how are you cooking your turkey this year?

smoking?
frying?
baking?
grilling?

will you brine?

None of the above.

Allergic to poultry :/

baking.......always have...experimented with a chicken in the turkey fryer and was not a success, too messy and then had to dispose the peanut oil,,,,,not worth the effort

Brine, then roast.

Did this last year http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Malt-Beer-Brined-Turkey-with-Malt-Glaze-361750

It was awesome!

Brine and roast.... Brine is a traditional salt/sugar mix that I hit with a huge amount of sage, apples and peppercorns.

Hmm.... easy way.
I'm going to my folks house.
Me, my siblings, nieces, nephews and others.

I may bake one at home for my daughter and I.

Brine and roast in the wood-fired oven.

We've got a fairly large crowd coming this year so the wife is doing the brined full-bird in the oven and I've great big bone-in breast I'm going to do on the smoker.

Alton Brown's brine receipe. Then bake. Always good.

lgilmore said:

Alton Brown's brine recipe. Then bake. Always good.

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Ditto. Been doing it that way for the last couple years. Always turns out moist and tasting fantastic.

Will also smoke up a number of bone-in breasts.

No turkey this year, kinda tired of the same old thing. I usually deep fry or smoke them. I'll brine for a smoked turkey, and with the deep fried ones I like to inject them with buffalo hot wing sauce (turns out awesome!). This year I'm smoking 5 or 6 racks of baby backs and a big leg of lamb.

brine and bbq for me, but i just saw this yesterday on new york times website
Jacques Pépin’s Steam-Powered Turkey
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/dining/steamed-turkey-the-jacques-pepin-way.html?emc=eta1

(i'm pretty sure we all have the kettles)

I usually just roast it in the oven, but I'm thinking I might try the Epicurious beer-brined with malt glaze recipe that two harted posted; sounds VERY tasty.
Regards, GF.

Usually roasted, but this year we're smoking it on the WSM after a simple brine.

I'll be deep-frying TWO birds on Thanksgiving. I'll inject them with some marinade, rub them down with some Cajun spices and dunk 'em. Only one daughter will be home...so we'll have LOTSA leftovers. Yum!

glenn514

MIL is probably cooking it. I have no idea. I know I'm making pies. We'll probably be doing BYO(SOUP) to Xmas at our house. By then we are all tired of the turkey and ham meals, so having soup at our place is a nice change. Most people coming will also be having turkey dinners at other people's homes too.

I think the MIL probably roasts the turkey in a bag, in the electric roaster. I've had deep fried turkey before and it's totally worth it IMO. Especially since I didn't have to clean up after...

blakelyc said:

Brine and roast.... Brine is a traditional salt/sugar mix that I hit with a huge amount of sage, apples and peppercorns.

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Same here but I also baste my turkey with melted butter and pepper several times during the roasting to keep the skin from drying out too much.


While deep frying a turkey tastes awesome who really wants to spend $30 on peanut oil just to deep fry one turkey?

roasted breast

the BigHair (SWMBO) coats it in veggie CREAM CHEESE and it turns out awesome; keeps it from drying out & crisps the skin nice and brown

Jayhem said:

Same here but I also baste my turkey with melted butter and pepper several times during the roasting to keep the skin from drying out too much.

While deep frying a turkey tastes awesome who really wants to spend $30 on peanut oil just to deep fry one turkey?

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Once the oil cools down you can strain it and funnel it back in the original container and save it in a cool dark place. It'll last a long time.

Deep frying two turkeys back to back. And yes, you can strain the oil and reuse it later.

Jayhem said:

While deep frying a turkey tastes awesome who really wants to spend $30 on peanut oil just to deep fry one turkey?

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On Friday morning, after the oil is cold, I will use a funnel and pour it back into the container. I don't even bother to strain it, because the sediment sinks to the bottom...just like in brewing...and when I use it the next time, I stop pouring before the sediment comes out.

I use the same oil to fry several birds, and then take it to a place that recycles it into motor fuel!

glenn514

Baked as always. Next year I'm gonna try the fry route...

Laser beam eyes as usual.

Induction?

Never fried a turkey before, but thinking about trying it using the 3500W Induction cooker that I boil wort with. Anyone here use induction to fry a turkey before? Pros or cons?

Some chef advice... This is by far the juiciest turkey I've ever made, also with crispy, rich skin...

*Get yourself a normal, non-kosher turkey.
*Brine for 24 hours with 60 grams kosher salt per every 2 liters of water. No need for sugar, lemon, or herbs in the brine.
*2-3 hours before it's time to cook, remove the turkey from the brine and pat dry.
*Remove the wishbone. Meanwhile, make a compound butter with minced herbs.
*Compound butter = 1 stick unsalted butter, 1 sprig rosemary, 3 sprigs thyme, 6 leaves sage, and fresh ground black pepper.

*Let the turkey come to room temperature before you smother with the compound butter, which should be pommade consistency.
*Add some chopped vegetables & herbs to the bottom of the roasting pan and inside the cavity of the turkey.
*Season liberally with salt and cook the turkey in a preheated 265 F oven for 2.5 to 3.5 hours, depending on the size of the bird. Baste every 30-40 minutes.
*The turkey breast and legs should read approx. 145 F internal temperature, but not much higher. If not, cook for another 20-30 minutes and check again.
*Remove from oven and tent with heavy duty foil for 1 hour. Do not eat. Do not worry about the lack of color.

*At this point, you can stuff it with partially cooked stuffing. Make sure the stuffing is at least 80% cooked.
*After an hour of resting, preheat the oven to 500 F. Baste the turkey for the last time.
*Roast uncovered for 10-12 minutes at 500 F. The skin will crisp up and darken.
*No reason to rest the turkey again. Begin carving whenever you want.
*Use the vegetables and brown bits in the bottom of the pan to make a gravy. Sprinkle the vegetables liberally with flour, then add hot water and/or stock. Bring to a vigorous boil, cook for 5 minutes, strain, and serve.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Laser beam eyes as usual.

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recipe for a headache if you ask me. learned that the hard way...

bobbrews said:

*The turkey breast and legs should read approx. 145 F internal temperature, but not much higher. If not, cook for another 20-30 minutes and check again.

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I was a little worried when I got to this part because I thought that was the end of cooking. But it wasn't, so its all good

I do this in one of these. My parents have used that roaster for years, so I don't really know how it compares to other methods, but I love it.

Brining in applejuice with thyme, rosemarry, pepper, cellary and carrot. Butterflying and grilling over hickory wood fire...

I'm not cooking for Thanksgiving but I am cooking a turkey breast to go into the freezer for future meals. It's hard to pass up how cheap turkey meat gets the week of Thanksgiving. (Spend $100 in groceries at the local Kroger and it's $0.29/lb.) This turkey breast is 8.5lbs. and it's getting an oven bake with some herbs and a couple bottles of blue moon I found in the house that probably wouldn't get drunk. Once it comes out and rests I'm going to use the drippings, herbs and the carcass to make stock that will become a turkey and lentil soup for lunch tomorrow. The rest of the meat will go in the freezer. If I have room for more meat (we only have the freezer attached to the fridge) then I'll buy a whole bird and give it the same treatment, although I might break it down and toss it on the smoker.

emetcalf said:

I was a little worried when I got to this part because I thought that was the end of cooking. But it wasn't, so its all good

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145 F is actually done (some would say overdone by 5 degrees) for the white meat. The dark meat however, needs a little bit more time to be fully cooked. Say 158-165 F.

While deep frying a turkey tastes awesome who really wants to spend $30 on peanut oil just to deep fry one turkey?[/QUOTE]

You can fry 3 to 4 turkeys with that oil. After 2 birds are done, let the oil cool then pump through a filter and fry up the other 2. Peanut oil has a very high smoke temp so it doesn't burn like regular veggie oil. I usually get 2 or 3 friends to supply me with a bird and 10 bucks and I do theirs in the morning and they come by and pick them up. I fry my bird up for free.

Brine then grill.

runningweird said:

brine, then roast.

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+1

Changed my mind. I got two breasts and I am going to sous vide them.

I ended up cooking a turkey breast and part of a whole turkey. I bought a whole turkey but cut off the limbs. I froze them to smoke later in the winter. I cooked the rest. Both were oven baked with some herbs and beer. I found some blue moon in the house and used it. I poured a bottle in the bottom of the pan with the spices then about an hour and a half into baking I would pour some of a second bottle over the skin every 15-20 minutes until I used up the second bottle. It took 3-4 times to empty the bottle. Drippings all went into my turkey stock. Made a great turkey and lentil soup out of it.

aubiecat said:

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We used this and it came out great.

Well, a little late to post, but I was proud to say that I cooked the turkey and all the sides in this puppy I built:


Oh well, can't get the photo to work and can't find the delete button. It's a brick oven in my backyard anyway.