We bought this 11 lb. bird for Thanksgiving, but went to a friends to eat instead. Their turkey was sooo dry. I'm currently cooking our Turkey. This is my first attempt at cooking turkey, and I'm asking for St. Lawrence's intercession. I'm going by the Good Eats recipe which hopefully won't leave the turkey's breast meat dry.
Apparently, the breast meat is done at 161 and the dark meat is done at 180. The little turkey popper pops at 180, but it's put in the breast. That means, while your dark meat is fine, your white meat is dry. So, Good Eats recommends creating something called a 'turkey triangle'. This is a peice of double folded tinfoil that's in the shape of a triangle (duh). You shape it onto the bird. After cooking the turkey at 500 degrees for 30 minutes, you put the triangle on, and cook it for about 7 minutes per pound. This will apparently protect your breast meat from getting over-heated and dried out, and at the same time, ensure that your dark meat gets to 180 degrees.
Currently, the triangle is on the bird. Inside, it has half an orange, half a pear and a celery stick. I think that'll make it taste really good. The skin is seasoned with salt and pepper. I don't put stuffing because stuffing is evil.
I've learned everything I need to know about cooking from Good Eats. You might want to take a look at the show that now airs weekdays on the Food Network. Here's the recipe for Roast Turkey.
Anyway, I'm dog tired. We went door busting today (That's waking up at an insane time of the morning to go shopping at After-Thanksgiving sales.) I have a headache, and it's taking all my willpower to stay awake. I need to stay awake because I don't want the turkey to burn, and when I take it out, I don't want my dad mutilating it. I'll carve it, thank you very much.
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. God bless you and your family.
