Turkey Time - How you rollin'?!

Screenshotting as many recipes as I can from here. We're hosting for the first time, probably having a 20-25# er as well be having 16 people or so.

Never cooked a whole turkey before, but from what I gather I gotta slow defrost it over a few days, brine it at least 24 hours, and cook it at 20 min per pound (so 6.5 hours or so??)

Seriously, and pro tips and suggestions from anyone please pm me! :oops:
 
This thread makes me so jealous as I end up having dinner with the very old part of the family on Thanksgiving. I love my family, but I'd love to have fun with dinner (deep fry a turkey or make any of the sides that are mentioned here).
 
I'm smoking a whole turkey on my Yoder, and my brother is smoking one his Traeger. May the best man win. Who the hell does not like dark meat? What is wrong with you?

I have 10 people coming and none of us like dark meat. I can't wait to see the pics from your brother vs brother smoked turkey throw down. :)
 
Screenshotting as many recipes as I can from here. We're hosting for the first time, probably having a 20-25# er as well be having 16 people or so.

Never cooked a whole turkey before, but from what I gather I gotta slow defrost it over a few days, brine it at least 24 hours, and cook it at 20 min per pound (so 6.5 hours or so??)

Seriously, and pro tips and suggestions from anyone please pm me! :oops:

Get a good meat thermometer. You really can't go by time, all birds are different. Some people will tell you 20 min/lb, others say 30, some even say 40. You really need an instant read thermometer. That's the best way to know when the turkey is done.

Cook as much as you can the night before, so all you have to do is reheat the day of. I like to get all of my casserole dishes and severing platters out the day before and I label them all with what dish is going into them so it makes it easy for me to just grab the one I need for the dish I am making. Then make sure you know what temp everything needs to be cooked at and reheated and try to plan accordingly so that you can have everything done around the same time and you can enjoy your time with your guests.
 
Get a good meat thermometer. You really can't go by time, all birds are different. Some people will tell you 20 min/lb, others say 30, some even say 40. You really need an instant read thermometer. That's the best way to know when the turkey is done.

Cook as much as you can the night before, so all you have to do is reheat the day of. I like to get all of my casserole dishes and severing platters out the day before and I label them all with what dish is going into them so it makes it easy for me to just grab the one I need for the dish I am making. Then make sure you know what temp everything needs to be cooked at and reheated and try to plan accordingly so that you can have everything done around the same time and you can enjoy your time with your guests.

Thankfully our families are helping with the majority of dudes so they'll either be done in advance and reheat at you suggested, or brought down day of.

And thanks for the suggestion on the thermometer, I'll check it Amazon right now :)
 
Screenshotting as many recipes as I can from here. We're hosting for the first time, probably having a 20-25# er as well be having 16 people or so.

Never cooked a whole turkey before, but from what I gather I gotta slow defrost it over a few days, brine it at least 24 hours, and cook it at 20 min per pound (so 6.5 hours or so??)

Seriously, and pro tips and suggestions from anyone please pm me! :oops:
On a bird that big, I’d really think about cooking it in a bag to shorten cooking time and to keep it as juicy as possible.
 
Got our bird yesterday, will need to expedite the defrost a little as it's 23 lb and will only be defrosting for 3.5 days before cooking.. maybe leave it out overnight in the garage one or a Coldwater bath Tuesday into Wednesday so can brine it Wednesday into thursday

On a bird that big, I’d really think about cooking it in a bag to shorten cooking time and to keep it as juicy as possible.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking of that too but just wasnt 100%
 
Make an aluminum foil bra to keep the turkey breast from over cooking

Or, you can put a bag of ice on the breast for about 30 minutes before you rub on the butter and seasonings.
 
Going to brine mine this year for an early thanksgiving, Kosmos brine and then dust it with meat church voodoo and put on smoker around 4-5 hours until done. I typically fry but trying something different this year, good luck everyone!
 
So I hope I didnt just pull the most rookie move ever, but as defrosting was taking too long in the fridge (I want to get it in the brine tomorrow morning, worst case 1 pm when I'm home), we've taken it out of the fridge for a couple hours at a time and soaked it in cool water.

Well I misread one recipe tonight and took it out of it's package... So I plastic wrapped the crap out of it and it's back in the fridge, but it shouldn't be an issue to go into the brine tomorrow right?

Hopefully just overthinking it

20191126_215954.jpg

Made the brine of water, kosher salt, apple cider, orange peels, garlic, peppercorn, and some bay leaves
 
I am not a food safety expert, but I think I would be getting that sucker in the brine now (assuming the brine is cooled). It will help the defrost process and allow the brine a bit more time to work. I normally brine for about 48 hours and have not had adverse reactions yet. Don't forget to pull out the neck and gravy packet (if included) out of the breast cavity and the gizzard packet out of the other end.
 
I am not a food safety expert, but I think I would be getting that sucker in the brine now (assuming the brine is cooled). It will help the defrost process and allow the brine a bit more time to work. I normally brine for about 48 hours and have not had adverse reactions yet. Don't forget to pull out the neck and gravy packet (if included) out of the breast cavity and the gizzard packet out of the other end.

I got a neck and gizzard packet out, no gravy packet it seemed but I'll double check before cooking.

I did end up putting it in the brine, but I need to touch it up tomorrow. I first did it in one of the cooking bags but it sprung a leak then then opening was leaking too, so I just put it in a giant container and plastic wrapped it and taped it shut

Have to get more brown sugar and kosher salt, and make more bring tomorrow to top it off.. hope my fridge shelf doesn't break

20191127_010247.jpg

Might go looking for a better sized container so I can minimize the brine liquid, that sucker was heavy
 
I’m going 24 hour brine then traditional oven with a baking bag. Also, the Fireball pumpkin pie is in the oven right now.
 
Back
Top