Gobble the Gobble

[comish]

As I gain confidence in my cullinary chops...it's time to tackle a bird for Thanksgiving.

The denizens in here are always spot on, so I will turn here first for help.

Who has a great turkey recipe for Thanksgiving----lay it on me.

Thanks in advance. (No deep frying for me...going to go a more traditional route)

[Larvell Blanks]

The best thing I can suggest is brining the turkey 24 hours before you cook it. This will keep that bird moist. Alton Brown has a good brining recipe and cooking instructions. The great thing about the brine is you can make it to your own taste.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

The cooking of the turkey is pretty basic but I like to rub an herb butter between the skin and meat of the turkey and then rub the outside of the turkey as well with this mixture. Add about 1-2 cups of turkey(or chicken) stock to the bottom of the roasting pan. This will help keep the bottom of the turkey moist during cooking and you can use the stock + drippings to baste the turkey.

[mattvan1]

What Ralph Malph said above. And don't trust the little plastic pop up "thermometer".

Spend 15 bucks at Costco and buy a decent one. I like the kind shown below - where you can leave the oven door shut and wander by every 30 minutes or so to monitor the progress. Remember that dark meat and white meat need to be cooked to different temps - so check both for doneness and pull the bird immeadiately, then let it rest for about 15-20 minutes before carving.

ETA - Don't stuff the bird. Really slows down cooking time and you can end up over cooking the white meat.

[Ziner]

Screw the oven... if I wasnt in an apartment this is how I'd be doing it.

Just not sure it would be all that safe on my 8 by 4 balcony.

[peeker643]

Does anyone use the bird bag? Never had a dry bird when using one.

Just wondered where you gourmets stood on that. And Matt, there's GOT to be a bit of stuffing in the ass of that bird. That's what I pick at when carving the thing.

[motherscratcher]

Screw the oven... if I wasnt in an apartment this is how I'd be doing it.

Just not sure it would be all that safe on my 8 by 4 balcony.

Pussy

[mattvan1]

Does anyone use the bird bag? Never had a dry bird when using one.

Just wondered where you gourmets stood on that. And Matt, there's GOT to be a bit of stuffing in the ass of that bird. That's what I pick at when carving the thing.

The bags are fine - I've used one before but the skin didn't crisp up the way I wanted. Stuff away, just don't cram a basketball size wad of cornbread into a 12 pound bird. Really messes up the whole heat circulation thing.

[General]

I am slavishly devoted to the brining process. I get the guy to butcher the fowl into legs, thighs, wings, breast pieces, brine it and grill everything but the breast which I rotisserie. We like it.

[comish]

Thank you, Larvell for the suggestion. I did use the brining recipe from the link, as well as putting in the herbs as suggested. The turkey was fantastic, not much of it left to enjoy later...I guess that's a good thing.

I also pulled an herb butter recipe off the internet and rubbed under the skin and out...DELICIOUS!

Thanks again.....I am a rock star in the eyes of my family

[JCoz]

I am slavishly devoted to the brining process. I get the guy to butcher the fowl into legs, thighs, wings, breast pieces, brine it and grill everything but the breast which I rotisserie. We like it.

When you get a chance, would you mind posting the details for this?