Let's talk turkey

L Sass

L Sass

Cathlete
Ok - the big turkey day is only a week away. For those of you who cook and / or eat turkey at Thanksgiving, any favorite recipes or tips?

We are so unhealthy it's not even funny. We brine our bird, and yes, we do stuff it. But then we take a bottle of white wine and add it to 3 sticks of melted butter. We soak a cheese cloth in that concoction and place the cheese cloth over the top of the bird. The balance of the wine butter mix is the basting sauce during cooking. This also makes an unbelievable gravy. Told you it wasn't healthy. What are your secrets (if you'll share?)

Lorrie

Pain is temporary - quitting lasts forever
Candace Grasso, CC-V-6
 
Lorrie,
So once the turkey goes in the oven with the cheese cloth on top, do you not have to baste the turkey again? Or does the cheese cloth eventually dry out and needs to be resoaked? My final question is does the cheese cloth in any way impede browning. I own lots of cookbooks, watch foodnetwork alot and yet have never heard of this. I feel like I have been living under a rock:D I think I will give this cheese cloth recipe a try, it sounds like it will produce some spectacular results!
BooBoo39
 
Can't vouch for how good this is, but I did a search for a Rachael Ray turkey recipe 'cause I knew it had to be easy, and we all know easy is GOOD! Here it is:

Turkey: So easy it needs no recipe!
Buy two small turkeys. The cooking time is on the package. I stuff them with fresh herbs like bay leaf and thyme, and large pieces of celery, carrots and onions. I baste the turkeys with melted butter that has fresh bay leaf in it. I season them with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.

For gravy, I stir flour and butter in a pan and whisk in a combination of store-bought turkey broth and some broth from the turkeys, fat skimmed off. After I remove the broth, I place the roasting pan on the stove burner and lift up the drippings by stirring in white wine, brandy or even apple cider. I add the liquid to my gravy along with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.

Done!
 
Hi BooBoo39. We baste every 30 minutes. We remove the cheese cloth for the last hour and it gets brown and beautiful! Let me know how it works for you if you decide to try it. Happy eating!

Lorrie

Pain is temporary - quitting lasts forever
Candace Grasso, CC-V-6
 
Well I can't take credit for this recipe. This is how
my mom makes the turkey and I LOVE it. It comes out so nice
and juicy.

She soaks the turkey in salted water over night with few cloves
of garlic. Then she puts butter all over the turkey and some more salt :)

The stuffing is made form cooked rice, raw ground beef and sauted onions with seasonings. (my favorite part)

She stuffes the turkey with the above stuffing and covers the whole turkey with foil and puts it in a big pan. Then she pours some water around the foil and bakes it for (depends on weight) 2-4 hours.

Yummie.

Kathy
 
We don't host T-day's right now...our house is way too small for the company. When we move (w/in a year we hope!), we are going to buy a deep fryer. DH and I are dyin' to try deep-frying a turkey! It's unhealthy as heck but it's supposed to be sooooo good!:9 I throw my "diet" out the window on holidays anyway so it won't bother me too much. ;)
 
We have a large crowd over for Thanksgiving, so we usually have two turkeys - one deep fried and one traditional. This year we are going to attempt two deep fried turkeys. It will be quit the male bonding experience, I'm sure. All the guys will hang outside with the turkeys. One deep fried turkey is easy. I hope two isn't going to be one too many to keep an eye on.

Shelbygirl
 
We brine also, but we roast it upside down for the first 1.5 hours, then flip it over. In that way the juices flow down into the breast and keep them oh so juicey, and the bird doesn't get too dark.
 
Huh, I just started having turkey day at my house a couple years back. I tend to lean on my dad on how to prepare it. Last year we added some white wine, lots of butter and seasonings. I have to say I could NOT live without my pampered chef digital thermometer that I keep in the bird the entire time. It's a miracle worker! My turkey is always moist and tender. I cook it at a very low temp, like 250 and let it cook all day long pretty much. I keep it covered with tin foil until that last half hour or hour, then I take that off, just to brown it.

Kathy
 
Ok. I am bad. I order a smoked turkey and then I just have to heat it up and keep it moist while it is heating. But the smoked turkey is sooooo good. As Rachel Ray would say it is yummmm-o.
LD
 
Hello Lorrie.
Your turkey sounds great, we'll be over for dinner.
My turkey that always comes out perfect and healthy is putting it the bag, slit shake a little bit of flour so the turkey doesn't stick to the bag, and slit a few holes in it. Works out everytime very joicy with it's own gravy.
It's my upside down pumpkin pie recipe that makes up for those calories saved on the turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving!!


Jennifer in MI
 
Lorrie,
Holy Moly!!! Does that sound like a great bird!!!!!! Can I come to your house for Turkey Day???? I promise not to eat much and my 5 year daughter is a really light eater!!! You'll barely notice that we're there!


Debra

Bite off more than you can chew. Then chew it---Ella Williams
 
Sure - come on ever all! You're more than welcome - and we could all do a Cathe workout after the meal to burn off those calories! :) Hey Jennifer - I've got to ask - upside down pumpkin pie? Come on girlfriend - will you share the recipe? Sounds good!

Lorrie

Pain is temporary - quitting lasts forever
Candace Grasso, CC-V-6
 
Geez, all I know is my Mom the Health Nut makes it all very healthy and yet somehow it's always to die for. She never cooks with butter or margarine, just a little olive oil. She makes two different stuffings: one in the bird, and one outside the bird for the vegetarians in our group. She usually makes a least one entree for the vegetarians, like a tofu veggie lasagna. There are always lots of vegetables, and she tells me the only thing she adds to the whipped sweet potatoes is a little orange juice, but it tastes too good to be true. Her homemade cranberry sauce with mandarin orange pieces is fabulous. I suppose one of these fine days I really should ask for the recipes, or else, as she always tells me, they will "die with me." ;)

It's all so darn good, I stuff myself silly.
Nancy

ETA: I just remembered my Mom gets a lot of her recipes from the Moosewood Cookbook and the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, both by Molly Katzen. Gee, and she says I don't pay attention.
 
Hello Lorrie.
The recipe is from Philly Cream Cheese, I found it in TV Guide a few years back. Basically, cream cheese and whipped topping on the bottom as the base together blended with one of those premade crusts, on the top the pumpkin pie mixture with milk, no eggs, and refridg for hours. Go to the Philly website to get the exact recipe. IT is good!! A chef was even impressed with it. You'll love it.
Once I find it, I will put the exact recipe online.

Jennifer in MI
 
That sounds really good and easy Lorrie. I'm having Thanksgiving for the first time at my house. I've never made a turkey before. I think I can manage a bottle of wine and butter.

How do you know what size turkey to get? I'll have 8 adults and 5 children.

I wont even ask how to stuff one. ha ha ha!

Susan C.M.
 
Lorrie, that sounds delicious! We always brine poultry, and sometimes pork as well. I've never heard of the cheesecloth trick and I can't wait to try it sometime. It sounds fabulous!!

My FIL cooks the turkey and all the fixins. My MIL is on a sodium restricted diet so brining is out, in fact, no salt will be used in any dish. I must say, it does make for a rather bland meal but we do what we have to do.

My only contribution to the dinner is salad with a spring mix, feta cheese, walnuts, and orange segments with an orange vinaigrette, and a pumpkin pie.
 
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