I Just Lied to My Mother-N-Law!!!

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Exactly!!! Make sure you thaw completely and removed the giblet pack! lol Stuff that fellow with some good homemade dressing or Pepperidge Farm.

I also loved my MIL and she taught me the art of good home cooking!!!

Yup! And remember that the giblet pack you get out of the NECK cavity. I cooked my very first turkey with the giblet pack in it, I thought I got everything from the body cavity. NOT!

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
I don't know why, but the wife's mother is almost always less problematic than the husband's. Could have something to do with it...

 

[bigmike&nan]

Roast your turkey in a baking bag - making your dressing separate.

All my life I stuffed the dickens out of the turkey with dressing, only to learn in chef school by doing that you take real chances - you want the cavity of the bird relatively empty. Some aromatics like an orange or some chunks of onion and herbs are ok, but you want the inside of the bird to roast as much as you do the outside, when the bird is properly roasted the juices coming out of the cavity should be clear and not bloody.

If you stuff the bird those raw juices drain down into the stuffing and it never really cooks to a point it's sanitary...

Watch FoodTv Network and you'll see just about 100% of the cooks roast the bird empty and make a very flavorful dressing separate.

 

[sheila3935]

you could do turducken since she wants turkey and duck.

actually its easier than it sounds just time consuming. The first time I made one I was working 2 jobs and DD's and I put it together the night before between jobs. The hardest part is deboning the hen and duck the rest is easy. If you want to really impress her do this. PM me if you want step by step instructions.

 

[diggypaws]

Quote:
Many years ago I was given a muscovy drake that had been corn fed - WONDERFUL. Mmmmmm.......

Then I got some cheap young ones a a local sale and thought I had hit the jackpot - figured out from the smell, while they were cooking, that they must have been raised on a pond. They were so fishy tasting that none of us could choke it down. What a letdown that was.

So if you're going to try duck, you might want to make sure it's corn fed

 

[WriterofWords]

Call a local restaurant and order a complete meal. Put it in a pan in the oven to warm it up and make the house smell good.

 

[wildeflowers]

Quote:
LOL, such a good idea.

First, I would order a local, free range turkey if you can find one this late. Then I would brine it. Then I would stuff it with a cut up onion, a cut up lemon, and plenty of salt and pepper and fresh herb or poultry seasoning if you don't do fresh. Butter the outside, set the over to 375 or 400, and FLIP that bird every 20 minutes, buttering the skin every time you flip. Start inserting a meat thermometer at about 45 minutes. Cooks fast, the skin is delicious and crispy and the breast doesn't dry out.

We call this danger turkey, because let me tell you, flipping a 400 degree bird is something else, but it's worth it!

 

[b&b's barnyard]

You really want to Knock her socks off cook your turkey on a Weber charcoal grill not in the house do this all the time have never had a dry bird for any holiday. It takes approx 45 minutes less to cook and the only mess is the aluminum pan and a pan to melt butter to inject before you put on grill and baist every 20 minutes with butter

 

[ImStillMags]

Quote:
I don't know why, but the wife's mother is almost always less problematic than the husband's. Could have something to do with it...

That's because NOBODY is ever good enuff for"my son"....

 

[boykin2010]

put applejuice in with turkey it makes it so tender. cook for a while then turn the stove off and let it sit in the hot oven turned off. it makes wonderful turkeys...