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by Pastaman on July 3rd, 2003

Pastaman

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How long do you cook a turkey?

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Answers. 6 helpful answers below.

  • by Glenn Blaylock on November 29th, 2004

    Glenn Blaylock

    Depends on how you cook it. I once had a friend from Samoa pit cook a turkey for me. It only took 1 hour from the time the turkey went in to the time it came out. It was completely cooked. In case anyone else wants to try it, here is how he did it.

    1. Dig a pit that is 1’ to 1 1/2’ deep and line it with bricks and/or large rocks. [Brother Tipa actually lined the pit itself with bricks and then filled it with rocks. The rocks were about 6” x 4”.]
    2. Build a fire on top of the rocks and allow it to burn down to coals.
    3. Pull out the hot coals. [You won’t need them any more so you can put them out.]
    4. Put one hot rock inside of the turkey and then place the bird in a pan and cover with foil.
    5. Place the pan in the pit with the rest of the hot rocks piled all around it [beneath, around the sides, and on top of the pan].
    6. Cover this with lots of wet, corrugated cardboard. (In Samoa they use the large leaves of various tropical plants for this. However, corrugated cardboard is much easier to come by in most parts of the world.)
    7. Seal any place where steam is escaping.
    8. Cook for one hour and then pull the entire thing off and enjoy.

    One word of caution. Be careful about what type of rocks you use for this. Sedimentary rock can have a significant amount of water in them. If you heat such rocks too hot too fast, the water can cause them to explode. So, if you have to use such rocks, keep them someplace dry and/or bake them for an extended period of time in an oven at less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit to remove any water.

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  • by DOSJockey382 on July 17th, 2003

    DOSJockey382

    According to _The_Joy_of_Cooking,_ about 20-25 minutes per pound at 300 degrees.

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  • by clevergirl on December 11th, 2003

    clevergirl

    Regardless of all the gloom-and-doom warnings about safety and all that other stuff, I do mine overnight -- have for years -- and NO one has ever complained or gotten sick. The point is that although it is cooked at a low tem for a long time, it is NEVER left sitting out at room temperature before cooking. Our method has always been to stuff it very loosely, baste it lightly with the liquid used to cook the giblets ( blend of apple cider and herbed water), and roast for about 30 min. per pound at 275 degrees (or 100 deg. above the desired final temperature). This point is important: without at least a 100-degree temp differential, it will never cook through. Also, I always use a roasting rack and do the bird breast down. The dark meat holds most of the juices, and roasting a bird breast up just guarantees that none of the juices will ever get to the drier white meat. We don't care how it looks--we just care how it tastes!

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  • by trhaynes on July 24th, 2003

    trhaynes

    Anywhere from 3 to 7 hours, but check out

    ** http://familyinternet.about.com/library/blturkey.htm **

    for a full table.

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  • by Callahan_V on November 26th, 2010

    Callahan_V

    Any professional chef, and I do not mean this as a slant in any way, who claims that a Turkey must be cooked at 350 degrees or higher to ensure safe eating needs to go to the closest culinary school and ask for some books to re-educated themselves. The government funded study that started the entire farce about not being safe to slow cook a bird was about as unscientific as you can get. They INFUSED the turkey's with bacteria and then let them sit, and THEN cooked them. The entire premise is false. ANY chef who is professionally trained should know that you cook poultry to 165 in most situations to ensure safe eating.

    You MUST thaw the bird in a refridgerator and once it is thawed, immediately remove the bird from the refridgerator, clean the bird, pat dray both INSIDE and outside of the bird, season the bird, - add stuffing if you prefer - if NOT then fill the cavity with quartered onions, quartered oranges, and quartered apples. Place your bird in a roasting pan breast down and have a ladel or large serving spoon set aside.

    You then cook the bird at 400 degrees for 35 minutes to kill off any bacteria that YOU contaminated the bird with during preparation, then reduce to 200-250 depending on size of the bird, larger birds need a higher slow cook temp, but never below 200 and never above 250.

    When you have 75 minutes before dinner is to be served, rotate the bird so it is BREAST up and cook it at 325. With 45 minutes left to go turn OFF the oven and leave the door open. 15 minutes later - pull your bird out and let it cool for 20 minutes.

    Then with 10 minutes remaining you make your gravy.

    If NONE of this makes sense to you - don't bother cooking your own bird.

    experience:

    Chef and Restaurant Manager for 17 years
    Personally Cooked over 140 birds for Thanksgiving, Christmas or other dinners.
    Personally Cooked 19 TurDuckEns, 3 HogTurDucks, & countless TurTopIgs
    (Boneless Turkey stuffed with Top Loin stuffed with Apple & Cinnamon stuffed Pork)

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  • by Anonymous on January 7th, 2006

    Anonymous

    As a professional chef i have come to use 17 min per pound at 350 keeping the turkey covered for half the cooking time and basting often after removing the cover.i also tuck the wing tips back under the breast for the first half of cooking so they dont dry out

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