G’mornin,
The following is a breakdown of what to do now that you bought your bird. There are a few steps, so (as always) feel free to email me your comments and questions: penny@radiatortoast.com.
1. THAW
You have two options to thaw. The safe thaw way is to throw it in your fridge—this method requires 24 hours for every 5 lbs. So—if you have a 15 lb turkey, plan on three straight days. Try to put it in a shallow container to collect the water and such, but otherwise just let it be. If you need to quick thaw, put your bird in the sink and cover it in cold water. You have to switch out the water every half hour or so, but you thaw at a rate of about 2 lbs/hour. This way, if you have a 15 lb turkey, it’ll take under 8 hours.
2. ROAST
Roasted Turkey
You’ll need: butter or vegetable oil, S&P, a baster, a meat thermometer (don’t even try the “pop up” indicator—garbage), a roasting pan, a carving knife, and some aluminum foil.
i. Unwrap your bird. Remove the innards and toss ‘em (sidebar: it’s not the safest/best idea to cook stuff inside the bird. Just plan on making your sides on the side, you dig?). Wash the inside and outside with cold water.
ii. Place your bird in your (oiled) roasting pan. Melt your butter or use some vegetable oil and rub all over inside and outside of bird. Next, rub whatever spices you care to use (S&P, rosemary, what-ev) .
iii. Preheat oven to 325. If possible, re-arrange the racks so that your bird will be as close to the center of the oven as possible. Now you have two choices again. If you want a crip-sy turkey, just place it in the oven as is. If you want a juicier bird, tent the top with tinfoil. Plan on cooking the bird according to this chart:
|
8 to 12 lbs |
2-3/4 to 3 hours |
|
12 to 14 lbs |
3 to 3-3/4 hours |
|
14 to 18 lbs |
3-3/4 to 4-1/4 hours |
|
18 to 20 lbs |
4-1/4 to 4-1/2 hours |
|
20 to 24 lbs |
4-1/2 to 5 hours |
iv. Every half hour or so, baste the bird with the juices in the pan. For the last hour of cooking, remove the foil.
v. Before you remove the bird from the oven, insert the meat thermometer into the breast meat area—it should register 170-F….
vi. Remove the bird from it’s pan and let it cool for 20 minutes or so. If you want, you can take this time to make gravy out of the juice (under the layer of fat) in the roasting pan. Here’s a link to an easy-peasy recipe from the peeps at Butterball: http://www.butterball.com/recipe/turkey-gravy-with-pan-drippings?filters%5Bnext_page%5D=3&filters%5Bprev_page%5D=1&filters%5Brecipe_type_name%5D=Sauces%2BGravies
Up Next: How to carve a turkey. I went ahead and tried this once—it’s semi-messy/slippery, but totally worth it 
Enjoy,
~Penny
19/11/2008 at 2:28 pm Permalink
When you don’t know what to cook for a group, such as wedding showers, baby showers, birthday parties…. etc. Turkey is usually very inexpensive and goes a long long way. Even if you just want to have turkey sandwiches for lunches this recipe is great!
Exploded Turkey:
1 – 10-12 lb. turkey
1 – cup chopped celery
1 – cup chopped onion
1-2 cans cream of chicken soup
salt and pepper to taste
Cook turkey until it falls off the bone. Drain juice. Break into bite size pieces or shred. Move shredded turkey to slow cooker and pour cream of chicken soup over cooked turkey. Serve on buns.
Hint: After you have poured off the broth, remove fat and pour into freezer container and let cool. Then store in freezer. You will always have broth ready to be made into gravy. I usually pour all my broths together and into the same container. The different flavors of meat really make a wonderful tasting gravy.
19/11/2008 at 2:42 pm Permalink
Great idea, Barb! Thank you for sharing it—sounds like something my guy would really appreciate before he takes off to go hunting or ice fishing
30/11/2008 at 3:58 pm Permalink
Nice post u have here
Added to my RSS reader