Tips for a Perfect Sun Oven Turkey

Turkey is so much moister and tastier when it’s roasted in the Sun Oven but, even here in the sun belt, the probability of a cloudy day is too high to not have a plan B for your Thanksgiving bird.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed and my conventional over on standby. But which ever way I wind up roasting my Thanksgiving bird, I’ll be sure to brine it first. A brined turkey not only tastes better, it will be juicier and will cook 20 to 30 minutes faster than one that is not. All you need are a few simple ingredients and a large, food-safe container. I use a camping cooler.

Turkey Brine*

Ingredients

1 gallon vegetable broth

1 cup sea salt

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

1 tablespoon dried sage

1 tablespoon dried savory

1 gallon ice water

1 turkey, (thawed if frozen)

Preparation

Combine the first six ingredients (broth through savory) in a large stock pot. Bring the contents to a boil, stirring often, until the salt has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

When cool pour it into a container large enough to hold the turkey and the brine. Add the ice water. Remove all giblets from the cavity of your turkey. Wash and pat dry. Place the turkey in the brine breast down, making sure that the cavity is filled.

Refrigerate overnight.

Remove the turkey from the brine, drain, pat dry, and prepare according to your favorite recipe. Discard brining liquid.

Sun Oven Turkey Made Easy

As if it wasn’t easy enough to roast a turkey in the Sun Oven, the turkey rack just made it a whole lot easier. By removing the leveling tray, the Sun Oven’s cooking chamber can accommodate a bird up to 15 pounds, even without the hanging rack. Simply set a trivet on the floor of the chamber, put the turkey in an oven bag, and set it on the trivet.

On a clear, sunny day the cooking time will be comparable to a conventional oven. On a recent sunny day I was able to roast a 14 pound bird that was ready in about 4 hours.

The hardest part, without the hanging rack, is getting the cooked turkey, with all its cooking juices, out of the oven and on to the counter for carving. So I was delighted to discover that with the hanging rack, lifting the heavy bird out of the Sun Oven is a piece of cake. It works so much better than any other turkey lifter I’ve ever used that, should Thanksgiving day happen to be too cloudy for solar cooking, I’ll still use it in my conventional oven.

The All American Solar Oven comes with over 600 Recipes!

source: Sun Ovens Insternational