Thanksgiving Dinner

Piffka, yep, cooking att real high heat for about 10 miin per pound, really it was more like 475.
The secret is to wrap the tiny bits like drumstticks in foil and do the bird where its one side is down for half the time , then the next side is down. It requires liquid in the pand and some "no stick" wire on the bottom so tthe skin doesnt pull off. But by doing it this way, it is so juicy . i think I got this from Julia Child or a James Beard book, Im nott sure. Kafkas roasting book also sears it at high for a bit , then turns it down.
TRY IT, youll never do a turkey any other way again

Eva, I'm glad to hear that you're all using real butter
instead of the chemical version

wow Piffka, that sucker cooked for 7 hours?
You must have been a very tired camper by the end of
the evening. Will you have turkey for xmas as well?

Okay, when the time is near, I'll open a thread about
christmas feasts and venison

I meant to remember Farmerman's high temp thing this year and forgot. Oh, well, I'll try that for the next turkey.

Yes, I used cjhsa's link - that was the SFGate link, they have done a lot of turkey cooking testing there at the SF Chronicle. I think they had originally started with Alice Water's brining recipe - I think she was the one who repopularized brining - but I'm not sure, might be imagining it. I know that several years back when I was constantly tearing out LA Times and SF Chron and NYTimes recipes, that brining articles were among them.

Anyway, mine wasn't flavorful enough, but I didn't stuff it, or put goodies under the skin, etc. I think I need to test this all out some more.

Yeh, it's pretty close. Her recipe shown on this site -
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/2000/secrets/brine.html
has a smidge more salt. The SFGate recipe gives you more how-to details.

To be honest, I didn't brine mine either, because I wound up buying a turkey that had already been injected with brine. Just couldn't pass up the deal, 25-cents a pound if I bought $25 worth of other stuff. Lessee, milk, bread, beer, booze...whee, 15-pound turkey for $3.75.

It turned out really good too. Four hours and 15 minutes at 325, nice and moist.

Farmerman... I am surprised that such a high heat wouldn't dry out the meat, but I'll try it. I love the idea of cooking it on first one side, then the other. I've cooked a turkey upside down before. It gets a squashed look, but stays moist.

Calamity -- I was tired halfway through the day and took a two-hour nap in the afternoon before people came over. (I love that.)

As for Christmas... Christmas Eve we have an open house where I serve tamales and a bunch of other things that have become our tradition -- mostly easy eatin' things like cookies and hors d'oeuvres. Sometimes I make a small turkey, not always. On Christmas Day... there's a fancy coffee-cake and fruit for breakfast. Dinner, I dunno. We used to have it with some family friends who liked to host Christmas Day Dinner, but that couple divorced last year. I guess we need to make a new tradition.... so get that thread started, girl. We have to start planning!