Turkey Review

Sunday we hosted Thanksgiving Dinner for Mr. B's dad's family. Seven adults and a shrimpy joined in the first celebration at our home. It was an eventful evening with lots of food! The turkey was the hardest adventure of the meal. And behold I over cooked the bird. Yes, I did it. Mr. B laughed at me because I was so disappointed with my meal.

Here is what we did, so you don't make the same mistake. Plus I've learned for next year.
We used the roaster oven instead of the regular oven. I wanted to try this for several reasons. The oven would not be on all day and I can save room for other items to put in later. I didn't want buy a roasting pan for the oven. Where would I keep it???? We received a roaster oven for a wedding present and I might as well use the sucker.

To start our preparation, I put the bird in the frig on Wednesday. Our frig is really cool and milk freezes easily. So I was worried that it would not defrost by Sunday. Check- Bird did defrost. Then we started to clean the bird out. Mr. B and I hate skin. So we took the skin off the bird. Good choice. I'd do that again.
I read somewhere to make a "bath" for the bird to cook in. So I didn't stuff it because that would have taken longer to cook. We put 4 can of chicken broth in the bottom of the roaster with onions and celery. We seasoned the bird with a mix of spices and olive oil. That was good. I don't have a clue what he mixed up. But it made the bird have good flavor.

Here is the problem we had. My MIL said to reduce the temp my 25 degree on anything you cook in the roaster. Check! I learned that you're not to open the oven to check on the cooking b/c it lose heat and doesn't recover as fast as a traditional oven. So I didn't open it until 3 hours and 45 minutes. The time I figured out how long it was going to take to cook the bird. BIG MISTAKE! Once we open the lid when the timer went off, we found that the pop-up timer was popped and it looked dry. My response was "We killed it." That is where Mr. B started to laugh while taste testing and replied "I'm pretty sure it was dead before we put it in the oven."

So there you have it. We over cooked the turkey. My very first turkey!! His step-sister said I had to attempt it again because it takes at least 3 Thanksgivings to figure it out. Great! So I guess they are coming back next Thanksgiving to see if I oven cook another bird.

What would I change for next time? Well I would keep the temp at 300 degrees. But I think I'll set the timer for 3 hours and check it. I believe that is when the turkey really started to smell good in the oven. I want to try it again. But I don't want to have all those leftovers. So if anyone wants to have dinner at the B's come right over. Don't be surprised if it's another dry turkey.