High heat oven roasting for a juicy bird

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I admit I know there is heat loss when basting. And I basted approx. per half hour the last 2 hours. It takes time to pull out the rack, so you can get at the bird and dibble up some drippings with a baster and repeat. I figure that just makes it seem like you are cooking low and slow, although that wasn't the goal. The turkey came up to temp just at 15 minutes well before the old 15-18-20 minutes/ lb that cooking instrux offer before I had a probe to check it.

G G did you cover your turkey with foil or a foil tent?
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New question. What is the purpose of a Roaster Cover? It doesn't fit once a turkey is in the roaster. I think if you covered it, it would steam rather than roast.
 
I admit I know there is heat loss when basting. And I basted approx. per half hour the last 2 hours. It takes time to pull out the rack, so you can get at the bird and dibble up some drippings with a baster and repeat. I figure that just makes it seem like you are cooking low and slow, although that wasn't the goal. The turkey came up to temp just at 15 minutes well before the old 15-18-20 minutes/ lb that cooking instrux offer before I had a probe to check it.

G G did you cover your turkey with foil or a foil tent?
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New question. What is the purpose of a Roaster Cover? It doesn't fit once a turkey is in the roaster. I think if you covered it, it would steam rather than roast.

I tented it loosely with foil after two hours because the skin was browning really well by then.

I've never had a roasting pan with a cover, but my guess is that it could be used to turn the roaster into a braiser.
 
GG, I had one when I first got married. I used to roast whole chickens in it. My husband brought it to the marriage. It does a beautiful job on chickens. They do have bigger ones for turkeys. The purpose is to do away with basting. My roaster had a vent on the sides. It controlled the amount of heat maintained inside the roaster. I used it for all roasts. Loved it. Don't know what happened to it. I think I sent a dinner to someone in it and never got it back. :angel:
 
GG, I had one when I first got married. I used to roast whole chickens in it. My husband brought it to the marriage. It does a beautiful job on chickens. They do have bigger ones for turkeys. The purpose is to do away with basting. My roaster had a vent on the sides. It controlled the amount of heat maintained inside the roaster. I used it for all roasts. Loved it. Don't know what happened to it. I think I sent a dinner to someone in it and never got it back. :angel:

Basting was never necessary; it's one of those things people believed and passed on, even though there was never any evidence for it.

It seems to me that cooking poultry in a covered pan would cause it to steam, as Whiska said, and so it wouldn't brown and get crispy. Was that your experience, Addie?
 
Basting was never necessary; it's one of those things people believed and passed on, even though there was never any evidence for it.

It seems to me that cooking poultry in a covered pan would cause it to steam, as Whiska said, and so it wouldn't brown and get crispy. Was that your experience, Addie?

No. My roaster had vents in the two sides. So the steam escaped. What didn't go out the vents, went to the top of the lid and fell down on the bird, constantly basting it. The roaster also had a low rack so that the bird did not sit in any accumulated juices that were emitted from the bird. I always put the bird in just seasoned and dry. No liquid. The bird made its own juices. Enough for a gravy. The two vents were adjustable and I could control the amount of heat that remained in the roaster. I usually (if I remember right) opened the one all the way where the head was and closed the one where the bottom of the legs were. That way, the breast browned without being soggy. Yet it still got basted. I never had a dry bird.

I also used this roaster for a pot roast. For that I would close both vents as I wanted it to collect all the juices from the piece of beef. Halfway through, I would turn the piece of beef over. Always tender and moist.

As my husband was a pro chef, he had this on any job he worked at. It was his personal roaster. :angel:
 
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Thanks for your explanations.

I'm pretty sure Dx gave away her big roaster like Addie's as her brother in recent years hosted T'sgiving, but now he's switching to Christmas, so we had turkey day this year.

Braising. That was the word I was trying to think of. I guess when you braise, it steams too. The roaster we used is more like the one pictured below, and it may not be as deep as this one looks or else the bird was almost as big as the pan. as there was no ability for any self basting. It sat on a flat trivet ( for lifting), but it stewed in its own juices, so to speak.

Well, the bottom line is the bird was moist, flavorful and juicy. For some reason I don't worry about that when I (rarely ) roast a whole chicken uncovered and it's not basted. And yes, it might get tented w/ foil if it starts to brown too much on top before it's done. I think the size of a turkey seems more daunting.
 

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Off the subject a little bit, but my sister in law cooks turkey well, but has a habit of opening the oven door, pulling out the rack to baste it. The thing is, it drops the oven temp quite a bit because she takes her time basting it. She does this quite a few times during cooking. I've always been of the mind to try and keep the bird cooking with as few oven cool downs as possible. Are many successive oven cool downs somewhat harmful to making the turkey cook up as best it can, or does it matter (takes longer)?

I'd be scared if she was able to read this, btw.

I always thought basting was pointless and complicated. Then Alton Brown confirmed it.

Skin is a moisture barrier. That's why you push butter under it.

Basting doesn't do anything meaningful on any front.
 
Thanks for your explanations.

I'm pretty sure Dx gave away her big roaster like Addie's as her brother in recent years hosted T'sgiving, but now he's switching to Christmas, so we had turkey day this year.

Braising. That was the word I was trying to think of. I guess when you braise, it steams too. The roaster we used is more like the one pictured below, and it may not be as deep as this one looks or else the bird was almost as big as the pan. as there was no ability for any self basting. It sat on a flat trivet ( for lifting), but it stewed in its own juices, so to speak.

Well, the bottom line is the bird was moist, flavorful and juicy. For some reason I don't worry about that when I (rarely ) roast a whole chicken uncovered and it's not basted. And yes, it might get tented w/ foil if it starts to brown too much on top before it's done. I think the size of a turkey seems more daunting.

That roaster has the handle on the top. It will often interfere with fitting the pan in the oven if the oven is on the small size. Like an apartment size stove. Mine had the handles on the side and made it much easier to remove the lid. Dang, I miss that roaster. Now that I think of it, I believe my sister borrowed it and never returned it. Now she's gone and I will never know what happened to it. :angel:
 
I always thought basting was pointless and complicated. Then Alton Brown confirmed it.

Skin is a moisture barrier. That's why you push butter under it.

Basting doesn't do anything meaningful on any front.
Sure it does. It gives you extra opportunities to burn your hands by brushing against the grates or sides or top of the oven. :ermm:

When I think about it, basting doesn't really make any sense. I won't be doing it anymore, at least not for birds.
 
No. My roaster had vents in the two sides. So the steam escaped. What didn't go out the vents, went to the top of the lid and fell down on the bird, constantly basting it.

It seems weird that an environment moist enough to constantly baste/wet the skin was dry enough to crisp it.
 
It seems weird that an environment moist enough to constantly baste/wet the skin was dry enough to crisp it.

True, but the secret is that the lids do not fit tightly thus a lot of the steam can escape. Yet enough remains so that you can have juices left for gravy. On my roaster, it was lost through the vents on the side. It does defy logic, but for some crazy reason, it works. A lovely browned turkey breast with moist meat. You have a Norman Rockwell turkey for the holidays. :angel:
 
First married, no $, just moved into very tired apartment, summer. Found turkeys on sale at ridiculously low price and purchased a relatively small one. Put in oven at 375 or so (long time ago - memory fade). Hour and a few minutes later peeked - sure looked done. Was a tad dry, but pretty good bird.

Bought oven thermometer, found oven had two temps - off and tropics in Hades (well over 500 degrees). Learned a whole lot about high temp roasting until lease ran out.

Now inject with melted butter, roast at 375 with breast down until about an hour before anticipated doneness, then flip over. Check thereafter carefully with good instant read thermometer. Very juicy birds.
 
First married, no $, just moved into very tired apartment, summer. Found turkeys on sale at ridiculously low price and purchased a relatively small one. Put in oven at 375 or so (long time ago - memory fade). Hour and a few minutes later peeked - sure looked done. Was a tad dry, but pretty good bird.

Bought oven thermometer, found oven had two temps - off and tropics in Hades (well over 500 degrees). Learned a whole lot about high temp roasting until lease ran out.

Now inject with melted butter, roast at 375 with breast down until about an hour before anticipated doneness, then flip over. Check thereafter carefully with good instant read thermometer. Very juicy birds.

auntdot's back:w00t::flowers:! Good to see you.

Funny story;)
 
I have a deep aluminum roaster that was my mother's and usually use that for turkey, without the lid. This year, since I was cooking 2 turkeys, I used 2 smaller pans so they would both fit in the oven. They each had a V-shaped rack that came with them. This kept the turkey up away from the accumulated drippings, and since the pans were not deep they were just sitting up high in the oven. I also used the "convection roast" feature of the oven. They were nicely browned all over because they were not sitting down in the deep pan, and the breast meat was very moist and tasty. This is how I will do my turkeys from now on. Also, I was cooking them at 325 and when they appeared to be getting done too soon I turned the oven down to 300. Convection cooks faster than the regular oven, I think.
 
I am old school.
325° for the entire roasting time.
I brush the bird with oil or butter and heavily season the outside and the inside.
I roast breast side down for 1/2 roasting time.
I always use a rack.
I never baste or open the oven accept to check with a temp probe or to turn it over.

It works well for me. Moist meat and crispy skin.
 
I admit I know there is heat loss when basting. And I basted approx. per half hour the last 2 hours. It takes time to pull out the rack, so you can get at the bird and dibble up some drippings with a baster and repeat. I figure that just makes it seem like you are cooking low and slow, although that wasn't the goal. The turkey came up to temp just at 15 minutes well before the old 15-18-20 minutes/ lb that cooking instrux offer before I had a probe to check it.

G G did you cover your turkey with foil or a foil tent?
--

New question. What is the purpose of a Roaster Cover? It doesn't fit once a turkey is in the roaster. I think if you covered it, it would steam rather than roast.
I used to have one of these inherited from my Mother when she moved house. OK for pot-roast or braising with only a little liquid. The lid probably has "pimples" which are supposed to collect steam of fat and baste the contents. I ended up using mother's mainly as a stew pot
 
I used to have one of these inherited from my Mother when she moved house. OK for pot-roast or braising with only a little liquid. The lid probably has "pimples" which are supposed to collect steam of fat and baste the contents. I ended up using mother's mainly as a stew pot

I have one and it has vents that are adjustable at each end of the cover. I will be using it today for the fresh pork shoulder roast.
 

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