how can i keep a moist turkey? how do i make dressing?

Answer 1

This cooking method never fail me, my turkey always turn out really moist. Even my mom changed her cooking method after she tasted mine.

Rub olive oil or butter, salt and pepper then instead of putting the turkey with the breast (the meaty side) up in the pan put it with the breast down, where as the legs are down instead of sticking up. Then cover with aluminum foil. Most people don't cover the turkey while cooking and that's how they dry up. Also, when the turkey is cooking all the juices goes down. Then about 30-40min just before the turkey is done remove the foil, flip the turkey over to brown the breast side and continue baisting it. Follow the direction on how many hours to cook base on weight. Also, an oven glove would be really handy if you'll have a large turkey.

Also, I don't put the stuffing in the turkey while cooking. I put the cooked stuffing after the turkey is done and on the platter.

Stuffing INGREDIENTS
1 (1 pound) loaf white bread
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 pinch salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1/4 cup water
DIRECTIONS
Moisten all the bread with as much water as is needed to make moist. Add the onion, seasoning, and salt and pepper. Mix with hands.
Place in turkey or in foil and wrap up (which I do) and cook for at least 1 hour, longer if you are cooking it in the turkey. May open the foil for last 15 minutes to make top crusty.

Answer 2

For a nice moist turkey the key is lower temperature and longer cooking time. I suggest 200 degrees! Cover with alumium foil. Then I suggest taking some drippings and injecting it into the turkey. Most people fear injecting, but your company will thank you. The flavor will not only be in the skin anymore, but inside as well.

No drippings or saving them for gravy? Then use chicken broth or stock. Let it simmer with the same seasonings you put on the outside of your turkey, or some you used in your dressing while the turkey roasts.

Sorry don't personally have a recipe for dressing, although I remember my great grandmother making i for years. The key is dried bread. Dice you bread into cubes 24-48 hours before you will be making the dressing. The longer they sit out the better. Of course not like a week though.

Also take your bird out of the oven at 155°. It will continue to cook the rest of the way when sitting on the counter. And do not cook the stuffing inside the turkey. You will either have a dry turkey with hot stuffing or cold stuffing and cold inside of the bird. Many health professionals will recommend against this. Instead stuff your bird with fresh fruits,veggies, and herbs.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I can't really say how to keep a turkey moist but I do have a great stuffing recipe.

Grandma’s Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 2-lb Bag Yellow Onions
Cooking Oil
1 Bunch Celery
1-lb Pork Sausage
1 Loaf Stuffing Bread
(If you can’t find stuffing bread – out of season – a 1-lb loaf of white bread works, too. Do not use croutons! They’re crap.)
1 tsp. Sage or Poultry Seasoning

Directions:
1. Break up bread and leave out in bowl.
2. Chop onions in food processor. (Enough to fill 12-inch frying pan)
3. Slice celery and add to onions with a little oil in frying pan.
4. Cover and cook until soft.
5. Add pork sausage to onions/celery and cook.
6. Turn off frying pan and let cool.
7. Pour over bread.
8. Add sage or poultry seasoning and mix together well (with hands in plastic baggies).
9. Salt bird a little inside and stuff. (Do not salt if you brine the turkey.)

Stuffing can be precooked the day before and refrigerated.

Extra stuffing can be refrigerated and reheated later in a casserole dish.

Stuffing inside the bird absorbs the bird’s juices and any bacteria they might contain. Therefore, you should make sure that the stuffing reaches 165° as well.

Answer 4

I don't know about the moist turkey, but here is the homemade dressing recipe that has been handed down as far back as my great great grandma (no joke) and my family always uses it.

(By the way, it sounds harder than it really is to make!)
** Granny's Dressing **
8 cups of sandwich bread, torn into large pieces, dried out for 12 hrs or so
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon sage
1 beaten egg
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon chicken seasoning or poultry seasoning (optional)
1/4 cup each: chopped onion & celery

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl, add enough water & milk to make it all soupy. Bake at 350 until brown. It will still be kind of doughy when fully cooked.

Merry Christmas!!!

Answer 5

this always works. trust me. Brine it and you won't believe how juicy. *this will need to refridgerate for a few hours
this is for a 10 to 12 lb turkey can easily be adjusted brine for at least 4 hrs to up to a whole day
*take out the bag with the giblets inside the turkey and wash it first
Brine:
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 oranges, quartered
2 lemons, quartered
6 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs rosemary

To make the brining solution, dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons of cold water in a non-reactive container (such as a clean bucket or large stockpot, or a clean, heavy-duty, plastic garbage bag.) Add the oranges, lemons, thyme, and rosemary.
Note: if you have a big turkey and need more brine than this, use 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar for every gallon of water

Answer 6

Soak in a brine 4 hours prior to cooking. Alton Brown on the food network has a great recipe. I have used a brine several times and got the best results when only soaking 4 hours rather than over night. I also use the old technique of making a compound butter with lots of poutry seasonings and fresh herbs. You freeze the butter then cut it in to chunks that you work under the skin. I stuff the bird with apple slices, rosmary, thyme, and orange slices with cloves stuck to them. Slather the whole bird in oliveoil. I then place it in a roasting pan on top of sevral whole carrots and celery stocks, add 1 can of chicken broth and roast 15 minutes per pound. I have one of those thermometers that alert you when the temp gets to 165. Some people say 185 but I have never had a juice bird when cooking to that temp. I have never had any luck making good stuffing in the bird.

Answer 7

To make a turkey moist, pour beer over it when you put it into the oven. Pour a can of beer over it every half hour for the first two hours. Then baste the turkey every 20 minutes with the beer in the pan. Even the breast meat is moist this way.

Answer 8

I'm with the folks who say fry it, 3 mins per pound and it is the best turkey I ever had. You definitely have to be very careful when doing this but the meat is so moist you'll never use the oven again to cook turkey.

Answer 9

the key to making a moist turkey is to baste every 30 minutes with butter keep covered with foil untill about a 1hr to 2 hrs then remove foil to brown evenly. dressing has so many different techniques i use cornbread in mine with a few pieces of light bread boilded eggs, sage, onions,celery,1 can of mushroom soup,and bake for about 1 hr

Answer 10

a couple of years ago Martha Stewart took cheese cloth dipped it in melted butter and draped it over her turkey it kept the juice in and kept it moist. you need to baste it every 20 minutes or so I tried it it did work. check out the food-net work for a good dressing --I like Paula Dean.