A thanksgiving turkey is a must for any thanksgiving dinner to be complete and that means that what you need to know it all as far as the turkey recipes but also turkey lefteover recipes and cooking time and the turkey stuffing that you need to have.
My thanksgiving post is going to giving all that and helps you get everything correct in order for you to host the best thanksgiving dinner.
Turkey cooking
I will detail here how to cook the turkey and will detail the turkey cooking directions for the home cooking and will not go into detail about what happens in a traditional cooking by a good chef.
As a fact it is known that 675 million pounds of turkey is consumed in the US each year.
The instruction for cooking a turkey in a simple and easy way is here manner is here and then some tips on how to pick a turkey and that means that you can pick a turkey on the basis of an average of 1 to 11/2 pounds of turkey per person.
You can get turkey in various types of turkey ranging from the fresh to the turducken So here is my list of types of turkey and they are
Frozen turkey
Fresh turkey
Pre-stuffed
Basted or you can actually self bast a turkey. I will explain what basting is later
Nowadays organic turkeys are a rage for sure
Kosher ones are prepared based according to kosher Jewish law
Turducken are the ones with the turkey and the duck and a filling layer in between
Even you can have some ground turkey recipes but then it does not have that best turkey stuffing in it nore does it have anything which will help you get that delicious turkey stuffing
And in fact there a few buying tips that need to be kept in mind while buying the turkey and that is
Try to always buy fresh turkey and that way you can avoid the thawing process for the turkey which usually takes a few days.
As far as the turkey taste goes there is no difference between the fresh turkey and the frozen turkey. In fact nowadays you can order turkey online or even you can order a turducken online.
As far as the quality goes use only the USDA approved Grade A turkeys. As a note the young turkeys which are eight months or less old are very tender and much better and the young ones like four months old called freyers or roasters are even tastier.
This is the first step to the whole turkey dinner process and the next step is to have a way to make the turkey and the first and the foremost question is how to cook the turkey and other details with it like cooking temperature for turkey to retains its moistness as well as other styles of making turkey
There are a few accessories you need for the turkey to be cook such as these
Roasting pan or the V-rack as they call it
Thermometer to measure the temperature of the turkey
Tin foil
Water
Some sort of brush or equipment to do the basting
Onion
Celery
And butter
Brine the turkey first and that means that you can cook the turkey otherwise but it will not taste that good so you need to soak that turkey in salt water for several hours so that it will soak in water and taste good and very juicy
The baking of the turkey the main pint to remember that the effective temperature for cooking of the turkey breasts is 165-170 F and for the thigh temperature is 175-180 degrees F.
Put the turkey in a v-rack and have a pan which has the carrots and the celery and other condiments into the pan. Then you need butter to be put in the pan and also take a brush and apply the melted butter all over the turkey.
Heat the oven and cook the turkey for 45 minutes and then take out brush the pan drippings again on the turkey so that the turkey has all the butter and the pan drippings applied all over and can then heat it again for 45 minutes.
The cooking temperature for the breast as mentioned above should reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Make sure that you leave the turkey out for 20 to 30 minutes before you carve the turkey.
Carving the turkey is another skill that you need to acquire if you want to show off in front of guests your carving skills.
Make sure that you have the carving knife and the meat fork and a cutting rod to carve a turkey.
If you are not sure about how to carve then it best done in the kitchen and serve the turkey without worrying about the guests watching.
The thigh and the drumstick provide the dark meat so make sure that the dark meat is cut first and then the white meat which is the breast.
You can also make a deep fry turkey if you need to serve something different than the traditional.
In my next post I will tell more about what the turkey stuffing recipes are needed to make a good turkey after you have got a turkey either buying the turducken online or if have to buy a turkey fresh or frozen from the local grocery or meat store.
