavor the broth (it'll be gravy later). If I have mushrooms, they go in as well.

Chuck

 

[maytog77]

also try this...

I read that Julia Child kept a small sauce pan or dish of warm melted butter, that is used to baste the bird with periodicly....just spoon it over with a large serving spoon or small wooden spoon...your bird will then be moist and buttery..
Happy turkey cooking...=}

 

[firedome]

Skin is pretty impervious...

we find it works better to put most of the butter, sage etc under the skin, as far as producing moist meat, while the butter on the outside helps to make the skin a nice golden brown.

 

[norgeway]

My Grandmother..

Roasted her turkeys differently than anyone I have ever seen, She usually did a 10 to 12 pound turkey, salted and peppered, then rubbed with butter, wrapped in foil, now comes the weird part...she preheated the oven to 550...put in the turkey for two hours, then turned the oven off for at least one hour, two if it was a bigger turkey, it came out beautiful every time, she learned this working in the school lunchroom in the late 1950s.She said they did this in the afternoon, then turned off the oven and left the turkeys overnight, in the morning they were ready to cut up.they had two big flat top Hotpoint ranges and she said they would fill both of them with turkeys.

 

[danemodsandy]

Hans:

I'm sure your grandmother's method worked very successfully at the time, but I would not recommend letting anything sit overnight with today's turkeys. Today's birds are battery-raised under appallingly close conditions, sick birds can go undetected, and salmonella is likelier today as a result.

Again, I'm not saying a word against what your grandmother did then. It's just that today's turkey is a whole 'nother animal.

 

[danemodsandy]

Hans:

I'm sure your grandmother's method worked very successfully at the time, but I would not recommend letting anything sit overnight with today's turkeys. Today's birds are battery-raised under appallingly close conditions, sick birds can go undetected, and salmonella is likelier today as a result.

Again, I'm not saying a word against what your grandmother did then. It's just that today's turkey is a whole 'nother animal.

 

[maytagbear]

Back then.........

animals raised for meat weren't usually fed byparts of other animals used for meat.

I hope everyone's meal is delicious and SAFE.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[Iowegian]

Back then, or now?

Everyone's familiar with BSE, aka "Mad Cow Disease", which is why we don't feed cow parts to cows any more, not since about 1992 anyway.

Pork producers don't tend to feed hog parts to hogs - but that's more of an economic thing than anything else. In the old days, we used to feed our hogs table scraps - we wanted to get rid of them and the hogs liked them.

I hope no one here eats chicken.

Anyone that feels special because they just eat chicken should probably google "feather meal".

Yep, your chicken is nutritionally supplemented by parts of the previous chicken.

I don't think the Chick-Fil-A guy will probably tell you that, but he's quick to make sure that you know that people of certain persuasions are "bad".

Ask your grocer how old that boneless, skinless chicken breast you buy is. Tyson has that down to about 43 days from hatch to market, so that's about 6 weeks. You can't buy Veal that's only 6 weeks old, so there you go.

I don't have a dog in this hunt, but...

I hope Manhattanites eat more "Edamame". Really. It's good. Eat more of it. They're like Lima beans, with less flavor. I don't know what Dean & Deluca pays for a bushel, but it's more than what it costs me to produce them, and much less than you pay for them. And there are so many yummy things you can do with them.

Or buy a bunch of bushels of our soybeans to make artisinal soy sauce. Really.

 

[arbilab]

Surely everyone knows that BSE stands for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Just showing off I know how to spell it.

In these latter decades animal husbandry has been subject to conjectural abuse. IOW, what can we get away with. Right on, sometimes just beyond, the point of causing widespread illness.

As if microbes weren't already a half step ahead of us.

 

[sudsmaster]

I cook turkey in an outside gas bbq rotisserie. It's limited to birds at 14 lbs or under, but that's ok with me.

I usually turn on all the burners and get the temp in the roaster up to 450-500. While it's heating I wash and dry a thawed (or fresh) bird. I put some seasoning inside the cavity. I skewer the bird on the rotisserie spit, truss the legs and wings with stainless steel wire, and then brush the bird with a good quality vegetable oil - olive or grape seed, lately. Then I pop it into the rotisserie for five to 10 minutes until the outside is seared and starting to brown a little. After that I turn off two of the three lower burners, and leave the side ceramic rotisserie burner on. And of course the spit is rotating with the electric rotisserie motor. The bird cooks faster than in a regular oven - a 10 lb turkey I prepared last Sunday cooked in 1.5 hours. That's about 9 minutes a pound. The skin comes out brown and crispy, almost like a deep fried turkey. The meat is also relatively moist, due to the initial searing and the self-basting rotisserie rotation.

Anyway, everyone enjoy your Thanksgiving. I'll be serving leftovers

 

[norgeway]

Turkey Roasting Method...

My Grandmother did NOT leave her turkey in the oven overnight, but the school lunchroom where she worked did, the large commercial range they had would hold the heat so that in the morning the bird was the perfect carving temperature, I see nothing unsafe about her method though, she used 550 for two hours and then turned the oven off for an hour or two, and never opened the door until time to take it out, mind you, I roast mine at 325, but her way did make a beautiful juicy bird!

 

[norgeway]

As for chicken...

It is better when the chicken runs around and eats worms and bugs!! sounds nasty, but you have never had fried chicken until you catch one , kill and clean it and get it in the pan the same day, it just cant be compared with the hormone laden stuff called chicken today....but even though its not as good, I still fix chicken, not nearly as much as pork or beef, but once in a while.

 

[danemodsandy]

Hans:

Again, I think what your grandmother was doing was fine. I am not challenging it in any way, shape, form or fashion.

I would just hate for anyone to mistake her lunchroom's overnight procedure for anything they should try at home with a home oven and today's battery-raised birds. That would leave the bird sitting at a lukewarm temperature for a long time, and salmonella just loves lukewarm.

 

[norgeway]

I do agree!!

I just didnt want anyone to think that was done at home, unless you had a Chambers stove it wouldnt work so well....I knew an older lady when I was a kid who stuffed her turkey the day before she roasted it...she said it tasted better!! I would be afraid to eat a bite of it!!!!