Breast side up or down?

I recall Beverly Hills 90210 devoting a Thanksgiving episode to this exact topic. Vallerie and Davids mother got into a battle over the up or down discussion. Here is a video you could watch to find out what you think might be best. It states that most people cook breast side up but that dries the bird out. If you want the white meat especially tender go for breast side down. It talks about this in the video about 3 min into it. Although Nat from the peach pit said cook breast side up so he might know best. You deside!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UOh6TtESmI

My mom has done this every Christmas and Thanksgiving that I've been alive to remember. It doesn't make for a very pretty looking bird, but in my family, the bird generally gets broken down in the kitchen and put onto a platter before it gets to the dining room. No need for fanciness there, but as a culinary student I appreciate the need for the enormous well-browned crispy skinned beauty of a turkey to hit the table looking like a gift from the heavens. The problem with breast meat is that it cooks at about 160F, where the dark meat needs to hit 185. Those extra 25 degrees make for very dryed out breast meat. There are several ways you can work around this. 1. Some people use an aluminum foil triangle "shield" that goes directly onto the bird, and gets put on after the breast meat hits 165 so the rest can get to 185 without losing moisture from the breast. 2. A traditional high-sided turkey pan causes heat to move by convection straight up the side of the pan and right into the part of the turkey at that level- the breast. You can roast your turkey in a regular commercial 1/2 size sheet pan, with a roasting rack underneath. Then the heat will move up the side of the shorter sided pan, into the dark meat. 3. Or, you can use a regular turkey pan and put it breast side down. In my experience, trying to even get the upside down turkey out of the pan in one piece is usually a 2 person process (myself and my younger brother) and we usually fail. Not that it matters for us, but if you were trying to flip it to brown the skin then you may be out of luck. I also don't particularly like the whole idea of stuffing a turkey... because then you have to wait for the stuffing to heat to the right temp while your breast meat is turning into the sahara. Keep the stuffing on the side... no harm, no fowl. (LOL... *bah dum CRASH!!!*) Bad joke aside... good luck with Turkey Day!

The "normal" way is breast side up. However, if you want the turkey breast to be much more moist cook it breast side down. To get the crispy skin just cook the last hour breast side up. This gives you the best of both worlds. The breast is moist and crispy. Once you cook it breast side down, you will never cook it any other way. Good luck and Happy Turkey Day!

Do I cook my turkey breast side up or down?

Breast side down...and soak the turkey in brine water a day before baking...

You can cook the turkey breast up or down, depends on how you would like it cooked. I myself have never tried cooking it down, cause i love how crispy it gets on the top when you leave it breast side up.

Breasts up. Think about it, don't you prefer breasts pointing up rather than down in most other situations?

Up

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**** up.