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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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?
