Eating turkey for the first time?

Question

Normally in Scandinavia we eat duck at x-mas, but this time I buy a 4.4kg turkey. Is there anything I should know about cocking time and what is good to eat with the turkey, stuffing etc.
Americans is expert in this...right?

Answer 1

Go to Butterball.com
These are the turkey experts. It will tell you how long to cook your turkey and ideas for leftovers ect. Some of the typical things people eat with turkey are stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, cranberries and pumpkin pie, sweet potatoe pie, pecan pie. At our house the next days leftovers(turkey, stuffing, gravy,potatoes, peas are all put in one pot and cooked like a stew. Its very good. Good luck with the turkey. Have you ever tried a turdunken? Its Chicken in a duck in a turkey. Its a new craze also. I have never tried it but have heard its really good.

Answer 2

The National Turkey Federation recommends roasting a turkey in a 325 degrees F oven until a meat thermometer indicates the internal temperature registers 180 degrees F in the thigh and 170 degrees F in the breast. Pop-up timers are helpful as a preliminary step in judging the correct temperature, but a meat thermometer is the best final authority to determine doneness.

A shallow roasting pan should be used so oven air can flow completely around the turkey. Pans with sides higher than 1 inch will shield the thickest part of the turkey thighs from the heat, and the thighs will not cook evenly. For easier clean-up, add 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of the pan.

If you stuff your bird, stuff it immediately before you place it in the oven. The center of the stuffing must register 160-165 degrees F before removing the turkey from the oven. If you do not stuff your turkey, the addition of 2 cups of coarsely chopped celery, onion and carrots to the cavity will enhance the fragrance and add to the flavor of the pan juices.

The roasting times shown on the chart below reflect the shorter cooking times of the turkeys produced by today's turkey industry. Turkeys today take less time to cook than in the past because new turkey breeds produce a higher proportion of white meat. Since white meat cooks faster than dark meat, care should be taken to follow these guidelines to ensure a moist turkey. Use roasting times as a planning guide only; use a thermometer to determine actual doneness.

2 3/4 to 3 hours: unstuffed
3 to 3 1/2 hours: stuffed

Answer 3

First off, you want to cook it in a big roasting pan. Grocery stores in America sell flimsy, aluminum, one-use, disposable pans. Butterball is a good turkey. They remove the leg tendons so it is much easy to carve afterwards. Defrost the bird for 4 days in the refrigerator. On the morning, that you want to cook it, clean it and soak it in a sink of water. I had a 10 lb. bird for Thanksgiving, and I cooked it for almost 3 3/4 hours. First though, I coated in in vegetable oil so the skin doesn't dry out. I bought two boxes of Stove Top stuffing. It was easy to prepare and tasted good when stuffed into the bird. There was too much for the turkey so that was a good snack while cooking. For the last 1/3 of cooking time, cover the breast/ legs with aluminum foil so the skin won't burn to a crisp. Mashed potatoes are good with turkey. Save the juices that flow into the pan. There will be a lot. Use it for gravy and for turkey stew in a few days. Juices, plus flour, plus milk makes gravy. Yahoo Food has a few things about cooking turkey and holiday menus. Ditto Butterball. They have cooking times and also show you how to carve a turkey. A pumpkin pie is good with turkey also.

Answer 4

There are tons of websites out there that will pontificate on every minute detail. Here are a couple tips to really juicy turkey:

-If you buy it frozen, make sure you put the bird in the refrigerator at least 4 days in advance, to give it plenty of time to slowly defrost. If, the day before (a full 24 hours) it's still frozen, defrost outside of the fridge. Nothing will ruin Christmas faster than a cold bird...
-Get yourself a probe thermometer to test for doneness. Experts will tell you that 180 F is the key temp, but that will make a pretty dry bird. I aim at 170 F and it is plenty done.
-Stuff the sucker. It's a pain, but it's the best compliment to the bird. The store-bought stuffing is fine, but a good cornbread stuffing is to die for.
-Before putting in the oven, rub the bird all over with butter and salt and pepper. Yummy skin.
-Don't bother basting. It doesn't do anything but let heat out of the oven and make it take longer.

Answer 5

I wouldn't necessarily call us experts on Christmas dinner, since it's pretty much a re-do of Thanksgiving (which we do know). I'm having the same thing as Thanksgiving, but with a ham in place of the turkey.

There will be garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, green salad, homemade French bread, and maybe a dessert with cranberries. Some people are big fans of any dish with squash in it, just not my husband and me.

Follow the cooking tips on butterball.com, and the last time we made a turkey it was coated with melted butter and olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary and time. Then we put the lemon rinds in the cavity of the bird with fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage. Then poked the turkey all over and put smashed garlic cloves in the little cuts. It was excellent.

Happy holidays!

Answer 6

A great turkey dinner could be mashed potatoes, stuffing, some green beans or corn and ligonberries. Of course, many people have more side dishes, but this is the basic stuff. You should cook a turkey about 15 minutes per pound (don't know the kg conversion, I am sorry).

If you are Danish, God Jul! (don't know it in any other language)

Answer 7

Go one line to the turkey hotline for tips and info

Answer 8

be sure to save some for leftovers, make turkey sandwiches on the little rolls you have leftover with mayo and mustard. Yummy!

Answer 9

cook it upside down to keep the breast moist....UK