Granny's Slow Cooked Turkey

So a classic recipe from my Granny on how to do a turkey right. This poor bird stands no chance and will fall right off the bones.

Granny's Slow Cooked Turkey

Tools:

Large Roasting Pan

Aluminum foil

Knife

Ingredients

10-20 lb Turkey

pepper and salt

Cooking the Doomed Beast:

Thaw the turkey in the sink if he's still frozen, frozen birds just don't cook well. The night before you need him, free the turkey from all those signs of bondage (turkey's really are kinky critters when you think about it) that the market puts onto him, including those little plastic feet holders and pulling out the giblets from inside the carcass.

Do you see that little thermometer they stuck into him? Toss that as well, they are always set to be safer than sorry, which means the bird is usually so dry you need a gallon of gravy to eat it. There is a special place in Hell where they serve dry turkey with no gravy, I think they send politicians there.

If the bird still has the neck, feel free to add it to the bottom of the pot as well. Rub the turkey dry and place it into the pan. Rub salt and pepper all over the skin, don't be skimpy here! Come on, this bird gave his life to taste delicious!

Cover the entire bird with the foil, and place into the over at 200 -250 degrees F for about 12 hours (I said this is slow cooked!) The wonderful thing about this kind of cooking is that if you seal the turkey tight, all the juices stay in the pan with the bird, slow cooking to the point the bones come off.

(DON'T BE TEMPTED TO PEEK UNDER THE FOIL! THIS WILL LET PRECIOUS STEAM OUT AND WILL LEAD TO A DRY BIRD! LEAVE IT ALONE!)

The next day, serve your turkey however you like. But a word of warning, since you slow cooked this bird for so long the meat will literally fall off of the bones. This is normal and don't be alarmed! And that extra crispy skin? Yeah, that is my favorite part!

Also the pan is full of wonderful turkey juices, don't you DARE throw it away! That is concentrated turkey juice (aka, stock) which is useful in gravy and home made stuffing. Get some tupperware out and a strainer, and you can spoon this into a spare container to use for the next week. Oh, I guess I'll have to give one of my many ramen recipes tomorrow for this. But you can freeze it in a safe container for up to 6 months, just don't waste it!

Tip: I've done a Turkey like this up to 14 hours in the oven, but give yourself a good hour for the bird to cool enough to eat or pick the meat off of the bones ('pick' being loosely used here, since the bones literally fall off the meat when you cook it this long). And don't add any water before you start to cook, turkey is a juicy meat and as long as you seal it in foil tightly you don't need to add any moisture.

Well until next time, bien camino!