Interesting Turkey Cooking Ideas

[llc45]

How's this turkey recipe for something new and interesting?

[mydogbites2]

Ahhh.. the joys of thermal dynamics...

Ponder the shape of a turkey.. looks more like a bowling ball than a fish.. correct?.. Sure you can cook them both with a hot oven and the fish will turn out fine and the bowling ball will be charred outside before the internal temp is there.. then try it low temp.. you will end up with two tasty yet pallad looking products.. What the bird is seeking is equilibrum with its environment.. it wants to be in its happy place..

IMO.. Staging the cooking temps is the best bet for large (or many different) items, either start high and finish low or start low and finish high..

I have always started my birds just as hot as I can, 500+, for a quick brown then tented the breast, inserted a digital remote temp probe into the thigh, and reduced the temp to 300-350 or so.. You get the brown skin you want.. and also the wonderful juicy meat.. And once you have set the oven to the lower temp DO NOT! open the door.. Just wait for the temp alarm to let ya know its 163 or so.. Pull that monster chicken out to a resting spot, leave the probe in, and tent it and let the thermal coasting finish out.. 30 mins or so for a big bird 15-20 for smaller fowl. (speaking of big bird I wonder what he/it? would taste like roasted... I am betting ostrich ).. After that carve away at it, gorge and then fall asleep on the recliner.

Chow down,

Kev

p.s. Try a choice prime rib roast with the low/high method.. its so good it will make you want to slap your mother.

[EggyGirl]

There is a lot of great high heat recipes listed here in this forum; with Barb's, CL's, and Safeway links. I'm sure that someone will find this forum useful when considering high heat recipes as an alternative to cooking their turkey. I wish you all luck with whatever recipe you are using and hope you have a wonderful 4 day weekend.

[EggyGirl]

Thanksgiving was great! The 2-hour turkey worked out nicely. I actually ended up following the Safeway one in this forum. Believe it or not, we went thru 2 turkeys and 2 hams with very little left overs! We actually had to hide some turkey so we could have left overs for ourselves!

Hope everyone's T-day was great as well. :-)

[Jaymes]

I jumped on the deep fried turkey bandwagon a few years ago and am now hooked. A large bird can be cooked in less than an hour and the results are great; dark, crispy skin, and juicy meat.

Older members of the family (mother, mother-in-law, etc) insist on a conventional oven method during any holiday. Side by side, the fried turkey goes twice as fast as the oven bird, and there's no leftovers (we're eating the oven turkey leftovers for a week...)

OK, maybe not as healthy as a roasted turkey, but hey, its only 3 times a year or so!

There is an initial investment of the propane burner kit, pot, etc. Plus you should cook this outdoors, but in my opinion, all well worth it.

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My daughter has adopted this method as her own family tradition.

She says that regardless as to how it tastes, it's utterly fabulous because it gets the men out of the kitchen. And off of the sofa. And even, best of all, out of the house entirely. And it's something they willingly do in order to contribute to the meal, a huge step forward from the way she was reared. And the turkey is no longer her responsibility so if it's raw and undercooked or dry and overcooked, nobody can blame her.

So all in all, she says, it's just about perfect in every way.

[paulraphael]

Ahhh.. the joys of thermal dynamics...

Ponder the shape of a turkey.. looks more like a bowling ball than a fish.. correct?

A turkey is more like a hollow bowling ball. The actual thickness of the flesh is not that much. It may be closer to a fish than to a prime rib roast.

I don't like to tent anything that I roast, because the resulting steam buildup tends to turn the nice crisp crust you worked for into mush.

High heat methods work surprisingly well. Poaching (if used before a high heat roast) and deep frying work very well because they cook the turkey from the inside of the cavity much more efficiently than hot air can.

There's nothing wrong with the high/low approach; I just don't think there are benefits with it as there are with big roasts. In any case I think that tenting and basting are mistakes.

Edited November 26, 2007 by paulraphael (log)

[BRM]

This year it's low and slow.  15 pound bird is in the oven already at 79 degrees.  Will roast until Thanksgiving to an internal temp of 185.  (GD&R)

Well --- it sounded good in theory....

hvr

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Dude...you gotta tell us how this turned out. 11+ days in the oven, are you serious??? (or did you think Thanksgiving was on the 15th) Did it turn out like jerky? Don't make me have to do it myself to learn....