It's my turn to host Thanksgiving dinner so I wondered what the best way to cook it is. I found a recipe here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Turkey-in-a-Bag/Detail.aspx to do it in a bag but it doesn't look like a nice browned turkey, though maybe that's just not the best picture. I love watching Paula Dean every year as she deep fries hers but I think that's only in peanut oil and my youngest is allergic to peanuts.

So what's your favorite way?

Since learning about the whole deep fried turkey thing from my USC hubby....I really can't wait to give that a try.

Until then...I continue to oven bake with sausage stuffing and covered with bacon

I like the old fashioned stuffing with day old bread and bells seasoning, egg, onions and celery!

I might try the bag way if it cuts down the cooking as much as it says it does! I just want to know if it still comes out brown though 'cause we have a lot of skin eaters in our family.

# 5

Well I cant say Ive had a whole lot of variety in cooking for Thanksgiving. Ive never actually done the bird myself, just contributed side dishes. However, wherever I end up on turkey day it always seems to be a traditionally cooked bird. I shudder to think what its going to be like when I try to make my first . But I think Ill try the bag method.

I've had the deep fried turkey. Can't say I was impressed by it. I like my turkey done in the oven, smelling up the house and stuffed.

MMM I'm with you.

I've been fryin' my turkeys for 13 years now...way before it was considered "popular"....It only takes me one hour and 20 minutes to cook a 20lb turkey and it frees up my oven to cook everything else. In fact, the turkey is the last thing I cook on Thanksgiving Day.

I prefer to cook it at Boston Market but there aren't any here anymore..

(Always wanted to try the deep fry method, have heard some great-tasting things about it, but don't have a deep fryer and don't think I want one of those fire-hazards.)

Deep frying a turkey just seems wrong to me. Give me a nicely roasted one, anyday.

I have always done the traditional way with all the fixings




And from what I have read, it can be very dangerous too. People burn themselves up all the time deep frying turkeys

Had my first fried turkey years ago...it wasgreat, but nothing like a roasted in the oven turkey.
I always use the bag meathod. It cuts the cooking time, it makes a nice tender turkey and the skin still comes out crispy (mmm my favorite part YUMMY)

Dressing is a side dish- never stuffed inside the turkey

None of the above. I like to cook it on the grill with charcoal and apple wood. Works best with a bird in the 12-15lb range.

Now how do people get the skin crispy when it's in a bag? Doesn't the steam make it go soft?

I've done my turkeys in a bag in the oven for years. They still brown nicely.

You have to cut slits in the bag so that vents the steam, I guess.

Brining the turkey before cooking is suppose to make the meat really tender, less dry.


.....


Brining is a pretreatment in which the whole turkey to placed in a salt and water solution known as brine. This pretreatment produces a wonderfully moist and well-seasoned bird. Brining should be done in the refrigerator or in a cooler with 5 to 6 ice packs to keep the turkey and brine at 40 degrees or below during the entire brining process. Brining is more manageable with a rather small turkey from 12 to 14 pounds.

Table salt or kosher salt can be used to make the brine. Crystal kosher salt is recommended since table salt contains additives such as anti-caking ingredients, iodine and other additives. Table salt is also very finely ground and more is required to produce good results.

1. Start the brining method the day before you plan to cook the turkey. Start with a fresh or completely thawed turkey. Wash the bird inside and out and remove the giblet bag and neck.

2. In a large stockpot, plastic tub or cooler dissolve 4 cups kosher salt or 2 cups table salt in 2 gallons cold water. Add 1 cup sugar. Stir until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved. Water will look clear, not cloudy.

3. Herbs and spices may be added to brine to enhance the flavor. Add several crushed bay leaves, several sprigs of dried thyme, or other dried herbs, if desired.

4. Place the turkey in the brine solution, breast down. Cover and chill for 6 to 8 hours. Or use the overnight method by reducing the salt and sugar amounts by 1/2 so the turkey does not retain too much salt.

5. Remove the turkey from brine, rinse inside and out under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Place on a shallow pan and refrigerate overnight. This allows the skin to dry out so it becomes crisp during roasting. This step may be omitted if desired.

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/turkey/techniques.html

i have done the brine thing before... I got a real good recipe from Alton Brown.. it was really yummy.. you could really taste the effects of the brining in the leftovers

and instead of stuffing, you made this mixture of cinnamon and apple etc that you microwaved for a bit and then stuffed the apple along with some fresh rosemary and sage into the turkey.... it was good.. of course you don't eat the apple but it really flavours the turkey....

here is a link to Alton's recipe...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/re...36_8389,00.html

What REbecca says...i think because you slit the bag- the steam escapes. Beieve me the big bite of crispy skin when it comes oven...Im not giving that up!

Awesome, Marilyn! Thanks! This will be Jinky and Job's first Turkey dinner. She even asked me if we couldn't just eat chicken for Thanksgiving instead...LOL I want her to really TASTE the difference.

I love Alton Brown!!

I am a Food Network addict.

I'd deep fry it, but truly, I prefer other poultry. Goose and duck come to mind.

Thanks for the link Marilyn!! I might try it this year. Have done it the traditional way for two years now and have not heard any complaint from hubby yet. We were thinking of taking a break from preparing a big Thanksgiving dinner this year but this recipe is inviting enough for me to do it again!

I like goose too but I've never had good luck with it. I did one this past Christmas and it was so fatty it just fell apart in the roasting pan.

Ok I'm baggin it but you're gonna get it bad if it doesn't come out brown and crispy!!! So far I have a total of 9 people counting on a nice brown crispy yet moist turkey!!!

I'm going to try doing the brine thing but I have a question...here's his recipe 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


Where do you get the allspice berries and the candied ginger? I've never looked for these before but I've also never seen them in my normal Stop n Shop grocery store.

Also, is 2 1/2 hours really enough time for a 16 pound bird??? I haven't looked at other recipes yet but I remember my mom waking up at like 3am to put the thing in the oven. This seems really short time-wise without it being in a bag.

you might need to go into a different store to find the allspice berries and the candied ginger... they should be with the spices....

as for the roasting time... I think the turkey would take a shorter time because it isn't stuffed...





http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m121...v173/ai_3497935

Trust me. Seriously it will come out moist on the inside and crisp on the outside in less time. The bag package will have an est time for the size turkey you cook.

BTW Candied ginger can be found at whole foods. Alwso is a good treat to bring when you travel if you are prone to motion sickness.

bleh I'll have to start looking for recipes and all and buy all the food this weekend.

I've never cooked a turkey, my mommy still does it for our thanksgiving meals. Maybe one day I'll be the turkey cooker. But my fav way to eat one so far is in the bag in the oven, nice and moist! I've never had it deep fried though.

I'm a bag person, too. It's pretty much fool proof. I cooked roasts in the bag, too. No more dried out roasts that way.

I agree with MBP, stuffing is a side dish. My experience with stuffing cooked inside turkey has been soupy stuffing. Yuck!

I always cook it in the oven. I'm not a fan of deep frying anything. I've never tried the bags. I've used them for other things like beef roasts and chicken and they always come out good.

I used to cook it. The prep, the mess after.....not anymore. I buy a pre-cooked from The Honeybaked Ham Store and just warm it up. Makes my life so much easier and I get to actually socialize a bit on Thanksgiving.

My mum deep fries turkeys (never for Thanksgiving though) and I have to say it's fabulous. The meat always comes out very juicy. She grilled the turkey one year for Thanksgiving and I told her I felt robbed of all of the nice smells in the kitchen and throught the house! lol The way I like to cook it in the oven is to rub the cavity with some olive oil, fill the cavity with some carrots, onions and a bit of lemon and then put fresh herbs (thyme, tarragon & parsley) BETWEEN the skin and flesh of the bird and also in the cavity, then rub the outside with olive oil, season it and then I learned of this trick years ago and that's to flip the bird onto the breast-side for some of the cooking time to allow all of the juices that are forming inside of the cavity from the veggies and oil to seep into the breast meat which is the driest meat. It's a tricky thing flipping a big freakin' cooking turkey.... but it really works! Also, I'd never stuff a bird because that can draw juices away from the meat. I make stuffing in a separate caserole dish.

The thing about flipping it is that you may not getting the prettiest skin, but that doesn't really matter because the bird isnt' suppose to go to the table straight from the oven. You are suppose to let it sit about 20 minutes and it becomes easier to slice. I love how on TV they always show the big-a$$ turkey going straight from oven to table...duhr!

I think the misconception about the deep fried turkey is that it will be greasy and this is far from the truth. It's not at all and since you aren't suppose to eat skin anyway.... you arent' eating the fatty part.

My fiancée's grandmother made the best goose I ever had for New Year's. Crispy skin and a juicy tender inside. I ate every bit to the bare bone and came back the next day to suck on the bones! (Okay not really!)

Beef roast? Why did I never think of that! I bet that works out great. I hate dry roast beef and it's always been one of my cooking challenges.

turducken is the best really...so fatty...so bad for arteries

Oh they work GREAT for beef roasts.

I cooked Turkey in beer one year... turned out pretty good... (I think it was Thanksgiving, but it would have been the Canadian thanksgiving anyways, although perhaps it was Christmas... )

you didn't have a rotisserie choice. I like either deep fried or rotisserie.

We will go to his grandma & his dad's house, so we would not be cooking. His dad deep fried the turkey, grandma cooked it in the oven. No options for "whatever parents or grandma cooks"

The bags are GENIUS.

I think takeout (let someone else cook it) for turkey.

Chicken, we'll bake at home (smaller, and more flavourful bird).

I hate the bag method. I use a method I saw on Martha Stewart several years ago. Rub the turkey inside, outside, and under the skin with tons of butter, then put some fresh herbs under the skin and inside the cavity (I like sage). Lightly salt/pepper inside outside. I also add some aeromatics inside the bird, onion, apple, lemon, orange, whatever I have on hand.

Then preheat your oven to 500 degrees, once your oven has reached the desired temp, put the bird in. Leave in the oven for 30 mintues exactly, DON"T TOUCH. Take the bird out, the skin will be a lovely crispy brown. Congratulations you have just seared in all the juices and your bird wont be dry. Lower the temp down to 350 and put on a turkey triangle ( a large piece of foil shaped into a triangle) the point should be on the breast, covering it completely. The rest of the triangle will cover the legs so they dont burn.

I only baste the bird once or twice, it has never come out dry. Always perfect and tasty!

That's exactly how Alton Brown's recipe works. Aromatics are good!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/re...36_8389,00.html

Oh wait, now i can't remember if I got it from him or Martha either way, its great!

That reminds me...need to get a baster.

That's great JP. I'll try that.

you are very welcome! make extra green beans for charles but put some beano in there so you dont have to suffer later.

The best turkey I ever had was when my father slow smoked it with hickory wood chips. Takes more than 24 hours to do it that way, but its by far the tastiest way to enjoy turkey. So, if any of you have a large quality smoker i definitely recommend you try it next year. Hey, why wasn't that an option in this poll??!!