Two things

[mahogany]

Thing one:

A conservative estimate of the amount of mandarins our family has eaten so far this season:

90 lbs.


O_o That seems like so much! I suppose there are five of us after all, but still...and it's only December 8th!

Thing two:

I've never cooked a turkey in my entire life, and I have to make one this year. We're having my in-laws over for Christmas dinner at our place. Yikes! This is going to be interesting...

Comments

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Heh. Here's hoping your turkey doesn't wind up being done an hour before company comes...

[toezontheground.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[badsede.livejournal.com]

Two words: baking bag. If you are new to turkey roasting, get a backing bag. It makes it so much easier to get really good results.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

Baking bag? Interesting tip. I've just looked it up, and it seems to be a common enough item that I should be able to find one.

I find most turkey dinners to be verging on inedible, due to a lack of seasoning and flavor, so in addition to I will be definitely be wet brining the bird to imbue some flavor.

[badsede.livejournal.com]

I've been able to find them at grocery stores wherever I've lived. They really make a huge difference on taste and even cut down on cooking time.

I've never brined. I think that a properly cooked bird is really tasty. If you do brine, you'll have to let me know how it goes.

This is what I do do though. I mix olive oil, lemon, garlic, dijon and whatever other herbs and spices I fancy at the moment. With a dry bird, I brush the mixture all over the inside (if not stuffed) and outside of the bird. The oil helps the skin crisp up a bit and the flavor penetrates the white meat pretty well.

One thing I'm playing with trying on my next bird is cooking it upside down. It won't look as good, but it is supposed to make the breast meat even tastier.

[mahogany.livejournal.com]

So the skin still gets crispy even though the bird has been cooked in a bag? Awesome!

[badsede.livejournal.com]

If you use oil on the skin it does. The only worry is that the bag might stick to the skin and pull it off the meat. You can solve this with some toothpicks that can keep the bag from touching. You can also make the skin a little extra crispy by cutting the bag open and putting the bird back in the oven for a few minutes.