How to best employ the electric roaster??

[snickerdoodle]

My mother in law is letting me use her roaster this year to help me free up some oven space. I've never used a roaster before. I have a 13 lbs. turkey, a 5 lbs. turkey breast and a half spiral cut ham (not sure about weight on that) to cook, plus sides of course. I did some searching here on DC and found that the turkey won't really brown in the roaster which would be disappointing I think. Do you think I could put the ham and turkey breast in there together though? Would they roast at the same temp? I think I'd rather roast the whole turkey in the oven, like Alton Brown is telling me to. Advice and ideas would be greatly appreciated

[snickerdoodle]

Hope nobody minds if I bump this back onto the list...

[Katie H]

That's correct. The turkey won't brown in the electric roaster and I've used Alton's method and find it to be wonderful.

I have a big 18-quart electric roaster and I most often use it to bake my sides such as sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, etc. because the roaster is large enough to hold several dishes at once. Then, once they are done, I leave the roaster on low/warm and place a wire rack on top of my sides and place my rolls to warm them up. I've had as many as 4 dishes and a dozen rolls there, which frees my oven up very well.

I also employ my large toaster oven for other dishes when I need even more cooking/baking space.

[Alix]

Ditto to what Katie said. I do my sides in the electric roaster. If I juggle correctly, I can do everything on time.

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

That's strange because my turkeys always seem to brown just fine in my roaster. Does your roaster have a domed lid that continuously bastes the turkey as it cooks? Maybe you don't have the heat up high enough.

If there is a browning problem, why not cook the ham and turkey breast in the oven, and after you take them out you can put the turkey in there for about 15 minutes to brown at the end of it's cooking cycle?

[snickerdoodle]

Thank you all for the input. Part of my problem is that I'm unfamiliar with roasters so I'm a bit skittish! That and this is the first time I've been responsible for the meat at Thanksgiving (yikes!). I plan to follow Alton Brown's instructions to a T so I think I'll keep the whole bird in the oven to stay in my comfort zone. I'm now considering roasting the extra turkey breast I have way ahead of time (maybe the night before) and store it in the fridge in juices and reaheat the next day in the oven while the whole turkey is resting after I pull it out of the oven. Then the roaster can be used for ham and keeping other sides warm that the guests have brought. I think I have a plan???