How do you cook your turkey? We've had good results the past few years but now I can't remember how we did it.


- jim 11-27-2013 1:29 pm

I guess that's an advantage of blogging. From my 2010 post:

17.5 lb Amish Turkey rubbed with paprika. A few pats of butter on top and some quartered onions in the cavity. 30 minutes at 450 and then 2.5 hours at 340.

- jim 11-27-2013 1:31 pm [add a comment]


But I seem to recall flipping the bird over at some point and cooking it for a while upside down. Not sure that makes any sense though.
- jim 11-27-2013 1:40 pm [add a comment]


does make sense to flip it the bird once youve overcooked it.


- dave 11-27-2013 2:19 pm [add a comment]


I braised the damn thing last year,,,, sdb
- steve db 11-27-2013 5:58 pm [add a comment]


Ree is butterflying a turkey and bbq smoking it on a grill. Its in brine right now.
- bill 11-27-2013 7:11 pm [add a comment]


  • Spatchcocked!
    - adman 11-27-2013 7:34 pm [add a comment]


  • with apple wood from virginia on a new webber charcoal kettle grill.
    - bill 11-28-2013 1:33 am [add a comment]


  • A spatchcock, otherwise known as "spattlecock", is poultry or game that has been prepared for roasting or grilling by removing the backbone, and sometimes the sternum of the bird and flattening it out before cooking.[1] The preparation of a bird in such a manner for cooking may also be known as butterflying the bird. The term "spatchcock" is used when the backbone is removed, whether or not the sternum is removed. Removing the sternum allows the bird to be flattened more fully. "Spatchcock" is also the traditional word for a juvenile chicken (in French, a "poussin"). Poussins or Spatchcocks were generally butterflied in preparation for faster cooking, hence in modern English the word has come to refer to both the bird and the manner in which it was traditionally prepared.
    - bill 12-03-2013 4:06 pm [add a comment]


  • smoked turkey
    - bill 12-03-2013 4:09 pm [add a comment]



Steve Doughton gets turkey of the decade award to me last year
- Skinny 11-27-2013 10:24 pm [add a comment]


The theory I've heard behind cooking upside down is the juices from the underside of the bird, the dark meat, run down and keep the breast moist. Flip bird back up about half an hour before done in order to brown breast.
- steve 11-28-2013 12:28 am [add a comment]


Very late to the party.

Getting the dark and white meat to each cook well is hard. Rather than hitting a crazy hot USDA approved temperature and having dry white meat, another approach is to get it "hot enough" for an extended period. The 165/170 that gets bandied about is an "instant kill" temperature. Also, temperature of the core will rise during resting as the heat migrates in from the surface.

I'm going to try to pull the bird out of the oven at 155, but I'm not the only cook in the kitchen. (When I roast a chicken just for myself, it's way less cooked than most people are used to. The breast meat is fucking incredible if it peaks at 155-160 during resting.)

Here's a good discussion of temperature. 155 for one minute will pasteurize poultry according to these guys. The main thing is to be fastidious about the germs that get spread around the kitchen while handling the raw bird.

I should go baste now.


- mark 11-28-2013 6:36 pm [add a comment]


Dang it. Bird cooked faster than expected. It's out of the oven 50 minutes early, and got to 180 in the breast. Here's hoping the brining helped keep it moist. I need to buy a probe with an alarm for this house.
- mark 11-28-2013 7:04 pm [add a comment]


it will need to rest anyway as per ATK. im going to make these mashed potatoes w roasted garlic and paprika.
- bill 11-28-2013 7:17 pm [add a comment]


Turkey got too hot, rested fo an hour before carving. Came out very nice anyway. I think the brining saved the breast. Wasn't up to my 155 chicken breast standard, but was pretty decent for general consumption. Most people aren't up for "barely dead" poultry. I ran the oven in forced convection mode for about 20 minutes at the beginning. The net result was *much* faster cook time.


- mark 11-29-2013 12:28 am [add a comment]





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