Great idea -- a turkey plus a breast!

I have a double oven but I usually use one of them for dressing. I'm going to see if I can fit two pans side by side.

Anonymous wrote:I'd do 2 smaller birds. This is what Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray suggest as well (and they know their stuff, right?). Carve one up prior and have one nice pretty intact one on the table at the same time.

PS, if this were me, I'd make the one I'm pre-carving up a breast only turkey, for pure convenience, unless I knew I was going to be doing something with the carcass in the next couple of days.

I'd do 2 smaller birds. This is what Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray suggest as well (and they know their stuff, right?). Carve one up prior and have one nice pretty intact one on the table at the same time.

Anonymous wrote:I usually do a pretty small one, 12 or 13 lbs. But isn't the rule 2.5 lbs per person? That's a 25 lb bird ...

How many ovens do you have? How big a pan do you have? I once got the mega bird and had 1 oven. It didn't fit in my roasting pan so I got a foil pan and put foil over it. I did have room on a bottom shelf for cookie sheets or pie pan flat but that was it.

Do you have fridge space for the big one or would things fit better if you got a small whole and a breast?

You could do a 15 or 16 pounder. I'd do 22+ because I like lots of leftovers for pot pie and sandwiches.

If you're doing a big one, start if off breast side down, and flip it over halfway through. Use a roasting rack if you've got one. (If you don't flip it, you'll dry out the breast in the time it takes to cook one that size.)

The food section of the Washington Post or it may have been Parade had an article with a chef discussing this issue. He likes to do several smaller birds instead of one large one so the turkey is less likely to dry out.

what else are you serving?

the general rule is 1 lb. of turkey per person for the average adult with a normal appetite. If you have many children or people with large appetites, adjust this number

I do 1.5 lb per person as I don't want to ever run out and want some leftovers.

I usually do a pretty small one, 12 or 13 lbs. But isn't the rule 2.5 lbs per person? That's a 25 lb bird ...