This method of cooking the turkey is from the San Francisco Fire Department in the 1960's. I've never cooked a turkey any other way, and I've Never had it fail. Moist and Sweet, easy to carve, with plenty of juice for gravy.

Knowing that your turkey will be done to perfection in Three Hours takes all the guess-work out of planning your meal. Want to eat at 4pm? put your bird in the oven at 12:30p (the extra 1/2-hour allows time for the turkey to Rest for 20 minutes before carving).

(although the instructions appear to be lengthy, the method itself is very simple. I just wanted to make it as clear as possible. :-D )
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15 - 22 lb turkey
Turkey truss-ers (I don't know what to call them - those sharp pointy skewers) and kitchen string; or needle & thread
Large paper grocery bag
Crisco Shortening
Lawry's Garlic Salt (or any "california style" garlic salt will do)
Stapler

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Preparing the Turkey:
About one hour before before you plan to put the bird in the oven:
o remove giblets from cavities (*if using a frozen turkey, see note below).
o rinse turkey, inside and out, under cold running water removing fatty deposits from the cavities, and any pin feathers.
o Using old bath towels, thoroughly dry turkey inside and out.
o If you stuff your bird, do so now and truss. (note: No matter what your stuffing recipe instructs, you don't need to add liquid to your dressing. Leave it dry or you might have mush. Trust me.)
o If you do not stuff your bird, place whole onions, apples, and/or other veggies in cavities, and truss.
o Generously spread crisco on entire outside of bird (skin must be dry or shortening will not stick).
o Generously sprinkle garlic salt over bird.
o okay... this part takes two people (**see my method below): Stand paper grocery bag in roasting pan and put bird into bag and, folding over the end of bag once or twice, staple shut.
o Lay bagged bird breast-side-up in pan making sure that the paper bag doesn't hang over the edges of the pan.
o Press bag closely against turkey. Using more shortening, grease outside of bag. Any spot left ungreased (especially those not touching turkey) will burn and you will lose some of your juices.
o Place turkey into preheated 500 degree oven and set timer for One Hour. It is Very Important that you do Not open the oven door for the next Three hours. Guard oven carefully against nosy guests - Duct Tape it shut if you have to. (lol)
o After One Hour, lower oven setting to 400 degrees, and re-set timer for One Hour.
o One Hour later, lower oven setting to 300 degrees, and re-set timer for One Hour.
Ding Ding Ding... Remove bird from oven; wait a bit, and then gently tear paper bag from top of turkey. Invite everyone into kitchen to ooh and ahh... take a bow.
o After 20 minutes of rest, move turkey to carving board, and do what you do.

*Frozen Turkey must be thoroughly defrosted. No ice inside, no frozen leg joints. This method will fail otherwise.

**Bring a kitchen chair to the counter and place your roasting pan on it. Stand the large grocery bag in pan. Have your helper (men are so handy) lift the turkey and slide it into the bag. It's easiest to staple the bag shut at this point. Lay bagged turkey breast-side-up into pan.

I would love to hear from you if you try this method. It makes cooking the turkey Fun!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

I am going to try this method next week, have a turkey in freezer and need to cook it....will let you know how it turns out...

thanks for the recipe

Thanks!

I started making my turkey this way before I was married, I have been using this method for over 30 years and have never tried any other way. Comes out perfect every time, crispy, golden and juicy. We buy the cheap turkeys and they still come out moist.

This totally intrigues me so I have to try it. Thanks for taking the time to write it all up

I'd love to try this method but no grocery stores around here that I know of use paper bags anymore. They have all gone to plastic. We have tried the brining method and that was the juiciest turkey I have ever had.

oh my goodness! I never knew Anyone outside of my san francisco family & friends who use this method. Where did you hear about it? (I, too, have been making it this way for well over 30 years.)

I'm game! I am going to try this soon. I too have a turkey that needs to be cooked! I guess I could wait till Thanksgiving, its coming up really fast!

Thank you for the information. I am trying this this thanksgiving.

Your method has raised an eyebrow. I might try it with a few chickens later ( changing the cooking time of course ) Not to steal any of your thunder, I brine mine and roast it breast side DOWN. Don't give a rip about the momentary "beautiful brown breast skin". I want moist breast meat and this does it every time because the juices flow down when cooking and you can almost DRINK the meat.

Same around here. Any time I can snag paper grocery bags I do!
Any ideas on how this might work with brown wrapping paper? I guess getting it sealed shut would be the issue.

Hmmm I knew there was a reason I asked for paper when I don't have my reusable bags. I will definitely try this soon.

oh my Goodness, old man-NQ. You can have All the thunder you want! lol... Your version sounds yummy. I like this method because of the three-hour thing. And because I never have to guess whether the bird is done or not. I'm a terrible guesser. :-)

If you try this with a chicken, please let us know how long it takes. I am not a good guesser either. lol

this sounds wonderful, thanks for sharing the recipe with us

Okay - wanted to try this, but was too scared to do it when everyone is coming over. So I did it today for practice. WOW! Is this turkey ever delicious and an evenly browned bird (mine usually look like I cooked it in a crooked oven). Thanks for the recipe.

Thanks for recipe!! Mom used to do it this way and so did my brother - They are both gone now and I have been looking for the recipe!!! So glad I found it..turkey always great - looks like a Martha stewart turkey :lol:

Sounds great! I saved this recipe!!

This sounds so easy, but am concerned about using the Crisco Shortening because of the fat content and trans fats, etc. Do you think olive oil would work?

I was thinking that too Lynn. I was thinking of using butter instead.

WOW - I like this idea.

Not having Thanksgiving here this year so I'll have to wait to try it next year! (Not a big turkey fan so I only serve it for Thanksgiving)

THANKS

I just checked my can of Crisco (I still use it to grease cake pans - - old fashioned, what can I say) and the can says "0 Trans Fats". So I don't think it would be any "fattier" than olive oil.

Lynn 7448 & Matilda ~ I would be cautious to use olive oil in that it may have a lower burning point than crisco has. Butter, too. If you use those, do let me know how they turn out. I can tell you that oil, crisco, & butter all have about 100 calories per tablespoon.

So glad your turkey turned out well, c joyce!! wooHOO! So glad you took a chance! It truly is a marvelous, beautiful, moist, and tasty method.

emsgranny! How Fun that you stumbled across this recipe. Hope your turkey is just like your mom used to make.

:-)

My turkey is in the oven now. One hour down!! I will let you know how it turns out.

Can't wait to hear!

I'd also love to find out the time and temp for a whole chicken. I like chicken way way more than turkey.

Turned out perfect!! I filled the cavity with potatoes, carrots, onions, and parsnips. It is really yummy! I will always cook turkey like this from now on.

That is what I said when I pulled the turkey out and opened up the bag and pulled off a piece and ate it. That part was perfect and it looked so beautiful BUT when I took the veggies out they were not done and the meat by the bone was not done. I will do this again. I think it is a great way to cook a turkey but I won't put the vegetables in the center again. My daughter in love and I were talking--perhaps I may try putting the vegetables around the turkey inside the bag.

I tried this recipe , I did not put anything in the cavity are around it and I followed the recipe to the letter and it turned out Beautifully , so moist and I will also never make one any other way again, except when my Son wants to smoke one that is.
Thank you so much for this great recipe, I love the fact that it took 3 hrs and 40 min. off the regular cooking time a Big Plus in my book's..I'm a Happy Cook Now!!! :thumbup: :D :-D

Question: When the bird is done are there juices in the bag? Do the juices leach out of the bag? Or is it "dry"?

Since there is a paper bag involved then the juices can't be used for gravy. That's a bit of a loss, but I've always got stock in the freezer and could use that for gravy.

Just wondering.

I am going to try this

I am going to try this.