Gallons and gallons of turkey soup: cooking a large bird

[Pbartender]

I'll put in a small note - turkey done on a grill does get a nice smoky flavor, but it isn't (in my humble opinion) equivalent to "smoked turkey". On the grill, while your heat is indirect, the thing is still really hot.

Yes.

With wood chips, you can get a smoky-ish flavor, but it only really sticks to the skin. The turkey meat itself is really no different than roast turkey.

I've had properly smoked turkey, and it's something altogether different... And quite delicious.

The big advantage to grilling it, for us, is that it frees up the entire oven in the kitchen for cooking other dishes. Our kitchen, and our oven, is kind of small, so that alone makes a big difference in convenience.

 

[Gilladian]

If you want to use a meat thermometer on a turkey, don't place it in the breast. Push it down into the thigh meat, but avoid hitting the bone. This takes a little practice, but you can do it.

You'll get the best results by placing the turkey in the oven in such a way that the thermometer is visible through the oven's glass door front. That way you don't have to open the oven to check the thermometer, or if you do, it will only be a crack for a few seconds.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That is good advice on the thermo.

 

[Wycen]

How'd it all turn out?

 

[ssampier]

It turned it out well. I had to modify things on the fly.

Our turkey barely fit our roasting pan. I didn't think to measure the measure the pan before Christmas. That meant I wasn't able to put only a few carrots and celery stalks in the pan.

I took Danny's advice and bought some Pinot Grigio. After stuffing the bird with carrots, celery, onions, and some dried sage, I poured the wine on the bird. I then took some softened butter and lightly rubbed it over the breast of the bird. I then took some oil and rubbed it over the exposed skin.

Lastly, I seasoned the skin with some sea salt and paprika.

I put the bird in for 30 minutes at 425. I took the bird out and placed some tin-foil over the breast. I also placed the thermo into the thigh.

Then I cooked it for 3 and 1/2 hours at 350. The bird was slightly overdone in parts, but not excessively so. The breast was very juicy and flavorful.

I had a little trouble with the stock. The turkey carcass did not fit of any of my stock pots. So I had to improvise with some thigh and leg bones and slightly burnt skin. Hopefully it will made a very good soup when I'm done.

The wine by itself, well, let's not talk about that...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Next time you try, do your best to avoid opening the oven until you're almost done- it should help with the overdone parts.

As for the pino...yeah, it might not have been to your taste as a beveridge.

Stock making, I'm finding, is a bit of an art. You don't want to get the pot too hot, or your stock might get a little bitter. If you don't get the water hot enough, all you have is weak soup. So far, I'm just making basic stocks, but the pros will sometimes include bundles of veggies- tied together or in bags of special cloth- to add flavor. And, according to the chefs I watch on TV (Emeril, Alton Brown, the Mario Bataglia and others), the veggies you want to use for stock are the old, wilted (but not rotting) ones. Despite being un-appetizing, they have the most flavor to add.

Now, about that dried sage?...that sounds interesting!

My style of cooking tends towards the Creole side, so I'm used to tomato/cream sauces, onions, garlic and peppers, but there are lots of seasonings I'm simply clueless about.

What does sage bring to the party?

 

[ssampier]

All I know is that Tyler Florence and Alton Brown associate sage with turkey. I have used fresh sage in the past. It works fine, but I didn't purchase any fresh sage. I had dried sage, though, so I used it.

As for stock, I was going to follow the creole recipe for Turkey Stock. It looks good.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That should be a pretty good stock.