Best way to cook a turkey

[Botany]

n/t

[PJMcK]

1. Order in or go out to eat

(wink)

[TomSlick]

2. I am tasked every Thanksgiving and Christmas to smoke a turkey.

This year, I find myself also smoking a turkey for the neighbors.

At some point I forgot one of my mother's lessons: "If you never learn to milk a cow, you'll never have to milk one."

[Shrike47]

6. I agree with her advice; I have never learned how to make coffee.

[Cracklin Charlie]

8. Smoked turkey is the only turkey I will eat.

Hubs and I smoked a turkey breast last year for our second Thanksgiving (held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, because my husband LOVES turkey, and never gets enough on Thanksgiving day).

[TomSlick]

10. My wife and mother agree. Therefore, I smoke turkeys.

They just went in the smoker. I'll be up twice in the night to rotate the turkeys and build up the fire.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Appoint a special prosecutor, Simmer for two years, turn heat up to broil

Serve with peach and mint.

[sharedvalues]

13. prediction

As the spatchcocking is going down, we're gonna get Mueller news

[Cary]

4. Smoked in the Big Green Egg

Cherry wood.

[mr_lebowski]

7. Man I'd love one o' those ... a Big Green Egg I mean ... I do BBQ, but smoked is also damn good ...

[Cary]

19. Pick up a used one.

Mine is 8 years old and as good as new.

It doesn't have tk be a BGE. Komodo Joes, same thing.

[mr_lebowski]

5. Weber Kettle, indirect method ... very easy, takes 4-6 hours depending on weight and how well

you are able to maintain a steady temp on your grill.

Basically you just prep the bird (brined is nice, but also like to rub herbal olive oil all over the outside + under the skin where you can), prep the grill with pan between your coal racks to either side, throw on the bird/rack, with some foil to cover the top through most of the cooking ...

While cooking you just have to add some briquettes maybe once or twice ...

Throwing a smoker box with soaked wood chips helps the flavor quite a bit ... good options are apple, pecan, & cherry, though I've also done some stronger tasting woods like oak and mesquite to pretty nice effect.

You can look up further, more detailed instructions but if you're handy with your Weber, like AT ALL ... it's not that hard, and Turkey's come out AWESOME.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. Cooking a turkey is NOT difficult.

People make it harder than it really is.

If you buy a frozen one, thaw it for three days or so in the refrigerator.

Wash it thoroughly. NO, do NOT use soap. Surely you are not that dumb. Make sure you take out all the packaged giblets and the neck and whatever else has been tucked inside.

Stuff it or not. The idea that cooking it with the stuffing inside will inevitably lead to salmonella or some such is total nonsense, right up there with the poisoned Halloween candy. Personally, I vastly prefer the stuffing inside because the turkey juices make it so much more flavorful. But do what works for you.

Smear butter, real butter, not margarine, not olive oil or any other oil, on the skin. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes per pound. After a few hours take a peak. If the skin is getting too brown, put some aluminum foil over the bird. Cut out a hole for the pop up thermometer. When you get close to the estimated total cooking time, check every fifteen minutes. When the thermometer pops up it's done.

It's not rocket science. I've never had a problem with the breast being too dry, so I don't understand that problem. Maybe because I don't bother to baste but I've always smeared the butter on, then covered with aluminum foil towards the end.

I also typically make turkey several times a year. If you only fix it once a year, or every second or third year when it's your turn to host Thanksgiving dinner, making it will seem mysterious even though it's not. Turkey is wonderful and needs to be cooked a lot more often than once a year.

Heck, when my boys were still in school more than once they'd come home in the middle of the week to a turkey dinner. Easy peasy.

[TomSlick]

12. Mine is smoked with a liberal application of Zatarain's Creole seasoning.

Probably a regional thing.

[Historic NY]

11. Swansons

[dweller]

14. at yer house

n/t

✌🏼️

[3catwoman3]

15. Brine it first.

We have done this for several years now, and the meat is sooooooo moist and tender that I am salivating just thinking about it.

[Kali]

16. ...

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/10181148479

[Major Nikon]

17. Salted and smoked

Apply salt inside and between skin and meat. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. Smoke with applewood at 250F until internal temp of breast reaches 150F. Loosely wrap with foil and allow to rest for 30 mins before carving.

[Vinca]

18. If you have a small bird or a breast and don't care about crispy skin, try a crockpot.

It's nothing you want to present on a table "as is," but if you have an occasion to serve turkey or chicken sliced - or just need the meat for another dish - you can get really good results set on high for about 5 hours. I usually put a spice rub all over, and place it on a "rack" of celery, carrots and onions with a couple of cups of stock. Makes a great base for gravy.

[sir pball]

20. In a pot of warm water!

I have strong feelings about *not* cooking read meat in a circulator, hut I have no such reservations about poultry. Here goes...

Break your bird down down, raw. Peel the skin off breast and thighs and set it aside. Debone the thighs and legs. 1.5% equilibrium brine all the meat, then bag the dark meat with plenty of garlic, black pepper, thyme and rosemary, plus a good dollop of duck fat, and circulate for 24 hours at 149F. Glue the breasts together nose-to-tail and tie into a nice roulade, bag and circulate that at 140F for four hours (I just turn the bath down and leave the legs in).

Roast the carcass and bones along with mirepoix to make stock, I like to use off the shelf turkey broth as the liquid so it turns out double-strong. Reduce to 2 quarts or so and thicken with a slightly brown roux, I go 2 T flour per cup of stock but I like it a bit thick. You can do the butchery, prep, and sauce making up to three days in advance so come Thursday your workload is much lighter (don't forget to get the thighs in the water though).

Take the skin, season generously, and smooth it out on a sheet pan between 2 sheets of parchment and top with another sheet pan to keep it flat. Roast at 350, checking every 20 minutes or so, until it's super crisp and delicious. Break it into potato-chip sized pieces.

Slice the breash, shred the thigh, and serve with gravy and skin chips. Best damn turkey you'll ever have. Missing the pomp of showing off and carving the whole animal but I never went in for that too much anyway.

[Freddie]

21. In a tabletop roaster oven

Frees up the regular oven for the rest of the stuff - GBC, filling (stuffing), sweet potatoes. Roast at highest temp for .5 hour and the rest at 325. I’m doing a 16-lb turkey for about 4 hours. It MAY come out dry - I find undercooked poultry totally disgusting and would rather err on the side of caution. Or as my beloved Grandma would have said, that’s what gravy is for. Actually last year the turkey was not dry so maybe I’ll get lucky again.