Olive oil–not the “extra virgin” stuff–too olive-y. Just the regular cheap stuff or veggie oil.
Also, I’ve found that you’re better off cooking the spaghetti squash without the cinammon/brown sugar, scooping out the guts, mix in the cinnamon/brown sugar/oil and then letting putting it back in the oven for a little longer to melt the butter.
Let me reinforce what others have said. Find a kosher margarine to sub anywhere you would use butter. There are several available. Steer clear of Crisco, especially anywhere you want the food to taste good. In the squash a nice olive oil would be delicious!
I did this purely on accident the first year I was married. First time making dinner for the in-laws and my family together, first time making a big meal in our rental house, and I didn’t know the oven was waaaaay off. Aside from the turkey being done more than 2 hours ahead of schedule, it was a damn good bird!
And if someone is uncomfortable with doing a high temp roasting for company, preheat the oven to 450, baste the bird with oil of some sort, stick it in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and tent the breast. I’d also suggest gently using your fingers to separate the breast skin from the meat, and then stuff a bunch of softened butter under there. You can also chop up herbs and mix in with the butter before doing that. Tenting really helps with keeping things moist. In the past I’ve covered it with cheesecloth soaked in fat, but it tends to dry out and stick to the skin, which then comes off when you try to remove it.
No way to really answer this. The general answer is 15-20 minutes per pound, for an unstuffed turkey. But in reality it doesn’t work that way, because nothing scales linearly. You’ve got to go by temp.
And the horrible secret of turkey is that the breast and the thighs need to be cooked to different temperatures. Which means that when the breast is done, the thighs are undercooked, and when the thighs are done the breast is overcooked.
So I foil up the breast to protect it, and remove the foil in the last hour.
Can you melt some chocolate chips and stir in powdered sugar? ISTM that’s how I’ve made glaze in the past.
That will result in a solid glaze. I think the Boston Creme “Pie” should have a ganache topping, which is just chocolate melted with cream. As in, melt some chocolate, stir in some cream, that’s your recipe.
Roast your turkey upside-down.
Juice and fat and grease are pulled, through the magic of the Earth’s gravitational pull, down from the juicy fatty greasy dark parts into the relatively lean and dry breast.
For the last 45 min/hour in the oven, flip the bird so the breast is up. That should be enough time to give it a nice browning.
Now, MY holiday turkeys are fairly small. 11 pounds this year. If you’re roasting a 25-pounder, get help when you’re turning it over. One burly teenaged relative on either end.
Got a good recipe for red-potato mashed? Need to feed 7, and be the chunky style not the smooth style.
Parker House rolls.
Should I bake today and reheat tomorrow? Or should I shape and proof, then refrigerate and bake tomorrow?
If you don’t care as much about the traditional-roast-turkey aesthetics as about good turkey, butterfly it. It will cook more quickly and evenly, and all of the skin will get nice and crispy.
With a strong knife or poultry shears, cut along the backbone until you get to the hip, then using a sharp knife, cut the thigh meat off the hipbone as close to the bone as possible and cut through the joint. Repeat for other side and remove the entire backbone section (roast it along with the neck until it browns nicely, then cut it up and add it to your stock for the gravy). Lay the bird out as flat as possible in your pan, roast as usual but start checking for done-ness around an hour and a half before the usual time.
For tastiest results, mix a generous quantity of whatever seasoning you like in your turkey with enough vegetable oil or melted butter to make a smooth paste, loosen the skin over the breast and thighs and smear a good coating of the herb mix under there, and then a little more all over the skin surface. I make around a cup of mix and use any leftovers in the stuffing.
Just brine the turkey. That’s how I’ve done it the past years it was my turn and we hardly ever have leftovers.
This method also includes the shorter roasting time with the higher temperature and the tinfoil breast shield, so it’s all good. You have to start brining it tonight, though, so get cracking.
I wouldn’t use reds for mashed, as they’re too waxy. Go with russets or Yukon Gold.
Your choice, of course. I’m going to try to make mine tomorrow. The turkey really needs to rest for at least 30 minutes after coming out of the oven, so it should work out.
I just put them in the fridge, slightly underproofed. Yep, my plan is to bake them while the turkey rests and the gravy is making. There are about 3 days a year that I would give up cabinet space for a second oven. Tomorrow will be one of them.
My turn to ask questions (forgive me if this is a duplicate post- stupid phone had no data connection and I don’t see my original post here)
I’m making roasted acorn squash with olive oil, salt & pepper. Can I make it tonight and reheat, or better to push a relative out of the way and take over the oven for an hour tomorrow?
You could likely cook today and serve tomorrow, but you’ll have to heat it up, right? You could do a partial cook tonight, then finish it off tomorrow and take up less time with the oven.
American Thanksgiving is today?!? :eek:
D’oh! :smack: I thought it was last Thursday! (I’m outside of North America until December.)
There were a lot of Thanksgiving posts last week … weren’t there? :dubious: 
I find the recipe that Elendil’s Heir posted for Silver Palate Potatoes works fine for reds with a couple changes, and it also depends on personal taste, I like the chunky, only partially mashed style that works well for waxy potatoes. Some people hate it. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15716304&postcount=1
Use the largest reds you can find to make the skin-to-potato ratio lower. If you can’t find bigger ones, then peel some. Up to you. The actual recipe ingredients work fine with only swapping out reds for the baking potatoes. When mashing, though, you have to do it by hand with a masher, and go easy. Trying to use a blender of any kind will get you a big bowl of gummy paste. Mash gently and a little less than you think. Check with a fork frequently for whether it’s too chunky, but I find chunkier is better with these. You’ll still end up with gummy if you hand mash too much. Do just enough to crush up about 2/3 the potatoes and get the melted goodness of all the dairy incorporated. Stop.
The scarcity of help requests just proves that Dopers are smarter than most of America. Have a great day, all.
Fresh Market was out yesterday, so I went to Whole Foods. Parking SUCKED, but I was able to get in and out of the store itself in about 3 minutes.
I made everything ahead of time, except the turkey and gravy. The turkey is soaking in the brine.
Thanks all for the advice! I’ll report back on how Earth Balance did…
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!