/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>18838287
Turkey is easy, just takes a bit of patience.

I use a compound herb butter stuffed under the skin, and then I baste every 30 minutes or so for the entire 3-5 hour cook time (depends on bird weight)

I usually cover mine in aluminum foil for the first 2-4 hours and then uncover it for the final hour or so for color and skin texture.

>>18838298
Thanks sounds good and easy might try that today
Any stuffing suggestions

>>18838287
>deli turkey like from the grocery deli
like sandwich meat?

why?

>>18838302
I just use some onion, maybe some carrots. But otherwise leave the interior empty.

As for bread based stuffing, that should be done in a pan by itself, putting bread based stuffing inside the bird is just a good way to get someone sick.

>>18838310
>>18838302
>>18838298
Oh yea and use a meat thermometer instead of guessing when the bird is done.

>>18838305
>like sandwich meat?
Yeah

>why?
I'm just curious how it's done.
Looks like deli turkey meat slices cut from the deli slicer looks more healthy than a baked turkey

>>18838322
Turkey sandwich meat comes in loaves and is like... a giant unbreaded chicken nugget.

It's scrap meat that's been ground up and blended with chemical emulsifiers, water, salt, artificial and natural flavors and formed into a loaf shape.

It would actually be fairly difficult to recreate at home. You'd have to start by cooking an entire turkey and removing all of the good meat. Then you'd have to meticulously remove all of the shitty meat off the carcass; this is what you'd actually use. After purchasing and having shipped all the chemical preservatives, emulsifiers, artificial flavorings, and natural flavor concentrates, you'd have to blend everything up and pack it tightly together to cure for a while. After that you'd have a loaf of meat byproduct just like they sell at the grocery store; ready for slicing.

>>18838287
Can no longer cook roast turkey where I am. It's off season.

>>18838335
Ooh, guess I'll just bake a turkey and cut some slices from my baked turkey and put that between some bread.
Thanks I never want to buy deli slices ever again

>>18838347
You don't have a freezer full of turkeys you bought on sale to use the rest of the year? I stock up on 6-8 whole turkeys every year.

>>18838359
Shit I forgot I have thaw..guess my turkey project can be a tomorrow project

>>18838365
A 20lbs bird takes ~4 days to defrost.

>>18838371
Sitting out at ~68 degrees ?

I think 12 hrs would be fine

>>18838399
Sounds like a good way to get good poisoning.

You should only defrost in the fridge, never at room temp.

Beyond that, a 20lbs bird would still be frozen in 12 hours, even 24 hours from now sitting at room temp you'd be lucky if the center thawed out.

>>18838287
I bought a whole butterball turkey yesterday for 39c a pound.
Aldi must have had leftovers from thanksgiving or something
Im thawing it and going to smoke the whole thing in a couple days.

I fuckin' love turkey. Underrated and misunderstood bird. Wish I was two people so I could cook it for myself more often. I know it's big but that's part of the appeal. It's a tasty fowl AND there is more of it. Sure duck is good and chicken is fine. Don't come at me with your quail, pheasants or dove. Ostriches are too dumb and squab is just a dang pigeon. I'm team turkey all the way.

>>18838399
uh, don't fucking do this.

>>18838287
Ive stopped buying ground beef, and started buying ground turkey
I like it way better, especially for midwest sloppa tacos

>>18838414
Yea I paid $0.37/lbs for all of mine in the 2 or 3 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

I remember 5 or 10 years ago they were around $0.20-0.27/lbs

>>18838425
eeeeeeesh...

if you like it, you do you... i really dislike ground turkey, and not just because I can't unremember the strong ammonia smell that comes offa that shit when you cook large amounts at a time...

>>18838287
Here's one.
I did my first turkey on my own once so was like there's nothing I can't do in my first apartment in NYC.
Ok, I got turkey and proceeded to use everything from the directions that my mom gave to me then thought it was OK, but decided to have a second drink and rered the instructions.
What did I miss, the fucking bag of giblits.
Luckily it was only in a hot oven like 15 minutes before I reread and had that eurika moment of looking again and pulled them out to safety.
No harm was done and the turkey for my first time came out perfectly.

>>18838431
Thats spoiled turkey anon.
There is only that funky smell if its really old.

To be fair it does spoil rather quickly though, its one of the few things where if its getting near its expiration date I wont buy it.

>>18838433
I like to cook the giblets in water or chicken stock for a few hours, then use that water or stock along with drippings from the turkey in the oven to make a few turkey gravy. The giblets give a nice depth of flavor from the organ meat that goes well in gravy.

>>18838441
Yeah, live and learn.

im gonna smoke some turkey today, it’s been brining since yesterday. maybe slice it up on my mandolin and make some delicious turkey bacon club sandwiches this week

>>18838439
Maybe. They were multiple 20lb chubs from Sysco that came frozen.

>>18838447
how do you get it lit though?

>>18838447
I'm split on brining. For smoking I'd say it's a good idea, but for oven roasting I personally prefer butter under the skin and maybe injected into the breast meat for additional moisture content with regular basting.

>>18838455
i've watched a couple vids of people comparing wet brine/dry brine/basted/deep fried turkeys

wet brine wins by wide margin

I don't cook turkeys enough to say my personal take, but I dry brine chicken all the time and its a huge positive difference

>>18838460
My issue is most people are too lazy to baste as often as they should.

And no, basting twice over 5 hours ain't cutting it.

Turkey roaster of /ck/
Have any of you spatchcocked your turkeys?
How hard is it to cut out the spine?
I do this with chicken all the time and it comes out great

>>18838468
Best baste? Some early mentioned herbal butter, what say you

>>18838541
If you've got good quality butter (Kerrygold or similar) and fresh herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary) making a compound butter is going to be good.
It's less impressive with dried herbs and store-brand butter.

I personally shove the butter under the skin of the breast. But I've also been told directly injecting the herb butter with a large syringe is better for getting the herb butter flavor deeper into the breast meat, but if you don't own a syringe for this, just stuffing the butter under the skin and basting frequently still gives good results.

>>18838563
I hope you washed them rings bro

>>18838565
Ribbed for your pleasure

>>18838287
>I want to make a turkey like picrel,
Just so you arent disappointed by how yours will look at the end, i'm 90% sure the nice looking roasted skin in your picture is fake and it's painted on.

>>18838679
I mean, you CAN get them looking like that, but it's a pain in the ass, especially if your oven doesn't hold temp well.

Brining is a must for me. I also cook mine in a turkey bag which means only the top 75% of the bird turns nice and brown. The lower part is soggy and gross looking because it's being boiled in butter and turkey drippings. That part is especially good, though. Makes wonderful gravy, too.

>>18838287
Made this one ten days ago. Ate the last of it last night. Turkey tacos with sour cream and salsa, turkey sandwiches, turkey noodles, was great. My cat and neighbors dog also got some.
My only advice is leave in longer than the 8nternet says cus I did 4 hours at 325 for 14 lbs like it said online and I still got a couple of pieces with pink in them, though most of the bird was done.
Microwave for better yet pan frying pink turkey makes it bomb.

And here’s wild turkeys I saw in mt Lemmon in tucson

>>18839856
I'd guess your oven isn't accurate to its temp. I did a bird last week that was at 325F for 4 hours and it was a 21lbs bird. I used a meat thermometer before taking it out and it was at 163F near the breast bone.

>>18839871
Ahole

>>18838499
Its not that hard you can get away with shitty kitchen shears or a bread knife

>>18838359
What if I told you my local Food Lion had those EXACT turkeys for 30¢/lb before Thanksgiving? Needless to say I got four.

>>18838359

i bet u like fish dicks

>>18839871

hmm i havent been to tucson much. didnt know they have turkeys on mt lemon. ive only seen em in northern az.

>>18838359
You're a gayfish

>>18838425
>midwest sloppa tacos

Recipe please

>>18842423
The desert is full of critters people don’t know are there, like ring tailed coatimundis, which I thought were zoo runaways the first time I saw them walking down a street, and the nearby mountains like the coronados/mt Lemmon have a lot more stuff bc they are milder weather biological “floating islands” above the desert.