We're having Thanksgiving at our house for the first time in years and we're starting to weigh our options. Anyone ever done one of these before? We've ordered a deboned/stuffed turkey from Hebert's in Houston before but after shipping one of those will cost about $120. I'd like to do a turkey porchetta from Serious Eats but my wife's family is very basic when it comes to thanksgiving, though I'm going to see if I can get her on board with it.

Also open to other suggestions. I don't want to just roast a turkey. I'd smoke one but I already know they are weird about bbq on thanksgiving. I'm not going to fry one on my own, just not something I want to do.

I'm thinking of doing a turkey ballotine after doing a chicken one a few times this year.

Had the Popeyes turkey for 2019 turkey day.

Was a lot better than I was expecting

I do one almost every year. It is usually just a few of us. They are relatively small so keep that in mind. They are good though. The gravy packet thing that they come with was really salty one year, not the next.

JR

Max Power said:

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We're having Thanksgiving at our house for the first time in years and we're starting to weigh our options. Anyone ever done one of these before? We've ordered a deboned/stuffed turkey from Hebert's in Houston before but after shipping one of those will cost about $120. I'd like to do a turkey porchetta from Serious Eats but my wife's family is very basic when it comes to thanksgiving, though I'm going to see if I can get her on board with it.

Also open to other suggestions. I don't want to just roast a turkey. I'd smoke one but I already know they are weird about bbq on thanksgiving. I'm not going to fry one on my own, just not something I want to do.

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I did the Serious Eats turkey porchetta two Thanksgivings ago, and my basic family loved it. It's delicious. I recommend giving it a try.

Max Power said:

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Also open to other suggestions. I don't want to just roast a turkey. I'd smoke one but I already know they are weird about bbq on thanksgiving. I'm not going to fry one on my own, just not something I want to do.

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I split the middle. Literally. Spatchcock and dry bine the night prior. Then season, place in a foil roasting pan atop a layer of mirepoix and onto the smoker it goes for about 45min. Pull, slather the skin in a compound butter and finish in a 450dF oven.
It's a bit of extra work but produces the best of both - a bit of smoke and crispy, tasty skin.

What's the Popeyes Turkey?

Matsui said:

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What's the Popeyes Turkey?

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Popeye's fried chicken joints fry turkeys for Thanksgiving. Evidently, they're pretty good.

We might be talking about different things - they don't fry them fresh - the one we had was a frozen turkey -

Kick me in the balls if I ever spend $120 on a ****ing Turkey


Did the Turkey Porchetta last year. It was the best Turkey I've ever had which really means it sucked the least. All the olds loved it and it got gobbled up long before the roast Turkey my MIL made. I'm gonna make another this year.

I may have to track one of these down in Alabama

It is correct. The popeyes turkey is not fried. It is seasoned with their seasoning. You get it frozen, can go through drive through even. Then you bake yourself at home.

They are good. They are around 12lbs I think. They are $40 if I recall. Certainly not cheap for the size but it's good.

Decided to go ahead and buy one. Cost was $55, haven't weighed it but it's a big one. Other option we were considering was a smoked one from a local bbq place but it would have been $70 and they can only be picked up on thanksgiving day, so I would have felt obligated to tip handsomely. Will report back after the meal.


I did watch this the other day about making turkey confit and it looks wonderful.