There may be some people who would take exception to my way of cooking turkey's but from the feedback I have gotten from people when they have eaten my turkey dinners I think I am doing something right. I will try my best to explain how I do this and if I have to cook a turkey dinner I will take some pics and post them or I might just go get some fryer chickens and show ya.
To do this you will need a big stock pot and a big roaster. The only draw back is that doign the bird this way you will not be able to stuff it, but hey the savings in time is more than worth the sacrifice of having to cook stuffing in a dish.
First take the bird and break the bottom of the torso from the top. Then put the legs in the stockpot first knees down feet stubs up. Then put the upper torso in the pot so it dovetails with the feet stubs hooking under the wings the breast must face out not in. Then fill your stock pot with warm water and add whatever flavours you want the meat to be ehanced with and put the pot on high. Preheat your oven to 400-350 depending on how fast you want to finish it.
What you want to do is watch it as it slowly comes to a boil, when the pot has reached what I call a rolling boil, leave the turkey in the boil for about 10-15 minutes.
Remove the bird and put it in the roaster, making sure that it is breast up and feet up. When I am cooking a bird for personal use I like to put onions, sweet potatoes, carrots and turnips under the bird to give it a rise so that the self basting begins and continues as it cooks. The way I know that the bird is done is the leg ligaments cut loose and so does the wings. So when your bird can basically have its legs pulled off, it's done.
The nice thing about cooking them this way for me as a chef is never a dry bird, I have stock for stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy that really ties the whole meal's taste profile to uniformity. Even better I cut almost 2 hrs off the cook time of really big birds this way.
And let's face it, when I am cooking a supper for 200-400 people being able cook the turkeys in less time is prime.
You got my Turkey curious
