Step 1- after the bird is thawed take the neck and bag of giblets out of the abdominal cavity and the chest cavity. Set aside. Rinse bird thoroughly in warm water. Dry with paper towels.

Step 2-Gather your ingredients together. Salt, pepper, herbs, the turkey, turkey bags, oil, etc.

Step 2 1/2 Use the peelings from the vegetables you used int he stuffing, a couple of pieces of celery, celery leaves, the neck and gizzard an heart (I don’t use the liver but some people do) and put in a pan covered with water. simmer until neck is done, a couple of hours, adding water as necessary. Once the neck is done, simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain and remove the vegetables and meat, and set broth aside.

Step 3- Make a mixture of salt, pepper, and seasoning in your hand and rub the inside cavity of the turkey.

Step 4 – Stuff the abdominal cavity of the turkey loosely with stuffing of choice. For my sage stuffing recipe click here

Step 6- Some people use twine to truss the turkey. I don’t bother. Just fold the flap of skin over and pull the legs in place.

Step 7- Turn the pan around and pull the flap of skin up to reveal the chest cavity. Stuff it loosely. You can even use a different stuffing if your family like 2 kinds.

Step 8- Now, very gently begin to loosen the skin from the meat on the breast.

Step 9- Make a mixture of the seasonings you plan to use (or cranberry sauce) and rub it over the meat. I sometimes will lay thin slices of garlic in here, or fresh herb leaves.

Step 10-Now, oil the skin lightly. I used olive oil, but anything will do.

Step 11-Prepare the roasting bag by adding a tablespoon or so of flour and shaking it well.

Step 12- carefully put turkey in roasting bag and tie up. Lay in a sturdy pan.

Step 13 – Cut 6 slits in roasting bag for steam to escape. Put turkey in the oven.

Now…here is where you have to make some decisions. The recommended way to roast a turkey is at 350 for about 4 hours for a 20 lbs stuffed turkey. Personally I roast mine at 325 for 8 hours, or about 20 minutes a pound. This was a 23 lb turkey and I put it in the oven at 12:00 noon.

at 3:00 p.m. it was starting to brown and smell good but no where near done.

At 8:00p.m. it was perfect. Meat falling from the bone, drumstick moved easily.Remove from oven at this point and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Open the bag (watch for steam). Pour the broth carefully into a bowl, adding the broth you made earlier.. Remove stuffing and put in a bowl and carve turkey.

Now, I have to admit that once I was ready to carve the turkey I totally forgot about taking pictures. Trust me, it looks wonderful.

Post from: Baking Delights

I would just like to say that there is  now a mere five weeks until Thanksgiving, and nine until Christmas.  And I know that you are going to think I am even more weird than you did a minute ago but sometime this week I will be cooking the Thanksgiving turkey.  I bet you want to know why.

It is really simple, actually.   Cleaning up on Thanksgiving is awful. I hate it. One year I decided to try roasting the turkey in October to see what happened.  I was amazed.

You see, after the turkey is done you carve it up and lay it in a large baking dish, and then pour the juices over it.  Then you seal it up and freeze it. It sits in those juices for a month, you thaw it and warm it up…and the breast meat is tender and juicy, the flavor is better, the cleanup is non existent….I buy several during the holidays when the prices are around 39 cents a pound….and freeze for later  use..I just make sure to save a couple for the holidays.

I am hooked.  If you like the crispy skin on your turkey this is not going to work for you.

Thanksgiving Turkey:

1 turkey, thawed. I always suggest you get the biggest you can find.  The bigger turkeys are a better deal price wise and you can always freeze the extras for easy meals later on. I try for 25 lbs.  Make sure your oven can handle a big bird.

 Stuffing of choice. mine is traditional Midwestern Bread & Sage.  Marc like the pork filling from tourtiere used as a stuffing. Whatever you like go for it.  You can even stuff the abdominal cavity with one kind and the chest cavity with another.

Seasoning: 1/2 cup melted butter, salt, pepper, sage, and cranberry sauce.  The bought kind. In a can. Trust me.

Wash the turkey well.

Mix the salt, pepper and sage and rub the inside of the bird. Stuff loosely with the stuffing of choice, or if you are not stuffing it toss a chopped onion, 3 stalks of celery with leaves, 1 carrot, 4 cloves of garlic, and a little chipotle in the cavity for flavor.

Loosen the skin from the meat gently with your hands. Try not to break the skin.

Mix the butter (reserve at least 2 tablespoons) and 1/2 can of the cranberry sauce until smooth. Or as smooth as it gets.  Now, rub some of the melted butter mixture on your hands and rub over the meat.  Lay some raw onion rings between the skin and the meat if desired.  Use last 2 tablespoons of butter to grease the turkey.

Prepare a roasting bag according to instruction on the package.  Put the turkey in the prepared bag and put the whole thing in a large baking pan.  Seal the roasting bag with the tie provided and slash the top 4 times.

Bake at 325F  until done. About 20 minutes per pound. 6-8 hours. The leg will get very loose and probably fall off or be close to it when it is done. You will be able to move it easily.

Let turkey sit for a few minutes, no more than 15 or so because you need to get the stuffing out.   Slash the bag and empty the juice from the meat into a bowl. Set aside.

Empty the stuffing out carefully, preferably into a freezer to oven type of dish.  Pour a little of the juice over the stuffing. Seal and Cover. Label.  Freeze.

 Remove the turkey completely from the bag, if you haven’t. Carve as you normally would, laying the slices of meat into a baking dish. Cover with the remaining juice, seal, label, and freeze.

Deal with the carcass.  At this point you can roll everything that is left up in the bag and toss it.

OR

You can dump it in a big stock pot with an onion, bay leaf, carrot, full head of garlic, 1 inch piece of dried chipotle, a bunch of fresh cilantro, and salt and pepper and simmer it for 12 hours or so on low heat. A crockpot works great for this if you have one big enough.  Strain the broth from everything else, pick the pieces of meat out, and enjoy the best turkey broth in the world…ready to be made into the best turkey soup in the world..

Now…you  can look forward to enjoying the holidays with your family. Your house smells awesome, you have soup ready for dinner… Go read a book, and sip some coffee. You deserve it, you organized Holiday Diva, you.

 Make a note  for the day before Thanksgiving. Remove the turkey from the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator.  On Thanksgiving Day you can warm it in a crockpot, a microwave, or oven… which ever you find most convenient.

Post from: Baking Delights