Mastering The Two Hour Turkey

I struggle with big beasts.  Foremost my lack of patience at cooking anything for 6-7 hours, or even 4 for that matter, always leaves me with an under-cooked bird.  This can not be said of the chicken.  Chicken does not daunt me in the same way, as well... It only takes an hour! My patience can handle this! Many Thanksgivings have gone by that we have microwaved the sliced turkey to make sure it is thoroughly cooked.  And frankly I find that most turkey cooked all day is darn dry!


No MORE! If I can cook a perfect chicken, I can cook a perfect turkey! Enter the electronic meat thermometer. Declare the turkey shall be done right, without flaw,  moist, delicious and EVERY TIME!

The Perfect, Juicy Two Hour Turkey

• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme
• 2 lemon, halved
• 2 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
• 4-6 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 1 large yellow onion, cut in 1/4ths
• 18-22 lb Turkey (anything less you are spending on bones) 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, preheated for around 30-45 minutes prior to putting turkey in oven.

Remove the giblets. Rinse the turkey inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the turkey. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the turkey with the butter or olive oil and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. I prefer to rub 2 tsp unmelted butter under the skin as well, makes amazing skin.  Prepare oven bag with one tablespoons flour shaking all over bag. Insert electronic thermostat, into deepest part of breast if you have one.  

Circled is proper thermometer placement

Where to Place the Thermometer in a turkey- Right above the leg is the deepest part of the breast. So on the side of the bird.  Without running to bone as deep as you can .


Place turkey in oven bag and cut 6 air slits on top. Roast the turkey for 2 hours or until thermometer reads 170°F, the juices will run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove and let rest on counter covered for 20 minutes as juices will draw back into the meat. 

This turned out excellent! I'm so happy I tried it and made it work! Simplifies the complications of the turkey dominating the oven all day! 

Make Ahead and Serve Directions- The turkey can be made a day ahead and refrigerated before reheating, or it can be carved 10 minutes after resting.
If you decide to roast and carve the turkey ahead of time, or if you want to freeze a portion of the turkey for another occasion, place the carved turkey in a shallow baking dish, cover it with broth, then wrap with foil or place the dish in a plastic bag; refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 1 month.When you are ready to serve, defrost, if necessary, in the refrigerator, then bake in a 350°F. oven for 30 to 45 or until heated completely through (or heat in the microwave).

Moist Juicy Turkey!

Equally as delicious Alton Brown (Good Eats) Brined Turkey. Though more complex the flavor is one that is worth a little extra effort if you can afford it!

Where to Find Organic or Heirloom Turkeys

Diestel Turkey- Sonoma Valley, Ca http://www.diestelturkey.com/our_family_of_turkeys.htm
Can also be found at PCC

Marys Turkeys -Local Store Finder http://www.marysturkeys.com/store.html

Eat Wild- http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

How to Know if Your Food is Genetically Modified

Great tips to know if your food has been Genetically Modified, Organic, or Conventional. 

How to Know?

FDA? Nay.

Would you eat from a fruit stand in Mexico? Not likely, unless you were acclimated to their abundance of bacteria! Imported fruit is not much different. The FDA is under resourced and underfunded, and tends to have looser regulations than other concerned regions such as Europe.  In fact, Europe bans milk and meat products from the United States due to our use of hormones and regulation standards. The ability and willingness of the FDA to check even half of the imported foods are not as assuring as one would hope. The regulation management for many countries is very poor regarding chemicals and even banned regulations here are used actively.  Walmart,  is the largest importer of Chinese grown produce. Chinese produce and products are found time and time again to contain lead and arsenic. 

Even if it is not important to your dietary interests consider the effects of all the hormones on small children seriously. For example milk cows are given a growth hormone and other hormones to promote them to continue to produce long after what would be a normal lactation period.  Because of this and the constant manipulation and over-milking they develop puss and infection on their utters.  For this they are treated with antibiotics and the milk as well. All milk sold commercially is then homogenized to eliminate separation of the cream from the thinner milk water.  Homogenization prevents the human body from properly digesting the milk, leaving behind the many vitamins, minerals and short chain fatty acids that are naturally found in milk. There is much research that hormones in milk can produce adult acne, hormone dependent cancers such as testes, prostate and breast, and excessive amounts of antibiotics and hormones. Cancer is caused by the mutation of cells. The chief activity of synthetic hormones and steroids is cell mutation.

SOLUTION- There are many health reasons why organic food is a smart choice, foremost your body is not being pumped full of unnatural disease causing chemicals. With local sources many foods grown locally can be grown with native seeds and without the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers; cows and dairy without excessive hormones. Milk could be sold raw, without the use of homogenization. There would be very little need for pasteurization and transportation and storage measures. Local foods eliminate the need to import foreign fruits and veggies that have been grown in questionable conditions and with liberal pesticide regulations and can increase the use of organic foods.