Any advice for my bf, his bro and thier buddy, when they cook a turkey this weekend?!
Answers: I will be at work ......and they have never cooked one before!! Should be interesting!! LOL!!
It's easy to cook. Just put it in a turkey bag and slow roast at 250 degree for about 4-6 hours. Or until the thingy pops out. No worries... And it turns out tender and Delicious.. Also I recommend you cook it breast side down. All the juices flow into the breast and keep it moist...
Tell 'em no short cuts and moreover not to have too many beers or else they'll forget what is in the oven and on the burners.
stand out there with fire extinguishers and have 911 on speed dial!
or be prepared to eat bad food if they havnt cooked before
most turkeys, unless fresh from the fram have instructions on the bag it comes in. tell them to follow it exactly, use boxes stuffing, but add onions, and celery to it. make it as easy for them as possible, maybe they will make it the boys tradition every year. it will save you from it. i wish some one would take the duty from me.
Tell them to invest in a Fry Daddy, it sounds strange but we do it all the time in Texas, you add a couple bottles of Vegetable oil and deep fry it, easiest way to cook 'em and downright delicious!
too many cooks spoil the broth:
tell them to start thawing it in the refrigerator now!! it takes 3-4 days for a good size bird to defrost, and most amateurs (including myself) don't realize it. (p.s.) don't forget to remove the bag of innards from out of the bird.
have them brine the bird over night first, it'll help with the defrosting and make it more tender.
Thaw that bird. They take forever. Thaw in wrapping, and in cold water.
Hit it with high heat to get the browning. Then scale back the temp, and low cook, inserting meat thermometer into the breast, and cooking until the meat thermometer reads the right temp.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/...
From Alton Brown on Good Eats:
Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
Lots of good recipes on Food Network.
http://www.foodnetwork.com