<p>Seconding MommaJ’s post above about Alton Brown’s brine recipe. It makes an enormous difference - we haven’t had a disappointing turkey since dh started doing this a couple of years ago. It’s so well-loved in our house that Christmas dinner is usually identical to Thanksgiving’s.</p>
<p>My dh also swears by Alton’s carving method, which he has on his iPad :rolleyes: and insisted on playing for dd’s now-BIL last year when his mom hosted us for Thanksgiving. This despite the fact that the guy has a degree from CIA and manages a very nice restaurant. He was patient about it, thankfully. I’ve got to admit that it’s nice not to have mangled turkeys anymore.</p>
<p>Maybe your MIL would like to give (or lend) you her roasting pans. She may be signaling that she no longer feels able to host this holiday and is ready to pass it on.</p>
<p>Don’t be afraid of the turkey. It’s just a big chicken. You can calculate roasting time by weight and thermometers take out the guess work. You just need to leave enough time. I think the idea of roasting a small turkey now would give you confidence for the big day. Our family divides the work up, so it’s fun for everyone.</p>
<p>Do you make your own pumpkin cheesecake? They had cheese cake factory pumpkin cheesecake (with gingersnap crust) at Sams the other day - I was very tempted.</p>
<p>I cook for about 18 and this method never fails me. The best turkey I ever cooked was when I was hung over. I put the bird in the oven and went back to bed. It was delicious!</p>
<p>Do not stuff the turkey to roast it. The stuffing will be soggy and the turkey won’t cook evenly. I put an onion, some sage, and some rosemary in the cavity to flavor the juices. I throw those out before I carve.</p>
<p>I love the suggestion of doing a dry run by cooking a turkey now. (I do that some years just so I have the carcass to make stock in advance.)</p>
<p>One thing I want to try, because I use it for chickens, is to cut out the spine and flatten the turkey. With chickens, you do that and all the skin is crisp and lovely. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for a turkey.</p>
<p>^ I think there’s a chicken under a brick recipe for flattened breasts- with lemon and pepper. Brick comes off for the final crisping stage. Just looked at google; many ideas for this. Chicken al Mattone, per the NYT article. I might try it with turkey. Suspect T would need plenty of basting, to keep it moist.</p>
<p>This video encompasses most of my suggestions for Thanksgiving Turkey.</p>
<p>Please consider, however, that when asked to contribute once to a Sisterhood recipe book, I simply gave them the phone number of my favorite take-out restaurant and called it a day.</p>
<p>We always grill the turkey outside on the Weber grill. It cooks faster, has a wonderful smoky flavor and frees up my oven. Because it cooks faster, we never have dry white meat. We have done this for as long as I can remember.</p>
<p>I always use a foil pan, so much easier to just toss it afterwards than to have yet another thing to wash. Buy a good, strong one, and I put a baking sheet underneath it so it won’t buckle when I take it out of the oven.</p>
<p>I always stuff my turkey. Some people like the soft stuffing from inside the bird, some like the stuffing that I cook in a pan separately, I aim to please.</p>
<p>One thing I do, and it is a pain, but it’s worth it, I start out with the turkey upside down, dark meat side up, and let it cook that way for the first few hours, then I pull it out and turn it breast side up. Cover the breast loosely with foil so it doesn’t burn, until the last hour or so, and then take the foil off. It’s really hard to turn it over, my husband has to help, but the dark meat cooks great, and the juices from the dark meat go into the white meat. Difficult to do because it’s heavy, but worth it.</p>
<p>I always hated turkey while growing up because my mom’s were always dry. She’s an excellent cook, but I guess could have used the brine advice upthread.</p>
<p>We have always used the disposable turkey bags. The meat is delicious and always moist.</p>
<p>This may sound a little crazy, but my grandmommma always placed an onion, an orange, and an apple in the cavity (after removing all the gizzard stuff). We make our dressing on the side, so that’s not an issue for us. I agree with cooking long and slow too.</p>
<p>I also make my turkey in a large roasting pan, and I cook my stuffing outside the bird usually in oven to tableware casserole dishes. I also suggest trying a smaller practice turkey before bur really turkey is very easy to make. Just plan ahead as to when you plan to sit down for dinner and with letting the turkey sit for a bit when it comes out of the oven so you know when to put in. I usually cook the stuffing the night before as it does involve a lot of celery and onion chopping as well as making bread crumbs. I supplement that with whatever is the lowest sodium packaged stuffing and check every year to see which one it is. Also very easy to make is pecan pie. Just follow the recipe on the Karo Corn Syrup container. I do make the pie the night before and the whipped cream before dinner is served.</p>
<p>When I am doing the big shindig, I make a list of every item on the menu so I can check them off, before I began that, I might leave an item in the frig by accident! There are always a few family dishes that we have by tradition, even a cranberry jello salad, rather 70s with the cool whip-cream cheese top, but it was MILs standard dish so I always asked her to bring it and now that they do not celebrate with us, I find I am still making it. I make that & sweet potatoes & spiced peaches & any pies & a spinach casserole all the day before so that the day is easy. And yes, it is a bit tense making the gravy with everyone waiting, as you simply never know just how long that batch will take.</p>
<p>You can make the gravy ahead of time. Make a stock of turkey wings, celery, onions…whatever you season your turkey with. Add Better Than Boullion turkey base and simmer. Make a roux…add poultry seasoning…Add stock…After cooking the turkey add some drippings and adjust seasoning. Some people put wine in their gravy…It works.</p>
<p>My recipe (given above) is sort of fluid. Find a gravy recipe (if you aren’t a laissez faire cook)…but use the stock. I HATE waiting for gravy to become gravy while everyone is waiting.</p>
<p>Just b/c it’s your first- have a back up roast. Do it the day before or day of.
Not everyone even likes turkey and having a simple sirloin around can be a second main dish.</p>
<p>There’s really no need to get up at 4 am - not sure why my MIL used to do so.
If eats are at 3 or 4-- prep it the night before (stuff, clean, tie) and pop in in the oven around 8 - that’s fine. Larger birds need more time per pound to cook than smaller birds, and same for stuffed vs. unstuffed.</p>