thanksgiving turkey

[michelevit]

Happy Holidays everyone.

Here are some pics of my thanksgiving turkey. This one came out better than the practice one I cooked two weeks ago.

The bird was a 12 pounder. I brinned it for 24 hours, stuffed it, rubbed some
simple seasoning on it and placed it breast side up in a roasting pan.

I built a huge fire and got it to pizza temps.
Once the fire died down I pushed the embers to the side, covered the bird with aluminum foil and threw it in the center of the oven and placed the door.

About 3 hours later I removed the foil and placed a smaller log onto the embers to get some flames rolling to brown the bird.

I'm planning to repeat for christmas.

more pics here...Gallery | oven turkey

[Jed]

That's a good looking bird!

Was it moist inside?

JED

[michelevit]

It was a perfect turkey. Juicy and moist. Meat falling off the bone.
My only regret is that I dont have a freezer to stock up on 8 dollar turkeys.
I dont think I'll cook another turkey in the kitchen again.

[antonio cefalo]

i am looking at doing a 14lb beef tenerloin roast. would you recommend same approach or wait for temps to get down to 400/500 area. i have done a lot of pizza cooking but first time i am attempting the roast. by closing the door doesn't it kill the fire? i would think you would want to have it remain open to give it the draw/convenction cooking? any suggestions? thx!

[michelevit]

I'd take the same approach.

Build a huge fire, let your oven soak up the heat.
Let the logs turn to embers. Brush the embers to one
side. Place your tenderloin on the other side.
Place the door and check after 2 hours.
If you need to brown the meat, just place another
small log on the embers. It will errupt into flames and
paint some color onto the meat.

But feel free to experiment.

[Archena]

Um, you might want to experiment with something a lot less expensive than tenderloin. Lots of good roast cuts that don't involve second mortgages - besides, a tenderloin is a terrible thing to waste!

I bet a brisket would come out well. Long and hot should do wonders on a good brisket (no, 'good brisket' is not an oxymoron) and if it doesn't you have your experience and still have your tenderloin.

Mind you, once you have a feel for roasting in a WFO that tenderloin should be heavenly. I'm just suggesting experimenting for the first time on something less expensive and more forgiving. Tenderloin is like rib roast and steak - you only get one try to get it right. Chuck and brisket, on the other hand, will let you mess around to your heart's content as long as you don't get carried away with the high heat (no searing unless you mean it - charred outside and raw inside are not a good combo).