Hot Off The Grill !

[Cheesehead Craig]

Agree with 3irty1, once you get to those 20+ lb birds, it just gets real tricky on cooking them. I remember my mom just doing 2 smaller ones after a few years (family of 6 kids) and that worked out so much better. Plus, there's 4 drumsticks so less fighting over who gets one.

We have brined our turkeys for the past few years and it's simply fantastic.

However, the best reason to make the turkey is the leftover sandwiches.

[MadtownPacker]

Because heat rises, breast up will tend to exacerbate unevenness. I start it off breast down then flip it so the breast skin gets nice and brown. I've tried cooking in a turkey cooker with a fitting lid but had a hard time moderating the temp. Turkey ended up dry AND pasty looking, the worst of both worlds. I'm sure there are better turkey cookers out there that can do the job right, but not worth the effort for once a year.

I was gonna asked about the breast down. Had seen it on a show and while I didn’t cook it myself made the suggestion, she cooked it that way the whole time, and it came out plenty juicy. Something was put so it would stay balanced.

[hoosier]

I was gonna asked about the breast down. Had seen it on a show and while I didn’t cook it myself made the suggestion, she cooked it that way the whole time, and it came out plenty juicy. Something was put so it would stay balanced.

I like it--for the white meat at least, which is all I care about. Those who want to fight over the underdone dark meat, they're on their own! The one downside to starting it out breast down is that you lose some of that distinctive crest above the breastbone, the meat kind of settles on either side of the continental divide and you get a slightly flatter look. But it tastes the same and it definitely doesn't dry out before the dark meat is done--some of it anyway....

[3irty1]

When you spatchcock a 20 lb turkey what do you cook it in? You'd need like a paella pan or something. Do you set bricks on it?

Don't think I've ever cooked or eaten a turkey cooked breast down. What is the reasoning for this?

[hoosier]

Don't think I've ever cooked or eaten a turkey cooked breast down. What is the reasoning for this?

Slows the cooking process for the part of the bird that is prone to drying out quickly. I don't leave it breast down for the whole process: flip for the last 45-60 minutes for a nice crisp brown. It really does prevent the breast from drying out, the only sacrifice is you lose that crest.

[Radagast]

Happy Thanksgiving to All !

[MadtownPacker]

When you spatchcock a 20 lb turkey what do you cook it in? You'd need like a paella pan or something. Do you set bricks on it?

Don't think I've ever cooked or eaten a turkey cooked breast down. What is the reasoning for this?

Shit I just looked spatchcock up. I call that butterflied. Zool just likes talking about cock. When I smoked a turkey for tday that is how I did it. Worked very well because the whole bird had smoke rings which I doubt would have happened in standard shape.

As Hoosier mentioned it keeps it juicy in spots that usually dry. The juice draining down is what I think does it. And the typically soggy bottom side comes out perfect IMO.

[3irty1]

I honestly don't know what these usual dry spots are. The two ways I know to get dry turkey is to 1. overcook 2. squeeze the juices out while carving when not resting long enough or using a dull knife.

[MadtownPacker]

I honestly don't know what these usual dry spots are. The two ways I know to get dry turkey is to 1. overcook 2. squeeze the juices out while carving when not resting long enough or using a dull knife.

The breast and the top of the leg are the spots that I have come across dry. You are probably correct in that it is due to overcooking but I think oven size and the way the heat circulates would come into play also. We ain’t all Flash Gordon Ramsey like former pros. I’m not a fan of oven cooked meats in general. I guess the savage in me likes to have the smoke taste even if it probably cancer inducing.

[3irty1]

The breast and the top of the leg are the spots that I have come across dry. You are probably correct in that it is due to overcooking but I think oven size and the way the heat circulates would come into play also. We ain’t all Flash Gordon Ramsey like former pros. I’m not a fan of oven cooked meats in general. I guess the savage in me likes to have the smoke taste even if it probably cancer inducing.

Whether oven, smoker, or deep fryer this type of gizmo is your best friend: https://www.thermoworks.com/DOT

There are cheaper ones but the probes tend to be very fragile so careful.

Stick that probe in the boob, set the alarm for 155 F for a 18lb bird (degree or two less for a big bird), and drink beer until your gizmo says you have to work again. Leave the probe in, set the bird on the counter and now set the alarm to 160. It'll finish on the counter. Then wait 15 or so to carve. Whatever wacky mad science beer-can-up-the-ass Turducken recipe you're doing, follow those instructions and you will not have dry Turkey.

[Patler]

Whether oven, smoker, or deep fryer this type of gizmo is your best friend: https://www.thermoworks.com/DOT

There are cheaper ones but the probes tend to be very fragile so careful.

Stick that probe in the boob, set the alarm for 155 F for a 18lb bird (degree or two less for a big bird), and drink beer until your gizmo says you have to work again. Leave the probe in, set the bird on the counter and now set the alarm to 160. It'll finish on the counter. Then wait 15 or so to carve. Whatever wacky mad science beer-can-up-the-ass Turducken recipe you're doing, follow those instructions and you will not have dry Turkey.

I've been a fan of Thermoworks for years! First came across them for their industrial/lab meters and probes. When I became aware of their cooking line, I was an instant customer. Their thermopen instant read thermometer is the best friend of a hack-cook like me! I have given them as gifts to most of my family, and they love them. Built industrial strong. I also have a multichannel meter from thermoworks, with different types of probes that I use with my ceramic grill/smoker. One probe on the grate for grill temp and others in meat for food temp. They are fantastic.

[3irty1]

I've been a fan of Thermoworks for years! First came across them for their industrial/lab meters and probes. When I became aware of their cooking line, I was an instant customer. Their thermopen instant read thermometer is the best friend of a hack-cook like me! I have given them as gifts to most of my family, and they love them. Built industrial strong. I also have a multichannel meter from thermoworks, with different types of probes that I use with my ceramic grill/smoker. One probe on the grate for grill temp and others in meat for food temp. They are fantastic.

Those thermapens were game changers. Fantastic gifts too as its one of those things most people don't know that they need it until they've used it.

[George Cumby]

Been Breast Down for years. ~2/3 cooking time then flip the bird for the remaining 1/3. Juicy breast meat every time. Flipping the bird can be slightly epic.

[3irty1]

I've been to a thanksgiving (girlfriend's parents) where the turkey was cooked in a microwave. Apparently this tradition was a holdover from early microwave days. When microwaves were first developed they didn't know how people were going to use them which is why those early ones were so big and overbuilt--they expected the service life of an oven would be needed and that people would actually cook things rather than reheat. There were lots of microwave cookbooks printed in that era to adopt just about everything for microwave cooking. Including a whole 20lb Turkey. The result was much more normal than you'd imagine. The outside browned, the inside was overcooked but edible.

I've had a turkey before where the host injected the bird with a marinade and then spun the whole thing on a pottery wheel to make the centrifugal force disperse the injection. This particular host was a competitive BBQ guru so presumably this was a technique he was re-purposing from brisket. The process was more memorable than the bird I'm afraid.

It wasn't Thanksgiving but I had a Turkey once where the skin was separated from the bird with an air compressor and then blanched and cured like a giant Peking duck. Frozen apple juice concentrate was used to marinate the cavity. Then it was smoked with apple or pecan or something. That one was actually pretty cool.

I had a dinner at a coworker's house where he made a giant ballottine with a Turkey. The whole bird was tediously boned so as to keep the meat all in once piece totally separate from the carcass. This big slab was then rolled with chicken liver mousse and cream cheese and then roasted. He served with a gastrique that was finished with Turkey drippings.

I once broke down a Turkey, sealed the pieces in vacuum bags with butter and thyme, and cooked sousvide in a 160 degree water bath for over a day. Then quickly seared the outside and served. From a technical perspective that Turkey was flawlessly cooked but I haven't done anything like that since on Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving when Turkey is cheap sure, but never the big day. I consider the Gf's microwave Turkey more appropriate and more successful.

Why?

It's a huge waste. The pleasure of food is at least half psychological. The best chowder you ever had was when you were cold and wet. At the most famous restaurant I worked (and by worked I mean a 3 week unpaid internship), Alinea in Chicago, an army of cooks assemble plate with tweezers. The food is exotic, artistic, and everything is a spectacle. But at this level there is only so much you can do to manipulate the food, what you really want is to serve the best food but serve it to the guest who's in a state where it'll be most pleasurable. Guests come in with a predictable bias for what's in season, all decent restaurants know that. The haute cuisine frontier at that time was manipulating the guest as well as the food to make them as receptive as possible to what you were going to serve them. This could mean adjusting the lights for a course, it could mean choosing a tin bowl and wooden spoon for a course to make this upscale restaurant sound briefly like a mess hall, it could mean serving a plate of oysters on a pillow of mud scented air made with a rotovap and marijuana vaporizor to make the dining room temporarily smell like it just rained.

The principle of pairing food with the guest's state of mind is just as valid for Thanksgiving except all that stuff Alinea does to fabricate an experience for food critics is already done for us. Thanksgiving is the superbowl of comfort food. Everybody comes with a mental model of exactly what they expect and they are already hungry for it. They've been thinking about it all week. There is no worse time to get cute or experiment. Even if my sous vide Turkey is technically perfect it's wholly inappropriate. The roasted Turkey is better even if it's only 90% as technically perfect because guests got to smell it all day in the oven and have it carved in front of them.

So that's where I'm at as a Thanksgiving host. I just try to get out of my own way. I'll put more creative energy into what sweater I wear when I carve the bird than how I'll prepare it.

[MadtownPacker]

Nice post 31 and 100% agree. Presentation, perception and showmanship do make it better. Same as if you watch the cow or pig processed. Would take the appetite away from many no matter how hungry.

Good example is teppanyaki, but I did have a whack ass rookie the last time and left a minimal tip. MFer couldn't even get the onion volcano going!