Here's the grill:
Posted on 11/28/2002 9:58:00 AM PST by Cinnamon Girl
Every year I look up recipes for how to roast the turkey, and there are so many variations out there of temperatures for the oven and what temperature the thigh meat should be to determine if it's done.
My turkey is out and ready to go and people are coming at 3pm.
Once you go fried, you'll never go back.
Last night at my local watering hole I took a survey of the guys. Out of 25 guys that claim they carve the bird, NOT ONE used an electric knife. I was shocked.
Next year, get a thermometer. That's the only way to go. There's a really cool electronic one made by Polder which can be read without opening the oven, but any thermometer is the thing.
Covering with and basting thru cheesecloth is not a bad idea, but I would not do that while the oven is over 375.
As mentioned earlier, I am an advocate of a short shot (half hour) at 425/450, then dropping to 325.
I don't time zone you're in, but you better get that bird in the oven. ;)
Here's the grill:
I rub the inside of the bird with lemon then drain it because no one but me likes the occasional surprise mouthful of lemon in their stuffing. Broken up loaf of white bread (not hard lumps, but allowed to sit around long enough to get crispy on the outside), a decent amount of chopped onions (not chopped too small, I use one Spanish onion per turkey, but some may not like that much) sage and thyme and one-third pound of butter melted over it for moistening and all mixed together. (I can tell when the sage and thyme are right by smell, and you'll notice I don't put a whole lot of extraneous crap in my stuffing either). It works best if you don't stuff it too tightly, but a whole loaf is too much to get into any turkey (their insides tend not to get any bigger when you get past about 15 pounds), and since I'm a greedy pig when it comes to my stuffing I'll pack it somewhat. Including in the spaces next to the drumsticks. You can also stuff a large amount under the neck skin flap (if it hasn't been removed) then skewer that down. (An alternative if you don't want to pack it very tightly is to wrap your extra stuffing in tinfoil with half the turkey neck inside and cook it along with the turkey. The other half of the turkey neck you might put over the stuffing hole to help try to seal it up, if just tying things together doesn't work.)
Prepare the bird by cleaning and washing, stuff, tie down the wings and try to tie the legs together (they won't cover the hole completely, that why I mentioned putting the half turkey neck over the hole) then lemon, salt, pepper, good paprika all over, the other two-thirds pound of butter in two chunks on top of the bird. Salt, pepper, paprika on top of the two butter chunks or they'll wash away the stuff you put on the bird and leave not much behind. Start basting after two hours (baste gently the first time or two, again to avoid washing away the salt + pepper + paprika), then baste after an hour, then baste every half hour until there's a half hour left to go. If over 15 or 16 pounds, cook covered @ 325 for 15 minutes a pound (take the cover off to baste it anyway), uncovering for good with an hour or two left to go. The turkey should be finished when the drumsticks and wings move easily, but you may want to use your head about the skin if it's cooking too fast or whatever. I've cooked over 30 turkeys, so I've got a pretty good semi-instinctive feel for when things are going too fast or slow and what to do about it and when.
Here's the controversial part: a small turkey (less than 15 pounds) I cook uncovered at 225 for half an hour a pound. Some people say that temperature's too low, you may get bacteria in the stuffing, but I haven't had a problem yet.
We have a Dacor 30" electric convection/conventional over. My wife (the only cook in this house) says she roast the bird at 325 on convection as the manual says until the temp is 180 with stuffing.
This oven is amazing for cookies as you can do 6 sheets at a time 2 dozen to the sheet . That is if you have enough hands and arms. She bakes 40 to 50 dozen cookies a week, three sheets at a time. Been doing it for several years. The cookies are a treat for our customers. She gets more compliments than the staff. :-)
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