Turkey tips
 

I always cook the turkey and it always turn out good. I was just wondering how everyone else cooks it? I've heard about cooking it in a paper bag:confused:, I've heard about "tenting" some foil over the bird. I pretty much cover mine with melted butter then sprinkle my seasoning over it. Sometimes I'll inject it, but usually not. I bake it covered with foil then at the end I remove the foil and baste it again with the butter to make a nice golden drown bird.

What are your secrets? Do you fry it in peanut oil, smoke it, what?

I just did it yesterday, so it's still fresh in my mind! I put mine in a covered roaster topped with melted margarine, salt and pepper, 21 minutes per pound (stuffed loosely) at 325*. (Everyone's oven is different, so watch it closely the last half hour.) It browns beautifully with the cover on and stays moist. I'll send you some left-overs to try! lol

Sounds good. I'll have enough leftovers.

My secret is not diet friendly:
Take your favorite collection of fresh herbs and soft butter mix together and stuff under the skin of both breasts just above the legs and in the rear of the bird. Stuff bird loosely, take one package of bacon and cover the whole bird with it the bacon will baste it for you. Do not add a cover to the bird and you should still baste it a couple times pros:Great crispy bacon layer and flavor when you carve it. Cons: Bacon Fat! You also loose the crispy skin as the bacon adheres to the skin so if you love crispy skin this is not for you. My hubbys favorite part is picking off the bacon.:)
Happy Thanksgiving form across the boarder.

I've only done it once, but in my family, we tent the bird with foil - I suppose it's the poor man's way of covering it? It does work to keep the skin from getting tough and rubbery, though.. We do it at 325*, 20-21 minutes per lb. (much like quinn!).

My mother had me open the oven 2-3 times for basting the turkey, and we rubbed salt, pepper, and some fresh herbs and butter over the skin at the start. Normally, we don't stuff the bird and make stovetop stuffing, since most of my family doesn't like the moist stuffing that comes from the bird.

My grandmother likes to make roasted veggies along with the turkey - even if they're not eaten at thanksgiving, they go great in leftover stews!

Brine is great!
 

I brined mine for the first time last year - it was great - the most challenging part is finding a spot in the fridge for the pot. It gets very moist and you are not adding a lot of fat. You don't eat most of the salt you see below

Works best with small turkey, as biggest challenge is finding right container and fridge space!

1 gallon vegetable broth (I used one box (half gallon) of veggie stock)

•1 cup sea salt (used kosher salt)

•1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary

•1 tablespoon dried sage (Used Bell’s Seasoning)

•1 tablespoon dried thyme (Used Bell’s Seasoning)

•1 tablespoon dried savory (Used Bell’s Seasoning)

•1 gallon ice water

Directions

1. In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable broth, sea salt, rosemary, sage, thyme, and savory.
Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to be sure salt is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.

2. When the broth mixture is cool, pour it into a clean 5 gallon bucket or stockpot. Stir in the ice water

3. Wash and dry your turkey. Make sure you have removed the innards. Place the turkey, breast down, into the brine. Make sure that the cavity gets filled – you can add more water if needed
to cover the beast. Place the bucket in the refrigerator overnight.

4. Remove the turkey carefully draining off the excess brine and pat dry. Discard excess brine.

5. Cook the turkey as desired reserving the drippings for gravy. Keep in mind that brined turkeys cook 20 to 30 minutes faster so watch the temperature gauge.

We stuff ours with homemade stuffing (loosely) then put in a roaster and sprinkle with paprika. If the lid fits on we use it, if not I cover with foil. Cook on about 325* for @12hrs or so. If I want it done for 12-1pm dinner I put it in the oven the night before on 250* or however low the oven goes until morning then turn it up some. The last hour or so I take off the lid so that it browns.

Boy I'm the oddball here. I don't cook mine in the oven, we roast ours on an open rotisserie, stuffed, packed very full, not loosely, then stitched up and trussed in kitchen string. The stuffing is made from diced bread ends, celery, giblets, butter, turkey stock, craisins, onion, salt & pepper, tons of sage and some corn bread crumbs. With the rotisserie you have to take the temp of the bird, because each one cooks differently, smaller birds cook faster (usually I try and get one about 12 pounds, which takes 3.5-4 hours). BTW my family loves the moist stuffing, so if it's not made in the bird I have to throw it in a cooking bag to get that same texture. The bird doesn't need any basting to brown beautifully, the heat element in the rotisserie does a beautiful job of it.

YUM, that sounds wonderful!
We've never done the full rotisserie, but we have bbq's the bird using indirect heat and it was fabulous. I think that it was brined because the heat in a charcoal bbq is tough to control. The brining helps maintain the juicyness of the meat.