Well, all I can say is I'm glad you did all the ''testing'', so I don't have to! I knew I was saving that old fashioned dark blue granite-ware turkey roaster for a reason...thanks for reminding me ''WHY''!

But old blue roaster, are you talking about the dark blue graniteware? I've got one of those, it was my mother's.

Sounds like you had quite a day!

Nancy

When we do turkey dinner at the food bank each year the protocol is to cut them up, "hips" in their own pan, breasts in another.

They have huge, commercial roasting pans (so big they are strapped with metal bands to keep them from twisting out of shape) and we can sure pump out a lot of turkeys in short order. But the ovens are commercial sized as well.

But maybe a variation on that would help speed things up for you?

I split my home turkeys and flatten them. I've come to find out that is called spatchcocking the bird. I can cook a turkey dinner in about three hours, all from raw, except the gravy which is premade. But that is my choice, you could make gravy from split birds, i brine, so that makes the gravy from drippings salty so I make gravy from the neck, wing tips and gizzards, etc. prior.

never thought to cut them up....duh!!!...would have sure made a difference!...Never too old to learn...thanks for the hint.
I just got off the phone with my food service friend....she says to be totally safe...cook the underdone bird in a pressure cooker....and she has a big pressure cooker and will do that....so I feel better about that.
Yeah....those old blue granite-ware roasters. I have a special heavy one at home....this was not a "Savory" roaster....just an old blue roaster...
So....now on to the 5 whole pork loins....
Later....not tomorrow!!
Linda C

Linda honey, have you thought about going to a different church?

LOL! The Church would never be the same!

I love my old blue roaster. I keep it here at the cottage and, for my money, turkey and chicken cooked here are always better than the ones cooked at home.

Hijack Alert:

I have a question or two about the granite ware roaster. Is it spackled blue on the outside, white enamel on the inside, not very heavy? I have my dad's ancient roaster that is like the one I described (he made gorgeous turkeys in it), but it also has a big rusty spot on one end, but no hole. I've never used it for that reason, but I'd love to.

Is this the roaster you're talking about, and do you think it's safe for me to use my rusty one?

Sherry

Sherry, I wouldn't hesitate to use your roaster. Just scrub the rust off (sos pad should work), and season it to keep it from rusting again.

All of mine are blue throughout....
Again I wouldn't blink at the rust....does a cast iron pan bother you??
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: like my roaster

Yes, that is the shape of my roaster...thanks! I don't know why I've worried about the rust all these years, because the only pans I use are cast iron and they do get rusty sometimes.

Thanks. I think I'll make Italian Beef in it for the weekend - I always do two batches in smaller pans, but this should work great! My father has probably been trying to bang me on the head with his old roaster to get me to use it since he died in 1988!

Sherry

Linda, what's all the turkey for?

Tha annual find raiser for "work week" where adults and kids go away on a trip somewhere interesting and do "something" 2 years ago it was NOLA, last year Galveston and this year it's Burlington area to clean up after floods there.
We put on a big deal dinner...called "The ice Cream Social"...we serve hot chicken and pork loin in BBQ sauce sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, slaw and home made ice-cream and pie to as many as we can draw in the door.
The turkeys are for the "hot chicken sandwiches"....they used to buy canned chicken and put it into cream of chicken soup....until they got smart.

LindaC, I'm shocked and appalled, here you are, IN CHURCH, passing off turkey as chicken! (grin)

Sherry, I wouldn't hesitate to use the rusty blue granite ware either.

Annie

It's a local joke....not at all sure why we don't just call it turkey....but the years of all that canned chicken are telling....and amazingly....since it's been turkey it's been more popular, even though we call it chicken.

I'm not amazed at all. Call it whatever you want, Freshly roasted turkey hass GOT to be better than canned chicken and cream of whatever soup.

I'd really like mine on a biscuit, though, could you arrange that? (grin)

Annie

sorry....it'll be cheap buns...

Oh darn, well, I guess you saved me a trip to Iowa, LOL.

Annie

I think you're amazing to do so much of the cooking. Will you get to go on the trip, or are you going to stay home?

No no no....I don;'t WANT to go on a week's trip with a bunch of teens to sleep on the floor or a cot in a church and work on cleaning up flood damage during the day! I'll cook for the fund raiser instead!!!

You don't have to go on the trip Linda; I'm always amazed by how much you do to help your church with food, and how it is often just you providing all the labor for the meal.

And I appreciate the help you've given all of us when it comes to deciding about quantities of food for a large group.

Lee

I can't imagine sleeping on a cot or the floor or riding a bus and being jostled for hours. Ouch. Your talents are definitely in the kitchen.

I keep seeing those old granite ware roasters at thrift stores. I am tempted but it would have to live in the garage as my kitchen storage is limited. And I still don't have a real working full-sized oven so it seems like a silly purchase.

stupid question, whats a 'club aluminum' pan

Way back when.. you could buy one of those thin cheap blue granite ware roasters for about $.69 for one the size of a 6 pound chicken. A larger or heavier one was more expensive....but not much.
But a club aluminum one was lots and lots more....and you could scour it clean with an SOS pad.
I never could afford one! And didn't want one either...my SIL got lucky and got one as a wedding gift...and she never learned to cook.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: club aluminum roaster

LindaC, my Grandmother had some turquoise blue Club aluminum pans, those suckers were heavy! She used one to make fudge in, swore it worked better than anything else.

Annie

Ah just like my mom's Guardian Ware. Sitting at my sister's house - all warped, as aluminum does. Memories! I think it was overpriced, MLM sold stuff for the times, like SaladMasater of today. Aluminum is great, cheap, but warps!

The Guardian Ware brings back memories! When I was selling antiques, I could sell every piece of it I ever found. Cooking in aluminum has its own issues, but for the day, it was good stuff. Jessy, I've seen a few pieces that warped, but considering how heavy it was, that also seems very odd. Could it be that it was heated too high to begin with to warp in the first place? I don't think people realized aluminum heats very evenly, and doesn't need high heat.

Annie, I can totally see why your grandmother would use it to make fudge.

Linda, I'm right there with you...I'd stay home too! (I hurt all over just thinking of it.) Cooking would be much less of a sentence for me, although physical labor in its own way. Is anyone at your church learning to cook from you?

there are lots of good cooks....but the problem is organization and the lessons that to figure out how much you need to feed 50 is not a recipe that feeds 6 multiplied out 8 and 1/2 times. My 2 principal side kicks are a former caterer and a dietitian who works in a nursing home. One knows amounts and the other food safe methods. I've learned a lot from them!
As I remember there were different grades of that heavy aluminum stuff, and the colored stuff was not as heavy as some of the other stuff....and then there was Magnalite....super shiny and super expensive....
My mother bought me my first Le Cruset dutch oven....and a "friend" said...it's pretty but it will chip and my magnalite will always be beautiful.
She was right...it did chip, and I literally wore that pot out...stirred it to death! I still have it....chipped and dinged though it is...but I learned how to make a great potroast with great gravy with that pot....and the Magnalite gal still hasn't learned! LOL!
Linda C

It's a local joke....not at all sure why we don't just call it turkey....but the years of all that canned chicken are telling....and amazingly....since it's been turkey it's been more popular, even though we call it chicken.