Turkey

[Dinsdale]

Not that country in Europe and Asia, biznatches.

The Thanksgiving shit.

I've been tasked with cooking the bird for tomorrow (I'll get a little sumpn-sumpn out of the deal).

Since Da'Man is in charge, these fools get a break from dry bird, since Dins has the patience of Job.

Sucker is now wrapped in foil (a meager 13LB), in a roasting pan. Before I crash/pass out, I will heat the oven to 400. The bird goes in. As soon as it does, the temp goes to 170. I will then get up when I'm good and fucking ready, and start poking around with a thermometer. When it gets to 155ish, I will unwrap it from the foil, and stick whatever sides need to go in with it (maybe after cranking the oven to 475, to get the skin browning... we'll see). I'll take it out just short of 165, and reuse the foil to keep it hot/cooking.

It will fall off the bone, and be soggy-poultry-goodness.

It's the way. Or get up really early and do the same thing at 200.

[Mikey]

Brining mine overnight. Will roast with lemons in the morning.

[M2]

Butterball from confined space turkey tenement where birds suffocate to death... Injected with sodium polyphosphate an FDA approved ingredient... Pour vodka over it. Light it on fire. Hope for best. Serve with vodka and salmonella laden turkey juice.

[Dinsdale]

My stuffing recipe:

Let someone else deal with it.

But whatever it is, it has no business being stuffed in the bird cavity -- a technique that gives you two options, and only two:

Overcooked dry turkey, or...

Food poisoning.

Those are your carved-in-stone choices.

[Go Coogs']

Mine is brining right now. Taking it to work tonight to fry and eat with the guys.

[Mikey]

Everybody still wants stuffing, so I do it separately.

Cuts down on the cooking time and, like Dins said, also keeps you from having to overcook the bird.

Only things that go inside mine are some aromatics and a couple of lemons.

[Dinsdale]

To get cavity stuffing to kill-zone temps, the bird must be grossly overcooked.

Again, not really up for debate. Basic cooking/biology stuff.

[Dinsdale]

Right ways and wrong ways to do just about everything, I guess.

I just don't like overcooked, dry poultry. I'm opting for moist, tender, falling-off-the-bone stuff instead, which is impossible to obtain with a stuffed cavity.

Bet dollars to doughnuts Coogs isn't stuffing his, either.

[Mikey]

I think Coogs is frying his. Never fried one myself, but I don't think stuffing it first is a real option.

[R-Jack]

Todd says it's not done right unless a backside cavity is getting scooped out?

Color us shocked.

[mvscal]

My stuffing recipe:

Let someone else deal with it.

But whatever it is, it has no business being stuffed in the bird cavity -- a technique that gives you two options, and only two:

Overcooked dry turkey, or...

Food poisoning.

Those are your carved-in-stone choices.

Yeah, turkey has a pretty fine line between done and overdone. Stuffing the cavity doesn't help. My bird came out damn good this year. Very moist. Relatives who aren't big fans of turkey in general were gorging on seconds.

For stuffing I made a rye bread, slab bacon and sweet onion stuffing which was also excellent. I had never considered rye bread for stuffing before but it is the perfect match with turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes. The slab bacon didn't add as much as I hoped and it was a huge pain in the ass to trim not to mention being about half waste by weight. I'll just use Jimmy Dean's sage breakfast sausage next year. The rye is definitely a keeper and I would highly recommend it.

[mvscal]

Now you're talking. Sage was the spice that the T-birds always required. Celery, minced onion, maybe even a few of those offals that come with the bird.

Yes, sage had heavy presence in the meal. The bird itself was slathered in a heavy coating of softened butter with lots of chopped parsley, sage and thyme (some of which I reserved for the gravy) and the stuffing also had more chopped thyme and sage along with the celery and onions. The caraway from the rye bread also added a nice compliment.

[Dinsdale]

I think Coogs is frying his. Never fried one myself, but I don't think stuffing it first is a real option.

I've fried a few... but never stuffed.

We need someone to guinea pig this for us, since a quick websearch turns up nothing.

I'm guessing it's a no-go, but I'm more than willing to risk one of you getting the shits to check it out.

[trev]

It's not stuffing if it's not stuffed. It's dressing people.

My dressing has the following:

fresh bread cubes, usually Home Pride white (don't know why, only time I buy this bread)
chopped walnuts
parsley
lots of chopped celery
chopped onion
chicken stock
poultry seasoning
butter
egg
salt/pepper

Your sausage isn't going anywhere near my dressing.