Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought my roaster for Thanksgiving. I usually do a lot of cooking and baking for Thanksgiving and this year I made 6 baked desserts alone. I started looking for something to help me with the lack of oven space for this year and found out about the turkey roaster, I had never heard of one before. I started reading a ton of reviews on several different sites to educate myself prior to buying one. I also asked around and called a few people I knew cooked a lot for thier opinions. I got good overall feedback, so I bought this one. Maybe I shouldn't have tried a new method for the first time on such a big day as Thanksgiving... but this has a happy ending. I had a 23.22lb turkey this year. Typically I will cook a bird that big on 300-325 degrees for about 4.5 to 5.5 hours. All the reviews and the instructions stated to cook anything you are making in the roaster at the exact same temperature and time as you would a regular oven. The only two things I saw were about not opening the lid because of how much more of a loss of heat you have on a roaster vs. a regular oven. Also the complaints about a crisp outside which can be easily solved by placing your bird in the oven for just the last 20 minutes of cooking time.
So I got my turkey in the preheated turkey roaster at just below 325 degrees and decided I would cook it for about five hours. I knew I didn't want to keep checking on it because of the notation about heat loss so I decided on that time from the get go since it always worked for me in the past. I got a little nervous and about 3 hours and 45 minutes into the cooking time, I decided to take a peak. A turkey is done and still tender in the thigh at 175 and more like 165 degrees in the breast, and since the turkey will continue to cook 5-10 degrees after you take it out of the oven, I usually take my bird out at 155-160 degrees when taking the temp from the breast. I freaked out when the thermometer read 215 degrees after only about 3.5 hours. I turned the roaster off and took the inside pan out and set it out in the cold to cool down as fast as possible. I admit, I started to cry at the disaster and couldn't help but think about how much that turkey cost that I worried would be a waste of money. And what would my family eat as far as meat went. But let me tell you something... I have never had a juicer turkey in my entire life. I have NO CLUE how at 215 degrees, but I went to grab the leg and the bone just came out completely clean. I guess because it is more of a steam cooking process that it stayed so juicy, or maybe because I wrapped it in bacon, but it was so good! I read someone said it took an extra hour and half, perhaps you didn't preheat the oven or thought you had it at the right temperature but it wasn't... or maybe you opened the lid too many times or didn't secure the lid to begin with, because I had the exact opposite problem. I guess I would just say to check whatever you are making just one time, half way through the originally cooking time to see how it is doing. Otherwise, I love my turkey roaster!
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