What is The Most Meals You Gotten From a Turkey ?

[ninnymary]

Steve, for the last few years I have done the turkey without the stuffing. My daughter who is celiac brings the dressing. I basically roast the turkey the way I do a chicken. I stuff the cavity with a lemon sliced in half, a bunch of thyme, and a head of garlic cut in half. I salt and pepper the whole bird and rub butter on top. It doesn't come out dry. If you overcook it, that's when it's dry.

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

I do just mine just like Mary. I'm the only one who likes stuffing anyway so i just do a little separately.

Another thing I discovered by accident was cooking the bird breast down. It's so moist that way!
I may have already related this here, but the first year dh and I hosted Thanksgiving for his entire family I wanted to do the turkey.
When his family arrived his mom and grandma were present in the kitchen when I pulled the turkey out of the oven. A little stunned silence, then one of them, I don't remember which, said, "Oh my, what 's wrong with it?"
Then my MIL said she had seen it done that way in one of her cooking magazines. I know she was surprised that I was up on the latest turkey fad.

It came out so tasty, and I was pretty pleased that my confusion had a happy ending.

I just heard this tip on the radio the other day. The expert suggested cooking your turkey a day or two in advance and letting it rest in the refrigerator until well and truly cold before carving it. Then you can slice it thin, and reheat the slices in a baking pan with a little chicken broth. Less stress, more room in the oven for everything else.
That's how I'm going to do my Christmas bird.

 

[digitS']

Yes, I remember that upside down turkey story .

A lemon, bunch of garlic and thyme may not fill a turkey but it would likely fill a chicken. That's the way I thought necessary for roasting. I mean, it isn't as tho' a beef roast is hollow.

Roast chicken was becoming real common for me before DW came along. Two people? That was usual when I was a single dad. I hadn't gotten into casseroles, didn't own a slow cooker, I don't know that the microwave had been invented . I would use most anything to stuff the chicken, sometimes even bread dressing! Apples, celery, onions - just some chunks destined to be tossed. It all may have been too casual for DW.

Steve

 

[journey11]

Too many! I am canning the rest of our turkey today because we are already burned out and cannot eat anymore. (DH's work gives us one each year and I make it prior to Thanksgiving.)

 

[ninnymary]

I burn out on turkey real quick. I never could understand the love for those turkey sandwiches that required an entire jar of mayo. I don't like turkey leftovers. I do like leftovers of everything else. So what I do is buy the smallest turkey I can find. Any leftovers I give to my daughter. My family gathering is small, just 6 adults and 2 children.

Mary

 

[bobm]

This year we will have a 22 lb. turkey to feed 10 adults and 6 kids ranging from 8 years old down to 2. This year the feast will be at one of our son's sister in law's house . That bird will only leave it's skeleton behind, so I will take a bag of bones home and make headcheese out of any morsel of meat and geletin rendered from the carcass. So nothing is wasted. If the feasting is at someone elses house, we usually arrive a little early to help with anything that may be needed for cooking, etc. When the kids start to arrive I am the one that they all gravitate to and I have to play at their "tea party" with them. Our grandson is the only boy as all the rest of his cousins are girls. I "have to " sit with the kids during dinner at their request too so I end up on the short of the stick on adult beverages.

 

[digitS']

Mayo? Homemade rolls sliced with Cranberry Sauce and Turkey, inside !

Turkey headcheese? There is an idea! Grandma used to make headcheese. You know, if you want to toss a handful of salt on it as a slice goes in the frying pan, you can appeal to a Spam-lover but the headcheese should still be better .

I looked at the boning knife yesterday as I accidentally pulled it out to peel a persimmon. DW watched a Martha Stewart & Todd English video today on deboning and rolling a turkey roast. They used an additional pound of ground turkey for the center of the roast. She's gone shopping now and if she brings back the ground turkey, we will know that made an impression on her .

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Peel a persimmon? I don't peel mine.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

What IS the easiest way to cook a turkey?

I have always imagined that cooking them without stuffing is a recipe for a very dry bird! And yet, some people do that. (Those who don't think to take the giblets, neck, and gravy bags out - Toss The Bird, so what do they know?!) Do those who don't do the stuffing know something I don't?

Not that the dressing amounts to any actual work. Perhaps undercooked turkey would be less likely by not stuffing the bird.

Surely, some folks dismember the turkey. We have a NuWave oven and that should be able to handle a 5 pound chicken. I'd be willing to cut up the turkey first if it meant less carving, and carving mistakes with the roasted bird ... Maybe a complete deboning and going from there. Boiled? Yikes!

Steve

THIS....have done this a few times and loved it each time. Turkey Ballotine.

Steve, if you are handy with a boning knife... debone a fresh turkey then roll the meat up and tie it all up with a string, place into oven and roast. ( for instructions on how to debone a turkey... Google how to debone a turkey ( or chicken ) and/ or how to prepare a turduckhen ) . Stuffing cooked seperately. PS: If you cook the turkey in a electric roaster rather than the oven, put the turkey in,( no stuffing required ) cover the lid, check for cooking time and take it out when time is up . Result - a moist melt in your mouth bird.

Not the easiest, but by far the most tender and moist.

If wanting the easiest, a cooking bag with the turkey breast down is an easy way to get a more moist breast meat, though you won't get that crispy brown skin on the breast.

Nowadays, with the pop up thermometer in many turkeys it's pretty much a no brainer to do a turkey.

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, describe that turkey thing/roast. What's in it and how did you make it? Looks really good.

Mary