Ingredients
| Qty | Unit | Ingredient | Notes |
|---|
Instructions
- Preheat the regular oven to 475°F and heat the roaster oven to 250°F.
- Separate the giblets, etc. from the turkey:
- Place them in a crockpot with turkey stock.
- Clean out all the ice, etc. from the bird.
- Separate the skin from the breast.
- Place butter between the skin and the breast.
- Rub salt and pepper on the outside of the bird.
- Place the bird in a covered roasting pan:
- Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove the bird from the oven and move it to the roaster oven.
- Place a thermometer into the breast.
- Pour the drippings from the bird into the roaster oven.
- Cook the turkey for 20 minutes per pound:
- Breast meat should reach 170–180°F.
- Remove the turkey when done.
- Let it sit for 20 minutes.
Cook Time & Temperature Notes:
Example timing: 20 lbs. = 20 minutes (@475°F) + 6 hours 40 minutes (@250°F) + 20 minutes rest = 7 hours 20 minutes total.
According to the manufacturer, the roaster oven cooks at approximately the same temperature and in the same time as would a conventional oven. Rival suggests you cook your turkey at 375°F (190°C) for 13 to 18 minutes per pound — a pretty broad range. For a 20-pound turkey, that's 4 hours and 20 minutes to 6 hours. A lot of overcooking (read: dried-out meat) can happen in that discretionary hour and 40 minutes. What's the solution? That's right, while there's still time, you purchase an instant-read thermometer, the only practical way for a novice (or not-so-novice) cook to know that his or her meat is thoroughly cooked. It is inexpensive and you'll find many uses for it in the years to come.
Cook the turkey until the breast meat registers about 155°F (68°C) and the innermost depths of the thigh reach 160°F (71°C). According to the US government, turkey meat is safely cooked when it reaches 165°F (74°C) throughout, but the turkey will continue to cook during the 20 to 30 minutes you let it rest on the counter, while the juices redistribute throughout the meat. If you keep the turkey in the oven until it reaches the government-approved temperature, it will overcook during the rest period, and your turkey will be dry and your guests will be grumpy (in the case of in-laws, they will be grumpier). You're not going to want to check the temperature too frequently, because your electric roaster loses a lot more heat when you take off the lid than occurs when you open the door of your oven.
To compensate for the steamy nature of your roaster, we think you should remove the turkey from the roaster a half hour or so before it would be done, lightly butter the skin, and pop it into your regular oven, set at 400°F (205°C), to finish cooking. This will allow the skin to crisp and, at the very least, give the impression of a well-roasted turkey. If you quickly clean your roaster's cooking pan (saving the drippings to make gravy, of course), you can put the side dishes that were taking up all the precious space in your oven in the roaster to finish cooking and stay warm.