[Sca-cooks] OT: overnight cooking turkey

[Kirsten Houseknecht]

for those of you who need to cook a big bird, want to eat earlyish.. and
DON'T want to get up at 6am to put the thing in the oven....

this was passed on to me by one of my husband's co-workers, and i have NOT
tried it myself.. however it is apparently how they do their Turkey every
year.

Rinse Turkey well, remove neck and giblets. dry turkey, salt cavity and
stuff.  rub the outside well with pure olive oil.

place turkey *breast down* on a poultry rack in a roasting pan, uncovered.
put in a  pre-heated 350 F oven for one hour to destroy surface bacteria.

then adjust heat to 200 degrees for any size turkey.  the turkey can go in
the oven the day before eating it.  minimum cooking time should be three
times as long as the usual roasting time given on the package or normal
recipe. With the slow roasting method you can leave the Turkey in the oven
three to six hours extra without overcooking it.  this allows you leeway to
choose when to put the Turkey in.

example.  20 pound turkey usually takes fifteen minutes per pound= five
hours.
slow method takes three times longer = fifteen hours
plus you have three to six extra hours to work with. so you can cook it
anywhere from fifteen to twenty one hours..

important!
smaller turkey cooks for twenty minutes per pound (note more time per pound)
so an 11 pounder takes three hours forty minutes... slow method takes 11
hours.  add three to six hours = 11-17 hours cook time

which means you can put it in the oven. sleep. and still have an early
thanksgiving.



as to myself i will be eating at my parents house...... but i plan on trying
a new vegetarian Turkey that looks very good! probably on Monday........ i
will let you know how it tastes.
Kirsten
kirsten at fabricdragon.com
http://www.fabricdragon.com

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