How Do You Cook Your Holiday Turkeys?

Injected and Deep Fried for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We typically do a minimum of 3 birds each holiday, sometimes more (for leftovers)

Buy a bunch (little plastic herb boxes) each of sage, rosemary and thyme.
4 or 5 days before T-giving melt 1-2 sticks of butter (depending on how large a turkey you have, 8-15lbs 1 stick, 15+ 2) add, 1T ground sage, 1T thyme, 1T garlic powder, 1T salt and 2t pepper. Add 1/2c -1c of olive oil and put into a container to cool.
The day you are to cook the turkey run your hand under the turkey skin to make a pocket for the bunches of herbs. Mix up the oil/butter concoction and rub a handful under the skin all over the turkey. Put the herb bunches under the skin all over the top (breast side).
Take another handful or two of the oil/butter and rub all over the TOP of the skin (helps to make it nice and brown) and the rest you can put in the cavity of the turkey.
When you cook it put it in your turkey pan and pour 1qt of chicken stock in the bottom. Tent aluminum foil over the turkey and bake. 45min before you are to take it out remove the aluminum foil and it will brown nicely!
CAUTION: there will be a LOT of broth in the bottom of the pan! If you are not careful you will burn yourself (ask me how I know lol) and that won't make for a good T-giving!
The broth makes for a WONDERFUL gravy!
For each cup of broth use 1-2T of cornstarch and cook up like regular gravy. MSG me if you need any more help. :-)
OOOHH..... stuffing! I will look for my recipe for stuffing and you HAVE to check this out if ANYONE in your house likes cranberry sauce! This stuff is AMAZING!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aaron-mccargo-jr/cinna...

Okay, I'm not going to be a ton of help b/c I've only made one turkey and my mom still helped with most of it! ;) But, we did it really easy. We just used salt, pepper, oregano, garlic and butter. If you slide the butter under the skin it makes it moist and delicious. I also slid some garlic cloves under there in random spots. Or you could just slit the skin a little bit and shove it a clove in from the top. I've read a lot on the subject, and putting citrus fruits inside the cavity of the bird help to keep it moist and give it flavor, and yes it's better than bread stuffing! My mom also uses the Peppridge Farm stuffing and it's my fav! I don't have her recipe but I know she uses fresh chestnuts, celery, sage and onions.

Anyway, good luck! I'm going to be checking back as well b/c I think we're on the top of the list to host Thanksgiving again this year and I could certainly use some tips!

We take salted pork and stick it under the skin and on top of the bird and around the legs and such with toothpicks to make it taste extra yummy. The best part of the turkey is eating the salted pork when it's done.

The bad thing about it... is it doesn't make the turkey the gorgeous golden brown color.. it will have lighter patches of color where the pork was (think tan lines). So, if you are going for the classic turkey for a beautiful presentation, then maybe don't use salted pork. Or, you can rub in a little bit of lemon pepper after removing the pork and continue cooking the turkey, it will help balance the color.

I would suggest making a turkey before Thanksgiving. We usually make a few each fall... carve it and freeze leftovers, make soup or casseroles out of them.That way, you aren't as nervous for Thanksgiving and have perfected the Turkey making.

The best seasonings, some fresh rosemary, thyme and sage, salt, onion, pepper, garlic and olive oil. I think that's all we use aside from the salted pork. For extra moistness, you can use the plastic turkey bags. You can add celery, carrots and lemons in the cavity to make it extra moist and tasty.

I prefer not to stuff the turkey. It takes longer to cook, steals the moisture and the stuffing usually ends up soggy. If you want the stuffed turkey for appearance sake, make your stuffing, then add it in the cavity of the cooked bird prior to serving.

Some great advice here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/284332

We use Giada's recipe on foodnetwork.com. It is absolutely wonderful. We get alot of compliments. We have used it with fresh and frozen birds. So yummy. Can't wait for this years.

Stuffing the bird, just takes away all the moisture. It absorbs all the good stuff. It's a common mistake people make.

This is how I roast the turkey. (I brine it, too. There is a link for that, as well.)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/10/roasted_thanks...

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/10/my-favorite-tu...

I prefer turkeys deep fried cajun style. S juicy and flavorful. For that, I usually have someone else do it. Popeyes will do it, or sometimes I find a neighbor or family friend. The small turkeys work best for that application. I also really liked smoked turkeys. Again...I pay someone else to do it for me. Either the local bbq restaraunt or a family friend. I make everything else from scratch so I dont feel a bit bad farming out the turkey to a professional. Who needs that kind of stress on a holiday?
When I've done my own turkey, I brine 1st. Season well, and cook in a cooking bag to hold all moisture in and help it steam itself. I might put a cut orange, a couple garlic cloves, and a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary in the cavity to infuse the turkey from inside out with aromatics.
Use the spare parts to make giblet gravy. It's really worth the time to make your own gravy.

oh stuffing - pepperidge farm with sage sausage, mushrooms, and walnuts. I get all sorts of compliments on it.

We have a perfect turkey button on our oven that really works! Our parents were skeptical (they wanted us to put it in a bag, which works too), but I stood by my husband; we just oiled up the turkey, stuck it in there, and 3 hours later...a perfect turkey emerged.

Deep fried turkey is the bomb!!!! Super moist and lots of flavor. Also cooks in 1/2 the time. We ALWAYS deep fry our turkey. Have never had one cooked in the oven that is anywhere close to as moist or flavorful as deep frying.

I buy the turkey, Troy cooks it. Life is good.

Seriously though it is a matter of sealing in the juices. I make a turkey breast and rub it with an olive oil herb mixture that seals it. Always moist.

I agree to brine it first! Allrecipes.com is wonderful. We always fry our turkey- Moist and delicious!! I have a cajun recipe that we use every year.

We use this turkey brine from allrecipes.com and it's wonderful. Everyone wants to come to our house for Thanksgiving because it's so good!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/turkey-brine/detail.aspx

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/perfect-turkey/detail.aspx

What I do differently is, I use chicken stock instead of wine and I use a stick of butter, and I stuff my bird with stuffing. My husband prefers stove top so that's what we use. I don't like stuffing so I'm not going to waste time making a homemade version if he's happy with stove top. Also, it's says to put the turkey breast side down and turn it half way through. I did that the first year and it was a disaster. I now just keep the bird breast side up and don't flip it.

My husband loves turkey, it's his favorite meal and always raves about my turkey, and he would be the first one to tell me it's bad.

I always stuff my turkey and it always comes out moist =)
As far as the turkey itself, here's what I do:
1) cut a slit in the skin on the breast of the turkey, insert slices of butter under the skin (or you can mix butter with herbs like parsley, basil, and thyme and then put the herb-butter mixture under the skin)
2) brush olive oil all over the skin of the turkey and sprinkle with salt and pepper
3) let turkey roast uncovered at 425 degrees for 15-20 min. or until skin is browned, then lower temp to 350 and cover with foil for the remainder of the roasting.
4) baste every 30 minutes!!! this is the key to a moist turkey!!!
5) don't overcook it! once it reaches the correct temp (taken in the deepest part of the thigh), get it out of the oven or it will start to dry out and the meat will be tough and rubbery

Injected and deep fried. So yummy and keeps the oven free for all the sides! The larger the turkey, the less oil you'll need. The oil (peanut) can get expensive. The turkey must be COMPLETELY defrosted and fairly dry as moisture will cause the oil to pop. And as long as you've got the oil, fry a couple of birds. Then we usually do some fish, buffalo wings, etc. over the next few days. We make the most of that oil!

brine it beforehand, makes it amazing. Check allrecipes.com - there's a ton of recipes. I always buy stovetop stuffing - it's the best. I put add ins in there like chopped up and sauteed sausage, water chestnuts, celery, onions. Have fun!!