Need advice: cooking a turkey roast

[slknight]

I just bought a boneless turkey roast (not the whole turkey), and was looking for advice on how to cook it. It's approximately 3 pounds. Should I rub it with spices or just stick it in the pan? Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[Beth]

I would probably brush it with a little oil first to help seal the juices in and keep it moist while also helping your herbs or spices to stick to the meat. Rub with whatever seasonings you like, then I would place in an oven preheated to about 425. When you put the roast in, turn it down to the roasting temp (probably about 325). The higher heat sears the outside and help hold in juices. Hard to tell from what I'm looking at, but it looks like your cooking time would probably be between an hour and an hour and a half. Hope that helps, or at least inspires some other postings for you.

I like Penzey's Bicentennial Rub on turkey, also lemon pepper and sage, or a little rosemary. Lots of possibilities.

[NancyR]

Because I like to have plain turkey for sandwiches (the deli kind is gross) I have for many years cooked whole fresh turkey breast in the Crock Pot. I bought the biggest Crock Pot I can find and buy 2 whole breasts. You can remove much of the skin but leave on enough to cover the top or it gets too dry. Do NOT add any water. Line the bottom of the pot with sliced onion (very important), cram in the turkey, add as many whole potatos and carrots as you can squeeze in, sprinkle with dill, cover and you are done! Cook at least 6 hours on high....you will be able to tell when it is done. The juices will rise up and get bubbly hot, the smell will be awesome. We eat the hot turkey and veggies the first day. Then I separate meat and bones and drain off broth. Freeze the meat in individual bags for future "lunch meat" or to be used in other recipes. The broth can be chilled and then used in other things such as soups, stews, taco meat mixture and so on. I make my taco meat from cooked turkey meat also.

One other thing..........you said "turkey roast". If you mean one with junk injected into it, rolled and formed, etc. I would avoid these in the future. I think if you try the fresh breast you will find the flavor is wonderful and without all the additives. Hope this helps.

[slknight]

Thanks for your suggestions so far. They both sound wonderful.

What's everyone's opinion? Crock pot or oven?
I'm worried about it getting dried out. Could I put it in one of those oven "bags" that are supposed to keep in the juices?

NancyR- It is not one of those rolled and formed ones. Yuck. I've had those before. It is definitely fresh. The package says "boneless turkey breast roast." It appears that the skin is still on. Kind of like buying boneless chicken, I guess. That part is already done.

[mightyh]

I've never made one in a crock pot, but now I want to... Sounds like it would be really juicy after a while in there... I think the oven would be more likely to dry it out.

Keep us posted on what you do.

[Beth]

I've never tried a crock pot, but the searing has worked well for me, both in the oven and on the grill, to keep roasts or long cooking meats moist. For turkey, to be honest, I've only cooked the whole bird, and just the breast might have a little more of a tendency to dry out. Good luck with whatever you chose.

[slknight]

Thanks for your suggestions. I used a little bit of everyone's advice, and it was a disaster! I don't know what happened.

I went with the oven as opposed to the crock pot (mainly because I procrastinated too long and didn't have time to do it in there). I decided to use one of those oven bags to keep it moist. I put onions and celery in the bag, and rubbed the outside of the turkey with some oil and seasonings. I put it in at 350. Sounds great, right?

Well after over 2 hours when the meat thermometer finally said it was done, I took it out and when I cut it, it was bright pink (almost like salmon)! It was weird because it was white (like I think of as turkey-colored) on the inside, but closer to the outside it was really pink. Has anyone ever seen this? I thought it wasn't done, so I put it back in (this time out of the bag), and cooked it for a while longer. It finally was whiter, but it still ended up kind of pinker than I would expect, and then it was also dried out because it was overcooked.

This was only a 2.9 pound roast, so I don't know why I had these problems. My theories: the temperature in my over is off, or those cooking bags do weird things to your food.Although according to the bag, the cooking time should have been about 1 1/2 hours or less.

Any ideas? I'm glad it was just me and my husband. I would have been embarassed if any one else was coming to dinner. We did enjoy the Celery Mashed Potatoes And Chicken Gravy from the July 97 issue though.

[JeanneW]

I wish I could help you, but it sounds like you did everything right. I'm as confused as you are. What seasonings did you use? If you used something like paprika, maybe that seeped down and colored the meat a bit? I've never used a cooking bag, but now I'm a little suspicious that that might have had something to do with it.

Hopefully, by bringing this back up to the top somebody else will have an answer.