Simple roasted turkey for first timer

[Anonymous]

I would Google Ina Garten roast turkey. She has an easy recipe that always works for me.
Key to her recipe and success here is a not-too-big turkey. Get one (or 2, in your case) thats 10-12 lbs, no more. Anything larger just can’t cook evenly.

[Anonymous]

Just make sure it's totally thawed before you start. That's the error a lot of first timers make. It takes days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the fridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just make sure it's totally thawed before you start. That's the error a lot of first timers make. It takes days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the fridge.

If your turkey is still partially frozen when you need to cook it, take it out of the plastic, stick it in a big bowl in the sink , and run hot water over it for 15-20 minutes. Thesalt the heck out of it to make up for washing away the brine most turkeys have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just make sure it's totally thawed before you start. That's the error a lot of first timers make. It takes days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the fridge.

If your turkey is still partially frozen when you need to cook it, take it out of the plastic, stick it in a big bowl in the sink , and run hot water over it for 15-20 minutes. Thesalt the heck out of it to make up for washing away the brine most turkeys have.

Although this should be avoided if possible because it keeps the bird in the prime bacteria growth zone longer than is ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just make sure it's totally thawed before you start. That's the error a lot of first timers make. It takes days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the fridge.

If your turkey is still partially frozen when you need to cook it, take it out of the plastic, stick it in a big bowl in the sink , and run hot water over it for 15-20 minutes. Thesalt the heck out of it to make up for washing away the brine most turkeys have.

Although this should be avoided if possible because it keeps the bird in the prime bacteria growth zone longer than is ideal.

To be clear a sink thaw should use cold water, not hot and you should change the water regularly to keep it cold. Sink thawing with hot water is a bacteria growth dream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just make sure it's totally thawed before you start. That's the error a lot of first timers make. It takes days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the fridge.

If your turkey is still partially frozen when you need to cook it, take it out of the plastic, stick it in a big bowl in the sink , and run hot water over it for 15-20 minutes. Thesalt the heck out of it to make up for washing away the brine most turkeys have.

Although this should be avoided if possible because it keeps the bird in the prime bacteria growth zone longer than is ideal.

It's not ideal but gets the bird unfrozen and actually cooking faster than throwing a frozen bird in the oven, so I think it's not so bad especially 15-20 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just make sure it's totally thawed before you start. That's the error a lot of first timers make. It takes days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the fridge.

If your turkey is still partially frozen when you need to cook it, take it out of the plastic, stick it in a big bowl in the sink , and run hot water over it for 15-20 minutes. Thesalt the heck out of it to make up for washing away the brine most turkeys have.

Although this should be avoided if possible because it keeps the bird in the prime bacteria growth zone longer than is ideal.

It's not ideal but gets the bird unfrozen and actually cooking faster than throwing a frozen bird in the oven, so I think it's not so bad especially 15-20 minutes.

15-20 won't be enough to thaw the center of the bird.

This discussion right here is why so many people get poisoned by Thanksgiving turkeys. I say this as someone who did my food safety certs when I worked in catering in college.

[Anonymous]

I'd spatchcock the birds and get as much prepped the night before. Cooking time on the morning of delivery will be much faster than doing it the traditional way.

https://www.seriouseats.com/butterfiled-roast-turkey-with-gravy-recipe

https://www.foodnetwork.com/fnk/recipes/spatchcockd-roast-turkey-7937246

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/543-roast-spatchcock-turkey

[Anonymous]

I agree that turkey bags are great.

However, I do turkeys the way my mother does and my family and friends love it. Get cheesecloth and make an X with two strips 3x the length of turkey. Put the turkey breast down on the X. Pat with salt and pepper to taste. Fold the four "flaps" back over the back of the bird. Put the bird on the roasting rack, breast up. Make a mixture of melted butter and chicken broth (I use 1 bar of butter and 16-24 oz of chicken broth per bird). Baste the bird with some of the broth mixture. Cook based on time and every 30 min baste with more of the broth mixture. Halfway through, flip the bird breast down. Continue basting every 30 min; when you run out of broth in the bowl, get the drippings in the pan.

It sounds like work, but it isn't that much work. It's like 2-3 min to start by wrapping the cheesecloth on the bird and melting the butter. Then about 10-15 seconds every 30 min.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just make sure it's totally thawed before you start. That's the error a lot of first timers make. It takes days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the fridge.

Or you could buy a fresh or previously defrosted bird. Of course, it will cost three times as much, but sometimes it’s worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’ve roasted plenty of chickens, you’re fine. This is just a big roast chicken.

Make sure it’s thawed, dry brine if you want to be fancy, or just stuff the cavity with an onion and a lemon, rub liberally inside and outside with butter, salt and pepper, and stick that dumbass in the oven.

11:30 drop-off at the office means you’d better roast and carve the night before. I mean, really. Do you want to me messing with turkeys at 5 a.m.?

Go get the freaking Wegmans turkey breast in a bag. Get two of those, and some legs. Roast it all before, carve it, transport it the next day and get over it. Or go to Honeybaked and get two roast turkeys. Your husband can go to hell if he doesn’t think that’s good enough.

Regarding the bolded, that animal sacrificed its life for the nutrition and benefit of humans. Have some respect!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to the Butterball website and follow the instructions for roasting.

+1 It really is very simple, OP. Don't get too worked up about it. Read the directions and you'll be fine. We're rootin' for you!

[Anonymous]

Cut them up. It makes so much more sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’ve roasted plenty of chickens, you’re fine. This is just a big roast chicken.

Make sure it’s thawed, dry brine if you want to be fancy, or just stuff the cavity with an onion and a lemon, rub liberally inside and outside with butter, salt and pepper, and stick that dumbass in the oven.

11:30 drop-off at the office means you’d better roast and carve the night before. I mean, really. Do you want to me messing with turkeys at 5 a.m.?

Go get the freaking Wegmans turkey breast in a bag. Get two of those, and some legs. Roast it all before, carve it, transport it the next day and get over it. Or go to Honeybaked and get two roast turkeys. Your husband can go to hell if he doesn’t think that’s good enough.

Regarding the bolded, that animal sacrificed its life for the nutrition and benefit of humans. Have some respect!

Your mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t know what you’re doing please pass the baton to someone else.

Can’t. Nobody else signed up and his boss asked him to do it as a favor. We are locked in. If you have recipe or timing help that I am seeking, let me know! Thanks.

The boss asked your DH to prepare the turkeys as a favor but then presumably was the one to send/sign off on him being away on a work trip on that day, knowing the work would then fall on his spouse? Solo parenting multiple kids when your spouse is away is already hard enough, why on earth would you take on also being responsible for providing multiple turkeys for your husbands’s work colleagues during that same timeframe. If they had any decency they would tell you to please come enjoy the food and not to worry about bringing a thing. Stop letting yourself be taken advantage of. How many men do you think would happily prepare multiple time intensive dishes for their wive’s work function while juggling childcare/household requirements while she was away on travel?

+1. Your husband sucks. My husband would never dream of pulling this crap on me, but if he tried it, I would laugh in his face. For days.