[Sca-cooks] OOP - Turkey, again!

[Olwen the Odd]

>Ok here is a combining of all the discussions for me.  My turkey is .57 a
>pound (Central Texas, the cheapest I've seen) with totalling 18 1/2 lbs.
>The other thing is I'm very nervous cooking poultry.  I know every year my
>turkey has always cook perfectly, don't ask, don't know how I do it, just
>do.  I want to try this brining thing, and the biggest thing I've got to
>hold the turkey is my kitchen sink or the tub I use to wash my dishes in.
>I
>don't feel comfortable about leaving my turkey in the sink overnight.  And
>as for the tub, I know wash the heck out of it and can use a garbage bag,
>all I got is plain white ones.  Now for the cooking part, all my pans are
>too small, bad idea going for the largest turkey, so going to have to go
>buy
>a big one.  The other thing I do is a roasting bag, had no problems and
>always juicy bird.  I may skip the bag this year and do the celery, carrots
>and onions laying in the bottom of the pan, cover with foil, except last
>half hour will be uncovered.  And I'll be trying the butter and herb mix
>under the skin trick.  Anyone see any problems with this or can add a
>suggestion?  Aurore

Well, the only reason I said I put carrots and celery under the bird was to
keep it from sticking to the brown paper bag.  So I don't know if you would
need them in this case, except for the flavoring.  Also, I don't know
anything about this butter under the skin thing.  Every time I have seen it
done or have tried it, it seems to end up with a burned looking area where
the butter was.  If your white plastic bags are really strong and don't
leak, they would work just fine.  If you are putting something in a good
brine solution you shouldn't have to worry about leaving it out all night.
I used to put mine out in the mud room where it was colder though.  Just
cover it with something heavy to keep it from any pets and to keep it
submerged.  If you don't have a container large enough, well, there is
always the dollar store.  Hey, you could probably figure out some good use
for that extra trash can.
Olwen

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