How do you make a turkey really juicy?!
Answers: this is my first time cooking thanksgiving dinner (for 7 adults and 10 children) and I want to know how to make the juiciest turkey with crispy skin. any tips are much appreciated! also, will a 20lb turkey be enough? I am also making stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, yams, noodles, green bean caserole. I am so nervous. I just want everything to be perfect.
Sounds like the turkey will be sufficient for this size group. The following directions should get you a moist bird. If you wish a cripsy skin I recommend just taking the tent of the last 30 minutes. The last option of doing it on the Webber grill is also good but if you haven't done one before I would recommend doing one in a few weeks when you are hungry for turkey again rather than trying that for your first attempt.
Here you go.
One of the simplest things on the menu actually. Begin with washing your bird out completely including the front fat flap in front of the breast where the gibblets are usually packed and the neck from the body cavity. Some even place a gravy packet in one of these cavities as well. I know this because I have actually baked the giblets in the neck flap once when I was first trying to impress the family with my cooking prowess.
Once washed out I season the cavities with just salt and pepper. If you are stuffing, stuff the bird just before placing in the oven. Fill with stuffing and either truss the legs together with string, or tuck the drummy's into the fat flap at the tail. I like the old fashined roasting pan if doing it in the oven. If you are doing in one of the cheap foil roasting pans, be sure to tent with foil also or it will dry out the bird.
I roast at 350 degrees and use the general guide of 20 minutes per pound. You can test with a meat thermometer inserted to the thick part of the meat away from bones and done at 180 degrees. You can also buy a cheap pop up thermometer and insert into the thick part of the breast or as I do, once you have roasted for 20 minutes per pound, a fork inserted into the thickest part of the thigh and breast should result in clear juices running out and no red.
Once the turkey is done I remove from heat and leave covered for 5 minutes before carving and serving. Carving should be just before serving the plate full of turkey as it is best served once everything else is on the table.
Once you get accomplished at this, try it smoked in a Webber grill. Shorter cooking time and it is smokey wonderment. DELICIOUS!
idono
Cook it by the manufat. instructions
by weight and temp. . .
then pour some good homeade gravy over it.
either that or Deep fry it.
The amount should be fine. As for how, I really dont know.
Cook the turkey breast down for all but 30 minutes of cooktime, turn it breast up the last 30 minutes to brown it.
Baiste and fill using a fatty filler, and baiste again and again and again. Ooh and cook on a relativly low temeprature for a long time, while baisting...
you're a dear - I'm sure it will be wonderful. There are as many turkey secrets as there are cooks. Here's one I use - put a whole apple in the neck cavity of the bird before baking. Just leave it there. Throw it out when the bird is done. Juicy! Baste the bird the last hour or 2 and you will get the skin real crispy. Should be plenty of food.
A friend of mine, one christmas got really drunk an acciedentally put her turkey in upsidedown. She says it was the moistest turkey she ever had and now puts it in that way every year.
poke holes in it by stabbing it, and rub all your ingredients in. I'm hispanic and what we use is garlic cloves, onion powder, adobo, sazon and we cut ham into little pieces and put it into the holes.
here's some advice. ReLAX!!! All of that sounds great. i think you cook a turkey in the oven while it's sitting in turkey juice, but i'm not an expert. oh, and can i come to your house for Thanksgiving? lol
My sister made the best turkey a couple of years ago. I think it was the stuffing that made it so yummy, she had prunes, dried apricots and pine nuts in the stuffing mix and baked it in the webber. I think crispy skin cones in the first stage of cooking so a high heat for the first 20 mins then cook as normal. Baste the bird in the jusces every 15 - 20 mins.
good luck
If you can cook it on a bbq grill, wroks really well and remains really juicy.
To make a turkey really moist stuff it with an apple, pear, and onion prior to cooking. All the juices from the fruits will be soaked up in the meat and it will taste like heaven.
constant basting about every twenty to thirty minutes, or for a sure fire way, cook it in one of those reynolds turkey cooking bags, it seals in the juices, but make sure you coat the top of the inside of the bag with cooking spray or cooking oil to stop the skin from sticking to the bag, mine has come out nice and juicy every time, another good tip for using the bags is to cut open the bag about 1/2 hour before baking is done to drain some of the liquid, and to brown the wings and sides
I can't wait all of this is making me hungry, if I can finally open my mouth far enough by then, things will be wonderful.
Cover the turkey lightly in butter. Pour water in the bottom of the roasting pan. Not a lot, just about an inch in the bottom. Cover the turkey with reynold's wrap. Baste every 30 minutes. Take the foil off the last 30-45 minutes to let the skin get crispy.
If the directions on the package give you a range of temperatures, cook it at the lowest temp.
Keep moistening it with chicken broth and keep 2 inches of broth in the baking pan all thru the bake!
Please try to relax and have fun. Here's a link to a recipe for the best turkey ever. I don't know how much is enough for your crowd, but there are turkey calculators out there or a butcher will know.
Can you delegate some of the side dishes to your guests? You seem to be doing everything. Don't be shy, ask for help!
Don't skim on your turkey. Buy it at a small independent market and pay a little extra for a quality product. I think with all the stuff you're making on the side, you'll have enough to go around for everyone. But I hope you're not trying to do all this stuff yourself!
Good luck and Happy Turkey Day!
To make sure the turkey is juicy have him get a shower before you cook him.
Wrap the turkey in a "cheese cloth" after seasoning the turkey. Half hour before done, take the cheese cloth off and let it get crispy cooking uncovered.
20 lb bird seems enough.
Use the turkey roasting bag - they're the best, practically foolproof. Your turkey will turn out perfect. Don't forget to shake about a tablespoon of four inside the bag, and once it's on the turkey poke a few holes in it. When the turkey is done, let it rest in the juices for about 20 minutes or so - they'll soak back up into the turkey. It's so easy, you'll love it.
A 20 pound bird is plenty big.
sooo easy!!! the weight of the bird is find, it'll make enough even for sandwiches later on... to make it juicy: mix (with hand is enough) butter with seasoning you chose (if you didn't, than one for grilled chicken is great) and than stuff it between the skin and the breast meat of the bird. you must separate the skin from the meet with your fingers, just make sure you don't rip the skin. stuff as much seasoned butter there as you can (even it makes big bulges, the fat will soak into the meet). rub the seasoning mixed with oil on the surface. than stuff the bird with apples, onions, pears. bake it slow, 320, as long as it is well done. if you cann't tell, ask a friend for a thermometer for baked meat. or: google.com and search "best turkey ever". good luck!!! I'll think of you!
Baste it... marinate it.. add juices to it or stuff it.
First off, who would ANSWER a question saying they didn't know. Waste of time...
but anyways;
As far as turkey size is concerned, I always think bigger is better. I constantly fear running out of food. "They" say that it generally goes "a pound per person".. and it hasn't failed me yet. Worst case, you have leftovers. Any bigger than a 20 pounder might not want to fit into your oven, and may be more trouble than its worth. If you're really that worried, grab an inexpensive "heat and eat" ham.. if you think the turkey is going fast, slip it into your pre-heated oven and finish with a glaze of pineapple juice and brown sugar to make it seem like you put a lot of thought into it.
As far as the actual cooking of the turkey goes.. Brining is awesome...but it's messy, and time consuming. If you're stressed already, skip it.. but here's the basic concept: Fill a CLEAN bucket, or a CLEAN sink with cold water. Add about a cup to two cups kosher salt, and whatever dried spices you'd like. Dried orange peel is lovely. Also garlic, onion, rosemary can work. Let your unwrapped and thawed turkey sit in that solution for 3-5 hours. Quick salting draws out moisture.. but when you let something "brine" in the solution, it draws out the moisture, but after time goes by, it reabsorbs it.. bringing the spices in with it and makes it more "resilient" and less likely to dry out during cooking. Again, not crucial.. but its something to try if you have the time.
Also, cooking the turkey for longer at a slightly lower temp than the packaging states, will also yield a more moist bird. Be sure to cover it with foil, if you don't already have a covered roaster.. this will also prevent it from getting dry. Basting is an easy and obvious technique too.. basting with butter will give good flavor. (and puh-LEEZ to people who are "dieting" through thanksgiving. give it up.) You can also spike the butter with spices (again, garlic and orange zest/peel is awesome) Just be sure to take the foil off the last 45 min- 1 hour of cooking to get that skin nice and crispy.. also crank up the heat about 50 degrees.. again helping the crispy skin.. just be sure not to burn it.. all that butter could be volitile.. but keep and eye out and its mostly fool-proof.
good luck!
I made my first turkey last year, and I added some cut up apples, carrots, celery, and herbs from my garden all around the turkey pan and inside the cavity. I put some garlic cloves and pats of butter under the skin and basted it at least once an hour. It came out great!
A twenty pound turkey should be plenty when served with several side dishes. Don't forget the iced tea, drinks, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce and a little something sweet for desert for adults and children. It might be a good idea to have two different deserts so everyone has a choice. This can be as simple as apple pie and a carrot cake, store bought is usually fine, especially since you are making the entire meal. You might want to ask for some help with side dishes or deserts. Do as much cooking as you can the day before since the oven will be tied up with the turkey most of Thanksgiving day.
Now I'll get back on track for the perfectly juicy turkey you were asking about. My grown kids still rave over my turkey roasting ability, and there is no skill involved, just turning the turkey over is all that is needed. My trick is to roast it "upside down" letting the juices settle in the breast during the first 2/3 to 3/4 of cooking time, then flip the bird over “breast up” to finish roasting by browning the breast, wings and legs skin the last few minutes. When roasted this way, the breast meat remains moist, even the next day.
I don't stuff the turkey for two reasons, the first being unless I've pre-cooked my dressing and have time to do it, and the second reason being that the meat keeps longer and is easier pulled with an unstuffed bird. It’s just easier for me to make dressing in a seperate pan and bake it as soon as the turkey comes out of the oven while the turkey "rest" before carving.
I've made mine this way for over thirty years and never had a dry turkey. You will never do one “breast up” without flipping again.
Start by placing salt and pepper and any other seasonings desired inside the body and neck cavities, then loosely fill with a cup of cut up butter and a couple of quartered onions, we like onion and garlic, but you can use what ever you like. Place some of the onion/butter mixture in the neck cavity and fold the wings toward the back and over skin, keeping the neck cavity closed. Use the rest of the butter/onion mixture in the body cavity. Season the entire outside of bird rubbing butter, then sprinkling with salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Place the bird “breast side down” on the roasting rack in a 325 degree preheated oven for the first 2/3 to 3/4 of the cooking time. There is "no need to baste" during this time, which means you can be busy with other things.
For the last 1/4 of cooking time, remove turkey from oven, using a couple clean dish towels hold turkey carefully as you roll or turn it over, breast side up in pan. You may need help flipping the turkey over since it is hot and full of juices in the cavities. After it's flipped you can inject using the juices or drippings from the roasting pan. The remainder of time needed will be for browning the breast, wings and legs skin nicely. Roasting the turkey this way lets the juices flow down through the breast meat during the majority of the roasting time making for a more tender, juicy and moist turkey all over, but especially the breast meat for dinner and for left overs.
Just go with the Reynold's Turkey bags. They really are the easiest way to get a moist and crisp turkey. I have used them many times and the turkey is moist every time. Follow the directions in the box and the bag does the rest. It frees up your time to finish the side dishes for your meal. There are different size bags for different weights of birds, so make sure you get the right one. A piece of advice for preparing a large, important meal like this one....anything you can prep the night before, do it, such as, cutting your celery and onions for stuffing, if you use fresh yams, cut them and boil, so they are ready to go in the oven the next day. It beats trying to squeeze it all into that day. Then you can enjoy the festivities along with your family and be thankful for your blessings. Allow others to assist with anything you need help with. Do not try to be superwoman. Trust me, been there, done that. All that you get is over tired and frustrated. Enjoy your day, your family and good eats!!