Baked Turkey or Chicken

Virginia and turkey

Baked Turkey or Chicken

1 turkey, baking hen or any old chicken
butter (room temperature)
1 package Lipton dry onion soup (or 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 3 sliced onions and 4 celery stalks)
garlic salt
large brown-in bag (or foil if a brown-in bag is not available)
2 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove giblets (neck, liver, gizzard, and other stuff) from the cavity of bird. Wash giblets and cover with water in a big pot. Add a little salt and start to boil for making broth to use in dressing and giblet gravy.

Wash the bird and pat dry with paper towels. Smear inside and outside with butter (not melted) with your hand. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Open brown in bag, sprinkle flour inside leaving the flour in the bag. Put the bird in the bag. Sprinkle dry onion-soup mix inside and outside of the bird. If not using onion mix, sprinkle bird with poultry seasoning and place onions and celery inside the bird.
Close brown-in bag with tie provided. Place bagged bird in roasting pan. For an extra juicy bird, place it breast-side down for the first half of the cooking time. You will need a rack to hold it steady. Cut five small slits in the bag to let steam escape or your oven walls will get the bird. Cook 15-20 minutes for each pound of bird. Do not open the bag until bird is done. Remove bird from oven. Let stand for 15-30 minutes before carving.

If a brown-in bag is not available, lay the bird on two layers of heavy foil. Sprinkle the onion soup mix inside and outside the buttered and salted bird or add vegetables and poultry seasoning as described in brown-in bag method. Tightly wrap the bird in foil, sealing the ends of the wrap by folding it over and over again into a 1/2-inch fold. Make a few small slits in the foil to let the steam escape. For an extra juicy bird, cook it for half the time with the breast side down. Use a rack to hold it up. Cook 15 minutes for each pound of bird. About 30 minutes before the bird is done, remove foil and let the bird brown naturally breast side up. Let stand for 15-30 minutes before carving.

John Isaacson carving a turkey

To test a bird to see if it is done, just grab the leg (even through the oven bag or foil), and test to see if it wiggles freely. If it does, it is done.

In our childhood, the turkey was baked naked in a roasting pan. It was usually stuffed with onions and celery if available. In her later years, Virginia changed to the brown-in bag and somewhere discovered the Lipton dry onion soup magic. Her updated approach yielded a much more flavorful and moist bird.