This Thanksgiving, I was chosen to cook the turkey. There is only one problem... I have never cooked turkey in my life! This means I am the main cook for the entire dinner, and man, the pressure is driving me crazy.
Too many websites, books, and so-called pros have different ways of making the turkey that are complicated and time-consuming. Weather its to brine the turkey, stuff it with all kinds of things to make it juicy, or even putting a can of beer in the turkey while its cooking.
Do you have any advice for this turkey amateur? How are you making the turkey this Thanksgiving?
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Comments (34)
maybe you should cook a practice turkey, that way youll be so sick of turkey by the time thanksgiving comes around, you can gladly hand out the left overs haha
I will be checking back on this regularly since I need help myself!
This will be the first year my family is having a turkey together.
Deep fry that shit? I don't know as I can't cook turkeys either. Then again, my family doesn't like turkey so we don't really need to know.
I'm using a recipe from allrecipes.com
That website is seriously the only reason I can cook now. haha
I'm making my first one this year too, so I can't really give you any advice. sorry!
my mom sometimes makes chicken with a beer can in it, everyone who has tried it thinks its magic. For turkey she grabs a "butterball" turkey and gives it a bath and then puts it in the oven for many hours after she stuffs it. I myself have never cooked a turkey, and never will.
Seriously deep fried turkey. It is dangerous but if your precautious enough, your endeavors will lead you to some amazing turkey. Crispy skin on the outside with succulent and tender meat in the inside. *drools* Of course you should probably brine the turkey and inject it with some seasoning. Just remember that its DANGEROUS. You have to be precautious if you do plan to deep fry. For me deep frying is probably the easiest option even though you have to keep constant attention while frying. Baking = mehhhhhhh. Baking is too much trouble for me personally since you have to make a tin roof and etc... You will be rewarded with a nice even golden color outside if fried properly. When choosing a turkey make sure to pick one that is not overly large since the outer layer of the turkey would be dry by the time it is fully cooked. A 13-15 lbs is good and if you are feeding a big crowd just fry another one.
@tigerdauphin@xanga - Hmm... maybe I should do a Turkey post. It seems like it might help people. Problem is though, I'm not about to cook and eat a whole damned Turkey by myself. Maybe if I bought a bunch of Cornish Game Hens and told people to pretend that I was really a 30 foot tall Giant and the Cornish Game hens were Turkeys?
@chow - LOL Cornish game hens are delicious though! I think my biggest worry is about how big it is and how the heck am I going to know when it's fully cooked or not. And I saw a post last year (or year before) of someone deep frying it and well... I'm just going to steer clear of that!
Unless you show me how! LOL. Or will you be doing an oven turkey?
@chow - I so often wish to be living near you, so that I can eat your leftovers. Om nom nom.
@karmavore - because you are a vegan
@tigerdauphin@xanga - I haven't decided on how I'm going to do mine yet. There are so many ways to do it. I MIGHT do mine in a smoker, with some Kiawe wood. Not sure yet.
Okay, here's the whole thing about cooking Turkeys: You need two things.
1) Even cooking throughout.
2) A nicely caramelized, crispy skin
There are multiple ways to do these, but the general key is low-and-slow cooking combined with some kind of searing high heat to bring about a Malliard Reaction on the surface of the Turkey. The problem is, how to achieve the correct cooking throughout while maintaining safe internal temperatures. There's a very easy way to do this; but you don't end up with a nice-looking bird that sits for everyone to Ooh and Aah at -- you can simply butterfly the Turkey and roast it that way. It cooks WAAAAAAY quicker, and much more evenly. It just doesn't look nice.
If you just want a easy to make, tasty, fuss-free Turkey and are going to part it out in the Kitchen before bringing it out to eat anyway; this is a good way to go and pretty much assures your Turkey will taste pretty good. But you can't do this if you want the presentable carve-at-the-table bird.
You can also deep-fry it; which, truth be told, is actually not difficult. You just need to maintain a good Fry Temperature and you need a very high BTU output burner; as well as a giant fry pot. This works well because you're getting 350-ish degree oil contact on ALL surfaces of the Turkey, external and internal.
Smoking is wholly slow-and-low, and is easy to do but you have to have a smoker. I think Smoked Turkeys taste the best too; especially if you use a nicely flavored wood.
I've done one on a rotisserie on a grill before, that also came out good. You just need to open the grill and rotate and baste once in a while.
The thing is, by the time I do an actual Turkey on Thanksgiving, it will be too late for Thanksgiving, you know what I mean? This means I have to do a Turkey BEFORE Thanksgiving to be in time for Thanksgiving, and like I said, I'm not about to eat a giant turkey by myself, haha.
Anyway I'll see what happens :)
@just_the_average_jane@xanga - You know, funny thing is I was about to post; I wish I lived in SoCal or in NYC or something so I could just issue an open invitation to readers to come eat food. :)
@chow - yeahh... abouuttt ttaht. If you live anywhere within ... 2hr drive from me, I'd be at your door almost every night begging for your leftovers HAHAHA.
j/k
almost
but mostly j/k
@chow - That would be amazing. I'd just take up residence on your doorstep and wait for leftovers.
@tigerdauphin@xanga - @just_the_average_jane@xanga - LOL. You two would be welcome, any time :)
And not at the door either, c'mon :P
Speaking of Cornish Game Hens, one Thanksgiving we decided that instead of doing a Turkey, we would do Individual Cornish Game Hens for everybody, with Fines Herbes under the skin and wrapped in Bacon and roasted. It was so much easier to do, and everybody loved the little birds instead of having giant slabs of Turkey meat. The Bacon Fat bastes the birds as it cooks and gives so much flavor. It's wonderful.
@chow - oooh that sounds delish!!! It's like individual mini cakes at weddings instead of a giant cake for all.
@tigerdauphin@xanga - Yeah I always liked that idea, of Mini Wedding Cakes instead of the Uber-cake with the multiple levels and all that. Too bad there's no such thing as Miniature Turkeys, eh?
@chow - LOL
@chow - My mom did that once! Well, not exactly that recipe, but with everyone getting their own bird, I liked it. Unfortunately, my brother's vetoed it for the future; he's never completely satisfied unless we get an 18 lb turkey.
@chow - I think I may need to come over some lessons. We can do a video post on your creation. It'd just be like Food 911.
@westernsoul@revelife - yup, and thus blessed with never having the headache of figuring out how to cook a turkey. That's what i will be thankful for =D
I remember stressing like crazy over my first turkey, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it really is!
Just buy one of those popper thingys and stick in it according to the instructions and keep it visible! Butterball has some that they sell with them, and that's a great buy! ALWAYS buy the self basting turkey! They are everywhere and you don't want it any other way.
They also have - right on the wrapper - cooking times for the turkey whether it's stuffed or unstuffed (unstuffed is faster). The thing is to allow enough time for a frozen turkey to thaw. I always put it in the refrigerator on Sunday, so it's totally thawed by Thursday morning (early, like 6 am). Then I clean the cavity really well (not with soap - just rinse and clean with fingers. You can wear gloves if that's too nasty feeling.) and let it drain and dry while I make the dressing. You need to clean out the hole inside the chest area, and then look for the neck in another cavity up top. Some beginners miss that part of the "giblets". Some folks will cook the giblets to make gravy, and some will have boiled them the night before so that they could use the broth to make the dressing with. For the first time: KISS [keep it simple sweetheart]. Just toss the giblets discreetly. You have my permission.
If you don't want to stuff the turkey, you should still put some wedges of a large onion in the cavity to help it get a great flavor.
If you want to stuff it with dressing, then I like to use the packaged cubes that have the recipe on the bag *(usually you'll dice up onions, celery and cook them in butter until the onions turn a bit transparent - that's sauteing them) for simple dressing. With practice, you'll add other stuff like dried cranberries, mushrooms or even water chestnuts if that's what you like. Then stuff it into the cavity. See the skin that is beside the body right there next to the legs? You can get your hands to lift that skin away from the meat and stuff some dressing in there, too! Don't pack the dressing really tight, cause it will need some room to swell. Rub the outside of the turkey with some butter - not too heavy and don't worry about how even it is, just try to cover the exposed parts on the top more than the part that will be in the bottom of the pan.
Now, some will put the turkey in the pan upside down to keep the white meat from getting too dry. A baking bag will keep all the meat from getting too dry, but it won't let you have a "pretty" turkey to slice in front of everyone. If you want that pretty looking bird, then I put a "tent" of foil over the top like this, so that it won't keep everything too closed to cook nice, but it will slow the browning down a bit. You will remove the tent top 30 mins before the bird is done, to get it nicely browned.
At this point, I have to admit that my popper has always popped about 45 mins before the instructions said it was going to pop. So, about the time I can smell that turkey in the air, is when I remove that tent. Honestly, the majority of the work is when you cut the onions and celery and then mix up the dressing. The bird will bake all by itself!
When it's done, you have to let it REST for 20 mins. Don't try cutting it any sooner. The reason is that all the juices have to settle down and "rest" back into the meat. If you cut it too soon it will run out and and the meat will be drier. That's where I went wrong the first couple of times I served the turkey. So, when it's done, just turn off the oven, pull it out and place the bird on a platter to rest while you work on the gravy. Be sure to check the time on when the bird hit the platter, so you don't cut too soon.
The simplest gravy for a beginner is to just put a can of mushroom soup in with the juices of the turkey and just warm it up and serve it that way. Honest, you'll get compliments. But there are other ways to go once you aren't so worried about the bird and you can try home made gravy next year with more confidence.
Happy Thanksgiving!
@karmavore - oh you got it; but i have to fret it
My advice is to see if there is a grocery store in your area that sells fully cooked turkeys. Buy one of those, reheat it, and serve. That way, all you have to worry about is the side dishes and desserts.
I'm roasting a turkey this weekend. I will do a post and link it back to this!!!!!!!!!!!