I need turkey help...?!
Answers: It's my first time to cook for Thanksgiving and I bought a way too big turkey... 21 lbs. I didn't know any better!! I'm looking online and I'm finding out that it's going to be dry and nasty and take forever to cook. Oh yeah, there's only going to be 5 people here. What do I do?? Help me please! I'm sorta freakin out!
Brining might be pain but you can just go get some Reynold's oven roasting bags. Put some flour in and shake. Add the bird ( all ready seasoned) and about 1/4 cup of water or chicken broth. Tie it up and cut about six , one inch long holes ( that is 6 holes one inch long each). in the closed bag. You can't go higher than 350 degress but I did a 25 pound bird in about 3 hours. No basting( it does nothing for the bird and make it take twice as long) and less fuss. The bird will steam and be juicy. Make sure it hits about 170 on the meat thermometer then take it and tent with foil. Just be sure to let it rest for ten minutes before carving
You'll be fine and so will the bird.
talk to your grandma shel know
You still have time to get a more reasonable sized bird for the number of people who are coming.
If you can find them in your area, diestel turkeys are fantastic, although somewhat pricing.
Consider donating your monster bird to your local shelter or food bank. I'm sure they'd be happy to get it.
well you can use a thermometer thing that you put in its back or watever to make sure it doesnt dry out look for a turkey thermometer in your grocery store, and there will be other mechanisms, make sure you stuff it with vegetable, and stuffing before baking that should keep it moist, and use the left over turkey for sandwiches, or pack some with your guests to get rid of it!
no biggie take it out or the freezer tomorrow and put it in the fridge to start defrosting get butter to rub all over it and stuff it with stuffing put it in the oven wed night so you will have many hours to cook it every so many hours go and baste it to keep the juices in it and the Turkey meat soft not dried out and u will have lots of left overs to give to your guests to take home
Don't worry it will turn out fine just brine it first and it will be tender.
Perfect Turkey
Ingredients
* 1 (18 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
* 2 cups kosher salt or 1 cup salt
* 1/2 cup butter, melted
* 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
* 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
* 4 stalks celery, chopped
* 2 sprigs fresh thyme
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 cup dry white wine
DIRECTIONS
1. Rub the turkey inside and out with the kosher salt. Place the bird in a large stock pot, and cover with cold water. Place in the refrigerator, and allow the turkey to soak in the salt and water mixture 12 hours, or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Thoroughly rinse the turkey, and discard the brine mixture.
3. Brush the turkey with 1/2 the melted butter. Place breast side down on a roasting rack in a shallow roasting pan. Stuff the turkey cavity with 1 onion, 1/2 the carrots, 1/2 the celery, 1 sprig of thyme, and the bay leaf. Scatter the remaining vegetables and thyme around the bottom of the roasting pan, and cover with the white wine.
4. Roast uncovered 3 1/2 to 4 hours in the preheated oven, until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Carefully turn the turkey breast side up about 2/3 through the roasting time, and brush with the remaining butter. Allow the bird to stand about 30 minutes before carving.
get a baking bag.......... they stay so moist in those bags..... and this way everyone will have left overs................get those cheapie little plastic containers and pack turkey for everyone when they leave.....
If you bought a self-basting turkey, it shouldn't be dry if you cook it properly. As others have already suggested here, be sure to give it plenty of time to thaw (actually, tonight would be a good time to put it in the refrigerator). And as others have said, rub it down with butter before roasting.
Then have your turkey, and if you have guests, offer them turkey to take home. Then, slice off all the turkey, and wrap it up in plastic bags, about 1 or 2 meals' worth per bag. Freeze it. If you want, save the bones (break them if you need to so they'll fit), and wrap them in another plastic bag. Use these to make soup. Eat all your turkey and the bones within 3 months for best flavor.
Make:
Turkey hash (fry potatoes, then add diced onion, bell pepper and turkey, and saute until cooked and hot. Add salt and pepper and a big squirt of ketchup; heat through)
Turkey salad (diced turkey, diced celery, sliced green onions, salt and pepper, mayonnaise)
Turkey tetrazzini (boil 1/2 lb spaghetti. chop 1 lb mushrooms and 1/2 diced onion, 2 cloves garlic. fry in butter until soft and liquid is gone from mushrooms. Add 1 cup cream, 1 cup grated parmesan, a pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. When sauce is hot and bubbly, add 3 cups diced turkey. Heat through, mix with cooked spaghetti and serve)
try reading this....
First of all if it is still frozen you won't be able to thaw in time for Thursday unless you use the cold water method (don't recommend as it would take a large tub, constant vigilance and about 16 hours). If you haven't thawed it yet, I agree with the answer above and buy a smaller turkey, then either donate the one you have or save it for another occasion. If neither of those options are viable, then cook the one you have, send lots of leftovers home with your guest and/or freeze them to make things over the next couple of months.
As far as your worry about it being dried out, it doesn't have to be. Like the previous answer stated brining will definitely help, but isn't always feasible. For that size of bird, I like the Martha Stewart method of using cheese cloth soak in wine and butter to keep it moist. Check out her website for details. A bird that size will take about 5 hours to cook unstuffed (which I would recommend) so start early, because you want to add another 30 min to 1 hour for the bird to rest before you carve it.
The best advise I can give you is relax, even if you end up eating nothing but sides, as long as you are enjoying yourself, the worst that will happen is you will have a "remember the year when..." story.
first unthaw turkey, dont set it on the counter, put it in the refridgerator 3 days before. not sure on the temperature to cook it at - but heres a good recipe for a juicy turkey:
About 4-5 hours to cook
Sage Butter:
2 sticks butter, softened
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage
1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper
1/2 minced onions
*mix together(except salt and pepper) then stuff under the skin of the bird run your hands on the top of the turkey to evenly spread the butter out.
*add a few inches of water in the bottom of the pan, then drizzle olive oil on top of turkey with salt and pepper.
*make sure to check it every hour, or a half and bast it
I make that size of a bird every year, so I know the ropes. First you gotta get it thawed. It'll take till thanksgiving to thaw in the fridge so you're good there. Next, you have to brine it.
As you said, that size of a bird is often really dry, but if you know the tricks it's awesome. Below is the recipe that I've used since I started cooking thanksgiving, just follow it and you'll be fine. It requires you to brine the bird (which means you soak it over night in a salty solution). I promise the bird won't taste salty at all, but it will ensure it doesn't get dry. (Also, if your turkey is still a little frozen, the cool water will take care of what's left. It did for us last year.)
With a 20+ lb turkey, the hard part will be finding something big enough to submerge it in. This year I bought a round tub with rope handles at K-Mart. It was only 5 bucks. We've used garbage cans (new of course) in the past, too, but I think this one from K-Mart is the best. You can find it back with the organizational stuff. (Oh, don't worry about it spoiling. Put it somewhere cool to brine overnight and you'll be fine. I promise. The salt in the water prevents spoilage over that short of time.)
Good luck on your Thanksgiving. It's always daunting when you first do it, but having good recipes makes the job easy. Oh, and don't change a recipe at all the first time you use it. Follow it to the letter and then, when you've succeeded at it once, feel free to tinker. Tinkering before you have the basics down leads to disaster.