Do you discard the skin? I’ve heard of using a bag, but cant imagine how you can get crispy skin that way. (The crispy skin being most people’s favorite part at my Thanksgiving dinner.)
I left the skin on when cooking it. It does actually brown up a little, but skin isn’t a big thing at my feast. I pull it off before carving it. The turkey gets carved and then goes in the “buffet line”. I don’t have a full cooked turkey on display. You can also remove it from the bag, put it in a pan and put it under the broiler for a while to crisp it up. Two 8+ lb breasts took under 3 hours to cook.
My 14 pound stuffed turkey took about 2.5 hours in the oven, using the convection fan. (Convection is awesome for roasting, and makes every roast cook better, as best as i can tell.) I’m not really looking for “faster”.
I probably cook a turkey less than most people. The USDA recommends 165F for safe turkey. But the USDA also says that turkey is safe of you heat it to 150F and hold it at that temp for a little over 4 minutes. I like to rest my roasts. I pulled this year’s turkey when the breast was 150F and the stuffing was 165F. (The stuffing starts hot, and the breast cold, so the stuffing always heats a bit faster.) I let it rest an hour, at which point the stuffing was still 165F and the breast temp had risen to 160F. The skin was dark, the pan dripping produced a flavorful dark gravy, and the meat was juicy, not dry and crumbly. I know some people prefer well-done poultry, but i like it a lot more when it’s less cooked.
I’ve been cooking the family turkey for about 20 years now. Every so often I like to mix things up and try something new. This year I spatchcocked one turkey and cooked in the oven. I really do like that method because the flat bird helps keep the seasoning in place.
I completely split apart a second turkey and cooked it on the smoker. The advantage there is that I could pull the breast when it was ready and let the dark meat continue cooking. I actually let the thighs and legs on the smoker go all the way up to 205 to see if it would melt the collagen and make the meat more succulent. It was a moderate success so something I’ll try again!
The best part about cutting up the turkey the day before is that I have plenty of time to make turkey stock. On the flip side, my older parents prefer the traditional large turkey presented on the table the way it was in the past. I understand the showmanship, but I get better turkey with these other methods.
Every year my Mom comes over and can’t believe I haven’t put the turkey in the oven yet. And every year, the turkey is done on time and she can’t believe it cooked that fast. She remembers when she was a little girl and her Mom would start the turkey at 6 AM, cook it for hours while basting every 30 minutes or so. She did stuff it, and I assume cooked it at a very low temperature. Mom says the turkey was always moist and delicious. I don’t doubt it, but it just cracks me up that we have the same “argument” every year about how long it takes to cook.
What was with that!? My mom did the same thing. Were they cooking it at a really low heat?
Well, they probably started doing things like making the stuffing at 6am, and they probably served “Thanksgiving dinner” at noon.
One advantage to serving dinner in the evening is that no one needs to get early to prep the meal.