We didn't have Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year, but didn't want to miss out on the turkey leftovers. We mentioned that to a friend and the night before T-day, she picked up a turkey for us at Safeway for all of $5. (One of those deals where you buy $25 in groceries and get a turkey for nearly free.) It was a 14 pounder, and obviously not a free-range, organic, artisanal bird. This one was a frozen, hormonally-enhanced, water-injected miracle of the factory farming system. Normally, we'd at least go for one raised without hormones, but this was too good a deal to pass up and we greatly appreciated our friend picking it up for us.
First question was how to roast it. I decided to trade potential dryness for potential saltiness and brined it overnight in some salt-brown sugar solution. Then I carved it up a bit prior to roasting (ala Joseph Carey's recommendations), removing the leg/thigh quarters and back. Everything went in at 400° and was done in less than three hours.
So how'd it turn out? Well, it was just ok for straight up eating. The brine made it a bit salty, but it was moist and there was some decent turkey flavor there. Not fantastic, but more than I expected. It made for some pretty darn good leftovers, though. I made a concentrated stock from the carcass and used that along with some of the meat in a tasty risotto and the subsequent arancini. The meat was also very good in sandwiches, where the saltiness played well with mayo, cranberry, and bread.
Ultimate verdict: We got decent turkey, excellent stock, very good risotto, and very good sandwiches, all for $5. All in all, it was money well spent.
,) and they are too hard to pass up. I usually will freeze it until spring when we need another turkey fix.