Thanksgiving Day...Turkey?
Are you doing your planning? This year we are going to do 'the bird'. Anyone have a special recipe they like to prepare and bring to the table? Grill? Oven roasted? Deep fry? Also good...
Forum Discussion
Since the kids left the nest more than 20 years ago, we have spent most of our TG's camping and I have always fixed a turkey. Some years it's been a big crowd, other years my brother and his family have joined us and last year it was just the hubby and I. So I have fixed our bird in various different ways.
When we've had a big crowd, I would fix our bird in my big Nesco roaster. I followed their directions to the "T" and produced a succulent, browned bird with plenty of drippings to make gravy. Search the archive files in this forum, under my name, keyword Nesco for complete directions.
The trick is to keep sucking the drippings out of the pan (saving for gravy of course). This results in a dry heat (roasting) instead of a moist heat which steams the bird and it doesn't brown.
Since the Nesco roaster is basically a large crockpot, I would guess that you could produce the same results using a turkey breast in a crockpot, if you siphon the drippings off it as well. I would invert a small oven safe plate in the bottom of the crockpot so as to elevate the bird off the bottom of the crockpot.
We've used a deep fryer too, but I found that it was pretty costly with all the peanut oil you have to buy and never use again. And no drippings to make gravy!
A few years back my bro bought a char-broil oil-less fryer and I must say they do a great job of roasting a bird, no oil to purchase and there are drippings for gravy1 We have also used the char-broil oil-less fryer to roast prime rib and it was excellent too!
When it's just the two of us, I buy a small frozen bird and while still frozen I have the butcher cut it in half. I freeze and save one half for later use and then defrost and cook the other half in the RV oven in a roasting bag. Love the roasting bags, there is no mess in your oven, plenty of drippings for gravy. The bird comes out moist and browned too. A half turkey is perfect for us as he likes white meat and I like dark. And there is plenty of leftovers and a carcass to make turkey soup. I wouldn't care to make just a turkey breast as there is no dark meat.
I always, always brine my bird. I like to use a clean medium size ice chest as my brining vessel(which I scrub with bleach, before and after brining. Rinse well).
Sorry, I don't measure so I am guessing. Add about a cup of pickling salt (or kosher salt)and a cup of brown sugar to the ice chest and then add about a quart or two of hot water and stir well to dilute the salt & brown sugar. Then add about two quarts of ice to cool the water down. To the water add 1 or 2 lemon (sliced) and a couple of sprigs of rosemary. Next add the bird, pour enough cold water to cover the bird and add as much ice as you can. Allow bird to brine overnight. Add more ice as needed. I put a cheap refrigerator thermometer in the ice chest to make sure that the temperature remains in the safe zone. Found in any hardware store. Even Campingworld carries one.
When we've had a big crowd, I would fix our bird in my big Nesco roaster. I followed their directions to the "T" and produced a succulent, browned bird with plenty of drippings to make gravy. Search the archive files in this forum, under my name, keyword Nesco for complete directions.
The trick is to keep sucking the drippings out of the pan (saving for gravy of course). This results in a dry heat (roasting) instead of a moist heat which steams the bird and it doesn't brown.
Since the Nesco roaster is basically a large crockpot, I would guess that you could produce the same results using a turkey breast in a crockpot, if you siphon the drippings off it as well. I would invert a small oven safe plate in the bottom of the crockpot so as to elevate the bird off the bottom of the crockpot.
We've used a deep fryer too, but I found that it was pretty costly with all the peanut oil you have to buy and never use again. And no drippings to make gravy!
A few years back my bro bought a char-broil oil-less fryer and I must say they do a great job of roasting a bird, no oil to purchase and there are drippings for gravy1 We have also used the char-broil oil-less fryer to roast prime rib and it was excellent too!
When it's just the two of us, I buy a small frozen bird and while still frozen I have the butcher cut it in half. I freeze and save one half for later use and then defrost and cook the other half in the RV oven in a roasting bag. Love the roasting bags, there is no mess in your oven, plenty of drippings for gravy. The bird comes out moist and browned too. A half turkey is perfect for us as he likes white meat and I like dark. And there is plenty of leftovers and a carcass to make turkey soup. I wouldn't care to make just a turkey breast as there is no dark meat.
I always, always brine my bird. I like to use a clean medium size ice chest as my brining vessel(which I scrub with bleach, before and after brining. Rinse well).
Sorry, I don't measure so I am guessing. Add about a cup of pickling salt (or kosher salt)and a cup of brown sugar to the ice chest and then add about a quart or two of hot water and stir well to dilute the salt & brown sugar. Then add about two quarts of ice to cool the water down. To the water add 1 or 2 lemon (sliced) and a couple of sprigs of rosemary. Next add the bird, pour enough cold water to cover the bird and add as much ice as you can. Allow bird to brine overnight. Add more ice as needed. I put a cheap refrigerator thermometer in the ice chest to make sure that the temperature remains in the safe zone. Found in any hardware store. Even Campingworld carries one.
