Turkey Roasting Pan

[Fly320s]

You guys want to cook your meat in a plastic bag?  That's weird.  If you want your bird or your pan covered just use aluminum foil.  Or the lid to the roasting pan if it has one.

[zahc]

can I use a disposable foil pan? I wanted to make a turkey this year but I don't want another pan in my kitchen.

[Hawkmoon]

Otherwise, when I was a kid, my parents always used one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Granite-Ware-18-Inch-Covered-Roaster/dp/B000050AVC?ref_=ast_bbp_dp&th=1&psc=1

I'm kinda thinking of something like that just for the nostalgia. Open to suggestions though.

That's what my mother used. Go for it.

[Hawkmoon]

can I use a disposable foil pan? I wanted to make a turkey this year but I don't want another pan in my kitchen.

Yes. Risky with a large, heavy bird, though, unless you handle it carefully. The supermarkets around here sometimes have foil roasting pans with a wire handle that runs beneath the pan, which adds some needed strength and rigidity.

[zxcvbob]

can I use a disposable foil pan? I wanted to make a turkey this year but I don't want another pan in my kitchen.

Yes.  Put the foil pan on a steel cookie sheet or jellyroll pan for support.

[zahc]

You guys want to cook your meat in a plastic bag?  That's weird.  If you want your bird or your pan covered just use aluminum foil.  Or the lid to the roasting pan if it has one.

I actually thought about sous vide cooking, because I have brewing equipment to do sous vide, but I don't have stuff to fry in oil. That's where you put it in a vacuum bag and put it in hot water overnight. Does anyone have a process to sous vide cook a turkey?

[charby]

Yes.  Put the foil pan on a steel cookie sheet or jellyroll pan for support.

Yep, I do the same for disposable pie tins too

[T.O.M.]

Well, I suppose that's a silver lining for me only having one son. My 3 daughters probably won't eat as much as your 2 sons when they are all teenagers*. However, knowing my own appetite as a teenager makes me wonder how I'll keep my son fed for those years.




*Yes, in another decade or so, I will have 3 teenager girls and one teenage boy in my family.

When they were both running cross country, we were hitting the grocery store 3 times a week.  We were going through 3-4 gallons of milk per week (coaches encouraged chocolate milk consumption after practices as a recovery drink).  When we would do pizza, it was 3 larges for the four of us.  Good times. 

[BobR]

I actually thought about sous vide cooking, because I have brewing equipment to do sous vide, but I don't have stuff to fry in oil. That's where you put it in a vacuum bag and put it in hot water overnight. Does anyone have a process to sous vide cook a turkey?

Never thought about it but if I were to do a sous vide turkey I would spatchcock it, cook it and then throw it under a broiler for a few minutes to crisp the skin. It should work if you have a large enough container to sous vide it in.

bob

[sumpnz]

We're doing an early Thanksgiving with friends.  I'll be pulling out one of the Dollys from the freezer.  Probably the 33.2lb one.  As my roasting pan was seriously pushed to it's limits with a 25lb bird I'll probably part off the breast, thigh drumstick and wing from one side, use the bone saw to trim off the bone and cook the other side for the dinner, probably adding the parted out side's drumstick and wing.  Then the parted off breast and thigh would be brined with a spice rub and a few days later smoked.

For Thanksgiving proper I'll be slaughtering a Bourbon Red (heritage breed) turkey.  It's a gender ambiguous turkey.  I think it's a male that's not developing quite right.  But it could be a monster size female.  Anyway, going to kill and process it the Monday morning before Thanksgiving.  Dry brine 24 hours before I roast it.  Seriously considering spatchcocking it so the dark meat is done before the breast is overdone.  Expecting that bird to dress out around 14-16lbs.  Also have a female turkey that might not even crack 10lbs dressed.

[Ben]

Seriously considering spatchcocking it so the dark meat is done before the breast is overdone. 

[K Frame]

"Dry brine 24 hours before I roast it."

Only 24 hours for a dry brine?

I go a minimum of 2, and often 3, days for a dry brine on a 14 pound bird.

[K Frame]

can I use a disposable foil pan? I wanted to make a turkey this year but I don't want another pan in my kitchen.

You can use a disposable pan for just about anything. As others have mentioned, though, the key is putting the pan on a cookie sheet or the like that will allow you to support and move it.


Alton Brown does a neat one where he spatchcocks the turkey after dry brining it and then roasts it on the oven rack... no pan, with the drippings going into a pan filled with a root vegetable medley.

Looks interesting, but I'd hate to give up the pan drippings.

[K Frame]

I recounted it here when it happened, but a number of years ago Mom's stove crapped out right before Thanksgiving. My brother and I managed to rig it so that she could bake her pies, but we were worried about how we were going to cook the turkey when my sister-in-law came in with an advertisement from Walmart showing those countertop roaster ovens. She wasn't even thinking of the problems we were facing for cooking the bird the next day.

My brother and I repaired to Walmart, picked up the GE model they had on sale, and Thanksgiving was saved. The oven did a great job of cooking the turkey, except that the pan dripping weren't browned and the skin didn't really crisp, but that was no big deal.

We used that thing any number of times over the next few years because it made things so much easier by freeing up the oven for making other dishes.

[zxcvbob]

I recounted it here when it happened, but a number of years ago Mom's stove crapped out right before Thanksgiving. My brother and I managed to rig it so that she could bake her pies, but we were worried about how we were going to cook the turkey when my sister-in-law came in with an advertisement from Walmart showing those countertop roaster ovens. She wasn't even thinking of the problems we were facing for cooking the bird the next day.

My brother and I repaired to Walmart, picked up the GE model they had on sale, and Thanksgiving was saved. The oven did a great job of cooking the turkey, except that the pan dripping weren't browned and the skin didn't really crisp, but that was no big deal.

We used that thing any number of times over the next few years because it made things so much easier by freeing up the oven for making other dishes.

I have one of those, and I love it, even tho' I don't use it very often.  To crisp the skin and get a little color to it, I use a heat gun after the bird is done.

[Hawkmoon]

One other caution about the foil roasting pans:

A number of years ago I hosted a family Thanksgiving, and I had a bird that was too big for my "real" roasting pan so I bought one of the foil pans from the supermarket. All went well through the cooking process. My brother proclaimed himself the King of Carvers, so I deferred to him and foolishly allowed him to do the honors. The first thing he did was to stab the roasting pan below the drippings level, flooding the kitchen floor with hot, slippery turkey drippings.

Handle those things with care. They are heavy-duty foil, but they are still basically aluminum foil.

[K Frame]

Ouch. Never even thought about stabbing the pan and draining the drippings.

We always pulled the bird from the roaster and put it on a jelly roll pan covered in foil to rest.

The roasting pan was full of turkey goodness that formed the base of the gravy, so all the liquid went into a separator, the pan when on the stovetop with some liquid (cider, white wine, or turkey stock) to deglaze it and get all those good bits up, then the juice went back into the pan along with the giblets and occasionally onion and garlic if we were feeling adventurous...

Then the roux was introduced to give us gravy, glorious gravy...

[Hawkmoon]

When my father was alive, his procedure was to ladle out some of the drippings into a sauce pan, add flour, and use that to make the gravy. In the instance with my Samurai brother, the bird was so big that there wasn't any other place to put it so he started carving with the bird in the pan, and he got overly exuberant. Stabbing the pan wasn't part of the plan, he just slipped.

I don't allow him to "help" in my kitchen any more. Although, in recent years, we haven't seen or spoken with each other and I can't say that it has left any noticeable vacancy in my life.

[K Frame]

When I was growing up we used the flour or cornstarch and liquid slurry to thicken the gravy. It took forever to cook the raw taste out of it, especially with the flour.

10-15 years ago I saw someone (probably Alton Brown) make a roux for one of his dishes. I started making roux and never looked back. The great thing about it is that you can make it days or weeks in advance, freeze it, and pull it out when you need it.

[charby]

I may be buying a new pan today

https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-7117-16UR-Classic-Stainless-Rectangular/dp/B003YLJZ6M

Arrived today, can't wait for thanksgiving.

[K Frame]

That's a good price for a very good pan that will last you literally the rest of your life. Far more reasonable than some of the other choices, as well.

I also like the flat/flatter rack that it comes with. I agree with Alton Brown, you get better roasting results with that kind of rack than with the old V rack.

[charby]

That's a good price for a very good pan that will last you literally the rest of your life. Far more reasonable than some of the other choices, as well.

I also like the flat/flatter rack that it comes with. I agree with Alton Brown, you get better roasting results with that kind of rack than with the old V rack.

Lots of room for plenty of veggies under it too.

[K Frame]

I missed this comment earlier....


"Maybe it's a Midwest thing, but most frozen turkeys sold here are already brined."

No, it's not a Midwest thing; I think it's pretty universal. It does help keep the bird a bit juicier, but I suspect that the biggest reason is that it adds water weight to the bird, which equals cash.

I prefer to brine my own birds when I can. I find that prebrined birds (especially those godawful Butterballs) often have mushy, spongy meat because they've been sitting in their own brine for so long that the proteins in the meat start to break down.

My family used to get our holiday turkeys from Empire Kosher Poultry which was just down the road. It would be deep chilled and had been salted according to Rabbinical law, but otherwise absolutely no additives. 12 to 24 hours in the brine and those things were wonderful.



Once again this year I'm spending the holidays with Castlekey. They've found a local farm that raises and sells poultry. He's ordered 2 birds and I believe is intending to brine both and smoke one and possibly fry the other.

[Jamisjockey]

I intend to smoke a turkey again this year.  Nom

[Fly320s]

I intend to smoke a turkey again this year.  Nom

Papers or pipe?