How Do You Cook Your Thanksgiving Turkey?

[Chef Dave]

How do you cook your Thanksgiving turkey?

My family was old fashioned. We simply roasted our turkeys in the oven. I like putting a honey/peach glaze on my turkey. I also use a Reynold's oven wrap bag for combination cooking i.e. braising/roasting. The oven wrap bag helps to keep the bird moist.

When I moved to Pennsylvania, I found that many of my neighbors were deep frying their turkeys. As a volunteer fire fighter I learned to dread Thanksgiving because there was nearly always a turkey related fire. One of two things usually happened. A person who didn't want to cook his turkey in the cold outdoors, tried cooking it inside. Turkeys really need to be fried outdoors. The other problem was that some people improvised a fryer. Improvised fryers typically don't have a heat control ... so if you don't monitor your turkey, the heat can get away from you and the fryer oil can ignite.

Now that I'm in Arizona, I've met several people who BURY their turkeys. They wrap their birds in aluminum foil and bury them in the ground surrounded by hot coals.

So I'm curious ... how do you cook your turkey?

[mopar]

We roast ours in the oven usually with some glaze and stuffing inside.

[Chef Dave]

We roast ours in the oven usually with some glaze and stuffing inside.

Yes ... that is indeed the traditional way of doing it.

I'm not sure how this practice evolved because you won't find any restaurants cooking turkey this way. Restaurants typically cook the dressing in large pans.

The problem with stuffing dressing inside a turkey carcass is that the slow roasting temperature is conducive to bacterial growth inside the dressing. If the turkey is undercooked, the dressing will most definitely be undercooked, and anyone who eats it could become sick.

This problem can be easily alleviated by making sure that all dressing is cooked to 165 degrees. Carryover cooking will heat the dressing to 170 degrees if the stuffed turkey is allowed to sit for at least 15 minutes once it's taken out of the oven.

[kyfriedchick1]

Bury it? I have never heard of anything like that. I take my turkey & cover it in butter & then turn it upside down in a roasting pan and cover it with foil. By turning it upside down, all the juice runs to the breast & the white meat doesn't get dry. My stepmom taught me that & she fixes the best turkey in the world!

[Boxcar]

I've also heard of putting different animals inside one another. Like you do a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey.

[mopar]

I'll have to try the turning the turkey upside down. That's sounds good.

[Chef Dave]

Here's another way to cook a turkey.

Get a beer can that is half filled with beer. Add fresh crumbled sage and thyme to the beer. Shove the beer can into the cavity and stand the carcass up using the tripod formed by the beer can and the two legs.

Cover the bird with aluminum foil to trap the steam from the beer can. The steam will keep the bird moist while all of the grease from the bird will drip out.

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/pics2/320/DSC_0201_crop.jpg

[teacherninja]

I go to the kitchen and hand the turkey to my Pop. He does all the work and I keep him company. We steal little poeces as he carves it up. Mmmmmm.

[Boxcar]

Ah, yes. That is so the best way to do it.

[Chef Dave]

Bury it? I have never heard of anything like that.

You don't actually have to bury it. It turns out that you can use a galvanised metal trash can. The bird is placed in a metal basting pot with a secure lid and the pot is buried in hot coals.

If you were to do this, I would recommend use of a remote therometer so that you'd be able to monitor the internal cooking temperature of the turkey.

[Chef Dave]

Of course ... teacherninja and boxcar have good ideas too.

Why cook a turkey at all if you can find someone else willing to do it for you. (GRIN)

[CapeMayRunner]

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u182/carguy714/ThanksgivingTurke1.gif

[CapeMayRunner]

it says i have to approve my picture>?!

[Addict]

CapeMayRunner - no prob. Anything with pictures or links are set to not be seen until we approve them (only for probationary members). I approved your post.

Also, if someone ever has a post that doesn't show up, shoot me a private message and I'll check it out. :)

Sorry for the inconvenience!

[CapeMayRunner]

thank you very much...as for the turkey!

My mom made a turkey once that was delicious! She rubbed the turkey with apples & apple juice and then put apples inside of it! It was so tasty! I have also heard of doing this with oranges! YUMMY!

[teach1027]

Roast it of course with wonderful homade stuffing (my great-grandma's recipie) inside.

[Dhe Poet]

Whichever way it gets cooked my grandpa and my father are not with us any longer so I get to carve the bird as well as pick this piece and that piece. A fried turkey is yummy too.