Turbo bird

sdbelt

Yesterday I cooked what I think may have been the ultra-turbo bird. Start time was 11am. Finish time was 1:15pm. That's 2 hours 15 minutes. Turkey: 20 pounder. That's just 6 3/4 minutes per pound. Brine was for 22 hours. No matter how you slice it that's silly fast.[p]More details:[p]I started the cook with the dome at 450, which was my plan, because I wanted to brown the bird, and then 30 minutes later foil it. A plate setter was used, with a normal turkey pan on that, and then a v-rack in the pan. 2 cups of apple juice kept the turkey pan company. [p]Over the first 30 minutes, I closed the vents enough to get the dome down to 350 at the end of this time. At that point I inserted the probes and covered the bird with foil. For the next 60 minutes, the dome temp kept trying to climb back up and I kept shutting the vents more and more. Over the final 30 minutes, the dome temp got away from me, and when I pulled the bird, the dome was reading 450 again. The white meat probe was reading 169, and I was fearing a slightly dry overcooked bird.[p]The result was beyond belief. There was so much juice coming out of this bird, when I started carving 40 minutes later I was shocked. The breast meat, however, was so perfectly done, so tasty, so flavorful, I doubt I've ever had turkey that was this good. Today's leftovers seem as juicy as a normal turkey fresh from the oven. I'm still in shock, but I couldn't be more pleased.[p]Long live the brined, Egged turkey.[p]--sdb