19lbs turkey. Need to be ready at noon. I plan on a foil tent for most of the time then off to brown skin. What time do I start and temp?

Shit my $24 is past due.

I like to use cheesecloth
baste in butter

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/chetifall/goodturkey.jpg

my wife has been doing a 20-23lb bird for the last 7 years like this... my mom has been doing it that way my whole life.. i have yet to have a dry bird that was cooked by my family
baste with butter and herbs... do nothing for the first hour then baste every 1/2 hour
the last 1/2 hour when you uncover it baste every 7-10 minutes then take it out of the oven
while it rests baste every 3-5 minutes for 1/2 an hour then carve it up

the key is constant basting
you can have a gallon of butter sitting in the bottom of the pan but if you never baste its just butter in the bottom of the pan


i know the popup timers go off at like 185 but turkey is done at 165 so waiting for the timer can really dry out the bird

You're SOL.  Go buy a honey baked ham if you can't figure out how to cook a fucking turkey

How the Pilgrims survived without the internet or the fucking Butterball hotline I'll never know.

Hmmm, I hate Google...

http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blturkey7.htm

Put her in a crock pot right now remove and  brown in the morning.













Joke

Rub the exterior with butter, salt, & pepper.



Quarter an apple and put in body cavity along with a couple stalks of celery.



Put into a brown paper grocery bag and staple end closed.



Put into a second brown paper bag, stapled end first, and place in roaster pan.



350* oven for 15 minutes a pound. No muss, no fuss.



Let cool for 30 minutes before cutting bags open.



Best, most moist turkey you ever ate. No kidding.



ETA: 19lbs = 4 hours 45 minutes @ 350



Some of these guys would have you up all night fucking with silly shit or have you seriously undercook your bird.

I'm gonna do this one.  http://www.food.com/recipe/moist-and-tender-turkey-breast-102335

Make a brine now and brine it.



1 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 things of vegetable stock

1 tsp allspice

1 tbsp peppercorns



Mix, bring to boil, cool, refrigerate or ice to bring temp down very quickly.



Mix above with 1 gallon iced water in 5 gallon bucket.



Take your turkey and put it in there in the fridge or outside if its cold enough. Leave it in there for 12 hours.



Tomorrow take your turkey, set the oven to 500, stick turkey in the oven for 30 MINUTES @ 500.



Put foil over breast, turn oven down to 350. Cook for another 2 1/2 hours or until breast meat reaches 165.
Thank me later (and Alton Brown).



Best turkey ever.


 

Most of the time if it is fully thawed you are looking at 2.5 to 3 hours at 325.  Sometimes they don't get all the way thawed with three or four days in the fridge and can run 4 or more hours.  This is for turkeys with stuffing in them.  The stuffing needs to get to 165.

Stuffed - 4.5 to 5 hours
Unstuffed - 3.5 to 4 hours

This is at 325....

I use a thermometer and pull my birds when they hit 165 in the center of the breast....

Use one of the reynolds baking bags

It may sound a little odd, but put some softened butter (unsalted) in the blender with a tube of anchovy paste (2 sticks, one tube) and spread cold under the skin before baking.  Interestingly, it adds a flavor (and a little salt and moisture) that people can't quite put their finger on, but like a lot, like curry power in chicken or tuna salad.  It works.

And as people have said, baste it every so often and you will be fine.

OP,  Short answer:  If store-bought self basting turkey (label says 'contain X% salt solution of blah blah blah), remove giblets and neck from body cavities, pat bird dry with paper towels.  Salt and pepper inside and out, and brush with oil,  put bird in a 325 oven at 6am, breast down., Around 10 am,  remove bird, and  flip bird (breast up) and tent breast area with foil, put back in oven. Pull it at 11:30.  Let it rest (tented with foil), and carve at noon-ish.  More/better info below.


I was gonna say you need about 4.5 hours at 325 for a bird that big.  If it's a self-basting bird (says something like "contains a 8% solution of salt, blah blah blah"), then you can't brine it, but you can rub it with butter and seasoning on the outside, and stick some butter and seasoning under the skin. Don't stuff it. Stick a quartered apple and onion, a stick of celery, and a few carrots in the cavity.  Stick it in a roaster pan, on a rack, breast side down for the first  2.5 hours or so.  With an hour or 90 mins to go, get it out, flip it, breast side up (baste it while you're at it).  Tent the breast area with foil, and back in the oven for the last hour or 90mins.  Remove from oven, cover with foil for 20 mins before carving.  you'll be ok.  Total time is maybe 4.5 hours, plus 10-20 mins prep time max.  You can cut an hour off of that with a high-temp roast method.  (do 425 for first hour, reduce temp to 300 for 2 hours, and you're good.  Watch it the first hour, so it doesn't get too brown on outside.  Put foil on if burning.  Google is your friend, but I've had good luck doing this with cheap, self-basting frozen turkeys with nothing added.  Do a lot for company christmas parties (100+ people) and they like them).

They didn't have that stuff?



What about GBC and baked macaroni? Shit, I'm getting a history lesson tonight.