# Who Else Doesn't Like Regular Oven Cooked Turkey? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 21, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010 "2005-11-21T01:31:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/41 "2005-11-21T19:44:29Z")
Over the last 22 years, we have done turkey in the field\* about every way you can do it. Deep-fried was great, rotisseried was good, injected, rubbed, wrapped and buried is the best. Every year our Thanksgiving cook tries to come up with something a little different. So far, his worst effort was still good. \*Ever since 1982, we have been camping in the desert for Thanksgiving. Not roughing it by any means. Between the campstoves and the Peak 1’s, I have more burners in the field than I do at home! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/42 "2005-11-21T20:11:15Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > - A turkey so dry that it was literally hard to eat without chugging down water with every bite. The skin was pale and rubbery. Throughout the meal, ex-FiL bragged about how he paid 8 cents a pound for it. > - Sweet potatoes out of a can, with multicolored mini marshmallows on top > - Instant mashed potatoes > - Gravy out of a can > - Green beans, out of a can > - A bottle of red wine that had been opened a year or so before, corked, and stuck in their basement fridge. > > One of the best parts about the divorce was that I never had to go to his father’s house for holidays again. **Athena** , if I didn’t know better, I’d think I was married to your ex. 😃 My husband’s mother was the worst cook. She insisted turkey was ‘supposed’ to be dry, that was the way it ended up after cooking for hours on end. Everything else was from a can or instant. She’d even buy the store brand canned veggies and gravy - blecch. Nasty stuff, that generic gravy. I’m a convert to brining, and know that turkey (and all poultry for that matter) doesn’t have to be tough and dry and tasteless. You cook it _just_ till it’s done, and it’s nice and juicy. Add some aromatics and you have a nice tasty bird. Use the drippings for gravy - there is a knack to it, but it’s not hard once you learn. Make your own mashed potatoes - it’s really not that hard. I use canned cranberries (whole berries), but add orange marmelade and walnuts to make a cranberry side dish that’s really good. Thanksgiving dinner is a lot of work, but it’s not really that hard. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/43 "2005-11-21T20:19:18Z")
Turkey is _amazing_, in all forms. It’s definitely one of the more difficult meats to cook up perfectly, though (_silently giving thanks to my mother_). Deep fried turkey is particularly delicious, though I agree with **Missy2U** that the leftovers taste best when it is done the “normal” way in the over. Turkey all weekend is one of the many things that makes Thanksgiving my favorite holiday-time of the year. As for lamb, Easter (Greek/Orthodox) has always been a lamb holiday in my family for as long as I can remember… enough so that I’ve cooked up a big lamb feast the last couple years here at school and invited some of my closer (non-Greek) friends over to share in the goodness. Easter without lamb (my first few years of college when I just had nowhere to cook it) just wasn’t right at all. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/44 "2005-11-21T22:30:32Z")
If you can do without the nicely browned and good-to-look at skin, you could try what we do to avoid the dryness problem. That is to cook the bird breast down! That way, the juices & fat continually soak the breat. It makes for a much moister turkey. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/45 "2005-11-22T16:36:58Z")
Turkey is OK - esp well made. My brother the professional cook makes an excelent one (I think the secret is to put butter pats under the skin). The main reason for turkey tho is to make the gravy to put on the mashed potatoes and stuffing… (by the way, thats what one uses the giblets for) In fact, no gravy is the main problem with deep frying. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/46 "2005-11-25T03:37:52Z")
I just gave turkey the good old college try again a few hours ago. It wasn’t dry although it was mangled by the time I got some. It was utterly pointless. Don’t think I am a picky eater because I am not in the least. We also had roasted chestnuts. This non-relative as there and I walked up just as he was trying one for the first time. I said “Chestnuts?”. He said, “Yeah, but this one is bad”. I replied, “No its not. That’s just their texture and the way that they are supposed to taste.”. He said “No shit?” I said “No shit”. I think some of this stuff started as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/47 "2005-11-25T04:23:30Z")
I had some of the best classically roasted turkey, today. It was some of the juiciest most tender turkey I have ever had. The secret? Well, I had Thanksgiving dinner at the clubhouse here at the trailer park and it was family style. A core group of volunteers prepared the meal and the Turkey was simply oven roasted per directions but then carved and kept in an electric chafer with the drippings and copious amounts of Chicken Broth. Sounds institutional and soupy, no? But I swear the turkey was so tender, juicy, and delicious it was worth the apparent sacrilege. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/48 "2005-11-25T04:29:04Z")
I’ve had turky every conceivable way. I’m going to have to jump on the boring bandwagon. I sort of feel obligated to eat it because my grandmother goes to a lot of trouble to cook one on thanksgiving and christmas but for me turkey is nothing more than a vehicle for gravy. Chicken is where it’s at. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/49 "2005-11-25T07:06:33Z")
Ha! Just did my first fried turkey this Thanksgiving and like some other posters have mentioned…I’ll never go back to roasting a turkey. My turkey was juicey and moist on the inside and cripsy on the outside, the best turkey EVER!!! And this was the first time I had no leftovers!!! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/50 "2005-11-25T07:13:33Z")
One of my least favorite meats. Among winged critters I prefer both chicken and duck. My son loves turkey so I do a small thing (leg, rolled breast) once in a while but use sauces or gravy to give the thing some taste. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/51 "2005-11-25T07:15:21Z")
I should add that lobster strikes me the same way - very expensive yet less expensive brethren are far tastier. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/52 "2005-11-27T04:23:13Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > If you mind is set like two week old concrete, I will not be able to change it. But if you think that just maybe there might be a way to good a turkey that is not dry and has flavor may I suggest You consult the other [perfect master](http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_8389,00.html) > The only change I make is instead of the oven I cook the bird on a [Weber charcoal grill](http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2005/charcoal/cg_ot_s225.aspx) . > Year before last I did 2 20 pounders on two webers for 35 people at my sisters house. Most of these people said they were not wild about turkey. None of them had ever heard of doing a turkey on a charcoal grill. All of them now think I am a cooking god. 😃 > Trust me, do a turkey on a Weber and you will never put one in the oven again. Rick, we are on the same page. I’ve been cooking turkey on our Weber charcoal grill for about 25 years and the results have always been outstanding. It’s so easy. Bank coals on both sides with a drip pan in the middle, place turkey on top rack, add additional charcoal every hour. I stuff mine and allow 13 minutes per pound. The meat is always moist with a slight smoked flavor. Outside weather conditions don’t seem to make much difference. Have done this in knee deep snow in Wisconsin with the same results. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010/53 "2005-11-27T06:09:27Z")
> [@flickster](#): > > Rick, we are on the same page. I’ve been cooking turkey on our Weber charcoal grill for about 25 years and the results have always been outstanding. It’s so easy. Bank coals on both sides with a drip pan in the middle, place turkey on top rack, add additional charcoal every hour. I stuff mine and allow 13 minutes per pound. The meat is always moist with a slight smoked flavor. Outside weather conditions don’t seem to make much difference. Have done this in knee deep snow in Wisconsin with the same results. 😃 Check the link to Alton Brown’s recipe, and brine you next one for 12 hours first. Out of the world. Oh one more tip, take the turkey out of the fridge an hour before putting on the grill. While the bird is warming up, place a zip lock bag of ice on the breast. The breast will start colder, and will end up cooked at the same time as the legs. Neat idea huh? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-else-doesnt-like-regular-oven-cooked-turkey/332010.md?page=2)