Big Turkey...Little Time

jerseymatt

I have a 20+ pound bird to cook for tonight! Any ideas? I saw on the Naked Wiz a great recipe, but I dont have 7 Hours! Help.

Morro Bay Rich

JerseyMatt,
My unstuffed 16 pounder took 3 hrs at 325.[p]Look in any cookbook and see what they say for cooking a turkey in a kitchen oven. That will translate directly to the BGE since it just a charcoal -fired oven in this case.

fishlessman

JerseyMatt,
its been a long time since i cooked a 20 pounder, but there are several things to get the cook times down. use a shallow pan and raise the bird up above it instead of in it like most do, this will improve air flow around it and cook it faster. starting the bird upsidedown at 500 degrees until it starts to brown then flip it back to the regular position, then drop your temps down to 350/375 roasting temps will get it going faster also. the raising the bird above a shallow pan at 325 gets me cooks of 12 to 15 minutes per pound. also if you cook it at higher temps, you want to get it out and resting a little earlier, when the breast is hitting 158-160 it will rise enough on the counter to be safe. if the legs are still a little underdone take them off and cook them a little longer. i dont remember the actual times as i havent done the upsidedown cook in years, but it was faster.

WessB

JerseyMatt,
You can see how I did a 23# bird in just under 5 hours, on my website in the cooks section.[p]Wess
[ul][li]WessB`s[/ul]

Essex County

JerseyMatt,
Spatchcock it. It'll be done in 3 hours.[p]Paul

Shoe

Read my post above about spatchcocking a turkey.

stike

Essex County,
good call. maybe need to actually split it entirely in order to fit it on.[p](when the h*ll did we say we'd go to dinner again? we're jonesing for another great adult dinner!)