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?

I don’t know why people are so intimidated by the thought of cooking a turkey. You don’t need a recipe; just follow the instructions that come with the turkey or look online. The only ‘hard’ parts of the process are defrosting and getting the cook time right. I agree with the others who suggest either buying separate breasts and legs (first choice) or breaking down the turkey. Unless you are a serious early bird and like living on the edge, I’d cook everything the night before. That’s fine for a work party.

1. Use turkey bags and follow the instructions that come with it. The best turkey I made was just a lot of salt and pepper on the outside and a cut up onion and a sprig of sage thrown in the bag. They cook faster in turkey bags.

Check if you can fit two at once in your oven.

Think through how you're going to transport them and if there's an oven in the office they can reheat them or if you should try to keep them as hot as possible in the car.

My grandmother made 2 turkeys the night before, carved them, and then reheated the meat in disposable pans covered in foil. She poured chicken broth from a box over the meat first and it turned out great.

If you have the fridge space, I would thaw it out and then plan on salting the bird for 2 days in your fridge. It sounds nuts, but it's the ONLY way I roast turkeys and I host Thanksgiving for 20+ every year. Once the bird is thawed, pat it dry with paper towels, and then salt THE HELL out of it. I'm talking half a cup or more of KOSHER SALT (like morton), and just pat it all over, inside, under the bird. Leave nothing untouched. Then, just set it in the fridge for 1-2 days, uncovered. The salt works magic over that period of time and you don't have to worry about the wet brine (which I've also tried and can assure you is more work, more mess and less flavor than the simple salt). I think the people who suggest cutting the bird and then cooking is the way to go, not only to ensure proper cooking but for ease of serving later. If you do that then salt it after cutting it up, but still let the pieces sit in the fridge uncovered for as long as you can.

Use a roasting bag. No basting needed and cooks faster...

Do you have double ovens? I second breaking them down.

I would strongly urge you to break the turkey down into four parts (remove the backbone, split at breast, remove the leg/thigh). Then you can roast these pieces for the two turkeys in two roasting pans and do so in about 3-3.5 hours: 1 hour to temper the meat (take it out of fridge) and then around 2 hours to cook. It's much easier to get the breasts to 160 degrees without overcooking. I also would urge you to dry brine for a few days, if you have the refrigerator space (you'll need two roasting pans to handle two turkeys and have the pieces open to the air so it goes through the process. I only do turkeys this way now, not for the convenience but because the tenderness and flavor is off the charts, consistently. In your case, the "resting" time after cooking will be the transit time

Anonymous wrote:They aren’t different than chicken. Get one with the pop up timer. I like to brine them - that would mean defrosting them sooner than your schedule. It does make them fool proof.

They are totally different than chicken. The huge breast of a turkey makes it much more difficult to cook evenly.

They aren’t different than chicken. Get one with the pop up timer. I like to brine them - that would mean defrosting them sooner than your schedule. It does make them fool proof.

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.

Tante Marie to the rescue!

https://youtu.be/foA0MGUbYH0

Go to the Butterball website and follow the instructions for roasting.

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.

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

Help needed! My husband is the resident turkey roaster but signed us up to provide two roasted turkeys for his office Friendsgiving next week, then got pinged for a work trip, leaving the prep to me.

I’ve made turkey breast before, and have roasted loads of chickens, but I’ve never done the big bird myself. TBH, i’ve always been a little intimidated, and now that it’s barely on my plate to manage I am starting to sweat a little! I would love some tips on a very simple recipe and prep to follow (will be managing toddlers and school drop off while cooking) and also advice on timing of when to get the turkeys into the ovens (I have a double so can roast at same time) if I need them by a certain time.

The turkeys are 18 pounds each. I plan on moving them to the fridge to thaw 3-4 days in advance. I need to leave the house with the fully cooked turkeys by 11:30AM for drop off at the office. What time do I get them into the ovens? Do I cook them the same as I would a chicken? Liberal salt and pepper plus melted butter or olive oil and herbs stuffed inside? Or does it need to be treated differently? Help!

Thanks in advance!