Electric Roaster Questions (thinking about getting a Nesco)

Oh, and I will also be using a probe thermometer to monitor the turkey temperature. I've used one in past years even with regular oven. Mine has a probe and an oven safe cable/wire so the digital read out stays on the outside of the oven. Mine is magnetic which is pretty cool too so it just sticks to the side of the oven.
 
I'll be sure to do the burn off before I use it the first time. That is a great tip.

I plan to use my probe thermometer on the turkey as well, it's so helpful. The stainless steel pan will be so much easier to clean, I'm loving that option.

I haven't decided about brining yet. We've done it several times before and it is really good, but I don't actually miss it when we don't brine :confused3

I'm also really looking forward to that extra oven space, yea!

Thanks for all your advice!
 
I'll be sure to do the burn off before I use it the first time. That is a great tip.

I plan to use my probe thermometer on the turkey as well, it's so helpful. The stainless steel pan will be so much easier to clean, I'm loving that option.

I haven't decided about brining yet. We've done it several times before and it is really good, but I don't actually miss it when we don't brine :confused3

I'm also really looking forward to that extra oven space, yea!

Thanks for all your advice!

We'll have to swap our experiences after the big day.
 
I highly recommend the roaster - oh and brining your bird too! It imparts lovely flavor and a crispness on the skin that is to die for![/QUOTE]

What do you use for a brine? I have never done this before, but it looks like we will be staying home for Thanksgiving and wouldn't mind trying this in my Nesco.
 


I highly recommend the roaster - oh and brining your bird too! It imparts lovely flavor and a crispness on the skin that is to die for!

What do you use for a brine? I have never done this before, but it looks like we will be staying home for Thanksgiving and wouldn't mind trying this in my Nesco.[/QUOTE]

I'm going to use the brining part that I found for a brined turkey on Epicurious. I'm actually preparing another turkey from there but will use this for the brine:

Brine
4 quarts apple cider, divided
1 1/2 cups kosher salt
1/4 cup whole allspice
8 bay leaves
4 quarts cold water
1 20-pound turkey (neck and gizzard reserved)


Preparation:
Simmer 1 quart apple cider, salt, allspice, and bay leaves in 20-quart pot 5 minutes, stirring often. Cool completely. Add remaining 3 quarts cider and 4 quarts water. Place turkey in brine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Drain turkey and rinse. Arrange on several layers of paper towels in roasting pan. Refrigerate uncovered overnight.

For the process of brining, I am going to follow the instructions I found here:

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--433/brining-a-turkey.asp
 
I have to say that Alton Brown is who I follow for the brine - maybe not so much the ginger and allspice berries (I just use allspice that is already ground) - lots of pepper and brown sugar though! I do use the aromatics (or something like the one below - maybe not all of the herbs) in the bird, I do my stuffing/dressing separately in the oven.

For the nesco I jack up the thing to as high as it will go for the 30 minutes and then turn it back down for the remainder of the cooking time. As others have mentioned you could do this in your oven and then transfer to the nesco.

Happy Cooking!

From the direct link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html
Ingredients
1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water
For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil
Directions
Click here to see how it's done.

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.
 
We mostly use Alton Brown's Brine recipe as well, though we don't use the exact same herbs and spices.
 


I have 3 roasters and love them all. Turkey in the big one, ham in the middle one, and I put sides in loaf pans in the smaller one with a wee bit of water (maybe like a bain marie?) to keep those going with my oven is nuts with desserts and the like.

I agree with the burn off - sometimes they smell like plastic buring and my newest one smelled like fish?!?! for some reason. You don't want that on Thanksgiving eve it takes a bit for it to dissipate.

I highly recommend the roaster - oh and brining your bird too! It imparts lovely flavor and a crispness on the skin that is to die for!

I meant to ask you ... do you do any browning of the turkey in your regular oven, or do you do it completely in the roaster? If so, how do you get the skin brown and crispy?
 
The Nesco Roaster I ordered arrived today! Also a bit of a surprise, it came with a 3 compartment buffet insert. I'll need to think about how I can use that to keep some sides warm.

This coming weekend I plan to do the burn-in.
 
The Nesco Roaster I ordered arrived today! Also a bit of a surprise, it came with a 3 compartment buffet insert. I'll need to think about how I can use that to keep some sides warm.

This coming weekend I plan to do the burn-in.

Wow, that was fast! Mine shipped yesterday.
Good luck!
 
At Costco today, they had an 18 qt Rival Roaster for $39.99 plus sales tax. Stainless steel outside, but not inside. Couldn't tell if it had the buffett inserts.
 
At Costco today, they had an 18 qt Rival Roaster for $39.99 plus sales tax. Stainless steel outside, but not inside. Couldn't tell if it had the buffett inserts.

I saw the 18 qt Rival at Target over the weekend. For some reason it can't handle a turkey as big as the Nesco. I think because the sides are not as high. I think their 22 qt is the one that can handle a turkey.
 
I saw the 18 qt Rival at Target over the weekend. For some reason it can't handle a turkey as big as the Nesco. I think because the sides are not as high. I think their 22 qt is the one that can handle a turkey.

Good, I'm happy with what I ordered and it should be here today! I kind of want to take it for a test drive....
I need the larger capacity!
 
Good, I'm happy with what I ordered and it should be here today! I kind of want to take it for a test drive....
I need the larger capacity!

We'll have to compare notes on the the burn-in. I'm doing it tomorrow morning.

I think the roaster arrived so quickly for me because it shipped directly from Nesco, who is located in Wisconsin, and I'm in Chicago. It basically came over night.
 
We'll have to compare notes on the the burn-in. I'm doing it tomorrow morning.

I think the roaster arrived so quickly for me because it shipped directly from Nesco, who is located in Wisconsin, and I'm in Chicago. It basically came over night.

Mine arrived on time yesterday, but I don't think it's right. The outside is stainless steel, including the lid, but the cookwell and buffett servers are black porcelain. Did you get the right one?
When I go back to my order paperwork and the Carson website, I did get what I ordered, but their description doesn't match the product they show in the picture and shipped to me.
Went to the Nesco website and the stainless model with stainless cookwell is different. The lid is black on it and you can clearly see the stainless cookwell. I don't find one like that on the Carson website at all.
My hubby took it out of the box so now I'll need to contact them and make a decision. Keep it and try to get the price difference refunded or return it? :confused3 Hope you got the right one!
 
Mine arrived on time yesterday, but I don't think it's right. The outside is stainless steel, including the lid, but the cookwell and buffett servers are black porcelain. Did you get the right one?
When I go back to my order paperwork and the Carson website, I did get what I ordered, but their description doesn't match the product they show in the picture and shipped to me.
Went to the Nesco website and the stainless model with stainless cookwell is different. The lid is black on it and you can clearly see the stainless cookwell. I don't find one like that on the Carson website at all.
My hubby took it out of the box so now I'll need to contact them and make a decision. Keep it and try to get the price difference refunded or return it? :confused3 Hope you got the right one!

I PM'd you. I opened mine today and saw the same thing. I phoned them and told them that their description did not match what I ordered. The one with the porcelain cookwell is $30 cheaper. I told them that I would keep it, but I did not want to pay for a stainless steel cookwell when the one shipped did not have one.

I think the item is misdescribed on their site. I think what the item is is the porcelain cookwell with the buffet accessory, which is very nice, but not necessarily what I wanted.

They are supposed to email me back within 24 to 48 hours with whether or the difference will be credited back.

I'll just pack it back up. They pay for the shipping back, or I can also return it to a Carson's which is not too far away from me.

The list price was right in line with the stainless steel cookwell model.

The funny thing is it's sitting on my front porch, doing the burn in.

I didn't even notice the cookwell until later. It dawned on me that the cookwell wasn't stainless steel.

Like I said, the buffet is nice, and the fact that you can add water to the cookwell to make it a moist heat for keeping food warm is nice, but it really wasn't something I needed or was looking for.
 
I PM'd you. I opened mine today and saw the same thing. I phoned them and told them that their description did not match what I ordered. The one with the porcelain cookwell is $30 cheaper. I told them that I would keep it, but I did not want to pay for a stainless steel cookwell when the one shipped did not have one.

I think the item is misdescribed on their site. I think what the item is is the porcelain cookwell with the buffet accessory, which is very nice, but not necessarily what I wanted.

They are supposed to email me back within 24 to 48 hours with whether or the difference will be credited back.

I'll just pack it back up. They pay for the shipping back, or I can also return it to a Carson's which is not too far away from me.

The list price was right in line with the stainless steel cookwell model.

The funny thing is it's sitting on my front porch, doing the burn in.

I didn't even notice the cookwell until later. It dawned on me that the cookwell wasn't stainless steel.

Like I said, the buffet is nice, and the fact that you can add water to the cookwell to make it a moist heat for keeping food warm is nice, but it really wasn't something I needed or was looking for.

I didn't check my pm's thanks for that! I'll contact them as well. I'll keep it too if they refund the difference. I hope and expect that they will do the right thing. I'll be in touch, Thanks, Mary
 
I didn't check my pm's thanks for that! I'll contact them as well. I'll keep it too if they refund the difference. I hope and expect that they will do the right thing. I'll be in touch, Thanks, Mary

I was sort of bummed out after I noticed that error. At worse case it can be sent back.

I can tell you now that I'm in the middle of doing it, that the burn in process is turning out to be very easy. I really don't smell anything and have not noticed any smoke in the burn off, though it is outside my house and very breezy today.

If I end up returning it and getting either the one I wanted or a less expensive one, it won't be too much trouble to do another burn in.

I do like the size of the cookwell, and I also really like the rack complete with the lifters built in. That's very nice.
 
I was sort of bummed out after I noticed that error. At worse case it can be sent back.

I can tell you now that I'm in the middle of doing it, that the burn in process is turning out to be very easy. I really don't smell anything and have not noticed any smoke in the burn off, though it is outside my house and very breezy today.

If I end up returning it and getting either the one I wanted or a less expensive one, it won't be too much trouble to do another burn in.

I do like the size of the cookwell, and I also really like the rack complete with the lifters built in. That's very nice.

Agree. Just sent my online form to their Customer Service. My Husband thinks getting the ss cookwell at this point isn't worth the $ difference or hassle of returning it, so if they do the right thing I can live with it! :thumbsup2
 
Agree. Just sent my online form to their Customer Service. My Husband thinks getting the ss cookwell at this point isn't worth the $ difference or hassle of returning it, so if they do the right thing I can live with it! :thumbsup2

I was at Costco today and saw they have a 22 qt Hamilton Beach Roaster.

I gave it a thorough look over. I would say the Nesco is a bit better made. Heaver gauge parts and seems to fit together better.

I hope Carson's makes good, but if I were to end up returning the one I have, I think I still get another Nesco.
 

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