2 men enter mad max beyond egg dome, 1 man leaves

TheDirtyBurger

So after 2 years of saying I was going to not only cook a turkey on my large but I was going to give it the mad max treatment, I finally did it yesterday. Sorry no pics, I was pounding 8.5% alcohol IPAs from Stevens Point - good by the way.

Ok it was good but here is what I know I did wrong and I was wondering if anyone else had the same issues or problems and could help me. This is nothing about max nor his method (madness?) this was 99% my fault!

1. I think I over stuffed the bird - I used everything he said but for a 12lb bird.

2. I forgot to season the cavity before stuffing it and applying the butter paste, when trying to season after I lost structural integrity

3. I poured the wine on it and then tried to apply more butter paste - duh!

4. I used a crooked disposable pan which resulted in crappy drippings distribution and burned a bit which may have ruined the gravy

5. I used 3 egg feet and wondered why is this not staying put, when max used 4. I also suck at things like this

6. I did the gravy in a small pot as opposed to the pan and had issues with that

7. Not sure if I like the wine flavor in the gravy or I did something wrong. It was either the lemon from the bird in the drippings or the wine flavor - but I screwed something up and my wife and I both thought something tasted different - our guests loved it

8. I did not cook it long enough (was in a rush as a guest had to leave) nor did I turn it. Max do you rotate the bird while you cook it? I had one side of the bird about 10-15* less then the other. Figured turning it every other time I baste might help

9. I sliced the hell out of my finger - dumb move on my part and the IPAs.

All of this being said - I know how to fix it but was just curious if any other first timers had similar issues. Luckily I have another turkey and a day off Thursday (thank you very much veterans!) to experiment again. This time more sober!

fishlessman

red wine makes for purple gravey :laugh:

Lawn Ranger

Sounds like you followed the directions to a tee. Can't for the life of me see why it wouldn't taste exactly like Max's. :blink:

crghc98

Assuming you added more wine to the gravy...maybe you didn't cook it off enough and had that wine flavor...

I don't like the disposable pans...just a prefernce but had back luck with them burning...

If you don't have a 4th foot, use a foil ball to make more stable...

Boilermaker Ben

To prevent drippings burning, I used two disposable roasting pans, nested together, but separated by a few foil balls of similar size. That way the pan with the drippings was not in contact with the hot plate setter. No burning, and no messing with egg feet.

I read lots of complaints about lemon making the gravy taste funny, and reduced the amount of lemon I used, and had no issues.

If I remember correctly, I rotated halfway through the cook. No more than that...but I was cooking a 20 lb bird last year. Rotating more than once wasn't going to happen.

Timmy...bandaged fingers...crosseyed-drunk...trying to slather butter on a wet turkey. Thanks for the visual. I'll be thinking of you on Thanksgiving...and laughing.

mad max beyond eggdome

el dirty

you already answered most of your own questions...

if the bird is smaller, cut down on the amount of stuff you jam in the cavity. .. . use only a couple of wedges of appple, lemon, onion, sprigs of herbs .. .

butter paste first, then the wine ....

if you are using throw-away pans, double them up for more mass and integrity to avoid burned drippings ...

if the drippings do start to scorch, add some liquid to the pan ...either more wine, or apple cider, or simply chicken stock. ...

if the drippings are truly scorched, don't add them to the gravy, or at least try to make sure you separate the burned portions from the good dripppings....

don't use a pan with really burned drippings to then make the gravy, use a fresh pan for the gravy and just add the good drippings to your roux ... .

wine is OPTIONAL. ...if the flavor was to 'winey' for you, next time, simply use less wine in the gravy .. .

oh yeah, go ahead and rotate at least once. . ..but you shouldn't have to rotate it any more than that . ...


hope that helps


max