blissful
Master Chef
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
- Messages
- 6,411
Bakechef, I got a good laugh! Turkey droppings and bribery...
by golly you tell 'em. I've had turkey so properly moist, the gravy had nothing to do.
lisaluvstocook said:Thank you guys for all the tips and tricks! I swear imma give myself a stroke worrying about this, I just want it to be perfect. So obnoxiously perfect that when my mom takes a bite of my turkey, she says "Meh". Which would mean that the heavens have opened and rained gold upon us, ha.
One of you mentioned a counter-top roaster, which I have been considering. I am short on oven space, and am already cooking at minimum my ham on the grill. I learned that the grill can be used as an oven during a power stealing wind storm a few years ago that happened one hour after I put two chickens in the oven to roast. I have been researching the roasters, and they seem to be very helpful in providing additional faux oven space. However, my main concern with them has been their ability to provide a perfectly browned bird? I think that with all the techniques and recipes that my obsessive research/you lovely people have provided will give me a tasty bird, but dam it I want it to be pretty too! A pale turkey will be a bullet in the gun for my mom, God love her.
Thank you guys for all the tips and tricks! I swear imma give myself a stroke worrying about this, I just want it to be perfect. So obnoxiously perfect that when my mom takes a bite of my turkey, she says "Meh". Which would mean that the heavens have opened and rained gold upon us, ha.
America's Test Kitchen had an excellent segment on 10-steps to the perfect turkey. One tip was to line the cavity with cheese cloth and put 2 c of stuffing there, tie the cheese cloth. Start the turkey breast down. When it reaches 130, flip it and ake out the cheese cloth sack. Continue cooking the bird until the temp is 161. Mix the stuffing that was in the pouch with the rest of the stuffing and finish in the oven while the turkey is resting. I imagine you can find the segment on ATK's web site.
That sounds like waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more trouble than it's worth! If you have a good stock made up ahead, your dressing baked outside the bird will be just as delicious and soft (except for the crust on top) as if you cooked it inside the turkey.
I prefer baking mine separately because my bird is so large (I always go for one that is 20 pounds-plus) it already takes long enough without the dressing inside. That and even if you take it out there's residue of it left inside that, if the carcass is not refrigerated within enough time, can cause mild food poisoning.
There's not a lot of documentation on mild food poisoning, because most folks mistake it for diarrhea.