How do you make your Thanksgiving turkey? (1 Viewer)

I’m doing the same thing! I have a 15 pound I’m practicing on this weekend then I’m doing a 21 pound for thanksgiving. Do you have a recipe? I’ve been reading the big egg forum and have it narrowed down to 2
Not yet. Work is pretty busy, but I've got time off tomorrow, so tomorrow's my research day and Sunday is my practice day, as well.
 
If you've never deep fried a turkey, my best advice is to make sure it is thoroughly thawed. You don't want any excess moisture when you dunk that thang.
I meant to say I was gonna make my turkey this year instead of buying one. I'm too much of a 'chicken' when it comes to deep frying it. I'd cause a catastrophic event, I'm certain. But that Popeye's ad is tempting... Old faithful.
 
I have twice gotten a butterball turkey that is frozen and ready to go in the oven, it's already in a bag and you throw it in the oven frozen. I have also done the oven bag before these marvelous birds existed. Hands down as good or better, flavorful, juicy, no mess and no getting up at midnight to start cooking. I believe it may be actually already cooked, you are basically reheating it.
 
Back in 2005, my first Thanksgiving in DFW, I found a lone Popeye's selling them for 45 dollars. Coming from New Orleans where they were 30 bucks and the restaurant heated them up and re-fried them for you... I walk in to pick it up and the guy pushes the biggest damn FROZEN bird I'd ever seen across the counter towards me. No wonder it was $45.

I pushed it back towards him and said I wanted it 'cooked'. He said they didn't have tongs big enough to lift it out of the grease and pushed it back at me.

I damned near cried as I dragged that OSTRICH body to my car. I thought it was raw. I had no idea it was pre-fried because NOLA spoiled me with hot, crispy birds whenever I picked them up.

Anyway, as I read the instructions, I almost cried tears of joy, realizing l just needed to heat it and crisp it in the oven.

Screw it. I'm getting one and keeping it for Christmas. Restaurants only get one batch to sell out here at Thanksgiving and rarely have any left over for Christmas.
 
I always break down the turkey like I do with a chicken. Roast the breast and braise the rest. Onion, carrots, celery, scallions, garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, wine water, s&p to braise for about 12-15 hours @250°
 
I buy just the breasts, too. It's a full turkey carcass with only breast meat left on it. I get 2 and use shears to cut away the empty part of the body leaving only the breast on the bone. I wet brine them both for at least 24 hours. Then I rinse and dry both and inject them with Cajun butter injection. I then rub it down with butter or olive oil and coat with seasoning. Let them sit in the fridge for 24 more hours. Take them out Thursday morning and pop them in the Big Easy oil less fryer. They come out perfect and juicy.
 
mjcouvri clearly said he's limited to an oven so let's please stay on topic. If you want to discuss how awesome you smoke, fry, sous vide, microwave your turkey, then please start a different thread. :9:

:grin::grin:
Thanks bro lol
 
Like this:


depositphotos_332396306-stock-photo-man-glasses-sitting-toilet-bowl.jpg
 
Dry turkey is essentially over cooked turkey. Best way I’ve ever found is to stuff the thing, and slide butter Under the skin. Then wrap is super tight is foil since you are using an oven and get a good meat thermometer. Sink it into the middle of it. When it gets to 145 take off the foil and let the skin brown. Pull it at 150
Or so, wrap it tight and let it sit. The temp will keep climbing easily to 165. Salmonella is killed at 155 degrees in 1.33 min. So the hold time of ten min or so above 150 degrees is more than enough to kill any and all food pathogens. It also allows the meat to not start to mess with the protein structure (forget the fancy term) and get tough. Now, one warning. You won’t want to go below 165 at the joint because your meat may still be a somewhat pink color in the thighs. While this is safe from a food safety standpoint, no one is going to eat it.
 
Dry turkey is essentially over cooked turkey. Best way I’ve ever found is to stuff the thing, and slide butter Under the skin. Then wrap is super tight is foil since you are using an oven and get a good meat thermometer. Sink it into the middle of it. When it gets to 145 take off the foil and let the skin brown. Pull it at 150
Or so, wrap it tight and let it sit. The temp will keep climbing easily to 165. Salmonella is killed at 155 degrees in 1.33 min. So the hold time of ten min or so above 150 degrees is more than enough to kill any and all food pathogens. It also allows the meat to not start to mess with the protein structure (forget the fancy term) and get tough. Now, one warning. You won’t want to go below 165 at the joint because your meat may still be a somewhat pink color in the thighs. While this is safe from a food safety standpoint, no one is going to eat it.
This is what I'm here for, thanks.
 
I buy just the breasts, too. It's a full turkey carcass with only breast meat left on it. I get 2 and use shears to cut away the empty part of the body leaving only the breast on the bone. I wet brine them both for at least 24 hours. Then I rinse and dry both and inject them with Cajun butter injection. I then rub it down with butter or olive oil and coat with seasoning. Let them sit in the fridge for 24 more hours. Take them out Thursday morning and pop them in the Big Easy oil less fryer. They come out perfect and juicy.
Pics from last year
 

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