Thanksgiving turkey

is there any rule of thumb how big the turkey should be? maybe 500g a person?
i want to prepare it, but only have a convection oven at hand. does this take longer? i might be able to roast it on the stove top (!), but not in the oven...

I'm giving this some thought now to see if i really want to do this. i once had don riina fabulous cranberry port sauce. mmmm, will dig around TT for more tips (yams or sweet taters)!

this may help

http://www.shadybrookfarms.com/hereshow/guide.html

but, get out your conversion tools...

also the rule of thumb that I've heard is: one pound (uncooked) per person. (so about 450 grams per person - which is basically the same as your original)

also, use oven or microwave (never tried that one). I think stove top would give a bad result...

sorry, i guess i wasn't obvious! of course i will use an oven but i meant, most recipes says to roast the turkey first to give the outside a crispy crunch, then cook it normally for the remaining time period. since i only have a convection oven, was wondering if the bird would then be too dry if i can't give a solid outside first.

do it all in the oven
you cover it with foil to keep it moist until about half an hour before it's done, then you uncover it to make the skin turn brown, nicely
can't remember with the weight thing, i always have to look it up in my faithful old cookbook

there's more than one way to cook a turkey... I've even seen people deep-fry 'em.

but you should be fine with the oven you have. the foil trick sounds reasonable too.

or do that basting thing!!

My favorite conversion site

edit: or cover the turkey with thin strips of bacon (not rashers this time), automatic basting

if the cranberry port sauce is 2c cranberries, 1c sugar, 1c ruby port, then it's been around longer than don_riina. My grandma's made that for at least 30 years.

last christmas i cooked a turkey lunch for 6 of us, and - though i say so myself - it was truly scrumptious
i bought it deep frozen from Tengelmann for about 10 euros and slavishly followed don_riina's turkey cooking instructions (scroll down the page, it's near the bottom)
you could do a lot worse than do the same

It is much better grilled. Did it last year for T-day and will do it again this year for the T-day party.

i don't know your gran gen, don't even know don riina, but i know bee_sting made it 2 years ago and mmmm, delicious! she said she used don riinas tips.

how the hell do you do this? i'm imaging an open bbq pit...

Twas the night before Thanks giving...

Well, you need a round grill. You place the turkey on a broiler pan and season as you like. I rub on sage, salt, pepper and stick a stick of butter under the skin above the breasts. This all gets wrapped up nice in aluminum foil with some vent holes at the top. The grill is prepared as usual and after all the coals are glowing hot, I add more coals and then bury them all with ashes (packing the fire as we call it). This brings the direct temp down so it won't burn, but keeps it hot enough to cook and to continue to produce the smoke for the extra flavor.
Put your turkey on the grill and close it up. Monitor the temp so that you know that it is above 160°C. This way takes about one hour per pound. Turkey's sold here usually take 6-8 hours.
A variant to this is to grill it for the smoke for around 2-4 hours and then finish it off in the oven for half the remaining time, but at higher temp.

A replay of IPJ's pic post last year.

From Dons cooking instructions

"1 hour before the end, pour away the excess fat from the pan, and half an hour befoire the end remove the foil so that the skin can brown up nicely"

I have to question this because surely you need to keep this excess for the gravy!

and for frying potatoes with loooong after the Turkeyfest. Yes, keep it. Freezes well too.

Goose fat is better for the roast potatoes IMHO

You don't really want the fat for the gravy, unless you are basing a roux on it. Pan juices, fine, but not really the fat. I spend ages skimming fat off stocks, I would not wanna add it back really. Keep it for spuds if you want, but don't go tipping fat into sauces.

I looked for a turkey in town last friday, and could not find one atall. Gutted.

i found some at marktkauf. the largest was 4.5 kg. but admittedly they only had half a dozen out there.