Dark meat gets ground and made into chili.

Breast is spatchcocked and slow roasted in 1/2 the time

YMMV

OK, this is the 2nd reference I've heard today to draping the bird with bacon.

While this sounds like all kinds of awesome , how exactly do you do it? Just layer in raw bacon over the top of the turkey and leave it there for the duration of the cooking process?

If you discover that you have no cheese cloth, I can attest that a white gym sock (preferably clean ) cut up will also work.

I bought an electric Oster turkey roaster ($30) last year. Since then, we've cooked about 8-9 birds in the roaster. After removing the giblet back and neck, I simply coat the bird in EVOO and some seasonings, put it in the roaster, and leave it alone for a couple of hours before checking / basting.

+1 on all of that, particularly the silicone oven mitts. I do the exact same thing, breast side down at first and then muscle it over to breast side up for the last 60-75 minutes.

That is my recommendation too, especially if you can use a grill to free up your oven, but bigger concern is if he bought frozen if it will be properly thawed by this time tomorrow.

Yup! Bacon lattice!



The other perk of this method is... you have more bacon to eat.

Dang you guys are quick ^

I'm not BBQ the bird, too much risk of screw up and while its supposed to stop snowing tonight looking out the window now in a heavy snowfall is not making me want to fire up the grill and on that note

its a fresh turkey and I didn't realize how expensive these birds are.

A few, ok, more than a few questions

breast down or up? there seems to be conflicting ideas on this. Or is it as simple as flip it over at a certain point

dodo says cover in water, is that a good idea, it sounds it on the surface at least.

bag vs no bag - I was in the food store this morning and didn't know what to do so I didn't get one, but I have to go out later and can stop in and get a bag if you guys think that is what I should do

How often are you guys buttering the skin? before I presume but how often after that?

Yahillwe uses the chicken stock, I've read this elsewhere too.. how much of this stuff do I use? Also, its those rectangle cartons of chicken broth right? I can't remember the last time I bought chicken broth. What exactly am I doing with the chicken broth again? OK I "think" i follow but first, I have no idea what a cheese cloth is.. emma says a sock - was she joking? either way, do you just lay these things on top of the turkey in the oven? I can't imagine putting a sock in the oven (fire hazard?)

Dry Brine: can you buy it in a store pre-made? too late to make a brined in a bag turkey

I like the have a ham back up LOL, I laugh but its so true

Dugernaut I like the spatchcock method. I watched the video and I will definitely think about that one

stuffing: I hate stuffing, my youngest won't touch it, my oldest likes it. On that note, what is the purpose of stuffing? Is it in there to keep the turkey moist? I have no idea how to make it. so as emma says, there is great potential for mess up here.

Horse horse, yes a cheese cloth, ask at the market, bag is good as well, but you have to cut it up at the end so that it roasts.

Breast down works as well, but you won't need to baste it until you turn the turkey around. Since this is the first time for you, I wouldn't do that.

If you put it in a bag make sure you put some chicken stock in the bag so that the humidity makes it juicy.


And yes the chicken stock is those boxes, get 3 large ones, you could always freeze what you don't use.

Don't forget the stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Breast down at first, then flip it for the last hour to get the skin looking and tasting nice.
That sounds kind of odd and I've never heard such an instruction before. Water? You're roasting, not braising. Seems like this would end up with a mushy result.
You don't need one. Don't worry about it. Neither do you need cheesecloth, or a sock, or any of that. If it's a small bird and you do the breast-down method, it will be fine.
I do a butter massage beforehand and maybe 1-2 bastings midway for a 12-pound turkey. I use a brush for basting. I've also heard that basting is not necessary at all if you do the butter massage and breast-down method, but I do it anyway in an abundance of caution.
Again this sounds like a recipe for a mushy turkey. It's not necessary.
Mix 1/2 cup of KOSHER (not regular!) salt plus 2 T baking powder. Sprinkle it evenly over the turkey, but don't get the turkey totally encrusted (there will be extra salt mixture--throw it out). That's it. You don't even need the baking powder, really. Store the brined turkey in the fridge, uncovered, until tomorrow.
I hate stuffing too but other people like it, so I make it. I do not cook it inside the turkey, and no, it is not there to keep the bird moist. It's there to get the turkey flavor into the stuffing. I find that cooking it inside the turkey just makes the stuffing gummy and also makes a giant mess when you go to carve the turkey. You can make it in a baking dish instead.

My stuffing is very traditional, I make it the night before.

cut up good bread and dry them. ( I do that a week before) but am sure your market has bread.

chop onions/ carrots/ celery.

Fry onions in lots of butter (as I said, this is the only time you find butter in my house, I throw the left over) add carrots then celery. then the bread. parsley/sage/rosemary and thyme ( the song from the graduate I think). salt and pepper then moist it with lots of chicken stock.

Under salt the stuffing, for it will have more salt from the stock and the turkey.

Et voila, a very traditional gringo stuffing. (the only one my kids would even touch).

Not for my turkeys. And I always have it in my house but for this year. It makes it very juicy, plus you use that juice for the gravy.


But each household does it different.

I was the first who asked the butcher to stuff my turkey with a boneless duck and the duck with a boneless chicken ( around 20 yrs ago at Bristol Farms in So pas) now it has become a regular thing.

I had that in Paris years ago for Xmas, and remembered it.

*drools*

I guess you don't flip the turkey in this method? Just start it breast-up and the bacon keeps everything awesome...

Please re-read my instructions , assuming it is a FROZEN turkey @:-)

Remember I asked this in my post Please re-read the instructions - it pertains to a FROZEN bought turkey for step 1