Cooking Chat

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

Tonight, the chat room was full and for about 90 + minutes they guys were discussing ways of cooking turkeys.

Some were even talking about cooking a frozen turkey.

http://busycooks.about.com/od/thanksgiv ... nturke.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/thanks ... ey/AN01483

[cheetaking243 (imported)]

If you want the best turkey you've ever eaten, this is the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

Up until last year, I hated Thanksgiving turkey, because it was always dry, flavorless, and textureless no matter how much basting I did and no matter what time or temperature I cooked it at. It was always destined to be left in the fridge for a week because nobody wanted it, and then turned into turkey soup before it went bad. But last year, for our Christmas party, I tried this Good Eats turkey recipe. And it wasn't just good, it was absolutely unfathomably delicious. Tender, juicy, and bursting with flavor. Possibly the most delicious of any kind of poultry that I have ever tasted in my entire life. The first 14-pound turkey we made like this lasted a whopping 3 days before me and my girlfriend had eaten the entire thing. And I actually made this recipe TWICE more afterward because it was so amazing. (Imagine that... yes, I actually liked this enough to make it because it was amazing, and not just because it was an American tradition that I slavishly followed every year even though nobody really liked it. We ate THREE whole turkeys that holiday season while we could still get them on sale. And these were all just perfectly normal frozen mass-produced American turkeys. No fussy expensive free-range fresh never-frozen turkey required.)

Do the brine. It is worth every minute of effort that you put into it. You will never have a juicier, more flavorful bird in your entire lifetime. Now that I've tried it, I can't imagine eating another turkey without it.

[foxytaur (imported)]

Turkey?....mhmmm......Ilove russian borshe beet soup with tons of turkey bits in it

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

If you want the best turkey you've ever eaten, this is the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

.

IEunuch says he's tried that recipe and said the turkey turned out delicious

[Dave (imported)]

I never brined a turkey or a chicken. My niece went to culinary school and she talks about it. Another of my in-laws is a Soux Chef and he talks about how good it turns out too. It stays tender and moist.

I have used the two temperature cooking. That makes the skin really crisp and tasty. You need the meet thermometer or temperature probe.

[Riverwind (imported)]

The key is not just the brine you can do it by stuffing any bird with liquid of some kind.

River

[transward (imported)]

If you want the best turkey you've ever eaten, this is the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alto ... index.html

Do the brine. It is worth every minute of effort that you put into it. You will never have a juicier, more flavorful bird in your entire lifetime. Now that I've tried it, I can't imagine eating another turkey without it.

I heartily second this motion. I brine almost all lean poultry, (it doesn't do much good for fat foul like duck or goose.) A couple of other tips: discard the pop-up timer you will likely find in the breast; it almost guarantees dry tasteless meat. Instead invest ten bucks for an instant-read food thermometer (better yet about $18 for a digital one); learn the proper temps (in turkey (165 for white meat, 175 for dark meat, 160+ for the stuffing.) Allow for carry-over cooking, the rise in internal temp that occurs after you take it out of the oven. For a 10-13# turkey it will rise about 5-8 degrees, for a 20#er allow about 10-12 degrees, so take it out of the oven when the breast is about 155-160, tent the bird loosely with alum foil and let it sit for 20 minutes. Also DO NOT BRINE Butterball and other injected birds. They have been injected with a butter flavored brine already, and if you brine it it will be way too salty.

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[Dave (imported)]

>>This is funny...

>>

>>

Don't thaw turkey in tub with your kids, and other helpful Thanksgiving tips

http://holidayblog.today.com/_news/2012 ... 3859508.13 53471636.1353476921.397&__utmb=14933801.4.10.1353476921&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1352176098.331.8.utmcsr=maddowblog .msnbc.com|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcc t=/&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc|cover=1^12=La nding%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www. nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Earne d%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=177984037&__utma=14933801.1090469259.1343859508.1353471636.1 353476921.397&__utmb=14933801.4.10.1353476921&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1352176098.331.8.utmcsr=maddowblog .msnbc.com|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcc t=/&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1^12= Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=ww w.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Ear ned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=177984037

Chuck Berman / MCT via Getty Images

Barbra Robinson, left, looks over instructions as she wraps a turkey in foil under the watch of supervisor Alice Coffey during training for Butterball Turkey Talk-Line employees in 2010 in Naperville, Ill. Butterball expects to answer the questions of 1 million cooks this holiday season.

By Lisa A. Flam, TODAY contributor

We all want to experience a perfect Thanksgiving feast, but in the pressure-packed, family-filled run-up to the big day, there is at least one multitasking method you should NOT try at home.

That would be the approach attempted by a man who called the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line for some advice while tackling another pre-holiday chore.

“He had a list that was given to him from his wife and among it was to thaw the turkey and to bathe the children,” talk-line expert Nicole Johnson said. “He decided he was going to put the twins in the bathtub alongside the turkey. He was thawing them all out together.

“At first I thought he was kidding but he wasn’t,” she added, recalling the sound of little ones splashing in the background. So, Johnson gamely steered their conversation toward food safety and the best ways to thaw a bird: in the refrigerator, or by immersing it in cold water.

“I told him what we mean by a cold-water bath is in a kitchen sink or laundry-room sink,” Johnson said with a laugh.

Butterball started its Turkey Talk-Line in 1981. The company is expecting to assist 1 million inquisitive cooks this November and December through the talk-line (1-800-BUTTERBALL) and via Facebook, Twitter, live-chats, emails and its website.

At the talk-line, 57 holiday-meal experts will field all sorts of questions from callers, many with nervousness or desperation in their voices as they strive to attain perfection for Thanksgiving Day and its golden bird. Sometimes the anxiety manifests itself through heavy breathing.

“It’s just absolute panic,” Johnson said of some callers. “But we can talk them through anything. There’s really nothing that can’t be solved.”

Johnson, a talk-line expert since 2001, said she appreciates the challenge of trying to talk first-time cooks off the ledge.

“I love the phone call when it starts out, ‘I’ve never cooked a turkey. Help!’” said Johnson, 35, of Chicago. “That’s my opportunity to go wild.”

Over the years, Johnson has encountered some pretty creative techniques and challenges. For instance, Bath Dad was not the only one to discuss an unconventional thawing technique.

“A lot of people want to do countertop thawing, but it’s not a safe method,” Johnson said. “People will sort of come up with own creative methods, like using an electric blanket. We’ve heard Jacuzzi.”

Some of the most anxious calls come from stressed-out first-time cooks, newlyweds looking to put their stamp on the holiday, or men making a maiden voyage into the kitchen.

One woman became flustered when Johnson advised to check for doneness by inserting her meat thermometer in three places. “Her whole tone changed,” Johnson recalled. “She said, ‘Well now I have to run back to the store and buy three meat thermometers.’”

Another woman who was newly married also needed advice on determining when her bird was cooked. The problem was that Johnson could barely hear her because she was hiding from her new family.

“She had her in-laws in the dining room and she was in a walk-in pantry,” Johnson said. “She wanted to impress her mother-in-law.”

The male callers have included a fireman put in charge with cooking of the station house dinner for the first time, and a dad whose wife had just given birth on Thanksgiving. The hospital ran out of turkey, so he wanted to make one for her at home.

The calls that really give Johnson goose bumps come from men whose wives have died.

“A lot of times it’s the grandpa calling,” she said. “He wants to carry on the tradition for his kids and grandkids and we’re walking him through it. That’s always a good one and one that I spend even more time with."

Even though they're often hoarse by the time they get off work, most Butterball Turkey Talk-Line employees love helping people in an hour of need.

‘I told you so’

When Johnson hears that she is on speaker phone, it is often a sign of marital discord — and she can tell she’s being asked to referee. “I think, ‘Oh, boy, here we go,’” Johnson said. “We’re the counselor between the husband and wife. We get that a lot.”

And if you’re one of those couples who does that, make sure you’ve really hung up the phone before you gloat to your spouse. Often, Johnson will hear, “See, I told you so!”

Callers have asked Johnson to hold on the line while they give her tips a try. One man needed help with lumpy gravy. Johnson, who has a graduate degree in nutrition and dietetics, suggested a solution she learned from her mom: Try putting the gravy through the blender.

With the whir of the blender, her caller was satisfied.

For Johnson, who is at home with her four young children during the year and works for Butterball every holiday season, hearing happiness in her callers’ voice is the best part of the job.

“After we leave our eight-hour shift, are we exhausted? Yes,” Johnson said. “Our voices are almost hoarse. But you go home feeling like you are on top of the world. You’ve done so much good for the callers. It’s really a rewarding job.”

Anyone in the United States or Canada can call the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line (1-800-BUTTERBALL), regardless of which brand of turkey is giving them fits. Bilingual assistance is available in English and Spanish.

[transward (imported)]

Another idea. If you like the better taste of stuffing cooked inside the bird but don't want to overcook the breast, get a stuffing bag ( http://www.amazon.com/Regency-Wraps-RW8 ... B0014RHTNY or a couple of bucks from Bed,Boys an Beyond.) Put your stuffing in the bag, and cook it inside the bird. When the breast is done, pull the bird from the oven and remove the stuffing bag. While turkey is resting dump stuffing bag contents into a casserole cover with foil and put back in oven to bring temp of stuffing up to 165 degrees.

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