YOU CUT DE TOIKEY!!!! WITHOUT ME?!!!

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bajaespuma

bajaespuma

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My best turkey tip for those of you who want moist plump breasts(sit down, Steve):
...listen closely now...

Roast the freakin' bird upside down.

(most of the fat is in the back and leg skin; it will baste the tits during the roast. Also, having the breast sit in the juices in the bottom of the pan helps. Won't be a Norman Rockwell Presentation looking bird, but you'll still have lots of crispy skin and succulent meat).

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!(This year, I'm thankful for a completely new government)

11-25-2008-10-00-33--bajaespuma.jpg
 
Another way....

is to place raw bacon strips over the breast. Bastes it, and takes away some of that bland blandness. The bacon does not burn, but gets very crisp.....people I know fight over the cooked bacon.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Brining is the way to go!

This works well, adds flavor and helps the turkey stay moist!

The brine: (for a 14 - 16 lb bird)

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water

Directions
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

Then roast as you normally would. I start it @ 500 degrees for the first 30 minutes, then cover the breast with a double layer of aluminum foil... then reduce to 350 for the remaining time. Should take 2 - 2.5 hours for a 14 - 16 lb turkey.

=============

ALSO... deep frying! Short cooking time and great flavor! But, what the hell do you do with 4-5 gallons of peanut oil once you are finished???
 
But, what the hell do you do with 4-5 gallons of peanut oil

Make fried chicken, french fries. lol

Or.....Maybe ask the neighbors if they would like to fry their turkeys.
 
I usually convection roast my turkey. I set it at 300 degrees and stick my probe into a thick part of the bird and set the probe for 160. Then after its done I let it rest and it will climb another 10 degrees on its own. Then carve it. I did see on Miss Martha this morning she had Emeril on and he said to cook the turkey to 155 and he was brining his turkey. He was using a hotel turkey breast...which I will be making as well. I almost bought the brined turkey at Trader Joes but they were asking an arm and a leg plus a left nut for the bird.
My brother deep fries his turkey. I did Miss Paula Deen do that and I have been always intrigued by it. She and my brother says the flavor is out of this world.
 
A Truly Special Recipe I Heard About Years Ago

You may have heard of this, but for those who haven't:

Take a turkey, stuff with unpopped popcorn, sew up. Roast in an oven. When the turkey's rear end blows off, it's done.
 
Now, back to the real world. Not that I spend any more time here than I have to.

My mother used a convection for turkeys during most of the years she had one. (One of those small Farberware tabletop models).

The previous turkey gadget, however, was more memorable for me. It was made by Farberware. I can't remember the name, but essentially it was an electric grill with a spit attachment. I remember watching that in operation, turning the turkey over at a slow, stately pace. Simple minds, simple pleasures I guess. (I was pretty young at the time, too.)
 
John:

What your mom was using was a Farberware Open Hearth rotisserie-grill. She must have stuck to fairly small turkeys; an Open Hearth's rotisserie motor isn't all that strong (though vintage ones are stronger than newer versions). The Farberware Turbo-Oven is also somewhat limited in capacity, but it could take a bigger bird than the Open Hearth. I can see, though, how an Open Hearth could produce a very nice turkey - it does a great job on chickens.

11-25-2008-14-35-55--danemodsandy.jpg
 
Sandy--that's the gadget. In fact, the photo looks exactly like the one we had.

It's been too long, and I can't remember the size of turkeys, although I'm guessing they were at the smaller end of the size spectrum. My mother wasn't a turkey fan, and I'm sure she calculated things to minimize leftovers. (Plus, the largest gathering we'd ever have had would have been about 8 people.)

I think I remember the rotisserie having a variation--at some points in the cycle, it would move more quietly and smoothly than others. Still, it worked, and never broke down.

It would be interesting to know about what "standard" turkey sizes were like back when the Open Hearth first came out.

For us, about 1980, the Open Hearth was the only option we had--the wall oven was broken, supposedly no parts available, and the wall cutout was non standard.)
 
I've done grocery store prepared Thanksgiving feasts lik

Not by choice (I hasten to say this since there are Real Cooks about here.) But I've been involved in Thanksgiving dinners where that is preferred option, and I've helped with the "cooking." Such as it is. Results aren't too bad--although probably something a Real Cook could easily better. Although, it appears that they give options--I think the one I remember (at Safeway) was pretty much "This is what you get. Deal with it! deal.
 
John:

"It would be interesting to know about what "standard" turkey sizes were like back when the Open Hearth first came out."

The Open Hearth was a late-1950s invention, and turkeys were a bit different then. They were not yet so intensively bred for a high yield of breast meat. Today's Dolly Parton-style turkeys were not around then. That would have kept a smaller turkey well-balanced on an Open Hearth's spit rod. Now, assuming you could find a really small turkey, you'd have to play with its positioning a fair amount to find a balance point - those Grand Tetons would keep causing the motor to labour if you didn't.
 
Sandy--I think the place to start might be an organic turkey. I think they are smaller, and would probably be closer to what was "shipping" in the 50s.
 
John:

You're probably right. Also, turkeys used to have more flavour than they do now - the slight "gamey" taste has been bred out, and replaced with various injections and potions designed to introduce a vaguely buttery one. There are a lot of tastes from my childhood you simply can't get any more - agribusiness has redesigned so many meats and vegetables from the ground up that a lot of things don't taste anywhere near as good as they used to. There is no tomato available in a store - or even a farmers' market - today that has the flavour of the ones my grandfather used to grow in East Point, GA back in the '50s and early '60s. (I think he was growing Turner's Hybrids, a Burpee variety)

Don't get me started on bacon. Mass-market American bacon used to be fine stuff, especially Rath's. Now, it's all salt and artificial smoke.
 
"You cut de toikey without me", LOL Bajaespuma, thats what the eldery brother says in "Avalon", It was on the other day on retro/starz. My fav, has to be "Home for the Holidays", i always like the part when the guys are playing football in the yard and get into a fight. ALL the neighbors are gawking, Charles Durning shouts at them "go on back to your own g. damn holidays". ahhh family. Happy Thanksgiving to AW.org alr2903
 
I roast the turkey 'til the breast reaches about 165. I remove the turkey from the oven, cut away all the breast meat and return it to the oven to the dark meat get to 175-180.

I like the dark meat, and the taste/texture never seem right unless it's cooked to upward of 175-180.

If you allow the breast to cook to that temp, it will be dry and cottony.

Brining helps retain moisture, but the past two years I've purchased birds that already have a saline solution injected into it. Brine one of those birds and you'll get a week's worth of salt on T-Day.

I'm on my 2nd turkey and dozens three and four of dinner rolls just went into the oven. My house is going to smell like turkey and bread for days!

I always make the turkey ahead a day or two, cover it with juices and then reheat it very gently at 250-degrees. It doesn't taste reheated, and I don't have to deal with turkey carcasses on the day of the event.
 
Sandy--I've certainly noticed the loss of taste in general. I'm not sure I have with turkeys--they were probably beyond hope well within my lifetime--but produce in general has gotten noticeably worse. I now often buy organic produce, simply because it's the only stuff in the typical grocery store that has any taste. A friend, who grew up during the 50s, tasted her first organic carrot, and commented that it was the first carrot she'd tasted in a long time that was like what her grandparents grew in their garden.
 
John:

Yep, it's sad that one has to go to specialty companies, farmers' markets and mail-order houses to get what used to be on the grocer's shelf. There was a time when you couldn't do better than a Sunday breakfast comprised of Rath bacon, Colonial Stores eggs, biscuits made with White Lily flour, and Chase & Sanborn coffee. Now, you'd have to order your bacon from Neuske (www.nueske.com), and source everything else from high-end places, too, to get the same quality and level of satisfaction with the flavour.

Although I still am fond of Chase & Sanborn, mind you.
 

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