Problem....

[conuly]

Lizziey got my mom a turkey before Thanksgiving, which has been in the freezer until today. I'm planning on cooking it after it defrosts in a day or so, but... I don't know how to cook turkey. Does anybody have any general turkey cooking advice? Any stuffing recipes? Any favorite side dishes that aren't holiday specific (well, yeah, christmas is a holiday I guess)?

HELP!

Comments

[xmorningxrosex.livejournal.com]

You might want to check out the memories and/or post in hip_domestics or cooking. I don't know about cooking, but posting in hip_d will get you probably 10 replies within an hour. super fast! :)

[conuly]

Ah, thankies, I'll try that. I have a day or two, so I'm not rushed.

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Yes. For cooking a turkey or a ham, or any kind of roast, you cannot go wrong with a $2.50 investment in one simple product: Hefty Cooking Bags.

I swear to GOD these are the ONLY ONLY ONLY way to go when cooking anything of this nature.

All you do is put the meat in the bag with a tablespoon of flour (to keep the bag from 'sploding), and put it in the oven. You don't have to baste, or anything!

If you like a little something extra with the meat, be it vegetables or whatever, those go in the bag, too.

Whenever I make a ham, I always dump a bottle of apple juice/apple cider in the bag with a bunch of ground cloves & cinnamon, then bake it in the Cookin' Bag for 2 hours----people RAVE over it. And I didn't do anything TO it, except pop it in the oven.

I'm tellin' ya. Hefty Cookin' Bag. It will the easiest turkey you EVER fix. IT even gives baking time/temp guidelines on the package.

Side dish

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Forgot one:

Grab a slew of mushrooms. Then grab a bunch of bottles of Balsamic Vinegraitte (spelling?) dressing of your choice.

Wash mushrooms. Then either sautee them in the dressing, or simply put them in a Ziploc bag w/ the dressing to marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

Serve.

Re: Side dish

[conuly]

Hate mushrooms, so that is most definitely out.

[conuly]

This will very likely be the ONLY turkey I ever fix. I don't like turkey very much, it's just that we have it and it needs to be used. I'm really going to go out of my way to disguise the fact that it's turkey.

And that sounds like cheating. *stares*

Still, I will definitely consider it.

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Of course it's cheating! LOL! But you won't have a dried out bird, and you can busy yourself with other things while it cooks because you don't have to baste it & all that nonsense.

This is the ONLY way I cook a turkey, and it's never failed me once.

[thelonetiel.livejournal.com]

If you do not serve green bean cassaroll, you are insane. It is the best side dish and very easy to boot.

Dont know how to cook a turkey. But you need green bean cassaroll.

Shoepeg Corn

[sgt-pooh.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I can't help you on the turkey, I do chicken because I don't like turkey much. My dressing goes something like this..."Saute onions, celery and green pepper. Add chicken both, spices, and crumbled up cornbread until it looks right. Bake."

I can offer a simple side dish. This is a recipe that my family loves.

Shoepeg Corn Casserole

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter
8 oz. package cream cheese
4 oz. can chopped green chiles
2 cans white shoepeg corn, drained

Drain corn and chiles. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the cream cheese and the butter together in a round casserole dish. Add green chiles and corn and stir well. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.

[sgt-pooh.livejournal.com]

It is a must on the holiday table, I agree with thelonetiel. I thought I'd share the recipe. It is simple and good, but my kids won't touch it.

Green Bean Casserole

2 cans (16 ounces each) cut green beans, drained
3/4 cup milk
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 can French-fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Dump green beans, milk, cream of mushroom soup, pepper, and half of the fried onions into a large bowl and mix until combined. Pour green bean mixture into a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the remaining fried onions. Bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes until onion topping is browned and crispy.

[velasco.livejournal.com]

omg deep fry the turkey in peanut oil. :9 That method makes the skin crispy and good and leaves the inside juicy and still well-cooked. I love it SO MUCH but nobody down here deep-fries anything. :( However, since this is the only turkey you're going to be doing, a deep-fryer might be a bit of a waste. I hear tell that pouring a cup of water or turkey broth inside the cavity helps keep the inside from drying out if you're just going to be baking it normally. And you can apparently slather the outside with butter, and also work some in between the skin and the meat itself to make the skin crispier and brown.

Another tip - a lot of people nowadays don't advise cooking the stuffing in the cavity, as it doesn't tend to get cooked thoroughly and can hold harmful bacteria. Not sure how many people actually DO stuff the turkey as opposed to just serving it as a side, but I thought I'd mention it.

Non-holiday-specific side dish:
1 package Jello Instant Pudding, pistachio flavor
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/4 bag mini marshmallows
1 8oz tub whipped cream
crushed walnuts, however many you feel like adding
Mix everything together, stick it in the fridge and bring it out as a side dish or a dessert, whichever you prefer. If you like orange, you can substitute Orange Jello, mandarin orange slices and crushed pecans for their equivalents to make an orange-themed casserole.

[conuly]

Yes, I know about harmful salmonella. Those same people also don't eat raw cookie dough.

[strangelette.livejournal.com]

We were talking about turkey cooking at my grandma's yesterday (she ran out of people to gossip about for all of 10 minutes). It's actually the easiest thing in the world to cook and damn hard to screw up.

My sister got tapped for it this past Thanksgiving for the first time. If you don't put it in a bag the key is to baste every 15 minutes. You can get away with ever 30 minutes but it's not as moist. It's actually a pretty fun job - get a book and chill in the kitchen :)

Re: Side dish

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Well, pooh! Leaves more for me, then! LOL

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

*eats raw cookie dough to the point of bursting*

You know, I cannot eat stuffing if it's been cooked inside the turkey. It's a mental thing. It's the same thing that keeps me from storing leftovers more than 2 days or they get tossed out.

[azarias.livejournal.com]

Cut a large onion and a lemon or two in half. Shove dismembered plant matter up turkey's ass. Depending on how lazy you are, either rub the skin with butter (real butter, no margarine, thanks) or massage the butter between the skin and the flesh. (An anal sex guide is good for this. It's all about the lube and the stretching.) Salt and pepper. Bake.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

Also: I was the deleted comment. hit post instead of preview.

There is a turkey hotline. I'll look it up for you.

But I'll give cornbread stuffing. It's not hard. just tasty.

Ingredients
1: 4 batches (look on the back of the cornmeal bag, or in a Betty Crocker cookbook. one batch of those recipes is one batch here.) of cornbread, crumbled up into golfball-and-smaller pieces.

2: 1 lb./16 oz. chicken giblets, boiled, then sliced into coin sized pieces.

3: the water that the giblets boiled in, about a quart and a half's worth of it.

4: 8 stalks celery. all sliced up into small pieces, but cook 2 with the giblets, and leave the rest raw.

5: 1 lb./16 oz. sage breakfast-style sausage, cooked, drained, and patted dry. As little oil as possible. Crumble it up.

6: One 'bunch' of Green onions, (1-3 plants) sliced down to the white/all the way up to the green tips. throw out only the roots and a tiny slice off the bottom. raw.

7:1/2 cup (about a half of a baseball-sized) white onion. raw.

8: 2 tsp. of sage seasoning.

9: at least 4 raw eggs, all blended up.

--

Instructions

1: mix all dry ingredients together well. (everything but the giblet water and the eggs)

2: mix in the (blended up) eggs.

3: put into ovensafe dish. (ok to split between 2+ dishes, as long as they're evenly blended)

4: pour on the giblet-water, gently, until moist. (like a wet sponge)

5: put in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until crispy on top (until it has dried out enough and the eggs are cooked)

6: serve while steaming. eget oohs and aahs.

PS: sage sausage optional.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

and Dill.

Dill goes on every bird.

*I <3 dill shirt*

[xmorningxrosex.livejournal.com]

You might want to check out the memories and/or post in hip_domestics or cooking. I don't know about cooking, but posting in hip_d will get you probably 10 replies within an hour. super fast! :)

[conuly]

Ah, thankies, I'll try that. I have a day or two, so I'm not rushed.

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Yes. For cooking a turkey or a ham, or any kind of roast, you cannot go wrong with a $2.50 investment in one simple product: Hefty Cooking Bags.

I swear to GOD these are the ONLY ONLY ONLY way to go when cooking anything of this nature.

All you do is put the meat in the bag with a tablespoon of flour (to keep the bag from 'sploding), and put it in the oven. You don't have to baste, or anything!

If you like a little something extra with the meat, be it vegetables or whatever, those go in the bag, too.

Whenever I make a ham, I always dump a bottle of apple juice/apple cider in the bag with a bunch of ground cloves & cinnamon, then bake it in the Cookin' Bag for 2 hours----people RAVE over it. And I didn't do anything TO it, except pop it in the oven.

I'm tellin' ya. Hefty Cookin' Bag. It will the easiest turkey you EVER fix. IT even gives baking time/temp guidelines on the package.

Side dish

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Forgot one:

Grab a slew of mushrooms. Then grab a bunch of bottles of Balsamic Vinegraitte (spelling?) dressing of your choice.

Wash mushrooms. Then either sautee them in the dressing, or simply put them in a Ziploc bag w/ the dressing to marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

Serve.

Re: Side dish

[conuly]

Hate mushrooms, so that is most definitely out.

[conuly]

This will very likely be the ONLY turkey I ever fix. I don't like turkey very much, it's just that we have it and it needs to be used. I'm really going to go out of my way to disguise the fact that it's turkey.

And that sounds like cheating. *stares*

Still, I will definitely consider it.

[toastedtuna.livejournal.com]

Of course it's cheating! LOL! But you won't have a dried out bird, and you can busy yourself with other things while it cooks because you don't have to baste it & all that nonsense.

This is the ONLY way I cook a turkey, and it's never failed me once.