Thanks, everybody, for your help. I will not be soaking the bird and i will be consulting Cooks. Maybe then i wont screw this up. it's just that the dang thing is so big.....a mistake is a BIG mistake! i made a ragu bolognese last night for lasagna and i'll smoke some bari sausages day-of just in case. gotta hedge it!

Joey A wrote:Thanks, everybody, for your help. I will not be soaking the bird and i will be consulting Cooks. Maybe then i wont screw this up. it's just that the dang thing is so big.....a mistake is a BIG mistake! i made a ragu bolognese last night for lasagna and i'll smoke some bari sausages day-of just in case. gotta hedge it!

Joey,

Don't sweat it. It can be intimidating because the bird is so big and is the centerpiece of the meal. But as you'll see from the Cooks Illustrated instructions, it's actually pretty easy to cook. In fact, I skip the whole "rotate the bird" thing that they do and just cook mine breast-side-up the whole time.

The key is to be sure the oven is thoroughly preheated before you put the bird it, don't open the oven door while it cooks*, and use a thermometer to tell when it's done. You want the breast to be in the 161-165 degree range; the dark meat will be around 180 degrees.

If you are a fan of Good Eats, on Food TV, the episode "Romancing the Bird" is also very good. Links and recipes [url=http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_16922,00.htm]here[url]l

I'm sure it will be replayed at some point this week. If not, here is the transcript from the episode.

*Some people like to turn or to baste their turkey, which of course requires that you open the oven door. I don't baste or turn.

Really, turkeys are simple.

For the easiest possible way to cook it:

1. Remove anything that's inside the two cavities. Rinse the bird and dry it well with paper towels.

2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

3. Smear the outside of the bird and the breast meat under the skin with something oily, like seasoned butter.

4. Tuck the wings under, akimbo style, and stick the legs into whatever leg-holding device the turkey folks have provided -- metal or plastic holder, strip of skin, whatever -- or just tie together with string. (This step's not necessary, but I think it makes a prettier bird. For one that apparently didn't have this done, see photo here. The article says to do it, but the food stylists apparently had other ideas.)

5. Place the turkey on a rack in a shallow pan. Put it in the oven and don't open the oven again until about three quarters of the way through roasting according to the chart here. Then shield the breast and tops of the drumsticks with a little foil.

6. Continue cooking and test with a thermometer in the thigh and breast to determine doneness, starting about 30 minutes before the chart says it's supposed to be done (or when it starts to smell like turkey).

7. Let stand 20 minutes or so before you carve.

Basting, turning and all the fussing around people do are unnecessary. As long as you don't overcook the bird, or do anything dumb from a food-safety standpoint, it will be fine.

Of course, stuffing, gravy and all the rest of the meal require more steps. There are things you can do to speed up roasting or add additional flavor.

But regular roast turkey is easy.

That said, Joey A, I don't know where you're getting your kosher turkey from, but in my experience kosher birds often still have a lot of pinfeathers left. A needle-nose pliers is a useful tool for removing them.

One other thing: "kosher turkey" doesn't necessarily mean "kashered turkey." My experience in buying fresh kosher turkeys is rather out of date, but when my grandmother used to buy them from a kosher live poultry store (I doubt any still exist, except possibly in Brooklyn), she had to do the kashering herself. Be sure to ask the butcher whether or not the bird has been kashered. Any frozen kosher turkey would be, and nowadays kosher butchers kasher most meat, but I don't know about a fresh turkey. If the butcher has not done the kashering, then a kashering or brining step will be necessary.

Hi,

I saw last night Butterball is selling refrigerated precooked whole turkeys. I flipped the bird around to look for the reheating instructions to find a little booklet under the shrink wrap. It did have a gravy packet lashed to its body.

If anyone does buy this, could you report back on the experience?

Regards,

Cathy, I've never bought the baked precooked turkey, but one year I did hedge my bets with the frozen fully-cooked whole Smoked Butterball (no gravy, thank goodness - what do they put in those packets?)

It was actually fairly good: the skin was a bit elastic (I think I reheated it in the oven), texture a little more like good deli turkey breast than a roasted turkey, and, of course, it was a little salty- but otherwise a good 2nd bird. Not going to replace the fresh roasted one, though - but it was nice to have a different option; good if you have an exceptionally large group.

They carry them at the Aldi; I often keep one in the freezer for unexpected company, as they're pretty easy to deal with if you've got time to thaw.

LAZ wrote:2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

When I did the test run a few weeks ago, I cooked it at 325 and for the life of me, the damn thing just wouldn't cook in the proper allotted time. Saveur said 450, Bon Appetit said 325 and instead of trusting my instincts that said "maybe 325 is too low for wanting to be done in three hours", I went with 325.

Is there a happy medium?

gmonkey wrote:

LAZ wrote:2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

When I did the test run a few weeks ago, I cooked it at 325 and for the life of me, the damn thing just wouldn't cook in the proper allotted time. Saveur said 450, Bon Appetit said 325 and instead of trusting my instincts that said "maybe 325 is too low for wanting to be done in three hours", I went with 325.

Is there a happy medium?

gmonkey-

When I have done turkeys, I have started at a high temp (400 - 450) for 10-15 minutes, then reduced it to 350 or so for the rest of the time.

gmonkey wrote:

LAZ wrote:2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

When I did the test run a few weeks ago, I cooked it at 325 and for the life of me, the damn thing just wouldn't cook in the proper allotted time. Saveur said 450, Bon Appetit said 325 and instead of trusting my instincts that said "maybe 325 is too low for wanting to be done in three hours", I went with 325.

Is there a happy medium?

You can cook it in lots of ways that are faster. However, they are not foolproof in terms of juicy, picture-perfect roast turkey.

If you want to be done in 3 hours at 325 degrees, then you need a completely thawed, unstuffed turkey of 12 pounds or less.

Higher temps are more likely to dry the turkey out. Few of the methods for dealing with that are easy. Almost none result in that Norman Rockwell look.

The fastest possible method is to cut the turkey in pieces.