cooking turkey in a brown bag?

[ebflin]

I've heard about a recipe where you grease a brown grocery bag and cook your turkey in it...My friend's grandmother does it and she said it was moist and really good. Anyone have specifics on how it's done??? I'd like to try it myself!

[MrsReber]

A brown grocery bag? Sounds like a major fire hazard. Never heard of this.

[pvavricka]

You do just that. Put your turkey, stuffing and all into a large brown paper bag. I never greased it though. I like roasting my turkey in a roaster oven now. It didn't really make a huge difference that I can remember. Maybe try roasting a chicken tonight for dinner to try it out and see what you think.

Penny

[lorilei]

Actually, this used to be a popular way to cook turkeys. However,

In May of 1998, the US Dept of Agriculture issued a warning against this practice, citing that paper bags are unsanitary and dangerous -- not only might they start on fire if they come in contact with an oven heat source, but the ink and glue used on common paper grocery bags can emit toxic fumes when heated.

They advise that you use purchased cooking bags to cook a turkey in this manner -- I think that's probably smart http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[ElinorC]

I've heard of this method but since so many bags are now made of recycled material, it's not recommended that you do this. If you want to do the turkey in a bag, there are roasting bags for this purpose. However, roasting in a
bag is more like steaming rather than roasting.

[Gail]

Didn't your friend's grandmother feel silly wearing that paper bag? http://cgi.tripod.com/smilecwm/cgi-bin/s/ruinkai/biglaugh.gif

Seriously, if you're into "bagging" a bird and don't want to risk the fire and health hazards involved with the verboten paper method, here's the cooking bag method per an article Vanessa cited last week in the Washington Post called 7 Takes on Turkey:
www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21670-2000Nov14?language=printer (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21670-2000Nov14?language=printer)



[This message has been edited by Gail (edited 11-21-2000).]