My first Thanksgiving! Help!?!


Question: I am 100% Italiano and this will be my first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family and in-laws. I am the youngest of the married adults and really want to prove myself. I make Italian gravy (spaghetti sauce), braciole...all things Italian. I just have NO idea how to cook a turkey. I tried once but the bottom of it came out really soggy. Can anyone help me!?


Answers: I am 100% Italiano and this will be my first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family and in-laws. I am the youngest of the married adults and really want to prove myself. I make Italian gravy (spaghetti sauce), braciole...all things Italian. I just have NO idea how to cook a turkey. I tried once but the bottom of it came out really soggy. Can anyone help me!?

What I did was search the web for some simple turkey recipes. This one was my favorite.

1 20-pound turkey

1 C. softened butter

12 garlic cloves, peeled

8 fresh thyme sprigs

8 fresh parsley sprigs

1/2 C. melted butter

Position the rack at the lowest level in the oven; preheat the oven to 350° F.

Rinse the turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Loosen skin over breast, thighs and upper drumsticks by running hand gently between skin and meat. Rub softened butter over meat under loosened skin. Season turkey with salt and pepper.

Place garlic, thyme and parsley into the cavity. Tie legs together loosely. Place turkey on a rack in a large roasting pan. Roast in preheated oven until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh registers 180° F. Baste with melted butter and pan juices every 20 minutes. A 20-pounder will take about 3 1/2 hours. Tent with foil if turkey is browned before done.


This one is another one I found. It doesn't seem like it would taste a good, but who knows?


1 (approximately 20-pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed, rinsed and patted dry
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 large oven roasting bag
1 onion, thickly sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Brush turkey with oil. Shake flour in an oven roasting bag and insert the turkey. Add onion and celery ribs.
3. Place turkey into a shallow, 2 inch deep, roasting pan. Close the bag. Pierce six small slits in the top of the bag. Roast for 4 to 5 hours or until the meat thermometer registers 180°F. Juices should run clear and the legs should move easily when twisted or lifted.
4. Let stand 20 minutes before slicing.

why not deep fry one?then the entire thing is crispy they tend to come out moist and delicious ..i would try one the week before to test it.

u can check out some of the cooking classes here! they offer lots of recipies for thanksgiving too, do check it out! (:

http://sg.88db. com/sg/Services/Ad.listing/food_entertai...

i buy a large turkey oven bag and just lightly season my turkey and place in bag....i let it cook on 300 (slow) for several hrs....it is very juicy and falls off the bone....i turn it down to about 250 after bout three hrs....the slower it cooks the more moist it is.....i cut the oven off about an hour or so before ready to trim the turkey and let it cool in its own juices before cutting...enjoy

It's hard to help you as we don't know where you are located. However, having said that, there are many tricks to making the best turkey. A good way to make a juicy turkey would be to use a roasting bag from the grocery store. There are turkey sized bags which are great for first timers - just read and follow the directions on the bag and your turkey should come out excellent!

Food TV web-page with their excellent tips and videos to learn from:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_hd_th...

Other resources would be go to the local bookstores RIGHT NOW as all the major food mags are out and centered around Thanksgiving - leaf through some and find the ones that you understand the best.

The very best resource is in your own family; you may be the youngest of all of them, but there must be someone - an aunt or dear family friend - who would love to spend some time with you, not taking over - just giving you a practiced helping-hand?

Cheers & have a wonderful holiday. Don't let things stress you!

This recipe is very easy to follow and will give you a beautifully succulent bird:
http://www.gourmet-food-revolution.com/h...

I'd deep fry it. It comes out crispy skin and juicy meat. Buy and injector and inject with butter and garlic and fry in peanut oil. Then you need sweet potato casserole with marshmallow topping, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gibblet gravy. Yummy I can't wait.

I think Robert OWNS gourmet food revolution.....that being said....I really like all of the answers you're getting and don't have anything else to add, except, remember, IT ISN'T AS HARD AS YOU'RE EXPECTING. Relax. Enjoy the experience. Follow one of the recipes above and just breath. I used to be so uptight about making everything perfect. I've learned over many many many years of cooking that it is one of the funnest things you can do.....your new family and in-laws won't care if it isn't perfect and probably won't even notice if it isn't ..just smile and enjoy it.....congratulations and good luck.

I dont really know but DO NOT DEEP FRY A TURKEY!!!! like of the people that do, half of them set their houses on fire!

If your skin came out soggy, it's probably from the stuffing sitting next to it the whole time it was cooking. To prevent this, just simply put the turkey on a little rack in your pan so it's not sitting directly on the pan. But other than that, think of a turkey as a large chicken. Most turkeys come with pop up timers and it gives you cooking times for the size bird you're buying too. Set a timer for about 1/2 hour before the suggested cooking time in case the bird is a little on the small size for the weight category. You want to rest the bird for a good 15-20 minutes before carving. You say you're Italian, but remember that Thanksgiving is an American holiday so you should try to incorporate some American dishes in your meal. Mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade bread and pumpkin pie are just a few. Good luck with your dinner. It really isn't difficult.

Regarding a fried turkey like someone mentioned... Most people fill up the fryer way too high with the oil and it catches on fire when the turkey is put in. People have to remember that adding a 20 pound bird is going to make the oil level rise. And they should always be cooked outside to prevent burning down the house!

HaHaHa,

There are some great answers on here. Food Network is a great resource and their website is really easy to navigate. There is so much information out there but mostly all of it just comes down to preference. A lot of advocates for the frying, which I have seen done when I lived down South. Definitely not for a beginner.

Your Turkey may have come out soggy bottom becuase it wasn't in a rack, elevating it off the bottom of the pan... There is all sorts of specialized equipment out there which you really do need esp. if you are making an exceptionally large bird which you probably are. The only time I made a large turkey I followed the best advise ever which was NOT stuffing it. I gave it a nice butter and herb rub and left it partially open in the back and elevated at an angle so the juices would drip out the cavity. Basted it and turned it constantly.

That turkey fed 20 people and it was tender and moist all the way through. Plus because the stuffing wasn't soaking up all the juices, it made plenty of gravy from the drippings!





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