Turkey tips

This comes from toytowngermany.com discussion forums. Going to try it, assuming I can actually find a bird!

*My modifications: do a 20 hour brine bath, do a spice rub, then instead of covering with butter, put butter pads, lemons and oranges under skin, covering the whole backside of the turkey.*

Cooking a turkey is really simple. People get scared about it because of horror stories involving people buying frozen turkeys, andnot getting them out of the freezer early enough to thaw.

If you want a foolproof, step by step recipe, PM me, and I will put you on the right track.

Basically, the simplest way to roast a turkey is as follows:

Get turkey, give it a clean inside and out, and dry with kitchen towels.
Stuff the bird (this is only if you want stuffing of course, and yes I can also supply millions of recipes for that sort of thing, but just look on the web)

Smother the skin with butter. Remember that butter is hard in the fridge, so take some out 30 minutes before you wanna use it so it softens.

Put turkey in a roasting tin, breast side up (there is a school of though that says you should roast it on its back for half the time to produce a juicier meat, but forget it - the turkey will be butter basted anyway)

Weigh the bird, and put in into a roasting dish, and cover loosely with foil. Cook for about 20 minutes per pound (or 20 minutes per half kilo) at about 180 degrees in your oven - every 1 hour you should take out the bird, and baste it with the juices in the pan.

1 hour before the end, pour away the excess fat from the pan, and half an hour befoire the end remove the foil so that the skin can brown up nicely.

Now stick a skewer or small blade into the turkey thigh. If the juices run clear, you are OK; if they are atall pink, put back into the over for 15 minutes, and test again.

When the juices are clear (and the bird therefore done) cover TIGHTLY with foil, and leave to rest for 15 - 30 minutes before carving. This helps the meat relax after the hot oven, and will produce more tender meat. Also, it will be easier to carve!

Done. Or as a certain mockney prat witha tongue thats too big for his mouth would say, 'pukka'. Thats about it really, it is very simple. You can do other stuff of course. I get loads of bacon rashers, hammer them out to make them thinner, and build a latticework of bacon over the breast. Nobody ever sees this, as I do it as a chefs treat, and eat the bacon in a sandwich! No better way that I know off to cook bacon than to roast it on a turkey.