Anyone ever cook a turkey in a dutch oven when camping? If so how does it turn out and how did you cook it.
signed,
Just Curious
Most dutch oven turkey's are done in a 14" deep or 15" MACA oven. It is not recommended to stuff the turkey. Cook the dressing in a separate oven. That said, I have not cooked a turkey on my MACA or deep 14". All I've cooked in them is a standing prime rib roast and Yorkshire pudding. They were especially yummy.
Moose
Has anyone ever used a turkey frier while camping? It might work.
I have seen people use a turkey fryer, but :( they were not camping with me so I didn't get to eat any of it. :p
I wanted to cook a turkey in my DO last year but my oven wasn't big enough so we did a chicken instead, which worked very well. This year I think we are going to do a port roast!
If you have a grill (Weber), you can cook the turkey in that. They come out great.
Quote from: ForestCreatureIf you have a grill (Weber), you can cook the turkey in that. They come out great.
Aren't Turkeys too big a bird to go into a portable oven ? They barely fit into the oven we have at home (Yeah a standard oven/range combo whatever they are called).
I am surprised they can be cooked at camp grounds .......
Birol, I have never cooked a turkey in a dutch oven, but I do know several who have tried it with good results using a small bird of about 10-12 pounds which did fit in the larger size dutch oven. Also there are some who take their turkey fryer with them on camping trips as I have seen them. I am rather afraid to use a turkey fryer as it can be dangerous if the hot oil splashes on one, but I have to say that the turkey is delicious cooked that way.
My BIL cooked a turkey in a fryer a few years ago. Our main worry was four or five kids running around. So four of us stood guard with frosty beverage. When the turkey hit the table it evaporated. In fifteen minutes flat there wasn't enough left to make a small sandwich. Aside from the safety issue, there is five gallons of oil to deal with ($25). I thought the turkey was great, but I wouldn't do it again.
As an alternative: Drive four 3' lenths of conduit into the ground about 6" forming a square about 18-24" on a side. Make four cylinders of chicken wire about 3-4"D and 30" long. Slip one over each conduit, and fill with charcoal. Wrap the whole box with tin foil. Put a disposable plate on the ground to catch the drippings. Suspend the turkey in the box and roast. We did this about fifteen years ago on a Scout outing, so I hazy on cooking time, but I'm thinking three hours??
I once cooked an 18# Turkey (stuffed too) in a microwave, took about 2.5 hours, and came out perfect, so tender the meat was falling off the bones! Only thing was, the tips of the wings and the breast plates tend to over cook, but the cook book I was using (from the microwave manufacturer) said to cover the wing tips and very top of the breast area with small amounts of tin foil. I thought this was crazy, but the book explained that there is much "Mass" from the Buzzard, that a little foil wasn't going to hurt anything, and it didn't either! Juciest Buzzard I ever did cook.
Please note, I pretty much dislike Turkey, but I suppose once per year I can suffer through the side effects of eating it...
Thanks for the good ideas guys! I'll let you know what I try. :)
If you have electricity, a roaster oven works terrific! Target has several on sale around $30 - $35!
Quote from: aw738Has anyone ever used a turkey frier while camping? It might work.
YES :)
Just this past weekend on a NNC rally,
we deep fried 2 turkeys for our potluck.
They were awesome.
Ab Diver and I cooked a turkey each.
15 minutes to heat the oil and prepare the turkey
and just over an hour to fry them.
I highly recommend it for a rally.
It was a great social activity, as everyone had to swing by to check them out, and we set up the fryers well away from where the little kids were playing.
Surfcal managed to take a few photos of the turkeys
http://community.webshots.com/album/101514772uAQdMt
Quote from: 6QuigsYES :)
Just this past weekend on a NNC rally,
we deep fried 2 turkeys for our potluck.
They were awesome.
6Quigs,
Man am I sorry I missed this rally. We are going to deep fry one on Thanksgiving. Did you use any marinade?
Quote from: ckkevin6Quigs,
Man am I sorry I missed this rally. We are going to deep fry one on Thanksgiving. Did you use any marinade?
Yes I did.
I used Sal's recipie, the one Joan posted in the recipie forum.
I let it marinade for 24 hours before cooking it.
Ab Diver injected his marinade beneath the skin just before he fried his turkey.
They were both great.
We're thinking of doing it again at the Ccacchuma rally just after Cchristmas
We are camping for Thanksgiving. It's our first holiday campout and we are dry camping. We had a big dinner last week when my parents came to visit so I was thinking we would skip the traditional Holiday Feast. But the kids were bummed.
So I picked up a Smoked Turkey breast that we'll heat over the campfire. Nobody in our family likes darkmeat so why waste time and $ on the whole bird?
We are also having roasted potatoes, stuffing, yellow squash and onions in foil packets, asparagus (my favorite) rolls and cranberry sauce and lots of homemade gravy! I made the gravy last week and froze it in a ziplock. Nobody really likes pie here so it's cinnamon rolls for desert. Poke em on a stick, toast over fire until they puff up really nice, then squirt the icing on top and watch it melt all over! Yummy!
Quote from: B-flatI am rather afraid to use a turkey fryer as it can be dangerous if the hot oil splashes on one,
Amen to that! I've seen one we use at our ball park for fries flame up when the oil sloshed over the side. I was facing it as my DH was pouring in the fries. Whoever previously had that duty overfilled the oil and I watched my DH jump back as a fireball shot up over the roof of our snack bar. I just knew the whole thing was going up in flames.
I think if camping, the best thing to make for Thanksgiving is reservations! I have seen turkey rolls in the market that could probably be made on the BBQ.
Buy a smoker, they turn out great, but it takes some time. :cool:
BEST BIRD YOU EVER ATE :D
Plus you can do all kinds of meats and other things the possiblities are endless.
B
My BIL has a smoker and uses different "flavors" for his bird. The one I tasted was superb and it almost had a flavor like smoked ham. There wasn't any left. Hey, when will yours be done? I might come over.
I've cooked turkeys over an open fire, and they were GREAT!! Hang them on a tripod, feet up. I put sliced apples in the cavity, the drap aluminum foil like a tent over the whole bird, open or flared out at the bottom. I then use a charcoal chimmny to start the briquets, place the bird over the fire, about 8"-10" up, I recomend some soaked hardwood tossed on the fire. One chimmnys worth of briquets at a time is about right, one after the other. It takes 6-8 hours, but worth it!