Remember roasting turkey in a grocery bag?

[greygarious]

I can recall in the 1960's - this probably precedes the plastic roasting bags now commonly sold - people either covered their turkeys in cheesecloth and basted incessantly, or else put the bird in a brown paper bag and folded it closed for most of the cooking time, tearing it off toward the end so the skin would brown. Was this a widely-used method, or specific to the metro NYC area?

[buttertart]

It had spread across the border to southwestern Ontario, my mom tried it a few times. Also used brown paper bags to line her fruitcake pans. I wish unprinted brown bags were easier to come by, I like to drain fried foods on them.

[iluvcookies]

As a native NYer I've never heard of the brown bag method. My sis in law swears by the cheesecloth/basting method while I do not.
I baste but no cheesecloth.

[vafarmwife]

I have a cookbook from the 1970's that gives instructions for cooking a turkey inside a brown paper bag. It's essentially the same as using the plastic oven bag only when you use the brown paper bag, you put the pan inside the bag.

[bushwickgirl]

We put the turkey in the bag and then into the pan. You almost didn't have to clean the pan after. What cookbook? Just curious.;-)

[vafarmwife]

Cooking for Company by the editors of Farm Journal. Actually the copyright is 1968, but my grandmother inscribed it in 1971.

[bushwickgirl]

Sounds familiar, maybe my Mom had it. I have a ancient copy of the Farm Journal Pie Cookbook, dated 1965; it's a treasure trove of pie recipes.
Thanks.

[vafarmwife]

It's got such lovely recipes in it such as Potato-Wiener Supper, Salmon Lasagne, Rosy Ham Ring, Tuna Californian made with frozen onion rings, Tuna Cauliflower Fiesta, and Molded Beef Salad. Yum Yum!

[LauraGrace]

Oh my goodness... I read the subject and thought you meant in a PLASTIC grocery bag. Whew. Nothing like a little BPA with your Thanksgiving dinner.

I think Martha Stewart still recommends cheesecloth and constant basting, but I've never heard of the brown paper bag method! How interesting! Did it not leave a... well, a "wet paper bag" taste on the turkey?

[bushwickgirl]

No, LOL, no "wet bag" flavor. We oiled the bag (vegetable oil) and the bag maintained it's integrity throughout the roasting.

[greygarious]

No bag taste/smell on the bird. I don't know what temp Mom used and am surprised she had the nerve to try this in the first place. The idea of paper in a hot oven is scary - the bag became a soggy, greasy mess but would only be a fire hazard if you did a very high temperature roast. Fahrenheit 451, to be exact.

[bushwickgirl]

LOL, Fahrenheit 451, that would be a problem; I roasted them at 325*

[bushwickgirl]

I lived and worked in Eastern CT in the '70s, at a restaurant where we routinely roasted whole turkeys for sandwiches and also hosted big Thanksgiving blowouts, cooking 10-15 turkeys at a time. Quite a feat.
We used big brown paper grocery bags, well oiled, for the turkey roasting and got a superior product, nice and juicy with crispy, browned skin. No wet- or dry-brining back then, at least in that part of CT. My Aunt, who lived in Eastern MA, also used this technique.
My Mom used the cheesecloth thing and basted incessantly, every ten minutes or so, back in the '60s, but the results were not as spectacular as the bag roasting.
Of course, all that went away with the disappearance of paper bags. I never moved onto using the plastic oven roasting bags that are available now.
This year, I'm dry-brining for the first time. Life moves on.

[vafarmwife]

My grandmother used the brown paper bag method for cooking turkey. I had so many cousins that she would cook two turkeys every Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I cooked a turkey yesterday for Sunday lunch and used an oven bag. I used a herb butter to rub over the bird and under the skin. I also put cut up apples, onions, and celery in the cavity. The skin was brown, cripsy and the turkey was very juicy. I have also put cut up oranges and lemons in the cavity with good results as well. And no mess.