How to Cook a Turkey in a Paper Bag

Easy, No-Baste Turkey Recipe

Why, you ask, would anyone ever cook a turkey in a brown paper bag? Because Paper Bag Turkey comes out crispy-skinned, golden brown and juicy every time. And there's no basting; put it in the oven and forget it. Once you learn how to cook a turkey this way you'll never look back.

Paper Bag Turkey

• Remove neck and giblets from cavities. Rinse the turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Stuff, if desired.
• Thoroughly coat the turkey with butter using your fingers or a paper towel. Season generously.
• Place the turkey in the paper bag. Seal the bag with staples, paper clips or a needle and thread. (Use 2 bags if 1 is too small.)
• Place the turkey on a sturdy shallow baking pan. Bake at 325° for about 5 hours. Reduce the cooking time to 4-4 1/2 hours for an unstuffed or smaller turkey.

Leftover Turkey Tip

Here's a tip that will keep you from ever having to hear, Oh no, not turkey again! ever again. Instead of going the week-long 'leftover turkey dinner to turkey sandwiches to turkey casserole to turkey soup' route, start with the soup. Remove all the meat from the carcass right away, saving the bones for soup broth. Refrigerate any turkey meat you may want for the next day or two and freeze the rest. And voila, turkey only when you want it.

Turkey Rice Soup Recipe

After years of experimenting, this is hands down the favorite version of Turkey Rice Soup, a welcome leftover turkey recipe. But you can add sliced celery and/or chopped carrot to the recipe if you like. Soup is, after all, very adaptable. This makes a company-size amount of soup that you can adjust to fit your needs.

3 quarts turkey broth (*below)
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups turkey meat, chopped
Pinch of poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

• *Turkey broth: Place the stripped turkey carcass/bones in a large pot or stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat. Gently simmer for an hour or so. (The trick is to never cook the meat with the carcass; it leaches out all the taste. Let the broth get its flavor from the bones, instead.)

  Remove the bones and discard. You should have about 3 quarts (12 cups) of broth, but you can make up any difference with chicken soup base or bouillon and more water. It gives the soup a nice color, too.

• Transfer the broth, if you prefer, to another large (8 quart) pot and again bring it to a simmer. Salt and generously pepper the broth. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer just until the rice is cooked, 20-30 minutes. Taste, adjust the spices, if necessary, and serve.

I first learned how to cook a turkey in a paper bag as a newlywed. I must have called the neighbor who taught me six times during cooking, just to make sure that bag was not going to burst into flame in the oven. It doesn't.

Liane

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