I'm concerned here. I come home and my idiotic parents are trying to cook turkey, but I know they have no idea how to cook and suck badly at it. Her cookies taste like burnt mess. Anyways so this guy tells me the turkey has been in since 3:30pm and it's 6:30pm, but the temperature is 200 degrees so I was extremely concerned, I do not trust meat unless professionals cook it. Anyways I read online this is way to low to cook a bird and unsafe, what do you guys think? Also I read at 350 degrees it would take 6 hours to cook so it sounds like this is impossible to cook at 200 degrees! I am worried they will get food poisoning, I will not touch this bird though I will just make it appear I eat some.
My fan oven only goes to 200c. Are you talking F or C? Anyway, Turkey needs to be covered with foil and initially goes into a 200c oven to cook for around 45 minutes then the temp is reduced to 170c and the bird is cooked for about 40 minutes per kilo.
200C=392F so if you're referring to celsius, it sounds like your parents are in the clear. Obviously there's more to cooking a good turkey than just getting the right temperature though, hope your Thanksgiving went well with or without the turkey. 200F could probably cook a turkey and might even make it taste amazing (with the right seasonings), but you'd need to do it for practically a whole day.
My 20 pounder took 12 hours of smoking at 250-275F. I also brined it for 12 hours....super juicy meat. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! You should always check the thickest part of the breast and thigh with a probe thermometer to make sure it's at least 160-170F.
I agree a probe thermometer is the best way to make sure the turkey is cooked through. I would be very interested in hearing about how you did brine the turkey and with what the concept is foreign to me.
You're basically soaking the bird in salt water before cooking, which does something to the meat to make it hold more moisture. I brine all my poultry, it really makes a difference. I did the turkey inside of an ice chest. Fortunately, it was 40F outside, so I just left the cooler on the deck overnight, without having to worry about it getting too warm. In the past, I did a smaller turkey, and emptied out the fruit and veggie drawer in the bottom of the fridge, and brined it in that. I use about a 1/4 cup of salt per gallon. I just made sure it was thawed out first.
I'll just tell you the number 1 secret of cooking a turkey: Take the bird straight from the freezer, frozen the entire way through. Pre-heat a giant pot of oil to as hot as you can get it, then dump the bird in. [/joke] No, don't do that... my uncle once tried to deep-fry a turkey without letting it thaw entirely... something like an 18 pound bird... he put it in the hot oil, put the lid on it, turned and took two steps, and the thing exploded like a damn bomb. I don't know how he managed to avoid getting covered in hot oil...
I enjoy this way to cook turkey. [video=youtube;qOeICSY9exc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qOeICSY9exc[/video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qOeICSY9exc
Yeah..it's my favorite way of doing it. We deep fried the turkey on Thanksgiving in Charleston, Texas...but I didn't have the gear here...so I smoked mine on Friday.
Thanks very much christmas and my brined turkey are coming Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
