LogFAQs > #912215621

_AdjI_ posted...

captpackrat posted...

2. Cook very quickly at a high temperature (500F for 30 minutes, then 350 until done). The causes less moisture loss, resulting in a juicier turkey.

That's false, actually. Browning is done entirely for flavour purposes, and has no impact on moisture retention (I've actually seen studies done that suggest searing steaks after cooking them retains slightly more moisture than doing it before). Doing it at the front end just means you don't have to worry about guessing when the turkey is half an hour from being done, since you don't want to finish cooking it and then cook at high heat for another half hour (that will dry it out).

I meant cooking quickly as opposed to low and slow. My grandmother would put the turkey in the oven at like 275 and cook it for 4 hours or some stupidly long time. My turkey is usually done in about 2 hours at 500/350.

captpackrat posted...

3. Don't stuff the bird. Stuffing makes it take longer to cook, making the turkey dry.

Depends what you stuff it with. The traditional bread-based stuffing? Absolutely, don't do that (that's actually somewhat dangerous, since the stuffing will be soaked with turkey juices but won't necessarily reach 165 to be safe to eat). My mother's approach with turkey, though, is to stuff it with apple, orange, and onion slices, which give it a nice flavour and also add moisture to it. That, I can recommend

That's not stuffing, that's just aromatics. Since you don't eat it, it doesn't need to be cooked to a safe temperature (which is why stuffing sucks, by the time it hits 165 in the center, the meat is toast). I follow Alton Brown's recipe and use apple, onion, cinnamon, rosemary and sage