Roasting turkey in convection oven [General]

2014 Oct 14
Happy post-Thanksgiving, everyone!

We had an awesome bird for our feast yesterday, a 25 pound Bronze turkey raised by a farmer friend which we brined for three days with apples. The turkey, not the friend.

The turkey seemed to roast REALLY fast in my sisters convection oven though. Took about 4 hours at 350 degrees.

I've never had one of those fancy-pants ovens before, and she's only had this one long enough to cook 2 turkeys in! So, in preparation for our Christmas bird, we're thinking it would be nice to cook it a bit lower and slower.

Any suggestions on how to do this well with a convection oven, aside from the obvious of turning down the heat? Any guidelines on temperatures, times, and anything else would be awesome.

2014 Oct 14
Was there something about the fast cooking that concerns you ? Are you just trying to improve on the awesomeness ?

Do you start the oven at Max (450-500 F) to 'seal in the juices'. That seems to work for me.

I tend to think a lower-slower cook may produce two effects:
1) A more tender bird do to the time it takes to break down the collagen (think low and slow BBQ)
2) In a dry oven, there may be greater moisture loss with the increased time.

I ♥ turkey !

2014 Oct 14
Good point you make, Captain.

I guess the main issue, or concern as you put it, was we were all trying to plan the meal around chores and milking, based on how long we thought the turkey would take.

We based our estimate on all the times my sister, my mom, and I have roasted turkeys before. It took substantially less time than any of us expected! Not the end of the world, but we'd like a better handle on the process for the Christmas bird.

We were thinking for next time, we'd roast at 325 degrees, maybe even cover it for the majority of the roasting time, uncovering at the end to brown the skin. We also used caul fat to cover it, so the bird was self-basting in the oven.

But my hope is someone out there has a convection oven and they can share hints.

2014 Oct 14
I've been using a convection oven since '96 to roast turkey and have never covered it. I've never cooked one that big og, think 18 lb max. I am not home til the weekend but hope to post more info re times and temp later if you want - for years I kept records so I could time dinner more accurately. My pea brain no longer bothers to try to remember the roasting details because of those years of keeping track. I still remember thinking that the turkey couldn't possibly be cooked that quickly the first few times and leaving it in longer!

2014 Oct 14
I have cooked quite a few turkeys - but have never had any luck trying to get the timing right. One year it was ready an hour early, the next time we waited an hour longer. For me it seems to be luck of the draw, however the turkey always tastes great.

2014 Oct 14
Andy, any suggestions you can pass on regarding times and temps after you check your notes would be very, very appreciated. :-)

I'm sure we'll not ever get it down to an exact time, but the turkey was done about 3 hours before we were!

2014 Oct 14
I agree with sourdough - "turkey always tastes great". Seems people get very edgy trying to figure out how long to cook a turkey. My in-laws used convection a few times and they were always in a bit of a panic as the bird cooked too quickly. I used convection this weekend at 325 oC keeping my in-laws experience in mind. Our turkey was 6.67 kg which is almost 15 lbs and I figured that 4 hours give or take 15 minutes on either side was in order. And it was. I covered the wings with foil the whole time and covered the rest of the bird after about 2-2.5 hours.

I've been using convection a lot lately and either I keep temperature as instructed and expect food to cook a lot quicker or I lower the temp so cooking time is closer to the instructions. The bake setting on my old convection stove was set at 325oC and you could adjust higher or lower accordinly. I would normally thing baking would be a 350-375oC baking temp.

organicgirl - can you tell me more about your apple brine. I've brinee my bird the last few times in mostly salt with a bit of herbs but I'd like to be more adventurous. Please advise. Thanks :)

2014 Oct 14
A convection oven set at 325 is equal to a non-convection oven setting at 350. Generally speaking, whatever temperature you would bake/roast something at in a non-convection oven, you would reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees using a convection oven. As others have noted, a convection oven will cook the bird faster. I would not enclose it in foil, but a piece could be loosely draped over the bird if it appears to be browning too quickly.

2014 Oct 14
So far, sounds like 325 is the temperature of choice. I'll be interested to hear what Andy says about time. Even if we could get the bird done within an hour of when we plan, it would make life better. :-)

For the apple brine, flexie, it was nothing fancy. I used 10 cups coarse sea salt, 1 cup cane sugar, and about half a dozen or more apples (that were starting to get a little soft) cut into quarters, and a small onion or two that was also getting soft. All this into a clean Coleman cooler. I added the turkey and enough water to cover it.

I put it in the brine late Friday night (after picking up the turkey that afternoon, freshly slaughtered), and took it out of the brine to roast it Monday morning. I'd have to check with my sister, but I think she put some cut up apples (also going soft) into the cavity whilst it was roasting.

It was super yummy. So yummy that my 10 year old biked the 12km round trip to my sisters to get some of the leftovers today after school.

2014 Oct 19
I rub my turkey with butter then sprinkle with salt and pepper. I roast the turkey (stuffed only) in a preheated convection oven set at 375 deg F convection for 20 minutes to seal, then reduce heat to 300 deg F convection and roast about 14 to 16 minutes (unstuffed: start in cold oven, 300 deg F, 10 to 15 min.) per pound or 500g, until a meat thermometer in the inner thigh reads 185 deg F (and 165 deg F in the dressing). You can baste with drippings during the last half hour but I seldom do as the turkey always looks beautiful, roasted medium. I have never covered and have had a dry turkey only when I ignore the thermometer and cook longer than I should have. Placement of the thermometer is critical I believe - in the inner thigh but not in contact with the bone. Also, the temperature of the turkey when placed in the oven is important - if cold or frozen it will take longer. I like to have it out of the fridge (or cold room) at least an hour before roasting.
I mistakenly said that I hadn't cooked anything bigger than 18 lb; I have cooked 2 larger, at 20.5 and 23.4 lb. maybe 10 years ago; they took 2-3/4 hr and 3-3/4 hours respectively. I always test for doneness with a knife cut to the thigh area to see the colour of the juices - pink not good, clear good! Remove from oven and cover with foil for at least 15 minutes while making the gravy.
I don't brine and don't know how that and the sugar in the brine will affect the colour and cooking of the turkey.
I hope some of that helps and reassures you organicgirl. I know that it still seems weird to me to not put the turkey in the oven til after 2:00 for dinner at 5:00 or 6:00! Most of my 6 to 7 kg (13 to 15 lb) stuffed birds are cooked in 2-1/2 to 3 hours; an unstuffed one I did a few years ago took 2-1/4 hr.

2014 Oct 19
Andy, that is AWESOME!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This will make turkey time so much better, and it will be far easier for us to plan chores and milking around the meal now. Thanks for sharing that. :-)

2014 Oct 19
SFGate did a lot of testing on brined and convection turkey cooking . . .

www.sfgate.com

We began with brined birds -- those submerged in a saltwater solution overnight -- because they had been so popular when roasted in a standard oven.

The convection-oven brined birds were, indeed, moist with flavorful breast meat and incredibly juicy dark meat. The skin just wasn't up to snuff, though. Because the heat in a convection oven is so intense, the sugar in the brining solution began to caramelize before the bird was done, creating unsightly brown splotches on the skin.

Our remedy was to cover the breast and top of the thighs for the first half of the cooking time, which eliminated the burning problem but left skin that was rather lifeless and not at all what some staffers were hoping for when it came time to gather 'round and pick off crispy bits.

Their desires were met when we cooked an unbrined bird. These turkeys not only saved a bit of prep time with the elimination of the brining step, but, oh, were they a sight to behold! Beautifully golden, perfectly even skin made staffers fight over the crispy wings and crunchy neck skin. However, the meat, while not horrible, was neither as moist nor as flavorful as the brined bird.

Our next step was to find the best oven temperature.

At 400 degrees, the brined bird became almost rubbery, with chewy skin and oddly textured meat. The unbrined turkey was excessively dry. At 350 degrees, both the brined and unbrined birds had staffers nodding their heads in acceptance, but the 375-degree turkeys were the real kickers. At that temperature, the meat of the unbrined bird was the moistest we'd had in that category, with perfect skin. "This is my mother's turkey!" one staffer exclaimed. The brined bird was also excellent and had us gathered around the cutting board, picking juicy meat off the bones with our fingers.

At 375 degrees, both the brined and unbrined turkeys took approximately 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours to roast. This was a significant time-savings compared to the standard oven testing where the cooking time ranged from 2 to 2 3/4 hours for a 12- to 16-pound bird.

Just to satisfy our curiosity, we purchased a Diestel Turkey Ranch range- grown bird from Whole Foods ($1.89 per pound) to compare to the Safeway brand. Brined and roasted at 375 degrees, this turkey, we have to say, was far superior to anything we had cooked previously. Unlike the Safeway brined birds, the skin of the Diestel turkey was beautifully crisp. And the meat was juicy and well seasoned, reducing Food staffers to smiling tryptophan-induced lumps. There were definitely no compromises with this turkey.

Our last test was to compare a convection-oven turkey to a standard-oven turkey. Using another Diestel bird, we followed the Best Way method and roasted it in a standard oven. The verdict? Convection ovens rule.

2014 Oct 20
As always, you should prepare and cook a 'practice' turkey. You should also invite me.

2014 Oct 20
We smoke/roasted a semi-frozen (2 days thawing in the fridge) 7 kg turkey on the barbecue this weekend. I ran the kamado (which is effectively a charcoal-driven convection oven) at 275-350 degrees during the 6-hour cooking session. The turkey turned out beautifully flavourful and juicy, with a nice pink smoke ring, crispy skin, and moist breasts.

The turkey was a "seasoned" one from the freezer at Food Basics so it required no brining on my part. To prep, I simply rubbed a little of my favourite pork/rib rub onto the skin, followed by a light amount of olive oil. Later on, with about 1 hour of cooking time left, I brushed a good amount of melted butter onto the bird.

The turkey is done once the coldest internal reading is 165 F. The reasoning behind this is that salmonella dies in 30 seconds at 160 F, so 165 is a safe bet.

2014 Oct 20
FF I have been stuck in the 90's re turkey temp. apparently, but still see a lot of recommendations online for 180-185 F. A minimum 165 F in the dressing is still recommended for safety reasons (I don't know about stuffing!), but some even recommend taking the turkey out at 150 F, tenting with foil and resting (don't think I'll try that yet). Pink meat is seen often, but I think juices should still run clear even if the meat is pink, no? Cooking to 165 F will reduce the cooking time by a significant amount when using a convection oven - maybe I'll be able to have an afternoon nap before putting the Xmas bird in the oven at 3:00 this year!

2014 Oct 20
Juices running clear or not is not an indicator of temp.

Brines / rubs / marinades and cooking method will change the color of juices.

Use a thermometer...

FDA - like, love or hate them have the most data and experience in the world. Their temps are still to high as they are 'instant' death to salmonella and they don't want to acknowledge the "Temp - Time" factor involved with the average public.

Here is latest chart - changes are made more frequently than you might think.

www.google.ca,d.aWw


2014 Oct 21
I've taken to poaching my turkeys whole in water and wine...I poached a 7kg bird. I take it out when the meat falls off the bones, never check the temp. Bonus I end up with awesome stalk to make gravy with and the meat never dries out.

Yummy, but doesn't make for good table presentation. I just find them too dry in the oven.

2014 Oct 21
Do we all agree that, no matter how it is cooked, turkey always tastes worse than chicken? You can't beat turkey for the ooooooo factor of bringing a giant mahogany bird to the table, but when you're actually chewing it, an identically prepared chicken tastes so much better.

I'd argue the same for shrimp. The small ones have better flavour and texture than the large ones, but the giant ones are so much more impressive looking.

2014 Oct 21
"Do we all agree that, no matter how it is cooked, turkey always tastes worse than chicken?"

Turkey tastes worse than chicken ? Huh ?

I'm pretty sure you are not saying chicken tastes bad and turkey tastes worse.

So you might be saying you prefer the taste of chicken over turkey.

I like them both. Do I prefer one over the other. No.

I also like goose, duck and pheasant.
But I'm not big on quail. Too much work for so little meat!
.
.
.
.
.
Now, do we all agree that, no matter how it is cooked, halibut always tastes worse than haddock?

2014 Oct 21
One No. Anyone else? To me, freshly cooked turkey always tastes a bit like reheated chicken. :P

2014 Oct 21
sounds like the beginning of an all out turkey vs chicken flame war. Except the participants are too level headed, well maybe not CC :)

I am on the side of "I prefer turkey to chicken" Now lets move on and all go slurp down some nice pho.

2014 Oct 21
I agree with FF about turkey not having much to recommend it. I never buy it, preferring capon instead for those holiday dinners. They have nice moist meat and beats the heck out of dry turkey breast meat any day. Nicastro's on Merivale sell capons all year round, for those who might be interested. And after capon, I'll take chicken, thank you very much. Anything but turkey including nothing.

As for shrimp, I agree that the small ones taste better than the Asian/Indian farm raised larger ones but the small ones are usually pre cooked which is fine for a salad but not so much for other applications. I stopped buying the Asian\Indian ones and now only buy American shrimp. By American I mean from either South or North America. I currently have some from Venezuela. They have great flavour.

2014 Oct 21
Cool, sourdough, I honestly had no idea that people do prefer turkey meat over chicken meat. An ignorant assumption on my part, considering that grocery stores sell ground turkey (who would buy such a product if everyone only tolerated turkeys for their grandiose presentation at celebratory meals?).

Given the personal nature of poultry preference, let's talk shrimp!

felinefan, I've also found American shrimp to be wonderful, but also expensive. The dirt cheap "Pacific white shrimp" are flavourless to the point of being almost useless. The sweet spot of price vs. flavour I've found is raw black tiger shrimp in the 31-35/lb size. Larger than 20/lb makes for expensive and less tasty shrimp. Smaller than 40/lb are too much trouble to shell.

Where did you find the Venezuelan shrimp, and are they any cheaper than Gulf shrimp?

2014 Oct 21
Haddock better than halibut? No way, I'm a halibut man. . . . . . .

2014 Oct 21
Fresh Foodie, I bought them at Metro a few weeks back. They were on sale for around $12 a package. That is for 340 Grams, size 16/20, raw, peeled. And they are from Argentina, not Venezuela. I'll try and fix the post above. They are really, really tasty. They have been vacuum sealed in a bag before they are put in their outer bag. The brand name is Marina Del Rey and they are wild caught.

Both halibut and haddock are good.

2014 Oct 21
FF, you're not the only one. Don't worry. It's pretty common in the crowd I know to prefer other things far and above over turkey. That's why we did duck.

2014 Oct 22
Fresh Foodie, if your turkey doesn't taste good, can't help but think you are eating/buying the wrong turkeys, lol! I also wouldn't say I prefer turkey to chicken,,, or beef, pork, lamb or another meat for that matter. I like ALL the meats! If we can source a good turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we go for it. If not, we have ham, or goose, or whatever.

Our family does enjoy turkey, but they are so massive we are happy to eat them only once or twice a year. So, we're happy to spend a bit more coin to buy a really good turkey that's been raised right and blows you away with amazing turkey flavour, and isn't ever dry, and never, EVER tastes like re-heated chicken. ;-)

We've thought about smoking a turkey, but the ones we've had were always too big to fit on our smoker. I'd love to deep fry one too someday.

2014 Oct 22
My husband has smoked our thanksgiving turkey for the past 3 years. It is amazing! The broth that you get to make the gravy out of is nicely smoked.

My parents make turkey soup out of what left & the carcass. It's great to open your container of turkey soup on a cold winter day & get this smoke smell.

2014 Oct 22
The best part of eating a nice turkey dinner is the stuffing, then it's a toss-up between the gravy and cranberries. Keep that wonderful moist turkey for the pets, it's a nice way to spoil them unless you consider that animal cruelty.

I totally agree that smaller shrimp are tastier but what's even better is smaller shrimp with the head-on. BUT the best tasting shrimp are the live ones. Just dunk those tasty little things in a hot pot and I'm in sweet heaven. Hard to come by around these neck of the woods without shelling out a bundle @ ~$25-30/lb...but sooooo worth it. Next holiday season - flip the bird get live shrimp!