how are you cooking your turkey this year?

[wolfstar]

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

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

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.

 

[bobbrews]

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

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.

 

[KNOTSANE]

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.

 

[pickles]

Brine then grill.

 

[OG2620]

brine, then roast.

+1

 

[aubiecat]

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

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

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.

 

[harrydrez]

We used this and it came out great.

 

[Cider123]

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.

 

[dfess1]

I brined three birds and threw them in the smoker. Two came out awesome, one tasted like a rib (don't use dry rub next time). One was just a bird with some herbed butter (minced sage, thyme, rosemary, basil, and garlic) up under the skin and on top of it, and the last one had a bourbon/bbq sauce injected all over the breast/legs.