First Timer Cooking A Turkey!!!! Any Suggestions????

[hoochfisher]

Roasting:

Brine the bird first. Place in a cooler with ice. My brine:
1 gallon water
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 table spoons whole black peppercorns
2 stem each of fresh Rosemary and thyme
1 stem fresh sage

Repeat recipe as needed to cover bird.

Cooking time: rub a light coat of canola oil over the bird, place uncovered in a 450 degree oven until skin browns to your desired darkness. Remove turkey from the oven and use a square of tin foil folded into a triangle. Place foil triangle over the breast only. Return to a 350 degree oven until dark meat is 165 per a thermometer. At this point juices should run clear, and there should be no pink near the bones. Let it rest uncovered a minimum of 30 minutes before carving or all this work will be for nothing as all the juices will cover the cuttin board instead of staying in the bird.

 

[hoochfisher]

Roasting:

Brine the bird first. Place in a cooler with ice. My brine:
1 gallon water
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 table spoons whole black peppercorns
2 stem each of fresh Rosemary and thyme
1 stem fresh sage

Repeat recipe as needed to cover bird.

Cooking time: rub a light coat of canola oil over the bird, place uncovered in a 450 degree oven until skin browns to your desired darkness. Remove turkey from the oven and use a square of tin foil folded into a triangle. Place foil triangle over the breast only. Return to a 350 degree oven until dark meat is 165 per a thermometer. At this point juices should run clear, and there should be no pink near the bones. Let it rest uncovered a minimum of 30 minutes before carving or all this work will be for nothing as all the juices will cover the cuttin board instead of staying in the bird.

 

[hoochfisher]

For frying: if you have no fryer, bass pro shops has a fryer kit for $40 that has everything you need. Also, for safety and a all around better built fryer, make sure whatever you decide on has welded legs on the fryer base instead of screws. Screws get loose, legs fold, oil goes everywhere, stuff burns up. Not good.


Follow the instructions for your fryer. Use no bigger than a 14# bird, and never fill past the line in the fry pot.

ALWAYS make sure the turkey is completely thawed. Ice will cause boil Over which will cause a fire.

There are plenty of choices for injections. Our favorite is Cajun injectors creole butter. Inject the night before and use the seasoning shaker the night before as well.

Before frying, pat the bird dry with paper towels.

The oil doesn't have to be at full temp when you put the bird in. I put it in when the oil hits 300, then crank the heat till it hits 375. Fry approximately 3 minutes per pound. Pull the bird and take its temp. Dark meat should be 165 degrees. Allow the bird to rest a minimum of 30 minutes before carving.

 

[chiefsquirrel83]

Baste bird with butter and lemon juice. Inject with creole butter. Stuff cavity with 2 whole onions small bag of baby carrots, and minced garlic. Sprinkle entire bird with montreal chicken seasoning and throw it on a smoker for 6 hours at 200 degrees!!! What I do every year! I tend to use either red oak or hickory for the smoke

 

[Scroggy]

1. Make sure bird is thawed.
2. Make sure you remove the bag of jiblets before you cook it.
3. Use the "popcorn" method to tell when the bird is done:
Pack cavity full with popcorn kernels. Cook till the bird's a$$ blows the oven door across the room. Bird is done.

 

[JHV2]

Roasting:

Brine the bird first. Place in a cooler with ice. My brine:
1 gallon water
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 table spoons whole black peppercorns
2 stem each of fresh Rosemary and thyme
1 stem fresh sage

Repeat recipe as needed to cover bird.

Cooking time: rub a light coat of canola oil over the bird, place uncovered in a 450 degree oven until skin browns to your desired darkness. Remove turkey from the oven and use a square of tin foil folded into a triangle. Place foil triangle over the breast only. Return to a 350 degree oven until dark meat is 165 per a thermometer. At this point juices should run clear, and there should be no pink near the bones. Let it rest uncovered a minimum of 30 minutes before carving or all this work will be for nothing as all the juices will cover the cuttin board instead of staying in the bird.

This is so good it's worth repeating -- again. What ever you do don't skimp the brining step. I leave mine in brine (and ice) for at least 8 hours (overnight in a cooler on the back porch. I always get raves on how "jucy" my turkey is. Brining not only adds flavor but pulls out stale liquid and blood from the meat.
I learned about this many years ago from a magazine article that reported how a taste-test study funded by a major vendor (butterball I think) put all kinds of turkeys to the test. From frozen and injected to fresh and free-range. They prepared them brined and un-brined. In every case the brined scored higher for each source, and almost all of the brined scored better than any of the unbrined.

 

[DownSouthMach]

1. Make sure bird is thawed.
2. Make sure you remove the bag of jiblets before you cook it.
3. Use the "popcorn" method to tell when the bird is done:
Pack cavity full with popcorn kernels. Cook till the bird's a$$ blows the oven door across the room. Bird is done.

LMAO that will be a memorable Thanksgiving

 

[bsh4x4]

thanks for the ideas guys and yes i will be baking it.

 

[Bioshock]

thanks for the ideas guys and yes i will be baking it.

use a meat thermometer to be sure it gets up to temp.
And baste,baste,baste if baking so it wont be dry.

I have also seen foil placed on the upper part of the bird to let the lower cook longer to get
the dark meat tender

 

[hoochfisher]

Sorry Bio, but if you brine a turkey you can take that basting bulb and throw it in trash where it belongs!