How are YOU cooking your turkey?

I didn't see a thread about this yet.  I was curious to see how other C-Cers are prepping and cooking their turkeys this Thanksgiving.  This is our second year of hosting the get-together.  We won't be making it back to NY for Thanksgiving, so we're having a "misfit" Thanksgiving here in OH.  We're inviting over others from school who won't be traveling back to their homes either, so nobody will be alone.  I'm looking forward to it!

Here's the recipe we're trying - Tyler Florence's Oven Roasted Turkey with Sage Butter.  It looks great.  We're also doing the obligatory mashed potatoes, and some creamed spinach, cranberry sauce, etc.

What are you all doing?

I just rub my bird with a little butter and baste it occasionally with some beer. and yes, gotta have a big ol' pile of mashed potatoes (skins on) made with real cream and butter. the hubby has to have mashed rutabaga (ewww). And cranberry sauce. Can't help it, childhood associations demand the jellied kind, out of the can, if it doesn't have ridges it's not cranberry sauce! And some corn. Pretty straightforward. With a nice big red zinfandel to top it all off.

But what makes it Thanksgiving is a Norwegian potato flatbread called lefse (lef-suh). Think a thin, yet sturdy, tortilla made out of potatoes. Most people who eat lefse eat it rolled up with butter and sugar, but my family has always used it like tortillas.  Onto the beautiful tablecloth goes the lefse, a little butter, bottom foundation of mashed potatoes & gravy, then turkey, some corn, and finally - and most importantly - that jellied cranberry sauce. Fold it up and eat it with your hands! Man I can't wait. My mouth is watering now...

Unfortunately, we haven't had a working oven in this house in years :-( .  Fortunately, Doug's girlfriend Hazel volunteered to cook our turkey for us this year.  She has a normal oven and a smoked-meat thingy, but I'm not sure which one she plans to use.  I hear we're also having ham, but I'm not sure how that'll be cooked (I probably won't eat much of that-- ham tastes too salty to me now).  We're also having asparagus, corn on the cob, probably some kind of peas or beans, maybe sweet potatoes if I decide to share my stash with everyone, and I think probably some apple and/or pumpkin pie.  I've just noticed I forgot to ask for cranberry sauce :-( .  Ah well, Doug is gonna have to go out for some replacement pies later this week, anyway (he started eating them), so I guess I'll ask him to bring back the sauce then ^_^ .

I was on the Crisco website, and found they're selling peanut oil for thanksgiving.. why? To deep fry a Turkey, whole! I never heard of that in my entire life. Thats probally one of the worst things you can do for yourself.

This year, I'm going over to family's. But usually I just rub the turkey in some herbed butter and olive oil. For the holidays, I'm just making desserts.. it's what I'm best at. ;)

yeah, moop, I heard about frying turkeys for the first time a few years ago. they sell BIG fryers for it.  can you imagine? {shudder}

Actually what I've heard of deep frying turkey is that it's really good.  It stays juicy, but not KFC greasy like you'd think.  Turkey fryers have been around here for quite a few years and are kinda popular.  It's definately an outside, away from the house project.  As you can imagine, probably the most common mistake with cooking a turkey this way is boiling up too much oil and over flowing the pot as you put the turkey in.  

I have a friend that always makes their turkey out on the BBQ grill.  They sometimes use the different smoked chips.   It sounds awesome.

There is NO truth to basting with butter for a moist bird: The bitter does NOT go through the skin! If you place butter beneath the skin...maybe but why do it? It just ends up in the gravy drippings!


To get a tender moist bird you MUST cook it at low heat 325, covered until the last 20-30 minutes when it browns up.

We always cook the turkey with a whole bunch of oranges (poked with a fork) inside the body cavity. Gives just a hint of flavor to the meat, smells divine, and keeps the turkey from drying out. SO good.

Oh, Tracyvision,  I LOVE lefse.  I haven't had it in years, but I know exactly what you are talking about.  YUM!

We are making two birds this year (some for a work pre-party thingy and the rest for the big day, with leftovers factored in of course!).  One will be smoked and the other a normal oven roasted turkey (w/ oven bag).  Both will be rubbed down with poultry seasoning and the second cooked with veggies and stuffing.  Simple and strait forward.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

What keeps the bird moist is not overcooking it.  Basting with butter does not keep the bird moist, but it does gloss and crisp-up the skin nicely, so long as you don't baste it during the last hour of cooking. 

The skin also gets nice and crispy if you pour boiling water or broth (it must be at a rolling boil) over the whole turkey just before sticking it the oven, then melt 1 stick of butter in 1/2 cup of chicken broth, and baste with it twice; once after about 1 hour, then again after 2 hours, but not again.  After that, you can pick up some of the drippings from the pan if it's really necessary to baste.  This should give you a glossy, nicely browned bird.   A slower oven helps there, too- about ½ way between 325 and 350.  It takes longer to cook, but it?s worth it, I think.

As for the basting broth, I like to make it (and my stuffing) the night before.  First, I chop-up some onion and celery real small (using some of the leafy tops,) add a tiny pinch of poultry seasoning, 1 clove of chopped, fresh garlic, a shake or two of Tarragon leaves, and a pinch of salt; saute' that mixture in 1 tsp olive oil (don't need much, just enough to wilt the onion,) then add thoroughly washed giblets, cover it all with clean water --and simmer one hour.  After a few minutes, it begins to smell like Thanksgiving.  You may have to add water once or twice to keep it at around 1 1/2 cups.

When it's done, the giblets will be fork tender, then I remove it from the burner to cool for 1/2 hour.  After it's cool, drain-off and refrigerate all but 1/2 C of the liquid, then chop the giblets and add them to a bowl with 1 bag of shredded stuffing mix.  Moisten it with 1/2 cup of broth and refrigerate overnight.  

I used to add browned pork sausage, diced apples, and chopped walnuts, but I no longer eat pork, so we make do with the giblets.  Some of the stuffing always falls into the roasting pan.  It makes the gravy better.  Of course, you should occasionally add 1/2 to 1 C of water (depending on the size of your pan) to the bottom of the pan, so the drippings don't burn.

You can see I have the use of great globs of fat down to a science.  Heh heh.  If you?ve  read this far, thanks for helping me review my cooking plan for tonight and tomorrow.  *smile*

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Deep fried turkey is great, not at all greasy, no breading, flour or batter just crispy skin. In fact you I doubt it adds any fat as the skin is rendered completely.

But the draw backs of the deep fried turkey, 14 pounds or under, no gravy, god awful dangerous. Hot grease+propane burner+turkey splatter=big fire. Don't ever do one with out reading up on it.

Tracy if lefse makes Thanksgiving does "Lutefisk" make Christmas?

So now everybody come back and tell how your turkey turned out! I'm especially curious about yours Zooyork.

Tracey -- that "roll-up" sounds WONDERFUL. I'm going to try that sometime! I don't even know if she's going to see this message ... but how's about posting the recipe for those mashed potatoes! I have a friend who loves them with the skin's on and he's only ever had them at a restaurant. I'd maybe like to make them for Xmas! Thanks!

I know Thanksgiving is over and I'm coming into this discussion late, but I have my own method of producing the juiciest, best tasting bird around.

I roast it breast down on a bed of vegetables.  I don't baste it at all.  I season the bird inside and out with salt and pepper and put a quarted onion and a bunch of parsley, some fresh thyme and sage leaves in the cavity.  I chop leek, carrots, parsnips, celery, mushrooms and turnips, seasoned well, and make a nice bed in the bottom of the roasting pan.  I pour in about a cup of home made turkey broth and set the bird on the vegetables breast down.  The juices and fats from the back self baste the breast and legs. 

The one drawback with this method is, you won't have the brown breast skin unless you turn it over at the end.  Since I carve the turkey in the kitchen and remove the skin anyway, it doesn't matter.

I make gravy by adding broth to the roasted vegetables and drippings in the pan.  I defat it, strain it and puree some of the veggies to thicken the gravy, and then use cornstarch if it needs to be thicker.  The flavor is incomparable.  I save any extra veggies and have them for lunch the next day.

I get raves about how good the turkey is and how juicey the white meat is.

I have to say, the recipe we used was delicious.  I'm very happy with how it came out, and plan on using the recipe from now on when we make turkey.  One thing we did that I forgot to mention was brine the turkey overnight.  We always brine our pork chops and many other meats (especially those that we grill), and it works great.  And the sage butter gave the meat such a great taste.  I highly recommend trying it!

Claire, I've heard others say they use your method, I will have to try that over the winter.  I'm going to have to check out your recipe forum on iVillage, I always enjoy reading about your cooking methods.

This is a side note, not about ingredients but about the method the turkey was cooked.
I didn't cook this year, but here is what the host did and I am going to try it next year: He used a baking plastic wrapper to bag the whole turkey! The turkey was already prepped inside with stuffings etc.
I was just impressed how easy it makes the whole process - cooking & cleaning. No mess inside the oven, no basting (the skin stays moist and soft, the meat is juicy and tender), and it cooked faster too.

phoenix, what is it exactly that makes us lefse eaters love it so much? it's pretty simple after all. but god, I love it!!

mfchill, I'm a meat and potatoes kind of Norwegian. No fish growing up in MY house! So lefse makes Christmas too (actually dec 25 is my birthday and I'm no longer a Christian, so lefse makes my birthday!)

alayney, mashed spuds with skins...pretty darn simple. scrub 'em, dice 'em, boil 'em in salted water, then simmer 'em on med heat (not too long, just until they break apart with fork). drain, couple tablespoons of butter, splash of whipping cream if you've got it (usually I use skim milk, but cream on holidays!), mash but leave them lumpy. add salt to taste. yum! yukon golds are nice, russets are nicer with that beautiful dark skin throughout!

Sweet_Tart -- That's how my mom has always cooked her bird -- for as long as I can remember -- with the oven bag. Rennoylds makes them. My grandma made her roasts that way too and they were the BEST!

Thanks Tracey -- so simple, yes! I'm going to try that!

Everybody -- it doesn't matter if you're late to the discussion -- some people will make turkeys for Christmas!

Ohhhhh!  Let me give you a hint about the cranberries.  I am a chef and have been cooking turkey and all the sides for years.  My cranberries are famous.  I buy fresh berries and add crazins and dry sour cherries.  It may sound odd but keep reading.  Then you only add orange juice for the liquid.  I use fresh juice and try to  keep the sugar to a minimum.  Sweeten to taste.  I like it a bit tart as there is so much sweet stuff it is a nice break.  Throw in on cinnamon stick.  Simmer.  Remove the cinnamon stick when the berries start to break apart.  The dry berries and cherries will be soft and sweet by now.  Adjust the sugar so it is right for you and throw in a good dash of Frambroise, raspberry liqueur.  I have made an art out of the season and I hope this will interest you and serve you well.

Happy Thanksgiving

Ohhhhh!  Let me give you a hint about the cranberries.  I am a chef and have been cooking turkey and all the sides for years.  My cranberries are famous.  I buy fresh berries and add crazins and dry sour cherries.  It may sound odd but keep reading.  Then you only add orange juice for the liquid.  I use fresh juice and try to  keep the sugar to a minimum.  Sweeten to taste.  I like it a bit tart as there is so much sweet stuff it is a nice break.  Throw in on cinnamon stick.  Simmer.  Remove the cinnamon stick when the berries start to break apart.  The dry berries and cherries will be soft and sweet by now.  Adjust the sugar so it is right for you and throw in a good dash of Frambroise, raspberry liqueur.  I have made an art out of the season and I hope this will interest you and serve you well.

Happy Thanksgiving

That sounds delicious! I do something similar with my own cranberries, except I mix in a combo of dried fruit (apricots, pineapple, etc, whatever's in the bag) and fresh fruit (diced pears, apples) instead of craisins and cherries, and then stir in some toasted chopped walnuts at the end. With all the warm spices, and chunks of fruit, it comes out more like a chutney, but it's soooo good. Maybe this year I'll take a cue from you and try a touch of liqueur? Sounds amazing!

As for the turkey, I typically brine it (brining time is based on weight of the bird) in a solution with kosher salt, brown sugar, herbs and big chunks of crushed oranges and lemons. I then allow the bird to dry out in the fridge uncovered on a rack for about half a day or so, to help the skin crisp in the oven. Right before it goes into the oven, I rub the whole bird with butter, inside and out, lightly salt and pepper every inch, fill the cavities with stuffing, press herb butter under the skin around the breast, and roast away. It never takes as long as it should to cook because of the brining, and it comes out extremely moist and juicy, well-seasoned all the way through and better than any turkey I've ever had elsewhere - and the drippings make excellent gravy. When I started doing my turkey this way, I finally began to eat the white meat instead of always sticking with dark meat. I've had fried turkey and I know lots of people like it, but when I had it, it was really dry and bland. Anyway, that's how I do it!

Original Post by ritavelveeta:

Ohhhhh!  Let me give you a hint about the cranberries.  I am a chef and have been cooking turkey and all the sides for years.  My cranberries are famous.  I buy fresh berries and add crazins and dry sour cherries.  It may sound odd but keep reading.  Then you only add orange juice for the liquid.  I use fresh juice and try to  keep the sugar to a minimum.  Sweeten to taste.  I like it a bit tart as there is so much sweet stuff it is a nice break.  Throw in on cinnamon stick.  Simmer.  Remove the cinnamon stick when the berries start to break apart.  The dry berries and cherries will be soft and sweet by now.  Adjust the sugar so it is right for you and throw in a good dash of Frambroise, raspberry liqueur.  I have made an art out of the season and I hope this will interest you and serve you well.

Happy Thanksgiving

 This sounds wonderful. Check out my disdain for the canned variety.