Thanksgiving Turkey?

Question

Hello everyone!
What is the best way to cook trkey for thanksgiving-in turkey bag or in racked roast pan?
I want brown, crispy and juicy turkey, so whats the best way of cooking?

Answer 1

Melt some butter, mix in some honey and garlic powder... brush all over your turkey and inside of it too! Put in a bag breast down and cook it according to the directions on the turkey!!! When theres about 30 minutes left, turn bird over breast side up.. that will brown and crisp the top!!

Answer 2

No bag for a crispy turkey --- open pan on a rack is best. If you want it to be crispy and juicy, cover it for the first couple of hours - either foil or a cover if your pan has one, and then remove the cover for the last hour. To seal in the juices, start the turkey at about 425 degrees for the first 20 minutes or so and then turn the oven down to about 325 degrees. Enjoy!

Answer 3

I actually found this recipe the year my delay timer on my oven didn't work. Take 2 large pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil and form a cross. grease up the foil...I use a combination of butter and Crisco. Place turkey in the middle oil and season it I use herb flavored butter rub. Bring the sides of the foil up and then the sides to seal in the bird. Cook in a hot oven 450 degrees. a 20lb stuffed bird takes about 3 1/4 hrs to 3 1/2hrs. you open the foil and brown the bird for the last 30 min. comes out moist every time. Good luck

Answer 4

Roaster Pan: Crispy & Dried Out

Oven Bag: Moist & Juicy

Answer 5

Its a myth. Tryptophan as another answer stated while in Turkey is not capable of causing drowsiness in the levels found in Turkey. The reason you get sleepy, is that people eat too much on Thanksgiving. If you gorged yourself on any other day the way you do for Thanksgiving, you'd be sleepy then too. It doesn't help if you have a lot of wine either.

Answer 6

Why don't you deep fry it? The outside gets nice and crispy, and the inside is sooo juicy and delicious. There are healthier cooking oils out there you can use to do it with.

Answer 7

If you want it crispy, do NOT use a bag. A bag will seal in mosture, adn keep the skin soggy. Now, you could roast the turkey in teh bag, then remove it 3/4 of the way thru, and keep roasting w/o a bag to let the skin dry out.

For juicy, use a brine solution prior to baking. You would do this Wed. evening. It is marvelous, adn worth the trouble, I promise!

I like this recipe:

ROASTED BRINED TURKEY

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

--Alton Brown, Food Network

Answer 8

I agree with Zeechou, that is your best option. You won't get crispy by cooking in the bag so remove it about 20 minutes before.

Answer 9

If all else fails, try calling the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.1-800-288-8372 or go to www.butterball.com

Even if you didn't purchase a Butterball for Thanksgiving, the operators can help you with your questions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Answer 10

well you could do both in a matter of speaking... cook in the bag to keep it moist and then about 20 min before it's done cut back the back to crisp up the skin