Grandmas Holiday Turkey Cooked In Roaster Food

PERFECT TURKEY IN AN ELECTRIC ROASTER OVEN

Steps:

• Take the insert pan out of the roaster and pre-heat the roaster to its highest setting. On mine it's 450, but use 500 if your oven goes that high.
• Do not wash the turkey! The USDA says that washing it could cause a spread of salmonella poisoning. Sprinkle salt in the cavities. Stuff if desired. Don't pre-stuff your turkey; mix and stuff ingredients immediately before roasting. Tossing in a few pieces of cut fruit or herbs is not considered 'stuffing.' Stuffing usually means filling up the cavity with about ¾ cup stuffing per pound of turkey.
• Rub the entire bird with olive oil or butter. Doctor up your bird with whatever special seasonings you wish. I always use poultry seasoning. Finish with a good sprinkle of seasoning salt and black pepper.
• I highly recommend using a wired thermometer so you can watch the temperature without lifting the lid. Your turkey will be done much earlier than the estimated cook time, so keep a sharp eye on that thermometer. If using a pop-up turkey plug type thermometer, those little pop-ups stick sometimes so you should really use two of them.
• Put the rack into the insert pan and make sure the handles are up, not tucked below. Put the bird in the insert pan on top of the rack. Don't add water to the pan. Put the insert pan back into the roasting pan. If your roaster doesn't have an insert pan, it's ok - just be very careful putting the bird into that hot oven, you don't want to burn your hands on the sides of the oven! Cover.
• Roast at highest setting for 30 minutes. The butter/oil, seasonings and the searing time will make the skin beautifully browned and perfect!
• After 30 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 325.
• The turkey will self-baste if you do not lift the lid, so you don't have to baste it every 20 minutes like you do in your conventional oven. DO NOT LIFT LID during cooking time! Lifting the lid will increase cooking time because roaster ovens lose their heat unlike regular ovens. I've read that roaster ovens effectively 'steam' the turkey making the meat come out -- well, steamed. This is not true as you will find out. Similar to the roasted chickens you can get at your supermarket, the bird will come out moist and perfectly roasted. Why do you think they call it a Roaster Oven?.
• Figure your total cooking time from the time you first put the bird in the roaster. The Butterball website has a great calculator:.
• http://www.butterball.com/calculators-and-conversions.
• FINAL TEMPERATURE FOR SAFETY AND DONENESS IS: 180 DEGREES IN THIGH AND 165 DEGREES IN BREAST AND STUFFING. Juices should be clear, not pink.
• Check your turkey EARLY. Really start watching the temp an hour before it's supposed to be done. Your turkey will almost certainly be done before the suggested cooking time. Watch your wired meat thermometer. If using a pop-up turkey plug type thermometer, check by lifting the lid quickly so the oven doesn't lose its heat. If necessary, check after another 30 minutes, but I doubt you'll have to do that. I say check after 30 minutes because it's really OK to let the bird roast a little extra - you won't dry it out using my method if you let it go for 1/2 hour.
• When done, remove the turkey from the roaster, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes. This allows the juices to really seep into the meat, so they say.
• If you try this method, please let us know your results!
• Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

GRANDMA'S HOLIDAY TURKEY COOKED IN ROASTER

Steps:

• 1. Defrost turkey in refrigerator. This takes a couple of days. Remove the neck and giblets (heart, gizzard, liver). You can save these and use the heart and gizzard for making stock for the stuffing. The neck can be cooked along side the turkey or saved for turkey soup. Or all of the giblets can be used for making giblet gravy. Preheat the roaster oven to 400 degrees. Wash out the turkey with water. Pull out any remaining feather stubs in the turkey skin. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
• 2. Fill body cavity with stuffing. Grandma used home made but you can also use a packaged mix. Close up the turkey cavity with either string (not nylon string!) or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together, held close to the body, and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close. The neck cavity can also be stuffed and tied closed with thin skewers and string. Rub melted butter all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey Sprinkle pepper over the turkey. Place turkey up on the rack of the roaster.
• 3. For the 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400 degrees for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees for the next 3 hours. Start taking temperature readings with a meat thermometer, inserted deep into the thickest part of the turkey breast and thigh, an hour before the turkey should be done. You want a resulting temperature of 175 degrees for the dark meat (thighs and legs) and 165 degrees for the white meat (breast). Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.
• 4. MAKING TURKEY GRAVY Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour drippings into a smaller skillet. Ladle off excess fat. In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add just enough water to dissolve the corn starch. Beat cornstarch with a spoon to remove lumps. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly. You may not end up using all of the cornstarch mixture. Only add as much as you need to get the desired thickness. Allow time for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.

GRANDMA G'S BAKED THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Remove giblets and neck.
• For those of you who have never cooked a turkey before, check inside the body cavity, and inside the neck chest cavity.
• Rinse turkey and pat dry.
• Mix melted butter and salad dressing.
• Draw up mixture into injector and inject bird in several locations in the brest, thighs and leg.
• Place in roaster pan and add all vegetables inside the body cavity.
• Cut 4, 1/2 inch slices from the butter and insert under the breast skin, and push up as far as it will go.
• Place the remaining stick of butter in the cavity.
• Cover with heavy foil, making sure the foil does not touch the turkey.
• Bake for 2 hours 30 minutes in 450 degree oven.
• If meat thermometer reads 185 degrees, it's time to uncover and baste using all of basting liquid.
• If it has not reached 180 degrees return to oven for additional 30 minutes.
• Check therometer.
• Bake another 45 minutes, until golden brown.
• Remove from oven and cover with foil again and let stand for 15 minutes before slicing.