Pros of Buying an Electric Roaster Oven
How To Buying the Best Turkey for Roasting
Here’s what you should keep in mind when you’re selecting a bird at the supermarket:
Thawing a turkey is pretty easy, but there are a few tips to keep in mind:
To cook a turkey in an electric roaster, all you really need is the turkey and 1/2 cup of melted butter. Of course, all the extras make it great! But if all you have is butter, you’ll still get a delicious, browned, and crisp-skinned bird. Cook a Turkey in a Turkey Roaster
Start by pre-heating the turkey roaster to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, remove the neck and giblets from the bird and make sure the turkey is thawed. I recommend placing it on the roaster rack for this (something I forgot to do in this picture).
Stuffing is my favorite Thanksgiving side, but I don’t cook my stuffing in the turkey cavity for sanitary reasons. Instead, I stuff my turkey with slices of apple, onion, and celery to add flavor. Then, I discard the fillings after cooking. I make my stuffing in a casserole dish and cook it in the regular oven. After stuffing the cavity, slide a few pats of butter in between the skin and meat on the top of the bird. Cook a Turkey in a Turkey Roaster
If you like, you can make a simple browning sauce for your bird by mixing the seasoning packet with melted butter. Use a pastry brush to cover the turkey with the browning mixture. The browning sauce is for color only, so if you don’t want to use it, melted butter works too.
Then season the turkey generously with salt, pepper, and whatever other seasonings you prefer (I use Italian seasoning.) Finally, place the entire turkey, rack and all, itto in the roaster oven.
A roaster oven works much the same as roasting in your conventional oven, but “much the same way” isnt quite “exactly the same way.” Your Rival roaster oven is much smaller than a conventional oven, whichever size you own, and that has a big impact on how it works.
For some cooks, crisp skin isnt as important as the perfect golden color. You can make that happen by basting the bird with butter or broth that has a few drops of gravy browning whisked into it. The browning colors your turkeys skin nicely for that Instagram-worthy hue.
Starting the bird at a temperature of 450F to 500F and then lowering it for the rest of the cooking time will give you a reasonably golden skin. It wont stay completely crisp to the end of your cooking time, though, because of the moisture in the roaster. Transferring your bird to a conventional oven for the last 30 minutes of its cooking time is a better alternative if your oven isnt already filled with side dishes.
Its best to work from the shortest of those cooking times –12 minutes per pound for a prebasted bird, or 15 for a fresh one – and start checking your thermometer a good 20 to 30 minutes before you expect it to be done. The turkey is ready when it shows a temperature of 165F or higher in both the breast and the inside of the thigh.
The relatively small space inside the countertop roaster traps a lot of moisture that would evaporate from your bird in a conventional oven, and it keeps it confined inside the relatively roasters relatively small cooking well. That moist air transfers heat more effectively than the dry air of a conventional oven, so youll find that your turkey cooks a bit faster than usual.
FAQ
How long does a 17 lb turkey take to cook in a roaster?
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