Turkey Cooking Tips That Will Help You Cook Up A Tasty Meal
If you’ve been considering making some easy, healthy food for the whole family this holiday season, turkey is a great choice. It’s easy to prepare and fairly inexpensive. And it’s one of the best turkey recipes around. But do you have enough turkey? Here it is, the fifth installment of this turkey cooking tips series, revised and presented to fit in with this holiday season:
* Q – Is there really a better way to make a delicious turkey?
Do you need a slow cooker, a gas oven, or a smoker? Are you better off using a traditional dry rub or a smoked turkey baste? Thanks for the help on my first article in this series, which led me to lots of excellent information about basting and rubs, particularly the dry rub, but I think we’ve covered most of the traditional methods now, so let’s move on to some other turkey cooking tips that will help you enjoy your meal a lot more.
* Q – What if you’re having a Thanksgiving dinner casserole and you run out of turkey?
You could use leftover turkey breadcrumbs instead. You could also bake those leftover turkey thighs, chop them up, and serve that with the baked chicken. This was excellent information that came from reader Jennifer in Wisconsin. Thanks for sharing!
* Q – How long should you roast a turkey?
We’ve all done it at Thanksgiving, standing in front of the oven for hours on end, so how do you do it differently? Have you ever tried roasting a turkey in an oven? If not, you should definitely give it a try, I guarantee it’s a whole lot better than standing in front of the hot oven for several hours.
* R – Right Ways to Present Your Turkey Leftovers.
Food preparation and cooking are always tricky, and this is no different. Turkey is especially tough food to handle when it’s still hot, so always be sure to store leftovers in the refrigerator in its original wrapping. Don’t open it right away or you’ll risk burning the food. It’s always best to give it time to cool before you try to carve it. And as for food safety, always throw away any cooked turkey that smells cooked or smells like fish.
* S – Save the turkey drippings and the casserole ingredients.
After your first attempt at making the turkey casserole, don’t throw away the cooked drippings. Instead, take them with you to the pot of food preparation, like a large stockpot, and cover them up in the sink or a large bowl so they don’t boil over and kill the other food inside. You’ll want to save the fat and the juice from the skin for the next day’s dinner rolls and stuffing, so save the leftover turkey drippings for another use.
* P.M. EST – Set the Timing For Success.
Turkey recipes tend to take about the same amount of time in different parts of the country. Make sure you adjust the cooking time according to the specific recipe you’re following. For example, if you’re making a hearty stew recipe, then you should make it a bit less on the bottom side so it’s more moist when it goes into the slow cooker. Similarly, you should cut down on the cooking time for any casserole recipes by half in the North and half in the South.
* Pounds and Ounces of Food.
Turkeys are fairly heavy, but that doesn’t mean you have to waste a bunch of calories when you cook them. If you want to cook six pounds or more, you can easily do it with a pound and a half of leftovers. Just divide the meat up into three sections (leftovers, fat, and other) and cook individually until each section is done. Your leftovers should be fairly low in sodium, but you will still get great flavor from them, and you’ll be able to eat a relatively large amount of them while losing weight at the same time!
