I wanted to take a moment and describe how we prepared our
turkey this year and in years past.


A few years ago someone suggested I brine the turkey. I hadn’t
ever done that before, and so I researched recipes and found one that was really
simple I liked. And now I use it just about every year, with a few minor changes
each year. So we brined the bird overnight in the fridge. In the morning we took
it out, drained it and patted it dry with paper towels. Used to think that was
such a waste of towels, but now I see how much difference it makes. This was a
27 pound turkey we were sharing with my son. He was trying his hand at cooking
for his family for the first time this year. So we cut the bird in half down the
breast bone and the backbone. Then we laid it on its side in the roasting
pan.

I didn’t even put any seasonings or anything on the bird. Just covered it up with aluminum foil and sealed the edge all the way around, then placed it in a 350 degree oven. We estimated our half at 13 pounds, and cooked it for just over 3 hours. Then I took the foil off and put it back in the oven for 25 minutes to brown the skin. And this is what we got.

It looks kind of odd because it is on its side. But it was good.
And even when we heated up the slices days later, they didn’t get hard or tough
in the microwave. We got about 2 cups of drippings that made the best gravy.
Just have to remember not to add any salt to the gravy or stuffing or anything
you use drippings in because they have salt from the brine.


Last year for Christmas we smoked 2 turkeys. First we brined
them in the same brine we used this year, then we smoked them for 3-4 hours in
the smoker. I used some pear wood we got from the neighbor to smoke it with and
it gave it a nice color and flavor. And the meat was juicy and
tender.


And before that we roasted one out on the grill. Now that was
fun! Took about 4 hours to cook it, but it turned out great. Had a special
  taste, but not sure it was as good a cook as the over or the
smoker.


My favorite way to cook turkeys, that I learned from my mom, was
to create a huge sheet of aluminum foil and then wrap the bird up in it so that
it was all sealed tight. We’d cook the bird for 3-4 hours at 350 degrees. And
the birds always came out fine with no brining or anything. I’ve even had one
time when I opened the foil envelope I was looking at the breast bone! The skin
had separated and the meat was just laying on each side of it.



About the only way we haven’t cooked a turkey is deep frying
one. But this year we got a propane fired pot for just that. So one of these
soon will be deep fried. Looking forward to that, and seeing just how good the
skin is.