I love Thanksgiving. One of my favorite memories is from when I was a little girl spending the holiday with my family. My grandmother and I would spend the morning preparing our holiday feast. We’d make stuffing, sweet potatoes, turkey, and pumpkin pie. As we cooked, she would tell me stories about her childhood. She would talk about her sisters and brothers, her mother and father, and how they celebrated Thanksgiving when she was a child.
“What did they do on Thanksgiving?” I asked.
“They ate turkey.”
“What else did they do?”
“Nothing else,” she said. “They just ate turkey.”
This blog will attempt to answer the question: what can you do with a turkey besides eat it? What other recipes are there for this delicious bird? How can you prepare it? How can you serve it? These are the questions I hope to answer as I begin to explore the world of cooking turkeys.
Welcome to my blog. I’m a chef who specializes in preparing turkeys. I have been cooking turkeys for years and have tried many different recipes and methods, so I decided to share my experiences with you. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, there will be lots of folks cooking turkeys for the first time or just looking for tips on how to improve their turkey. This blog will provide you with the information that you need to make a great tasting turkey.
My favorite way to cook a turkey is using an electric roaster oven. These are relatively inexpensive (you can get a good one for around $40) and are very easy to use. They don’t heat up your kitchen like a conventional oven does, so they are nice if you want to save some money on your cooling costs. They also allow you to cook other dishes at the same time, such as side dishes and desserts. You can use these year round and not just at Thanksgiving!
I’ll be posting tips on buying turkeys, preparing turkeys, stuffing turkeys, cooking turkeys, carving turkeys, and making turkey leftovers in upcoming posts. If you have any questions or ideas for topics that you’d like me to cover here, please leave me a comment.
If you are cooking a turkey, you will need to know how long to let it cook. The rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound of meat. So, if your turkey weighs 18 pounds, you should cook it for about 6 hours.
Another way to determine the cooking time is to stick a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. If the temperature is at 180 degrees F, then it is done and ready to serve.
One other tip for cooking a really moist turkey: wrap the whole thing in foil before putting it into the oven.
Thanksgiving is a great American holiday that involves eating with friends and family. The meal usually includes a big turkey!
There are three main ways to cook a turkey: roasting, deep-frying, and spatchcocking. Which method you choose depends mostly on how much time you have.
Keep in mind: The USDA recommends cooking the turkey until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, as measured by a meat thermometer placed in the thickest part of the thigh. This will take at least an hour. If you’re roasting your turkey, you’ll need to tent it with foil after 30 minutes so that it doesn’t dry out.
Don’t forget to cover your leftovers and refrigerate them within two hours of cooking!
Here’s how to make an ordinary turkey taste extraordinary.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Remove giblets from turkey.
3. Clean and rinse turkey.
4. Pat dry with paper towels.
5. Place turkey on a roasting rack in a shallow roasting pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray or lightly rubbed with vegetable oil to prevent sticking.
6. Brush skin with vegetable oil to prevent drying and for browning of skin.
7. In a small bowl, mix the allspice, salt, pepper and sage; rub inside body cavity and outside turkey skin with spice mixture.
8. Place onion inside body cavity (optional).
9. Place apple slices in neck cavity (optional).
10. Tuck wings under turkey; tie legs together loosely with 100-percent cotton kitchen string or twine, if desired (for easier carving).
11. Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into thigh muscle without touching bone; position thermometer so it is easy to read after bird is in the oven (optional).
12. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and roast 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until meat therm
“I’m always looking for a way to make that bird more flavorful,” writes food blogger Stephanie Stiavetti, who recommends encrusting the turkey in dried chipotle chiles, fennel seeds, and allspice berries. “While you can buy a pre-made Jamaican jerk seasoning at any market, I much prefer making my own. The allspice in this recipe comes from the pimento tree, which is native to Jamaica. Allspice tastes like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves all rolled into one.”
Allspice is a spice made from the dried unripe berry of the Pimenta dioica plant. The name “allspice” was coined as early as 1621 by the English, who thought it combined the flavour of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. In cuisine it is used mostly in pickling and also in Caribbean cuisine, where Jerk dishes are marinated with it.
Allspice: The use of allspice in this recipe is a nice touch. Allspice, if you’ve never used it before, is the dried berry of a pimento tree. It has a rich flavor and aroma that is akin to cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. We recommend using freshly grated allspice from a whole berry, not the pre-ground spice. Freshly ground allspice will be far more aromatic than pre-ground allspice.
Allspice is available whole (also called “berries” or “pimenta”) or ground at most supermarkets in the United States. You may also find “Jamaican pepper” which is often sold in the form of large black peppercorns. These are actually allspice berries, and they have a stronger flavor than typical allspice berries. Jamaican pepper can be used as an alternative to regular allspice berries in this recipe.
If you have trouble finding allspice at your local supermarket, you can buy it online here: Spice House Allspice (Berries)| Spice House Allspice (Ground)| Spice House Jamaican Pepper
