[NA] 20# Turkey [NA]

[Let'sgoflying!]

Start thawing in fridge today?
Start cooking Sunday at 7am for a 4pm dinner??

Thanks
newbie cook

 

[cameronbm]

See www.butterball.com for the answers to all your turkey cooking questions.

To thaw a turkey in the refrigerator, allow 1 day for every 4 lbs of turkey. The alternative is to place the turkey breast down in a pan and completely cover with cold water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Figure on a thawing time of 30 minutes per pound.

For an 18-22 lbs turkey, roast at 325 for 3.5 to 4 hours (unstuffed) or 4.5 to 5 hours (stuffed). You want to see a temperature of 180 deg in the thickest part of the thigh (unstuffed) or 160 deg in the center of the stuffing. I like to use a turkey roasting bag -- saves on clean up and the need for basting.

Bruce

 

[Greebo]

For fastest and safest thawing, put the turkey in the pan as Bruce suggested, cover with cold water, but then keep a very slow trickle of cold water running into the pan.

The water density makes for the best convection, and the constant flow of new cold water keeps it from getting too warm. This is the fastest method of thawing meat short of actually cooking it in the process, and the constant water change means you keep the turkey cold enough to avoid the bio danger zone.

Run that all day, and then let sit in the fridge over night and you should have a nicely thawed turkey by Sunday.

BTW: Deep fried turkey is SOOOO good - try it sometime.

DONT cook your turkey based on the X minutes per pound approach. Use a meat thermometer which has an external display (digital). You can pull the turkey at 175 (thigh temp) and let it rest and natural carryover will take it the rest of the way to 180 without drying out the breast too much.

You could also consider a turkey brine ahead of time - MMM talk about flavor infusion.

Personally, I oppose stuffing a turkey - to cook the stuffing fully you gotta kill the bird, and if you dont cook the stuffing fully, you run serious biological risk. I'm with A.B. on this one - stuffing is evil.

Sorry.

 

[Richard]

Just throw it into the backyard pond to thaw.

My older bro has developed quite a thriving business amongst his neighbors. He is the deep fryer king of the turkey world, last year he did over 30 birds and I must say they are grrrrrreat! It cooks at 425 about one minute/lbs. Stuff it with a stuff'd Cornish game hen.

My bro is in San Diego so if Dave S wants some DF turkey I could hook him up.

 

[Greebo]

It cooks at 425 about one minute/lbs.

Boy I hope you mean 325 cause at 425, the oil is likely to catch fire...

But it DOES cook up some REALLY moist turkey!

 

[SkyHog]

anyone see that stupid piece on CNN about the dangers of turkey fryers?

They can explode!!*

*if you put a frozen solid turkey in the grease

I laughed when I saw the warning on my fryer. I guess people do it anyways.

 

[wsuffa]

To really do it right, you need two meat thermometers. One for the body, one for the thick meat on the drumsticks. Forget the "pop-up" thingey that comes with some birds.

Stuffing is a bone (or is that wishbone) of contention amongst chefs. It is possible to precook the stuffing a bit and keep from overcooking the bird, but using stuffing sometimes leads to dried-out meat.

Bobby Flay discusses doing the turkey on a grill... which is a great idea, especially since you live in Tejas.

There are a number of resources on the net with recipies, including Food.com, cooks.com, and others....

 

[Greebo]

To really do it right, you need two meat thermometers. One for the body, one for the thick meat on the drumsticks. Forget the "pop-up" thingey that comes with some birds.

Important note here - if you're deepfrying the turkey, remove the popups. Otherwise, leave it in. When oven roasting a turkey, removing the popup before hand just creates a hole from which the juices can escape.

(When deepfrying the turkey, NOT removing the popup leads to interesting plastic compounds being infused in your meat...)

 

[Richard]

When oven roasting a turkey, removing the popup before hand just creates a hole from which the juices can escape.

In that case, you'll want the Turkey Cork, SKU 00202228-1. Be sure to specify size and have your 38 digit account number ready.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Tried some deep fried turkey at a friends and it was good but, a serious deficiency of frying the bird is the lack of roasting turkey smell from the oven for most of the day during football.

For fastest and safest thawing, put the turkey in the pan as Bruce suggested, cover with cold water, but then keep a very slow trickle of cold water running into the pan.

The water density makes for the best convection, and the constant flow of new cold water keeps it from getting too warm. This is the fastest method of thawing meat short of actually cooking it in the process, and the constant water change means you keep the turkey cold enough to avoid the bio danger zone.

Run that all day, and then let sit in the fridge over night and you should have a nicely thawed turkey by Sunday.

BTW: Deep fried turkey is SOOOO good - try it sometime.

DONT cook your turkey based on the X minutes per pound approach. Use a meat thermometer which has an external display (digital). You can pull the turkey at 175 (thigh temp) and let it rest and natural carryover will take it the rest of the way to 180 without drying out the breast too much.

You could also consider a turkey brine ahead of time - MMM talk about flavor infusion.

Personally, I oppose stuffing a turkey - to cook the stuffing fully you gotta kill the bird, and if you dont cook the stuffing fully, you run serious biological risk. I'm with A.B. on this one - stuffing is evil.

Sorry.

 

[Richard]

Boy I hope you mean 325 cause at 425, the oil is likely to catch fire...

But it DOES cook up some REALLY moist turkey!

You are correct. 3.5 minutes/lbs in peanut oil @ 325.

I just hung up from talking to my brother (to verify the #s). He related a recent event involving a deep fryer, a turkey, beer, 3 other different kind of turkeys, and a fire.

A const. crew decided to celebrate completion of building a home. They decided to deep fry a turkey. They got the oil hot, dropped the bird in, and went inside to watch the game and drink some beer. Unwatched, the oil did catch fire. Basically, the garage was a total loss and there was fire damage to the attached house.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

You are correct. 3.5 minutes/lbs in peanut oil @ 325.

I just hung up from talking to my brother (to verify the #s). He related a recent event involving a deep fryer, a turkey, beer, 3 other different kind of turkeys, and a fire.

A const. crew decided to celebrate completion of building a home. They decided to deep fry a turkey. They got the oil hot, dropped the bird in, and went inside to watch the game and drink some beer. Unwatched, the oil did catch fire. Basically, the garage was a total loss and there was fire damage to the attached house.

If memory serves, staistically it's 1 to 2 dozen serious house fires per year in USA from turkeys frying.

 

[cameronbm]

Important note here - if you're deepfrying the turkey, remove the popups.

Turkeys come with popups???

No, No, No, turkeys come with #4/#6 shot. Next thing you'll tell me is that turkeys come from a store.

Its goose braised in white wine this year -- Yummy!

Bruce

 

[Greebo]

I'll relay my own near disaster with deep frying. This was a new deep frier and I did not realise that the thermometer which was included with the frier
was broken. It was, specifically, bent right at the base of the probe where it joins the gauge.

I started up the burner, put the probe in the oil, and checked on it every few minutes. I SHOULD have realised that the fact that the temp seemed to stall at 125 was a problem, but I didn't. I was distracted and not being analytical.

It wasn't until far too long into it that I tried a different thermometer and learned that the oil was, well, HOT (ie, > 400F, and the digital probe didn't go any higher).

I killed the heat immediately, of course, and waited for the oil to drop below 400 (like JUST below 400) thinking (with hungry diners waiting and making me feel the pressure) that the turkey would drop the temp of the oil once I put it in so putting it in 75 deg above what it should be hopefully wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Well... BOY did that oil bubble over... thank goodness this was in the back yard. I'll have to reseed some grass next year, lets leave it at that.

But the turkey finished about 10 mins earlier than expected and was STILL really really moist and delicious.

Oh yeah - this year we're doing a standing rib roast. Hopefully my wife remembered to take it out of the freezer this morning...

 

[Richard]

Turkeys come with popups???

No, No, No, turkeys come with #4/#6 shot. Next thing you'll tell me is that turkeys come from a store.

Its goose braised in white wine this year -- Yummy!

Bruce

That is a damn good point you have there. And that goose sounds mighty fine. Yummy is right!

If memory serves, staistically it's 1 to 2 dozen serious house fires per year in USA from turkeys frying.

And burns probably 100x that number. It is really important to accurately gauge the capacity of the fryer and the volume required. The simplest way is to do a 'dry' run with water before you start playing with hot oil. Common sense, yes, but of three people I know who deep fry birds all three have overfilled the fryer. Otherwise, they are fairly smart folks.

 

[imQ]

A nice sized turkey, rubbed in olive oil. On the smoker at 8am. pecan smoke till about 4pm, let rest on kitchen counter so the house gets the proper infusion of smoke. Watch the wifes eyes roll back in her head when she tastes it. Yes yes yes....

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

A nice sized turkey, rubbed in olive oil. On the smoker at 8am. pecan smoke till about 4pm, let rest on kitchen counter so the house gets the proper infusion of smoke. Watch the wifes eyes roll back in her head when she tastes it. Yes yes yes....

Is that a "hot" smoker ? Approximate temp ?
Seems like it would take longer for a raw, whole, good sized turkey ?

 

[imQ]

I keep it about 225 (according to the thermo. on the smoker.)for the most part. I've never served one undercooked, however that's my biggest fear. (outside of it not tasting right.) I do check with a meat thermometer before taking it out of the smoker. The biggest bird started at 6am and finished at 6:30 pm.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

I keep it about 225 (according to the thermo. on the smoker.)for the most part. I've never served one undercooked, however that's my biggest fear. (outside of it not tasting right.) I do check with a meat thermometer before taking it out of the smoker. The biggest bird started at 6am and finished at 6:30 pm.

I guess there's something about smoke infusion that makes meat "cooked" sooner and at lower temps because I can't imagine conventionally baking a turkey safely at ~225 F. Where's the chemists' explanations when we need them ?

 

[Greebo]

I guess there's something about smoke infusion that makes meat "cooked" sooner and at lower temps because I can't imagine conventionally baking a turkey safely at ~225 F. Where's the chemists' explanations when we need them ?

Um.. thats definately not faster than oven or oil cooking. He's talking about 12 hours of smoking...

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Um.. thats definately not faster than oven or oil cooking. He's talking about 12 hours of smoking...

I was envisioning baking the turkey in an oven at that low temp, and don't think it would work (but who knows) whereas it does well with smoking at low temps.

 

[Greebo]

Oh, it will COOK the meat, but it probably won't brown the meat. It will take a long time (ie, 12 hours) to bring the meat up to temperature, but it will get there. It is in the nature of thermodynamics that the turkey will increase its temperature over time to match that of its surroundings - the oven.

I do question, however, whether cooking the meat that slowly creates a higher risk of bacterial infection (ie food poisoning) or whether you have to keep the meat at temperature longer once it reaches temp. The "danger zone" for biological poisoning is in the 60f - 100f range, and if the turkey is cold it will take a long time to come thru that range giving the bacteria lots of time to be fruitful and multiply before the meat then gets hot enough to cook them too...

It does seem kinda scary...

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Oh, it will COOK the meat, but it probably won't brown the meat. It will take a long time (ie, 12 hours) to bring the meat up to temperature, but it will get there. It is in the nature of thermodynamics that the turkey will increase its temperature over time to match that of its surroundings - the oven.

I do question, however, whether cooking the meat that slowly creates a higher risk of bacterial infection (ie food poisoning) or whether you have to keep the meat at temperature longer once it reaches temp. The "danger zone" for biological poisoning is in the 60f - 100f range, and if the turkey is cold it will take a long time to come thru that range giving the bacteria lots of time to be fruitful and multiply before the meat then gets hot enough to cook them too...

It does seem kinda scary...

That's what I figured too for straight oven baking but, the smoke meathod must have some chemicals that acts synergistically to enhance the process and make it safe.

 

[Greebo]

You know now that you mention it, I think smoke does have a toxic effect on bacteria. I'll have to try to remember to look into that...

 

[imQ]

My offhand guess would be that the temp guage on the smoker is inaccurate.
I don't use it for exact temps, just to have a reference point of sorts. I use a nice digital thermometer to check the internal temp of the bird before I pull it out of the smoker.

That's what I figured too for straight oven baking but, the smoke meathod must have some chemicals that acts synergistically to enhance the process and make it safe.

I'm not sure if you're being flip or not. I've been cooking over open fires and in smokers for some time, and thru luck or whatever I haven't poisoned anyone yet. I'd throw it out first.

 

[terzap]

Sigh...it's lovely to "hear" so many men discussing cooking. I'll just sit back and relax.

BTW...my preferred holiday fare is goose with a sauce made from zinfandel port, or mallard with spiced cherry sauce or rum raisins, but this year, it's ramen noodles, thank Goodness, a nice, quiet, no obligation, sleep in and do nothing holiday weekend. (Unless of course someone calls me to go flying.)

terry

 

[Richard]

Sigh...it's lovely to "hear" so many men discussing cooking. I'll just sit back and relax.

BTW...my preferred holiday fare is goose with a sauce made from zinfandel port, or mallard with spiced cherry sauce or rum raisins, but this year, it's ramen noodles, thank Goodness, a nice, quiet, no obligation, sleep in and do nothing holiday weekend. (Unless of course someone calls me to go flying.)

terry

Are you kidding!? At least go get a real hot meal somewheres. What neck of the woods are you in again? Someone has to have a fast mover and come and rescue you.

BTW: I used to be a chef. No, I mean a full blown chef. Before that I was a chemist. I kept hearing how chemists make the best cooks. So I decided to combine my desire for really good food with a paycheck. Didn't quite work out that way (pay sucks and/or you're treated like crap) but the last I checked I'm a guy AND I have been cooking for some time now. Yet there really is only one subject here--try to ident the single best method for cooking meat over a flame. Just like BBQ.

 

[wsuffa]

Cooking is, well, cooking.

Baking, on the other hand, IS chemistry. If you screw up the ratios, you screw up the (bread, cookies, cake, pie, cornbread, and etc.).

I've fixed a lovely Italian dish for tonight. Penne Pasta with a garlic/tomato/onion and hot Italian sausage sauce. It'll be easy to reheat when I get home from putting in an appearance at a birthday party this evening.