roasting a turkey

twohappycampers

Well-known member
Hello all! I plan to roast a turkey this weekend and wonder if anyone had any tips so it's a success? :rolleyes: Oh, I know how to roast a turkey, but my oven bakes so unevenly, specifically I've noticed things burn at the front before they're cooked at the back, but I think even from one side to the other the temperature varies. I try to remember to keep an eye on it and turn things back to front a couple of times through the baking time, but that's a pain and doesn't really work all that well because I think the oven cools down significantly each time I open the oven.

My small roaster will take up most of the oven space, with the oven rack at the lowest point. How is this going to work?

Is this uneven baking normal to these ovens? What do you do? If I were to call service, is there something they can adjust?

Also, wish there was an indicator as to when the temperature is reached in preheat, like a normal stove. What do you do? Just guess? Buy an oven thermometer and keep opening the door to check on it?

Oh, has anyone roasted a turkey in their convection/microwave? I don't know if I'm that adventurous.

Thanks bunches for any tips you can give me. - Lorna
 

Invizatu

Senior Road Warriors
Lorna... Our oven is too small for a turkey, but I cook them (even when at home) on a weber BBQ. Put the coals on the sides and cook with indirect heat, they always turn out juicy and delicious! Good Luck!
 

Gaffer

Well-known member
I second the Weber. I have done this for many years. 22.5" Weber charcoal ketttle. Indirect method. 25 briquetts on each side. I let it preheat for a half hour then put in the bird breast side down on a wire rack might be a Weber rib rack. Add 8 briquetts every hour to both sides starting from time of initial lighting. I smoke it for the first half hour with damp apple chips. Chips for a Little Chief smoker work just fine. Have also used hicory chips. A 22 pound bird will be done in about 3 to 3.5 hours. Check the breast with a thermometer. Cover with foil for a while to rest before carving. Always comes out moist.
 
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jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
We use our Nu Wave Infra-Red Air Bake Oven. The bird comes out competely cooked and juicy. Clean-up is easy
 

twohappycampers

Well-known member
We use our Nu Wave Infra-Red Air Bake Oven. The bird comes out competely cooked and juicy. Clean-up is easy

I just checked it out - looks very interesting! Do you like it for other things as well? Any other fans of this oven out there? I cook maybe one turkey a year. Thanks again!
 

twohappycampers

Well-known member
I second the Weber. I have done this for many years. 22.5" Weberr charcoal ketttle. Indirect method. 25 briquetts on each side. I let it preheat for a half hour then put in the bird breast side down on a wire rack might be a Weber rib rack. Add 8 briquetts every hour to both sides starting from time of initial lighting. I smoke it for the first half hour with damp apple chips. Chips for a Little Chief smoker work just fine. Have also used hicory chips. A 22 pound bird will be done in about 3 to 3.5 hoours. Check the breast with a thermometer. Cover with foil for a while to rest befor carving. Always comes out moist.

Very scientific! :D May just have to try it sometime. Don't have a weber currently, though. How about our gas barbeque? Anyone tried cooking their turkey, in a regular covered roasting pan, on their gas barbeque?

I'm just missing a regular old oven, you know, one that has heating elements top and bottom. I miss it for broiling & top-browning. The gas oven only has heat on the bottom and the convection/microwave only has an element on the top.

The convection/microwave idea, well I won't even try that. On thinking about it, even though the roaster will fit, it has to be able to turn on the turntable, and that's a no-go.

It was my husband's idea to buy this dumb bird in the first place. It's been in our freezer for months and months, and he's insisting we finally cook it. I know, I'll see that it's a bust, and after this he'll agree to just one of those nice little turkey breast thingies. :p
 

Invizatu

Senior Road Warriors
Lorna... How about a turkey "hawaiian style"? Dig a hole / wrap with palm leaves / cover with hot coals / cover with dirt and it's ready in 3 hours!
No mess, easy clean up.... take out the turkey and fill the hole!!!;)
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
I just checked it out - looks very interesting! Do you like it for other things as well? Any other fans of this oven out there? I cook maybe one turkey a year. Thanks again!

DW uses the Nu Wave exclusively for turkey cooking. She has also used it to cook other things and it works great. Chicken fryers, hams etc. As a matter of fact we just ordered the Nu Wave mini for the RV. It is about half the size of the regular one. Should be great for biscuits, Cornish Hens etc. It is a versatile piece of kitchen equipment.
 

Manzan

Well-known member
We have not used the oven in this trailer very much. In our last two, we put a pizza stone on the bottom rack to even out the heat. Stopped things like muffins from burning on the bottom. Have not tried turkey but have baked Cornish game hens in a trailer oven and they did very well.
 

SGeohagan

Active Member
I have cooked many a turkey on gas grill. One burner on high, and one on low. Turns out fine. About 3 hours for a 20 lb bird.
 

rustyshakelford

Well-known member
my favorite for turkey is to have them fried! it is about the most juicy and flavorful way to cook them in my opinion. I dont know if it is a texass thing or nation wide, but its the way we do them at work and home!

brett
 

twohappycampers

Well-known member
To all you turkey lovers out there! Thanks so much for all your suggestions, must have hubby try them some time when he's feeling more ambitious. This time around we just wanted something real simple. So we took our chances with our enamel roasting pan in the oven, and it turned out terrific! It was very tasty and also the prettiest bird we ever roasted, all nice and golden crispy brown , and done right on time! :) Who'd have thunk it?! Our guests kept saying we should take a picture of it, it looked so perfect. Here I was badmouthing the oven, guess I owe it an apology. :D
 

twohappycampers

Well-known member
We have not used the oven in this trailer very much. In our last two, we put a pizza stone on the bottom rack to even out the heat. Stopped things like muffins from burning on the bottom. Have not tried turkey but have baked Cornish game hens in a trailer oven and they did very well.

I've read other posts about using a pizza stone or tile, to distribute the heat more evenly. I'm going to try that for sure! So, just to clarify, the pizza stone/tile sits directly on the grey enamel shelf (or whatever it's called) directly above the flame? And not on a slide-out rack?

Thanks!
 

RollingHome

Well-known member
I think the most important thing is to acquire a turkey that fits your cooking device in size. Patti and I ordered our turkey/s (white breasted) from a local Amish farm for pickup next month. Patti stated the farmer cleans them better then the super market does. One will be done by her in a conventional oven with stuffing (just like mom's), one will be done by me in an Orion Cooker (which will be smoked with apple chips) - no stuffing. A third will be done on an LP gas grill rotisserie via IR and burner flame. Each one will be unique in flavor and ease of eating. There will be much left overs for our guest to enjoy. Jim Grazt's Nu Wave is also a great way to cook a turkey. I am new to cooking and still kinda learning. So far I have not had one bad meal from our Faber counter top oven (Nu-Waves competition). Most of Europe uses the Faber and I highly recommend it. I suggest you Google it. We will repeat this around Christmas. So far I have not sent anyone to the hospital and this cooking stuff is kinda fun... We also did a turkey in our RV a couple years ago for T-Day and it was Okay. The RV oven is small and this limits your turkey size. Good luck and let us know what you did and how it turned out. Enjoy your holidaze and enjoy your family...
 

recumbent615

Founding MA Chapter Leader-retired
I have mine on top of the gray enamel below the Rack and above the flame - at the last Rally I baked two Cranberry Nut Breads for the Pot Luck - and other than taking an extra 20 minutes ( most likely due to the temp not being where I set it ) they turned out good - no burning on the bottom

Kevin
 

twohappycampers

Well-known member
I have mine on top of the gray enamel below the Rack and above the flame - at the last Rally I baked two Cranberry Nut Breads for the Pot Luck - and other than taking an extra 20 minutes ( most likely due to the temp not being where I set it ) they turned out good - no burning on the bottom

Kevin

Thanks Kevin! Set the pizza stone directly on top of the grey enamel shelf that's above the flame - gotcha!
 

Rodney_M

Member
Just curious why people arent just using a roaster oven then you can cook whatever size turkey you want. Unless you are just wanting to do it the campfire way. We dont always carry ours in the rv but have one at the house we store in the original box and can toss it in the rv if need be. We cook the turkey then turn around and use it to cook the dressing as well using the juices left in pan. We have also cooked many briskets in them also. Slow cook overnight.
 

Wharton

Well-known member
Instead of a pizza stone go to HD and buy some quarry tiles. Works well and I put them on the bottom of the oven. These even out the heat. I've done this or all our trailer ovens.
 
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