Turkey Baking for Dummies

HI NB,

My sister made a Brown Bag Turkey last year (her first turkey) and it turned out WONDERFUL!

Kidd Kraddick's Brown Bag Turkey
No, this turkey recipe won't burn your house down because you're using a brown paper bag...but it will taste great!

First, take everything out of the inside of the turkey. There will be a giblet bag and some other stuff. You don't want to leave that in there.

Next, add vegetables to the inside of the turkey. This is easy because the veggies are just for flavor...you're going to throw them away later.

You don't even have to peel anything. Take an onion and cut it into quarters. Roughly chop a nice long carrot. Do the same to a couple of stalks of celery. Add several cloves of garlic that you mash between a broad kitchen knife and the counter. Throw it all inside the turkey.

Then rub the turkey all over with olive oil. . . not butter because butter usually has salt in it and that will dry out the turkey. Salt is the enemy of a moist turkey! Make sure the whole bird is covered!

Put the turkey in a roasting pan and cover it with a large brown paper bag.

Staple shut. If you have a huge turkey, use two bags, sliding one end of the turkey into one bag and the other end of the turkey into the second bag. It won't stick to the bird because of the olive oil. Sprinkle the bag all over with water. Place into pre-heated 375 F oven, ON THE MIDDLE RACK.

The bag won't burn because paper burns at 451 and we're at 375 degrees. The advantage of the brown paper bag over the Reynolds's cooking bag is that the paper breathes so the turkey roasts. In the Reynolds bag the turkey steams, giving it a different taste. Also the brown paper bag retains the same advantage of the plastic cooking bag...no splatters all over the oven.

Roast for 13-15 minutes per pound. When you think it's ready, shove a meat thermometer through the bag and into the turkey and give it a minute to register. Make sure it doesn't touch the bone. The thermometer should register between 163-170 degrees.

Remove from oven, cut away the bag and remove from basting pan. Don�t throw out the drippings! To make the gravy, strain the pan juices into a really big pot. Any juices that accumulate on the turkey platter get poured into the pot.

Add six oz. of boiling chicken broth and 1/8 cup of corn starch to the gravy to thicken it up. Cook at low heat and stir and cook and stir. If it seems like it isn't going to be thick enough, add a little more corn starch.

Best of Luck!

C. Roeschen
The Trinity Group
Keller Williams
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Let me give you a piece of advice that I wished I had when I did my first turkey. Make sure you look in both ends of the turkey to remove the bags of yuck that they have in them. I found out the hard way that there was more than 1 bag of stuff. All the women in my family had a really good laugh at my expense!

Turkeys are the easiest thing EVER.

1. take out guts
2. dump a whole kettle of boiling h2o on the bird to seal skin
3. massage with olive oil - a lot of oil this is not a low cal meal
4. stuff - don't over stuff
5. put it in the oven
6. NEVER OPEN THE OVEN!!!! Don't baist, don't check on it don't ever open the oven until it's done. Opening the oven makes the temp raise and lower and it dries out the bird.

REMEMBER it takes a long time to cook the bird and a good half hour to do the stuffing prior to putting it into the oven so make sure you get going in the morning on the bird.

Have fun. I love cooking T-day dinner. Let me know if you need further speedy side dish recipes

Go to http://www.savingdinner.com/books/saving_dinner_for_the_h...
It's a free pdf for the entire Thanksgiving meal. I hosted my first Thanksgiving for over 50 people using this planner (shopping list, how-tos, menu, recipes, timeline). It was wonderful. I didn't stress about anything the day of. Everything was taken care of! (No, I did not feed 50 people by myself, it was somewhat pot-luck, but I made the turkey, some veggies, mashed potatoes, and dessert). The rest of her site is awesome for everyday dinners, too! :)
Good luck, and God bless your family!

Buy a cooked one. I'm just suggesting it because that's what I've done when I was in the same situation. There are already enough sides & desserts that I had to make, so not having to worry about how the turkey turns out is the best.

There is an awesome way to make a turkey on www.epicurious.com. It is called "Honey Brined Turkey"- I NEVER make a turkey any other way now!!! It is SO moist and tasty.

Having said that- making a turkey is a bit frightening the first time you do it, but it is really easy as pie (easier than the pie actually!:) however you chose to do it. Before I found the recipe above I just sprinkled it with salt and pepper, put a quartered onion and some garlic cloves in the cavity and popped it in the oven, then basted it every now and then with the juices in the bottom of the pan. And they turned out fine, good! I don't trust the pop-up indicators they put in some of the turkeys you buy- I use my own temperature probe that I can leave in the bird the whole time it is cooking. Also, I cook it to a few degrees below what they recommend because it continues to cook a bit after you remove it from the oven and the temp always comes up to the recommended.

Good Luck

I've been baking turkeys for years, but I think my favorite recipe is based on the Williams Sonoma brining method. Visit one of their stores (there's one in Willowbrook Mall, Town & Country, Highland Village). You can get the brining bags and brining spices there. Follow the directions on the bag/spices. After I remove the bird from the brine and right before baking, I make a paste of rosemary, thyme, a little sage, salt & pepper and butter to coat the outside of the bird, and in between the skin and the meat(I pull up gently to disconnect the skin from the meat, making my way all throught the breast area and down over the legs). I coat the inside of the bird well. You'll definitely need a meat thermometer to know when the bird is done. As far as baking, you'll have to follow the directions included with the turkey or better yet, the directions from the Williams Sonoma brine. I use an old method my family has been using for generations. Brace yourself; this is crazy, but it works: I take a large, paper grocery bag, place the bird inside, staple the bag shut, and put in the roasting pan breast side up with the meat thermometer in the largest part of the thigh (my thermometer is from Williams Sonoma - remote control - SWEET!!). I coat the entire bag with veggie oil and bake at 325 for 15 minutes a pound or until the thermometer reaches the temperature suggested for poultry (you'd have to check that, but I think it's 170 degrees). (I'll have to check my recipe at home to make sure I have the time/temp correct, and if I don't, I'll write again.) The whole bag thing sounds crazy, I know, but cooking it that way keeps the bird moist by holding the steam in for a while before seeping through the holes between the staples. It's the best way to keep the breast meat moist while the dark meat cooks. And, the bird comes out a lovely golden brown color with the skin crisp. If you choose this method, I'd also keep your stove vents on, as the bag smells a little funny for a while, but never effects the bird. Good luck! (I'd be interested to know if there are any others out there that use this crazy method!)

I love Butterball turkey and I follow the directions on the label. Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorites to prepare!!

Good luck!
Susan

Use a Reynolds oven bag...it's SUPER easy! No basting...no worries. Just follow directions on the bag, and I add a whole onion and a stalk of celery (not chopped...just for flavor).

Be sure you account for the turkey to be finished cooking 1 full hour before you plan to eat (for me, this works, because my side items need to bake for about that long). Don't worry...the turkey won't spoil in this time! You'll need to leave it out of the oven for 15-20 minutes before beginning to carve. And, the carving will take about 30-45 minutes. Good luck...you'll have fun doing this!

I had this dilema last year. I found this website, followed its directions, and it turned out great!

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3560.htm

Good luck! Happy Thanksgiving!

I find that using the Reynolds Baking Bags works really well. There's no basting involved, it's alot less mess to cleanup in the pan and it cooks faster. If you don't have a meat thermometer, I recommend buying one to ensure you cook to the right temperature. I think some of the more processed brands of turkey have those built in. I like the Fresh turkeys from Sprouts because they don't add anything, which is why they do best in those Baking Bags.