The reason she did that if you curse on the garden web the comment won't post. I am not the only one who was thinking composting turkeys. If someone is really hardcore, they want to compost everything possible. It's an obsession. Why waste all the turkey after thanksgiving? The bones are like bone meal and the fats add something, I don't know what, but I think composting your turkey is a great idea. If I did not have that pesky compost eating dog, I would do it. I did compost a chicken a couple of times. A turkey is bigger, so you would need a big hot pile or bin to handle that. Hot is the key thing here. In a cold pile it would sit there and collect flies.

"They see long-term medical possibilities in the idea of adding skin bacteria instead of vanquishing them with antibacterials..." "...How funny it would be if adding bacteria were the answer all along." " “It’s very, very easy to make a quack therapy; to put together a bunch of biological links to convince someone that something’s true,” " I am still waiting for someone to write an article about spraying an operating room with good microbes in preparation for surgery. I have hope. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/my-no-soap-no-shampoo-bacteria-rich-hygiene-experiment.html?_r=0

USDA (yeah I know, but it's a guideline) says 20-24#, figure 4.5-5 hours. Homecooking says 6-6.5 hours for stuffed, 5.5-6 hrs for unstuffed. Foodconsumer says 4.5-5 hrs. There's so many variables (bird temp, oven temp, and I suspect moon phase and mood of the neighbor's dog) that you can't cook by time, you have to cook by temperature. And it's worth the $20 to get a probe thermometer with the alarm on it. Even one that's remote so you can carry the alarm with you and monitor the temp while you do other things, or nothing else. I set the temp to 150ð for a turkey breast and pop it in the Nesco and go have a couple beers. I set a couple alarm clocks in case I doze off, which has happened a time or two when cooking alone. A 23 pounder will most likely be a tight fit (what used to be known as an "oven stuffer" or as Carla Tortelli called Norm's contribution to the dinner, "Birdzilla") but should fit most large electric roasters. As suggested, check that it'll fit. Some have a different shape and some have different capacities. Worst case scenario? Cut it into parts and cook it that way. America's Test Kitchen recommends this anyway and I think it's a slick way of cooking a bird. I grew up on electric roaster turkey and am sold on it.

Thanksgiving is the only day we eat turkey. The rest of the time, give me a roast capon or a duck prepared almost any way at all. DH and I are just not turkey lovers. My niece makes a very fine brined and roasted turkey, but once a year is enough for us. We're sauce and gravy people. Stews, braises, casseroles - we love them. I do a fair amount of cooking and a lot of dining out, and we hold that a fine sauce is a work of art. Even though we eat a lot of steaks and roasts, a great sauce is always to be admired. There are too many bad ones around to not acknowledge when something is done correctly. One of our favorite restaurants does a great poached monkfish. This is the fish known as "the poor man's lobster" for both its taste and texture. It's a great little fish, with wonderful flavor. But nap it with Amoricaine sauce, and it rises to a whole 'nother level. This is a Bretonnese classic, and for good reason. Red wine and marrow Bordelaise on a rib-eye? Absolutely! Black truffle cream sauce on a filet? Yum! Mop that goodness up with a well made starch - roasted fingerling potatoes, barley risotto, fresh pasta, freshly baked bread rolls. Gravy and sauce was the way to extend meat to feed a lot of people. Most of the world still loves sauced dishes as treasured childhood memories. Like soup, they are warmth and comfort, soothing and homey. Chicken strips that are velveted and steamed with lop cheong sausage (classic Chinese technique) are stunningly tender, almost as soft as sous vide but we like the flavor and texture better. Perfect with a roasted garlic-oyster sauce gravy over lots of rice! Far better than stir-frying or roasting. As Charles Phan of The Slanted Door restaurant in SF points out in today's WSJournal, steaming is considered the ultimate test of a professional chef in Asia. Getting back to the NY Times' and Pepin's suggestions for steaming, one of the greatest dishes in Chinese cuisine is steamed sliced chicken breast with thin slices of Hunan ham. My mother introduced me to this dish (she took classes from one of the leading Chinese restaurateurs in San Francisco) and it still ranks with DH and me as one of the three finest poultry dishes we've had in our 45 yrs of dining. A glaze should always be light. Heavy-handedness is the mark of a bad cook. Peking Duck would not be the same without the glaze applied, for example.