do you soak the bird? PART 2

LET'S TALK TURKEY....A follow-up post about soaking a turkey can be summed up in one word - SUCCESS!  My husband soaked the turkey, using a turkey brine recipe, before roasting it for the very first time.  The turkey brine was beautiful (sounds weird I know...but look back at my previous post to see for yourself) and made our home smell wonderful!  The probing question is...how did the turkey look and taste?  First of all....I don't think I mentioned in my earlier post that my husband also changed something else this year.  We bought one of those big roasting pans that you cover and plug into the wall outlet.  Would you say we were exceptionally brave this year??? - soaking the turkey for the first time and changing the cooking pan involved in roasting the bird?  The surprise of it all was how long it took to roast the 21.5 pound bird - under 2 hours.  That was quick wasn't it?  In fact we just did not believe it until we checked the internal temperature using a meat thermometer to discover that it had reached the 160 degrees F in the thickest part of the breast. 

Now some words about the turkey's appearance.  It was not that pretty.  My husband always prides himself...not only on the taste of a turkey but the appearance.  He rubbed the outside of this turkey with the usual herbs, spices and butter.  The turkey was not as pretty as most of our past turkeys but "you can't judge a book by it's cover" right?  More on that in a minute.  Our conclusion is that the roasting pan/with the cover was the factor in which kept the bird from browning evenly.

Finally, some comments on the taste.  It was delicious and I'm not just saying that!  It was probably the most moist of any other turkey we've had the privilege of cooking and devouring.  We sliced it, put the meat back into the roasting pan...periodically pouring juices from the bottom of pan over the slices.  The roasting pan was steadied on warm until the turkey was served. In fact...this turkey did not dry out like most turkeys would under these circumstances.  We believe the turkey brine/soaking method sealed the moisture in for good.

To sum things up....The turkey brine and new roasting pan were a SUCCESS or should I say...Cooking our 2010 Thanksgiving turkey was a SUCCESS!  If you were to ask my husband if he plans to use the same method he used this year - next time he roasts a Thanksgiving turkey --- I'm certain his answer would be YES! 

HOPE ALL MY BLOG FOLLOWERS HAD A WONDERFUL, BLESSED THANKSGIVING!  WE HAVE SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR IN 2010!