How long to cook a turkey? Many people ask that question after Thanksgiving dinner. The fact is that there is no one answer to this question. You can decide how long to cook a turkey according to your taste buds and resources (time, mood, etc.) You can even experiment and come up with a unique solution on your own based on your unique circumstances.
How long to cook a turkey depends on the choice of ingredients, desired cooked flavor, number of guests invited for thanksgiving dinner, time of year, weather and traffic. Let us start with the time of year. When it is fall and Thanksgiving dinner is around the corner, most people figure the best time to cook a turkey would be around October. That is true as well, but fall also tends to be the peak season for outdoor grilling and cooking thanks to the weather. November and December are not so lucky, as they have the potential to get cold weather during Thanksgiving dinner.
How long to cook a turkey also depends on the number of people invited for thanksgiving dinner, the number of people the host wishes to cook for, and the number of turkeys to be fed. For example, if you are making for a big group of people, it will take more than a single person to cook a turkey. That is the reason you see most families having thanksgiving dinners in one room or another. If you are single, then cooking a turkey on your own can be a challenge unless you opt for a short, easy preparation time. That does not mean you cannot have a great tasting dish if more people are invited over and more people are expected to attend the Thanksgiving dinner.
How long to cook a turkey also depends on how long you plan on keeping the bird warm while cooking. There is no set amount of time for cooking a turkey. Many folks prefer to roast a turkey over the weekend and come back for the traditional thanksgiving dinner on a Sunday night. However, many of us find that the spirit of thanksgiving has been lost and we simply do not feel like eating turkey on the day of thanksgiving. In these situations, cooking a turkey over the weekend seems to be the best bet.
When it comes to deciding how long to cook a turkey, you have to decide how much time you have and then use that to calculate the required temperature. Since this is going to be a very slow roast, a thermometer is an absolute must-have. How do you know the internal temperature of the meat? How do you know the exterior temperature? A thermometer is very handy for both of these tasks.
The easiest way to determine the internal temperature of the meat is to place your finger in the turkey’s cavity and wait to see if your finger bounces back or not. If your finger bounces back, this means the meat is at the right internal temperature for turkey cooking. This is also the best way to judge the thickness of the meat as well.
Now, if you are looking to cook the turkey on the grill, you want to take your thermometer outside to get a reading of the outdoor temperature. This would be just above room temperature. Since this is an indirect cooking method, you want to keep the temperature below the internal temperature. This can be accomplished by leaving the door open until the internal temp reaches 170 degrees f.
How Long To Cook A Turkey? Here is How Long To Cook A Turkey? The best answer to this question is: as long as you can leave the oven door open for the duration of the cooking process. In addition, if you want to make turkey gravy, you will need to let the mixture simmer while it thickens.
