Let's Talk Turkey

This Thanksgiving will be a "first" in many ways -- some better than others! -- and that includes many people cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. But that's a good thing to know! Everyone's gotta start sometime. Like my son and daughter-in-law, who bought their first home this year and want to host Thanksgiving, and asked me to show them how to make the turkey this year. So I'm going over to their house early Thanksgiving morning and we'll prep and stuff the turkey and get it in the oven.

I've been collecting a few links for them as well, which I thought I'd share for anyone else wanting/needing to know how to make their first Thanksgiving dinner.

Starting with shopping, you can find out how much you need of everything here: Turkey Day Math - How big a turkey, how many potatoes, how much gravy

Keep in mind that you'll need to buy extra if you want leftovers... our family loves our leftovers! I usually get a 22 or 23 pound bird, which is more than enough to feed the six of us, with leftovers for three homes. And if it's just a couple of you and it's not worth getting a whole bird, consider just a turkey breast or even Cornish game hens.

This is a chart for determining how long to roast the turkey: Just How Long Do You Roast a Turkey?

Obviously weight plays a big factor, as well as the temp -- usually 325° or 350° -- and whether it is stuffed or unstuffed. Unstuffed birds cook much faster than stuffed. My general rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound at 325° (and we've never had either a dry nor undercooked bird!).

Finally, probably the hardest part of getting an awesome Thanksgiving dinner on the table: Here's when you should start cooking every dish for Thanksgiving

Organizing everything was the hardest part for us at least. Getting the turkey in the oven is easy enough... planning and prepping everything else to be ready and warm at the same time the turkey is done is the tricky part. The bird will need to "rest" for a good 20 to 30 minutes after taking it out of the oven, which gives you time to prepare sides. Keep in mind your oven/stove capacity. You can only cook so many things at once! But if you have plan, and prep what you can ahead of time, it works itself out in the end.

I looked for simple turkey making recipes/instructions, and I gotta say I didn't find anything that looked all that simple to me! Brined, smoked, fried, roast, and so on and so forth -- the ways were neverending. So my best advice is to search specifically for what you know you like or what you already do best. Everyone has their own preferences and it's all good!

As mentioned, I roast ours -- stuffed. My stuffing recipe is simple enough -- pre-packaged toasted bread cubes, celery, minced garlic, both yellow and green onions. I simmer the veggies in lots of butter until translucent, then mix with the bread cubes and a little chicken broth before stuffing. I salt and pepper the inside of the bird before loosely stuffing it. (If you cram the stuffing into the bird too tight, it just comes out a mushy mess!) Then I slather butter all over the outside of the bird, and salt and pepper and paprika the outside. I make little "bouquets" of chives, rosemary and sage clippings that I tie together with twine and stick between the skin and the breast right next to the legs, along with a full clove of garlic that I smash right before putting it in. (There's a natural little pocket right there). I preheat the oven to 425° and put the bird in uncovered for 20 minutes to give it a nice golden brown, then turn the temp down to 325° and cover it to finish cooking.

Probably my absolute tastiest tip I can give rookies is that whatever stuffing does not fit inside the bird, put in an oven-safe casserole dish for when the turkey stuffing runs out (there never seems to be enough!). As soon as you take the bird out of the oven, drizzle a couple big ladles of drippings over the top of the extra stuffing in the casserole dish. This will give that stuffing the same yummy roasted turkey flavor as the stuffing in the bird.

I'll bet lots of our ATSers have some yummy Thanksgiving tips to share -- for rookies and everyone!

I'm sure lots of us would be happy to answer any questions anyone has...

And I'm even betting lots of us have funny Thanksgiving disasters we could share...

So feel free to ask questions, share tips and ideas or whatever fits, tell us what your plans are for Thanksgiving, and let's just talk some turkey!

a reply to: Boadicea

I'll tell you one thing. Turkey is amazing anyway you cook it, but my dad and I deep fried it one year, and it was super delicious. Extremely juicy. Nearly burnt the house down though. Good times.

Btw Alton brown has some amazing easy Thanksgiving recipes on his YouTube channel.

Brined for a day. Then roasted breast side down for first 75% of the time and finished at a slightly higher heat breast side up until perfectly done.

originally posted by: Rekrul
a reply to: Boadicea

I'll tell you one thing. Turkey is amazing anyway you cook it, but my dad and I deep fried it one year, and it was super delicious. Extremely juicy. Nearly burnt the house down though. Good times.

Btw Alton brown has some amazing easy Thanksgiving recipes on his YouTube channel.

I've heard deep fried turkey is amazing, but I've never had the chance to try it. My son got a smoker for Christmas last year, and he's going to smoke some turkey breasts and thighs. I've heard that's delicious also, and can't wait to try it!

Thank you for recommending Alton Brown... I'm a big fan of his! His family holiday ham recipe is amazing too.

a reply to: Boadicea

One thing that you have to remember about deep frying a turkey is that they can explode. Smoked turkey sounds really good. Yeah I love Alton

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

Brined for a day. Then roasted breast side down for first 75% of the time and finished at a slightly higher heat breast side up until perfectly done.

Breast side down? That's a first for me!!! Does that keep the juices in the meat better? That's what I'm figuring anyway... gravity and all ya know!

I'm intrigued...

a reply to: Boadicea

Yes, the dark meat tends to cook slower and this also helps the turkey self-baste. I use a little stock and wine in the pan and about a stick of butter during the cooking process to help the skin get perfectly brown.

If I remember I'll take some pics.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Do you put tinfoil on the breast when you flip it the last 25%? I heard it keeps it juicy and cooks it slower to even it out.

Brined for a day and a half and going on the smoker, last year I did it with mesquite and it was pretty good, this year I am using a sweeter brine with brown sugar and going to use hickory. I'll do it around 250deg for about an hour and a half then reduce the heat to about 150-175ish till my meat thermometer tells me the internal temp is good to go. The brisket I will be doing on the other smoker grill, well that's a secret.

originally posted by: Rekrul
a reply to: Boadicea

One thing that you have to remember about deep frying a turkey is that they can explode. Smoked turkey sounds really good. Yeah I love Alton

Last year, a couple weeks before Christmas, I was lucky enough to catch a marathon of Alton Brown's holiday specials -- everything from lamb to turkey and hams and standing rib roasts. I was in Heaven!!! I just happened to catch it, and ended up spending the better part of the day watching. I don't watch much TV, so I'm extra glad I was lucky enough to see it.

originally posted by: Boadicea

originally posted by: Rekrul
a reply to: Boadicea

I'll tell you one thing. Turkey is amazing anyway you cook it, but my dad and I deep fried it one year, and it was super delicious. Extremely juicy. Nearly burnt the house down though. Good times.

Btw Alton brown has some amazing easy Thanksgiving recipes on his YouTube channel.

I've heard deep fried turkey is amazing, but I've never had the chance to try it.

It is VERY good. But also can be dangerous for people who don't know how to do it.

Here are some fry fails along with some other turkey fails.

originally posted by: Rekrul
Do you put tinfoil on the breast when you flip it the last 25%? I heard it keeps it juicy and cooks it slower to even it out.

No, I've pretty much got it down to a science so when I flip the bird it's more for just the finishing aspect and to crisp the skin. Simple is better, it's only stuffed with a quartered onion, one stalk of celery and carrot rough-chopped, a bit of thyme and some sage. I finish the giblet gravy with the pan drippings and we're good to go.

Forget the charts, lots of Turkey and lots of stuffing, lots of potatoes and pie so everyone can take some home with them and a turkey pot pie or soup or both can be made out of the carcass and extra meat at home.

I like turkey soup, I like Turkey pie with the extra stuffing on bottom with the mashed potatoes.

originally posted by: FauxMulder
It is VERY good. But also can be dangerous for people who don't know how to do it.

My brother and law is a fire captain a couple towns over and they put out about 8-10 fires a year from deep fried turkey mishaps. Mostly dimwits tossing the frozen bird into a bucket of hot fat in their garage or portico.

a reply to: Boadicea

I love watching people cook, and other shows about eating in different parts of the world. One thing I like about Alton the most is he's totally hilarious.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I would love pics -- thank you!

I love the wine in the pan as well... white, I'm assuming? I'm really liking the sound of that.

A few years ago I started adding a little Amaretto to my ham glaze, and it adds the most wonderful essence to the glaze. You wouldn't know by tasting it there's even Amaretto in it, but the flavor it adds is undeniable. I'm thinking the same thing might happen with the wine.

originally posted by: Boadicea
I love the wine in the pan as well... white, I'm assuming? I'm really liking the sound of that.

Yes, and some of my homemade brown chicken stock.

A few years ago I started adding a little Amaretto to my ham glaze, and it adds the most wonderful essence to the glaze. You wouldn't know by tasting it there's even Amaretto in it, but the flavor it adds is undeniable. I'm thinking the same thing might happen with the wine.

I put a splash of Amaretto in my string beans almondine.

originally posted by: Brotherman
Brined for a day and a half and going on the smoker, last year I did it with mesquite and it was pretty good, this year I am using a sweeter brine with brown sugar and going to use hickory. I'll do it around 250deg for about an hour and a half then reduce the heat to about 150-175ish till my meat thermometer tells me the internal temp is good to go. The brisket I will be doing on the other smoker grill, well that's a secret.

That sounds quite delicious as well! Do you make your brine from scratch? Or do you have a preferred mix that you use? My son likes to experiment from scratch... but my daughter-in-law has one that she especially likes (I think from Penzey's?)

The hickory and brown sugar is already making me drool! I like mesquite, but we have mesquite trees, and plenty of dried mesquite for grilling and bonfires, so it's not as exciting for us.

Since we don't need to do stuffing in the bird, we dry brine ours for a day or two and then spatchcock it and roast it off. It comes out with a really crispy skin that way, and I'm a crispy skin addict of the worst kind. It also does come out with a nice juicy meat, but who cares about that ... mmmm, crispy, buttery, salty skin ...

We put an herb/lemon/butter rub underneath the skin too before roasting. We also start out stock veggies underneath in the drippings and will occasionally swap out those with roasting veggies partway through and then finish off the roasting veggies in a separate tray once they've been covered in drippings and started (it just depends on what all needs roast turkey dripping goodness).

We use the carcass, back, giblets (minus heart - it's a special delicacy of mine) and the aforementioned stock veggies to make stock which we start on the day of Thanksgiving. We'll let that simmer on for a couple days and use leftover turkey from the bird to make turkey chili on Sunday along with some of the stock.

That pretty much uses up our whole bird. For the three of us, we generally get 12 to 14 lb bird for all this.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

My brother and law is a fire captain a couple towns over and they put out about 8-10 fires a year from deep fried turkey mishaps. Mostly dimwits tossing the frozen bird into a bucket of hot fat in their garage or portico.

Are these folks ever cited for recklessness? Fire hazards? Anything?

I'm sure it can get out of hand even with the most careful and conscientious cooks, but I can help but get visions of drunk revellers just being stupid too...

I'll bet insurance companies would have plenty to say about it!