On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 12:59:11 -0500, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

So? How long ahead of time do you have to order the cooked ones?
Here since it's usually cold enough outside or in the garage,
I just leave them to thaw out for a couple days in the trunk
of the car. I wouldn't do that if it's 60 outside, but when it's
40F, it's fine. You can also thaw them in hours if you have to,
by putting it in a kitchen sink full of water. Or put it in a 5 gal
bucket and brine it for a day.


The people cooking them do it over wood and sort of smoke
them.

Yes, I agree that would be a good reason to buy a cooked one.






Today I read about the Butterball people having a turkey that you just
pop in the oven even though it is frozen. It comes in a special bag and
is ready in about 4 hours. I may try that for Christmas.

What do they put in it? Some more special chemicals? I'd bet that
it's also going to be one of those small ones that you don't like.







I do like the ones that are cooked over the wood for the flavor. Main
reason for buying them.

It is too hot here to do the thawing out of the refrigerator. At noon
today it is 57 deg F. If it were cooler I could put it in an out
building I store the lawn equipment in or the unheated garage.

Our refrigerator is small. I think only about 20 cuft. The house has 4
bed rooms. We bought the house used. Whoever built it put cabinets in
and only left a small space for the refrigerator. One would think that
with that many bedrooms they would have left a large space for a larger
refirgerator. As it is just me and the wife we did not think small
refrigerator would be a problem. For us, it isn't, but when a whole
turkey is in it, there is little room for much else special for the
larger family geathering. We do have a small freezer in the basement to
put forzen items in. By buying the cooked turkey a day ahead and
cutting it off the bones it takes up only a small space.

I don't know how they do the bagged Butterball. I just found out about
it Wensday after I got home and was looking around on the computer about
turkeys thinking about what to do for Christmas. If it is as good as
the unfrozen one we bought on Wensday, it will be ok. Not great, but
ok.



I can see you have a reason to buy a cooked one (the smoke flavor)
Maybe you just need to negotiate the size. If they are decent
businessman, you will serve your customer but don't be surprised if
the price is up a tad.

If you are going to buy a turkey and cook it in a bag, it will be
cheaper to just get a turkey on sale and buy a cooking bag. That is
really simple to do. If you like that crispy skin thing, open the bag
toward the end of the cooking cycle. I leave it sealed up the whole
time because my wife doesn't eat the skin anyway. It makes the turkey
juice squirting moist. Cook it breast down too. That keeps the white
meat moist.
I toss some spices in the bag with the flour they recommend and shake
it up to coat the turkey.