Do you have any tips for turning the turkey onto it's side without dropping it, having it fall apart, or slopping boiling turkey juice onto yourself?   Can you do this alone or does it require several helpers and a crane?

And when it's done, does it still taste like turkey?   I'm not a huge turkey fan, I'm afraid. 

Hmmmmm, I have neither a big turkey fork nor a husband, but I'm sure I can improvise.   The fork, I mean, not the husband!

Fortunately, turkey is a once a year deal for me. 

:-)

Maud P said:

Hmmmmm, I have neither a big turkey fork nor a husband, but I'm sure I can improvise. 

Can I help?

Sheik Ali Hasim Toph

PS. I have lots of camels

I've read about all that turning and flipping and breast-side down proceedure, but I guess I'm just lazy.  I shove the turkey in at 325 degrees for however long it needs (depending on its weight) and forget about it until its done.  I don't bother with brine or anything, but I spice the cavity real well and put in a fresh herb bundle of mainly rosemary and fresh bay leaves.  I don't use a "pre-basted" turkey (, in my opinion) or anything like that, and they always turn out nice a juicey for me.  The only consession I make by way of special turkey prepping is to make sure the bird is at room temperature before I put it in the oven by leaving it on the counter for about an hour before it goes in.

I don't like the idea of "stuffing", so I make "dressing" outside of the bird.  I use semolina bread, with leeks, onions, garlic and celery.  Fry the veggies up in tons of butter (I am lucky enough to have access to farm butter), add a ton of freshly grated 'Regianno, moisten with cream and chicken stock, bind with eggs, …into a baking dish at 325 'till its done.  For spices/herbs I use parsley, celery seed, salt, pepper.  That's it.  It sounds plain, but its really delicious, and a kind of flavorful-but-neutral back drop for the other dishes.  Sometimes, if I'm feeling "Southwestern", I'll use cornbread and add roasted green chilis (from a can) to the dressing, but alway, always, celery, onions, and garlic. 

For sweet potatoes, I candy them in a mixture of real maple syrup, brown sugar and butter.  For spices I use Chipotle powder or Chipotles en adobo, paprika, black pepper and garlic.  I bake them at 325, but I let them go for longer than alot of people do to bake more of the moisture out of them and to make sure that the potatoes are super-saturated with the spicey syrup.  If I'm in a more traditional mood, I just use the maple syrup, brown sugar and butter (and salt and pepper).

For cranberries, I stew them in Ruby Port with cardomom and bay leaves, but this year I thinking of trying them stewed in Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry instead of the Port…just to try something new. 

Hi Pete , and thankyou for the wonderful complements !

I'll bop over to Just Recipes and see what I can do.  The problem is…I rarely use recipes!  I'm a kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants cook, and tend to make decisions on the fly.  Mainly I use recipes I find in magazines, etc. as a kind of springboard, or jumping-off point.  I can't tell you how much maple syrup or pounds of sweet potates or how much brown sugar I use because I truely don't know!  The only place I stick with a proper recipe is in baking cakes, etc., but even there, I will switch up spices and flavorings to suit myself.  I also combine parts of different recipes with each other.  Chocolate ganache can go on just about anything, right ?  But I will go over to Just Recipes and take a wack at quantifying some of the dishes I posted in Roast Turkey.

Toph, turducken is 'fowl'.  Tee hee hee.  That's essentially what you described in your post.  I was offered once, years and years ago, a young camel stuffed with a sheep, stuffed with a turkey, stuffed with hen.  It was a 'casheeturhen'.  The whole mass of stuffed meats was served over couscous and was fouly inedible.  At least to this Westerner's taste.

Stick with a plain turkey (feh) cooked slowly and well larded with butter and garlic.  Let the cook baste it with more butter steeped with rosemary, yet keep the oven cool, 300F for 8 hours or more.  Let the legs become as limber as a burlesque dancer's before contemplating serving.  A thermometer registering 160 F in a thgh will do as a signal to readiness.  Let your turkey rest quietly for 15 minutes or so, to recover her composure (and juiices).  Then carve.  The slower you cook your turkey, the tenderer and more flavorful she will be.  I, personally, recommend Honeysuckle White as the brand to buy.   This is a good dam turkey!  The only brand that I can personally recommmend.  Ever.  Anywhere!

The best dressing is never cooked inside of a nasty, raw turkey belly.   It is put to heat an hour or two before it is to be set on the table to be eaten.