Paper Bag Turkey

Cooking a turkey is a personal thing. My Mom made a wonderful stuffed turkey that family would come 150 miles to have in a day. (Besides her Giblet Gravy and mashed potatoes!) I tried the getting up at 5:30 to stuff and put the turkey on and found that sucked a big one! My method for the past ten years has been “Paper Bag Turkey”. It is easy, it is fast cooking for a turkey, it turns out golden and wonderful, and it is moist and flavorful. Stuffing on the side and giblet gravy is a snap! (NO four days for me!) I make a turkey at least three times a year. I like a BBQ’d turkey also….but that’s another story!

Paper Bag Turkey

1 TURKEY, no more than 10-12 POUNDS (I like the fresh, free range ones)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp hungarian paprika
4 tsp hot water
1 cup + good peanut oil (I like the peanut oil from an Asian Grocery, it has so much more flavor)
1 yellow onion cut in half
plain brown large PAPER grocery bag
stapler

Heat oven to 325 degrees

Combine pepper, salt, paprika and hot water. Mix and let stand at least 10 minutes. Add peanut oil to make 1 C of mixture and mix again. Take the giblets and neck out of the turkey. Wash and dry turkey. Rub peanut oil mixture inside and outside turkey( and under the skin on the breast and thighs). Add both onion halves inside the turkey cavities. Truss turkey legs and cavities. Meanwhile pour balance of peanut oil inside brown paper grocery bag. Rub oil into every pore of every inch of the inside and outside of the bag. Place turkey in the sack, breast up. Fold over the end of the sack and staple securely. Place on a baking sheet with a lip ( I use a large, oval roasting pan to catch the drips) and place in a 325 oven for approximately 10 minutes per pound plus 15 minutes overall. The turkey is cooked by live steam, so, when the sack is opened, BE CAREFUL! The turkey is self browning and self basting. Putting it in a pan is a good thing as the bag may leak juices which you can put in the gravy or on the dressing.

DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ANY OTHER OIL FOR THE PEANUT OIL! ONLY COOK THE BIRD IN A PLAIN BROWN PAPER SACK STAPLED SHUT!

You can roast the turkey bones in a pan at about 400 degrees for about 45 minutes and then put in a soup pot, cover with hot water and add onion, celery and carrot and boil, turn down and simmer 8-12 hours. Make soup or put in baggies by 2 cup increments and in freezer trays and freeze for use later. It smells so good on the stove!