First time making a turkey--HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Looking for favorite recipes, tips, etc.

I am making a 24! lb turkey because I am hosting a pretty big group and want to have leftovers...

[Anonymous]

You bake a turkey not make one.

Google is your friend but it's like baking a big chicken.

[Anonymous]

1. Make sure it is thawed well in advance. A 24-pounder will take days to thaw out. I'd put it in the fridge on Saturday or Sunday . If it thaws too early it'll keep there for a day, but if it thaws too late you're looking at hours of extra cooking time while the family gets full of cheese and appetizers. (And make sure your fridge isn't set too cold--you can turn it a notch or two warmer and that turkey is still going to keep the rest of your food cold.)

2. Plan your oven time/space. Ideally, you have two ovens so you can do sides and pies in one while the turkey's in the other. If you don't, you really need to consider alternatives like warming sides in the toaster/convection oven (or, God forbid, the microwave), or possibly doing the turkey on your gas grill if you have one big enough.

3. Do as many sides, appetizers, and desserts as you can the day before. They'll keep and reheat. That way you have time, kitchen and oven space, and attention to devote to that big bird.

4. Oh, you were looking for actual turkey recipes. There's a million of them. WaPo Food section should have several in its Thanksgiving section next week. And google is your friend.
Basically, you need to decide:
a) deep fry? No. Not for beginners.
b) brine or no brine? Brining makes it more foolproof. Flavorful and very unlikely you'll dry it out. This is a matter of logistics first, then personal preference. Do you have a big enough pot, and enough fridge space, to sink your turkey in brine the night before and keep it refrigerated? If not, decision made. If you do, is this something you want to do? It's a personal preference.
c) Low (325), medium(350-375), or high (400 and above) heat? Low is the safest, in terms of not drying it out or burning it, but it's the riskiest in terms of having it done on time--you may find the family ready to feed and the bird's not done yet. High heat methods are for those who know what they're doing. I recommend one that starts at 400 for a while, then flip the bird in the middle and finish at a lower temp like 350. It sounds complicated but it's not that hard, and a pretty good balance between the risks of high heat and the risk of an overdue, underdone turkey. Sorry not to have a specific link, but google, they're out there. Or trust the WaPo. (My recipe is one from the WaPo from the mid-90s, that is no longer on the site and that I have packed in my Thanksgiving packet, on gravy-stained newsprint.)

5. If you're a first-timer, do not attempt pan-drippings gravy. Too much pressure in real time, when everyone's trying to get the food and the family to the table. Make some stock in advance from necks and/or giblets (not the gizzard, or your stock will be cloudy), and make your gravy out of that. Google a recipe for apple cider gravy, which is easy and foolproof. Easier still, there is no shame in buying pre-made gravy. (Whole Food's gravies are pretty reliable.) Remember to also get a mushroom one for the vegetarians.

6. Make sure you've got good equipment -- a heavy roasting pan, two sets of long, strong tongs for flipping, a good baster, good oven mitts (preferably silicone), and a good meat thermometer. You don't want to try to move a hot bird that large without this stuff. My baster has an injection needle that fits on the end (sort of like the needle for inflating a football) so you can actually inject basting juices, or marinade, back into the meat. It's cheating, but it makes it really good. Just make sure that you're using either hot juices from the pan, or virgin marinade that didn't have the raw bird in it. You don't want to inject marinade back into the meat if the raw bird was in it. For the meat thermometer, you want instant read, with a long enough probe to get deep into the thigh meat without burning your hand on the pan or the bird. If you want to splurge a little, you can get a thermometer that you stick in and leave in, with a wire that goes to a remote display outside the oven. That way you can watch the progress in real time without opening the oven. DO NOT rely on the "pop-up" indicator. They're notoriously unreliable.

7. Don't stuff the bird. Stuffing is easier and safer to do in pans. And the bird will cook more quickly and reliably if it's open in the middle. Just throw a few aromatics in there--chunks of onion and carrots, and/or sprigs of herbs, and/or chunks of lemon or orange if you like. Putting the stuffing in there risks undercooked stuffing, undercooked turkey, and a real mess in handling it. It also can make the cooking time unpredictable.

Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

I forgot, also make sure you have a carving board big enough for that bird (the kind with grooves to catch the juices), and a good, sharp carving knife. I actually prefer to use my chef's knife. Electric carving knives are oh-so-60s, but also oh-so-easy to avoid shredding the meat.

Martha Stewart has a good primer for how to carve if you've never done it before. (Rather than trying to slice even slices of breast meat off the top of the bird, you start by cutting down the middle of the breastbone and along the bottom of each side, removing each breast whole from the carcass. Then you just slice the now-boneless breasts into even slices, and arrange on the platter.)

[Anonymous]

24 pounds is a really big turkey. Hard to handle. Can you do two 12-14 pounders?

[Anonymous]

Also forgot -- heavy roasting pan with a roasting rack. Makes it much easier to keep it in one place, right side up, out of the drippings.

If you don't have a rack, you can arrange stalks of celery, peeled whole carrots, and large-cut onions in the bottom of the pan, and rest the turkey on top of those vegetables to keep it off the bottom of the pan and out of the drippings. But that's an imperfect solution. Those vegetables will soften with cooking so the bird's still going to end up a little bit in the mush, especially one as big and heavy as your 24-pounder. (If you do follow this method, don't let those vegetables go to waste afterward--make sure they go into the turkey stock or pot pie you're going to make with the carcass.)

[Anonymous]

Make sure that (a) your roasting pan is big enough for your turkey, and (b) your oven is big enough for your roasting pan. Don't get caught like we did our first year in our house, when the bird and the pan wouldn't fit in the little 50's-size oven.

[Anonymous]

I make some of the sides the day before, store in the fridge in crock pot inserts. Pop the inserts in the crock pots a couple of hours before mealtime and set on low. Stir some melted butter and heated cream into the mashed potatoes, some broth into the stuffing, etc.

Yum!

[Anonymous]

24 lbs is too big for 1st time. So, that wou l d be the first advice. The next advice is to keep it simple. Make one carb dish, one veggie dish and one sweet dish. For example: stuffing, salad snd cranberry sauce.

[Anonymous]

Plan to cover the cooked bird with foil for at least 20 minutes before carving to let the juices reabsorb into the meat- more than 20 min is better for a giant like you're planning. If you carve immediately, it'll be dry.

[Anonymous]

^^^
Yes yes yes. That 20-30 minutes is also your time for re-heating sides, herding family to the table, opening more wine, etc.
When you're advanced, it will be your time for making gravy. But not for now. You did that in advance, or you bought it at the store. You can just heat it and serve it now.

[Anonymous]

OP--please consider buying a meal from Whole Foods. They will give you the uncooked turkey, all prepped in the roasting pan with clear directions. You just cook it. You then get to pick a bunch of sides. We did this a few years ago when I was about 58 weeks pregnant and hosting way too many people. We supplemented with a couple of our family favorite sides. The best part was that the kitchen was a relatively stress-free place. Worth every penny. We don't typically shop there, but for this I highly recommend it.

http://shop.wholefoodsmarket.com/store/Thanksgiving-Dinner/Traditional-Dinner-for-12-to-16-P10195C1981.aspx

[Anonymous]

MIL has a big crowd. She takes her time making the tables several days in advance, minus glassware, and covers everything with clean sheets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You bake a turkey not make one.

Google is your friend but it's like baking a big chicken.

thanks for the grammar lesson. That is really helpful.

[Anonymous]

OP--please consider buying a meal from Whole Foods. They will give you the uncooked turkey, all prepped in the roasting pan with clear directions. You just cook it. You then get to pick a bunch of sides. We did this a few years ago when I was about 58 weeks pregnant and hosting way too many people. We supplemented with a couple of our family favorite sides. The best part was that the kitchen was a relatively stress-free place. Worth every penny. We don't typically shop there, but for this I highly recommend it.

http://shop.wholefoodsmarket.com/store/Thanksgivin...-for-12-to-16-P10195C1981.aspx

This made me chuckle. Sounds like a good solution.