My husband never likes turkey, but last year for Christmas the turkey turned out so that everyone thought it was great. It all happened by accident. The electricity was out, so I fired up the wood cook stove. By candle light, we put the turkey in the oven bag. But since it was dark, I didn't notice it was put in upside down. I followed the normal directions with the cooking bag.
When I took the turkey out of the oven (everyone laughed at the fact that it was upside down), it was the moistest turkey ever. So from now on, my turkeys are always upside down! I hope it works for you!
By Beth from Bloomfield, IN
This page contains the following solutions.
I still like to put my stuffing directly into the turkey cavity. My mother did it for years and so have I and it's perfectly safe. No one has ever gotten ill from this. However, scooping the stuffing out can be quite messy.
Don't wait for your Thanksgiving turkey to make its own juices for basting. Give it an extra-moist start by adding your favorite broth or bouillon.
At Thanksgiving and Christmas, I buy the biggest turkey I can find - usually 20-25 pounds. Then I stuff it about 9 pm the night before and put it in a 350 degree F oven for one hour.
One way we have found to decrease the time in the kitchen on Thanksgiving and other holidays is to use an alternate source for cooking the main course - turkey, ham, etc.
One year we had a 25 lb. turkey and no pan big enough to bake it in, so my wife got our wok out to see if it would fit. It fit just right, but the bottom of the wok was rounded, so she put it in a cast iron skillet to steady it.
To enjoy especially moist breast meat, you can cook your whole turkey upside down. This is a page about cook a turkey breast side down.
Many cooks like to use oven bags when baking their holiday turkey. It is easy and saves time on cleanup. This is a page about baking turkey in an oven bag.
How long do you cook a turkey for in a clay baker pan? Also at what temperature? Thank you, Susan
