questions about cooking turkey roulade

[cteavin]

Hi,

I have to cook two 7kg turkeys this week for an event. To cut cooking times and to make it easier to transport I'm going to debone them, stuff them, and roll them. This will be the first time I've done this so I had a couple of questions and was looking for some advice.

1) Should I still brine the meat? And if so, before or after I debone it?

2) Approximately how much time do you think it will take? I will be using an meat thermometer but I don't want to keep opening and closing to soon.

3) Do you think I should use one of those turkey bags, baste, use a roasting pan, or cook uncovered?

I cook whole turkeys every year, so this is going to be fun: I love trying new things.

Cheers,

[HKDave]

Brine: unless you've managed to get a turkey that isn't already 'enhanced' with additional water (and most are), I wouldn't bother. If you do brine, it takes a lot less space in the fridge to do it after it's de-boned. Season the inside of the carcass before stuffing.

Cooking time: Varies depending on the oven and how tightly it's rolled. It will be likely be between 2 and 3 hours for 7kg at 350F. Don't bother checking temps before 1hr45min.

Method: the bags work, but unless you have a high-quality air-chilled bird you'll find a bunch of liquid in the bottom of the bag after an hour or so, so your roulade will be braising rather than roasting. The solution is to finish it out of the bag after 1.5hr so the skin can crisp.

I'd go with a shallow roasting pan with some sliced onion in the bottom (prevents sticking, adds flavour to the drippings for gravy). Rather than baste, turn it occasionally - maybe every 20 or 30 min - so the skin browns evenly. The less opening and closing of the oven door, the faster it cooks.

[cteavin]

Thank you. That's really helpful.

[Mikels]

This may be too late, but it will be useful in the future....

Get a probe thermometer. You will be able to read the temp with the door closed. In fact, most of them ave an alarm that goes off when it hits a predetermined temp. I can't live without it.