OT Big Bird emergencies

I don't know about that three hours part- I think it takes more like overnight. I don't weight mine down. I put the breast side in the water- the meaty parts of the back are so much 'thinner' that it thaws much more quickly than the breast side- the back doesn't need to be submerged. I do put a clean dish cloth over the turkey's back so it doesn't dry out, pick up any flies or- heaven forbid!- any stray floating-on-air doggie hairs. Wishing you a wonderful, blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Is a bird in the sink worth 2 in the freezer?

Good luck with your big bird Polly. Taria

Polly Esther wrote:

I agree with Leslie -- unless you have a wee little turkey (anything under 20# is simply a big chicken that *tastes* like turkey) it will take considerably longer than 3 hours in a sink of water. Overnight is most likely and changing out the water every few hours will help. I have to keep my turkey covered (usually with the top to the roaster pan because I have kitties who dearly LOVE poultry -- LOL! I don't usually bother with having it weighed down but I do put it in the sink breast side down, like Leslie does. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

For a minute there I thought you were talking about Sesame Street! lol

LOL, Taria. Yes, indeed. The trick worked just fine. I'm just dealing with turkey breast - only 8 pounds. Polly

Good one Taria! . In message , Taria writes

The thaw will go quicker if you can let the water spigot dribble a little (cold water only). It keeps the water in the sink moving slightly and somehow that makes it thaw things quicker. Debra in VA See my quilts at

1. I don't have anything now that would be able to handle a bird over

10 pounds.

1. Yep, immerse in cold water in sink works, like Tia Mary said, remember to keep changing out the water. Keeping it covered always meant that someone would constantly be looking under the lid to see what was there [okay, you looked once, it is the same thing every other time you checked], or poking their finger to see if the poor bird had thawed out yet [no, I just started it 2 hours ago]

My favorite way to cook a turkey was in an oven roasting bag - the dang thing was so tender it fell apart!

G> Leslie & The Furbabies >

Here, here on the oven roasting bag......next best invention to the Rotary cutter ;)

Val

But you don't have to buy the special oven roasting bag. My family has used plain ordinary brown grocery bags forever. It truly is unbelievable how moist and tender the turkey turns out! And NO, NO, NO the paper bag does not catch fire :-))! Best part is, it's free -- just ask next time you go to the grocery store. VBS -- unfortunately brown paper grocery bags are becoming an endangered species -- I'm gonna have to start using those wonderful bags with the handles you get from Cracker Barrel!! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Many years ago I read a book on forensic medicine that had some useful tips on that. You wouldn't believe how many newbie killers have no idea how difficult it is dispose of a body in a lake and not have it float to the surface. The author recommended wire ropes and a scrap car engine.

You don't want Julia Child, you want Kathy Reichs.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

You need to use non recycled paper for that kind of cooking. There is an apple pie that is done the same way. Recycled is about the only brown bags I see these days but I don't shop at cracker barrel.

My brother does his turkeys in the big foil tent. I don't do it that way but I have to admit his turkey yesterday was really good.

The > G>

Thank you, Jack. I'll write a note in Child's book in case we have the same problem again some day. There are heaps of pickup trucks jacked up on blocks out here in The Swamp. One of them 'may' have an engine. Polly

Howdy!

Both the brown paper bags & the plastic oven bags are made w/ chemicals I don't want in my food, chemicals that can & do leach into the food during the cooking process. I've cooked turkeys for 35 yrs. and have never had a bad/dry bird; just rinse them, pull off some of the fat around the cavities, cut off the tail, put bird in the big cake pan & into a 325* oven. IF I'm not concerned about "presentation" (no one else will see the cooked bird) I put the bird breast-side-down, letting all those lovely fat juices dribble into the white meat; best damn' turkey ever! This in not a brag; this is just fact; I think all the hype about The Proper Way to Cook a Turkey is silly, much of it made up by the twits on the t.v. talk programs & the Marthy types --$$-$$$. Learn how to do it the first time and leave the bird alone. I buy the cheap turkeys, w/ as little basting chemicals added as possible. mmmmm: that's good eats!

While the turkey is cooking I can do about 4 hrs. of quilting; this is a Good Thing.

R/Sandy --turkey in the straw

This year's turkey got the same treatment most meats get from me. A bottle of balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, liberally spiked with whatever I have on hand. This time it was soy sauce, chicken roasting rub, garlic salt, butter and honey. Stuffed the turkey cavity side up into a soup pot (only thing I had big enough to hold it up and not tip in the fridge) and poured the marinade inside, Left it that way overnight, then dumped the whole thing into a big dish and continued to marinade it, flipping it a 1/4 turn whenever I remembered to. Next day about midday, I sprayed the roasting pan and rack with Pam, put the bird on top and poured the marinade over the top. I did put a foil tent over it partway through cooking because the honey was making the breast brown too fast. Aside from that, I left it alone. At the end of the cooking time, I pulled it out of the oven and we had dinner! Got a london broil in the fridge right now with a similar marinade, this time no honey and some Worcestershire instead. It's all good.

Hey, Ragmop! The turkey cooking with the breast side down makes a lot of sense, but most turkey breasts are kinda 'pointy' in the middle. How do you prop that bird so it doesn't lay on one side or the other? Or do you flip it right side/left side during the cooking time?

I always start my turkey at 425 degrees for the first hour. I want it to heat up quickly, kill any 'germs' that accumulated on the outside from thawing in the sink and then I turn it down to 325 for the remainder of the cooking time. That works well for me. Maybe the 'germ' theory is flawed, but.... ;-)

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Most of us that cook have been cooking turkeys our own way for a lot of years. I figure it is my bird, I'll do it my way. If anyone is willing to feed me theirs I am glad to eat it their way! Long as it is cooked I don't mind. (that probably comes from the dh in the military that got fed too much under cooked poultry)

If you want the basics in a 'no martha', practical way try this:

folks at KNX food news really taught me to cook in good sensible ways. Folks in LA have listened to them for more years than I have beenalive! There is the method for the breast side down turkey on that site, Leslie.

I think if you are getting the cheap turkeys you are getting a lot of salt and chemical type liquids injected in them. I buy those too but they have stuff that isn't great for you. They beef the weight with those liquids so you get less turkey for the actual weight.

I was teasing yesterday. My brother is a marvelous cook. Like I told dad though, you put enough butter in anything and it will taste good. A good cook is one that can feed folks healthy food that tastes great. I am still learning healthy cooking methods. It is really a different ball game.

I have my cheap turkey in the freezer. I miss the leftovers when I don't cook on holidays so I'll do my bird later in the week. I like to cook almost as much as I like to eat Taria

Leslie & The Furbabies > Hey, Ragmop! The turkey cooking with the breast side down makes a lot of

You use a poultry rack -- or you make your own rack from celery, carrots, and onions. My daughter did that last year and it was good. We tossed the veggies, but had lots of good broth that made some wonderful gravy. She had also brined her turkey before cooking.

Julia > Hey, Ragmop! The turkey cooking with the breast side down makes a lot of

Howdy!

I check the "ingredients" list when I buy birds. Often the cheaper ones have fewer chemicals (self-basting fluids) injected. One year an uncle brought over a "fresh" turkey, we cooked it breast-side-down, and it was fabulous, no chemicals injected. Turned down his offer of a duck; just not going to that level. Btw, I thaw the frozen bird in a huge Tupperware bowl filled w/ cold water, changing the water often; everything near the sink (faucets, sinks, counters, floors, fridge) get scrubbed to de-contaminate after handling the bird (I used to work in that deli...). We don't have stuffing as that sucks up all kinds of fat from the bird; we have "dressing" cooked separately, w/ chopped veggies thrown in; I can control the amount & type of fat in that (olive or other veggie oil); the

2nd batch of dressing also contains chopped turkey (started doing that so the kids would actually eat turkey ).

"beef the weight" of a turkey: LOL! Taria: mixed meats!

Leslie, the wings of the bird are folded in as they taught us at the deli where I worked 100 yrs. ago. Those wings fit perfectly into the 13"x9" cake pan, holding the bird steady; that & the size of the bird (15-20 lbs) makes that sucker sit still in the pan.

Admittedly, I take the easy way out; I have lazy-turkey cook syndrome. Love to cook, love to feed crowds, enjoy getting everything ready at the same time. Love to quilt, too. ;-P

Hooray for the many different ways we can cook (or not) and enjoy the annual Thanksgiving Feast!

R/Sandy--just finished pin-basting a small, very scrappy quilt while listening to Lincoln Child's "Deep Storm" p.s. we had light snow flurries yesterday; Cool!