For as long as we’ve been together, The Husband has always made the Thanksgiving turkey. Going on twelve years now. Honestly? I just want no part of playing with the neck, the giblets and whatever else lurks inside the bird and luckily he is quite happy taking over. Handling some specific meat and fish just makes me squeamish base-case, even more so when it’s an 18-pound turkey, so this way, everyone is happy.
Over the years, The Husband has been slowly perfecting his method, and the past five or so have resulted in cooking the turkey overnight. Waking up to a fully cooked, super juicy turkey on Thanksgiving morning is, hands down, one of my favorite Thanksgiving food traditions, and I look forward to it year after year. Even this year, as my mom is doing the turkey for logistical reasons, we’ll still be doing our own tomorrow night. Low and slow, it cooks at 200 degrees all night, and when you wake up, the turkey will be done, and your oven will be free and clear for everything else you need to make. It doesn’t get better than that.
Need a munchie before the big feast? You might want to try Spicy Bacon-Cheddar Butterflies. (I cut waaaay down on the cayenne pepper so ours weren’t spicy at all. Hello Kid-Friendly!) I wrote about it right over here – they hit our table this past weekend, and you know what we say … everything is better with bacon. And then when you’ve had your fill of turkey and want a good juicy steak recipe, you can check out this skirt steak recipe I made last week. Oh so tender and totally worth making. Yum-o.
The Husband’s Overnight Turkey
For a 20 lb turkey, he puts butter over and under the skin, along with garlic and assorted herbs. Also douses it a bit with liquid Adobo (in ethnic aisle, large wine bottle shaped glass jar). He puts two cans of chicken broth and a little bit of apple juice in the roasting pan and stuffs the turkey with potatoes, lemons and onions. Cooks at 200 overnight — usually takes it out around 7-8 am. Wonderful smell to wake up to on Thanksgiving morning.
Emeril at his best. Sounds similar to my bird, but I don’t cook it overnight. Hmmm food for thought for next year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
SIL
wow, how easy is that?? bookmarking :)
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love that you get to wake up to the wonderful scent of a fully cooked turkey!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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My mother did that for years and it was wonderful, although she did it at 250 degrees. She was always up by 5:30 am cooking the rest of the meal . . . could be why it was 250 degrees. I did it last year and used the turkey oven bag so I wouldn’t have to baste and it was great!
Ok I want to do this… but how do you keep it warm or from going bad if you have a 1 pm meal? thanks, Tracy Wilson
Tracy – usually we stick it back in the fridge after it’s done, and then slice and warm it up when it’s time to eat.