Friday, November 13, 2015

Baked Turkey

Ingredients
1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs.
Juice of a lemon
Salt and pepper
Olive oil or melted butter
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery
1 to 2 carrots
1 bunch of parsley
Several sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme
* Need help figuring out how big a turkey to get? Butterball has a turkey calculator that helps you figure out just how many pounds you need. In general, plan for:
12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people
15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people
18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people
Method
1 Defrost and De-Chill
If you are starting with a frozen turkey, you will need to defrost it first, a process that can take several days depending on the size of the turkey. Place the wrapped frozen turkey in a pan to catch any leaks, and then in the refrigerator to defrost. You will need about 5 hours of defrosting for every pound of turkey. Which means that if you have a 15 pound turkey, it should take 75 hours, or a little over 3 days, to defrost.
Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 2 to 3 hours (depending on the size of the bird) before cooking to allow it to come closer to room temperature. The turkey will cook more quickly and more evenly that way.

2 Remove Giblets and Rinse Turkey
When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove it from its package. Reach into the turkey's main cavity and pull out the neck and giblets (gizzard, heart, liver). The giblets may be wrapped in a small paper package. (If they're not in the main cavity, check the neck opening, sometimes they're hiding there!) If you want, you can chop up the heart and gizzard to make stock for the stuffing or dressing (put the chopped heart and gizzard into a small saucepan, cover with water, add salt, bring to simmer for an hour or so.) You can either cook the neck alongside the turkey, or save it for turkey soup. You can also use all of the giblets for making giblet gravy.


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