Story behind the turkey: WAY back when Dave and I first got married, we had Dave's family (including his sister/brother-in-law) and my dad over for Thanksgiving dinner. Karl, his BIL and REAL chef, told us he was going to make our Thanksgiving turkey in a bag... I didn't believe him because I just knew that either our very tiny apartment was going to catch fire and burn to the ground OR all the juice from the turkey would spill all over the bottom of the oven and I certainly didn't want to have to clean that up! BUT, since he is the professional, he was right and the turkey was one of the best I'd ever had! It was so tender and juicy and YUMMO! Since then, we have made the famous "Turkey in a Bag" several years at our Annual Williams' Thanksgiving Extravaganza. And every year, there's a person (like me) who just can't believe that the bag doesn't catch fire..........well, here's the proof that the turkey is FABULOUS after it's baked. Too bad blogs can't deliver taste and smell........ ;-)
Ingredients/Tools:
*Turkey (size of choice..but must be smaller than the paper bag!), thawed
*3 oranges, quartered
*1 onion, cut in sixths
*rosemary (and/or any other spices you like to put on your turkey)
*olive oil--about 1/2 to 3/4 a cup....just guessing on this!
*water (in a small glass...about the size of a double shot glass)
*PAPER BAG (at your local grocer...NOT Walmart! LOL!)
*cookie sheet with sides...we used the bottom part of our broiler pan...
*3-4 clothespins
*sharp knife
Directions:
1. Cut up the oranges/onions.
(I HATE onions, so I know my mom was quite surprised I cut them up and even more so that I used them in a recipe!)
2. Clean out the inside of the turkey cavity and place in a pan for preparation.
3. Place as many of the oranges and onions into the cavity of the turkey as desired, making sure it's totally full. (I use more oranges than onions--only about 3 pieces of onions--just because I'm not an onion fan...)
4. Fill the small glass with water, and place between the turkey legs.
5. Place the empty paper bag on the cookie sheet.
6. Place turkey inside bag. (May need help with this step as seen in picture...)
7. Get olive oil and rosemary (or other spices...I'm not much of a spice person, so this is all I put on mine.)
8. Rub the outside of turkey generously with olive oil. The olive oil is what helps the turkey turn brown.
9. Sprinkle rosemary (and/or other spices) onto turkey.
This is what prepared turkey will look like:
10. Fold end of paper bag over and use clothespins to secure.
11. Place pan with turkey/bag in oven.
Be sure it's on a shelf close to the bottom and avoids the heating element at the top of the oven. (IMPORTANT STEP!) =)
12. Bake for amount of time printed on turkey packaging. You can probably even cook it a little bit longer (about 15 or so minutes...) if you so desire. DO NOT OPEN THE BAG UNTIL COOKING TIME IS COMPLETE!
13. When the time is up, take turkey out of oven and let it sit for about 20 minutes to make sure it stays juicy.
14. After about 20 minutes, open the bag, and HOPEFULLY this is what you will find...Mmmm!
15. Time to cut the turkey!
(Notice that though there is more juice under the back of the turkey, most of the juice stays in the bag...the glass of water helps keep the turkey moist during baking which is why basting is not necessary.)
Great job, Mom! It was a SUCCESS! (and I made a believer out of you, once again! ha!)
--Thanks, Karl, for such a delicious (and easy) recipe!
--Liz, hope this helps and that you are able to use this for your turkey at Christmas. We miss you and wish you had been able to join us this year. At least through this you were kind of in attendance! We love you!
--Blog Readers, hopefully I didn't leave out any really big, important steps! Happy cooking to all!
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