how do you make a turkey overnight?

[firsttimer2007]

How do you cook a turkey for 8 hours? What temp do you cook it at?

This is my first turkey. please help.

 

[Sandy321]

My mom used to do this, one year everyone got sick - its just not reccommended - you cook it at 250 deg and it comes out over cooked and very dry!!

This method is dangerous and involves cooking the turkey at 190 to 200°F overnight or for 12 to 13 hours. There are many versions of the slow-cooking method around and all of them put you and your dinner guests at risk of foodborne illness (food poisoning). A low oven temperature means the turkey will take longer to heat, increasing the risk of harmful bacteria growth and the production of toxins that may not be destroyed with further cooking.

Make It Safe - The USDA recommends temperatures no lower than 325°F for cooking meat and poultry.

from > http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/turkey/techniques.html#good4

call the butterball hotline and they will talk you thru a cooking method -

1-800-butterball (and it doesnt even have to be a butterball turkey!!)

 

[worldismine]

I don't cook it over night, I just get up very early to put the bird in the oven.

 

[abirdd]

My mom and DH always get up really early, and get the bird in the oven.

The overnight method is just not safe, and is normally really dry as noted above!!

 

[flakypuff]

hOW BIG IS THE TURKEY? dID YOU THINK ABOUT THE CROOKPOT?

 

[powellrj]

reynolds cooking bags are a great way to cook your turkey. They are foolproof!

 

[Aliceacc]

I always keep the stuffing separate, then cook for 20 minutes per pound. Works like a charm.

 

[snowgooseltd]

I've been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for over forty years and always put the stuffed turkey in the oven at 225 degrees before I go to bed. We awake to fantastic aromas and I turn the oven up to 350 degrees to finish it off. Depending on the size, this can take an additional couple of hours. I always have a twenty pound plus turkey with the pop-up timer. I cover it with aluminum foil at night and remove it in the morning. I've never had a problem and the turkey has always been very moist. I guess it depends on how you do it. By the way, we leave for WDW the day after Thanksgiving and take leftovers with us for sandwiches. Three days to go until we're back in the world......

 

[firsttimer2007]

I've been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for over forty years and always put the stuffed turkey in the oven at 225 degrees before I go to bed. We awake to fantastic aromas and I turn the oven up to 350 degrees to finish it off. Depending on the size, this can take an additional couple of hours. I always have a twenty pound plus turkey with the pop-up timer. I cover it with aluminum foil at night and remove it in the morning. I've never had a problem and the turkey has always been very moist. I guess it depends on how you do it. By the way, we leave for WDW the day after Thanksgiving and take leftovers with us for sandwiches. Three days to go until we're back in the world......

Have a great time. we just got back a couple of months ago and LOVED it.

 

[firsttimer2007]

Thank you everyone!

 

[Aliceacc]

By the way, if it's your first turkey, here's how to doctor up Stovetop stuffing:

Get some bulk sausage. Peel off the skin and brown the sausage in a frying pan, stirring it well until all the pink is gone. Drain and put aside.

Now cut up some celery and onions pretty fine, and saute them in the same frying pan in a little oil. Keep frying until they're soft.

Mix the Stove Top according to the directions. Add in the sausage, celery/onion mixture, some sage (found in the spice aisle) and, if you want it a bit moist, some chicken or turkey broth. It's delicious and impossible to ruin.

 

[firsttimer2007]

You are all great!
Doctoring up stove to sounds great.

 

[MommaluvsDis]

For really simple but delicious ways to cook turkeys, go to the foodnetwork.com. Paula Deen, Alton Brown, the host of Good Eats, and the others have some great recipes.

I use one of Alton Brown's recipes and it is a hit every time!

All recipes are usually very easy and you can print them up.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

We've used an overnight recipe for several years with great results. Maybe we've just been lucky, but no one has even gotten ill. We've used this method with both whole turkeys and turkey breasts.

1. Thoroughly wash turkey & pat dry with paper towels.

2. Pour white vinegar over turkey

3. Rub turkey with butter

4. Generously pour on Lowry's Seasoned Salt. Rub into turkey.

5. Place two apples inside cavity of whole turkey. (If using turkey breasts, just place beside)

6. Wrap loosely in heavy duty foil.

7. Cook overnight at 250 degrees.

Of course, a whole turkey will need to cook longer than turkey breast. The apples keep the turkey from drying out. This turkey always comes out moist & yummy!

 

[Sandy321]

That Cooking Mission Impossible did a Turkey show too -

I will say the best turkey I cook I stuff with a lemon cut into 1/4ths, and add the onion, celery, carrots inside - and then go in and seperate the skin from the meat of the breast (Food Network, Alton or Paula, or Martha Stewart, I watch them all!!) and put a few sliced thin lemons, and some fresh sage and some butter under there - I'm telling you the presentation is fantastic, but the lemony flavor is amazing!!

and when you do the stove top stuffing - if you add some corn bread to it, it really punches it up as well - and according to that guy on Mission Food possible - you just reheat the "sides" cook them all thouroguhly (and the stove top its just a 5 min cook, cook that sausage - I use Bob Evans sausage and mix it in!) then just reheat it for 20 min in the oven while your turkey is "resting"

I had no idea so many people truly cook their birds on such low heats overnight!! Good Luck!!

 

[CTdiznymom]

This goes against all the rules, but I've been doing it for 28 yrs. and my mother did it this way too. I stuff my turkey the night before. Never a single problem.

I make a giblet stuffing by sauteing the chopped giblets with onion, celery s&p, parsley in a stick of butter. THIS THEN IS COOLED COMPLETELY. So it is iced cold. Then I mix this into a bag of seasoned cubed bread crumbs, handful of Parmesian cheese and about 6 eggs. Pour in a can of chicken broth.. Refrigerate this mixture while cleaning & drying the bird which has been under refigeration. Salt the cavity and neck area. Stuff the COLD bird with the COLD stuffing. Truss, and rub the turkey with some Crisco. Refigerate overnight and pop in the oven and cook as directed. As long as every thing is cold there is no problem.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

[JodyTG]

About 6 years ago my grandmother decided that I needed to make the turkey for Thanksgiving. Well...I really didn't like the dry turkey that she and my aunts always made (they always cooked it all night, so that might be why) so I began asking around about different ways to do it. A guy that I worked with gave me his family recipe and everyone loved it. So, I...a Texas girl...cooked what he called a "Yankee turkey"...he was from New Jersey.

Basically, I covered the bird with olive oil and some butter and then rubbed in garlic powder, kosher salt, and pepper. Inside the turkey I put in 2 sticks of butter, one white onion cut into quarters, and peeled 4 fresh cloves of garlic. (Yes, it takes forever to peel it by hand, and your fingers will smell like garlic all day, but fresh is best.) Then, everything gets placed into a cooking bag to cook at 325 degrees until it's done.

I should warn you, though, that this isn't the kind of turkey that you sit on the table all nice and pretty waiting to be carved. It is so moist and juicy and tender that it literally falls off the bone...but it tastes SOOOO good...

 

[Tink-aholic]

...but WHY do you all cook your turkeys overnight? Do you eat them for breakfast?

 

[Ishy]

...but WHY do you all cook your turkeys overnight? Do you eat them for breakfast?

Thats what I was thinking!

I prep the turkey the night before and slap it in the oven when I get up. I never saw a turkey without recomended cooking times, and degrees. I also will NOT buy a frozen turkey. I was wondering if this was a fool proof way of cooking a frozen turkey? Even if you think they are thawed all the way, the cooking time can vary.

This is the first time in years I am cooking one Tom (21 pounds). I usually get a 14 and a 12 pound hen - cook one in the oven 'stuffed' so I can make pan gravy out of the rich drippings, and the other I put in my showtime rotisserie (JUST FITS! but you can't set it and forget it).

Less people this year.

 

[shannonh]

Know what's funny? Before I started making the "big" dinners, I just assumed that a turkey took 12 hours to make . My mom always put the bird in the night before and it was ready by 2.