Holiday Turkey 101

Each year I enjoy cooking several Turkeys for the holiday.
Today I am going to share my way of getting a great Turkey.

First, make sure your Turkey is defrosted properly
For 24 hours keep it in your sink and fill with cold water. ( I base this on a 20lb bird)
Change the water every 4-6 hours to keep things semi-clean
When you start the Turkey prep, remove bag of innards and wash the Turkey well..
Pat dry with paper towels

Set your Turkey in the roasting pan or lay on a plastic lined counter-top 

Place inside the Turkey, 

1 large onion roughly chopped

4 carrots cut down slightly

4 pieces of celery cut down slightly 

5 cloves of garlic

NOTE:

When you do place the Turkey into the roasting pan you have two choices 

You can cook the Turkey in the traditional method (Foil over bird in pan)

Or you can use the Reynolds Wrap Oven Bags. 

I used the Oven Bag this last year for the first time and was extremely impressed! 

I will be using it again this year.

When you purchase the bags, time and tips are printed on the outside for your convenience

  

Once your Turkey is placed in pan and fully stuffed, you need to prep the outside.

In a small dish I combine sage, garlic, pepper, salt and melted butter

I rub the whole outside of the turkey with this mixture. 

Also I place my hands inside the cavity with some of it as well. 

Once final thing to try is to inject the turkey with a little salt-pepper-butter and sage mix. 

It does cause green lines in the Turkey but, it is rich and flavorful. 

NOTHING is worse than a dry Turkey so I take great pains to avoid this. 

 

 I bake mine at 325 and follow the suggestions at this website  Turkey Fact Sheet

I like to baste mine 3-4 times during the cooking process and I always remove the foil at the end to get a nice crisp top. It all depends on if you do the traditional method or choose to use Reynolds Wrap Oven Bags.

Either way, enjoy one of the nice traditions of the Holidays, cooking the perfect Turkey!