It's in the Bag - Bag Cooking Basics

I think some of the most interesting conversations that I have ever had, have happened in the break room at work.  Especially around the table at lunchtime.  Probation officers tend to want to share their biggest gross-out stories while eating.  :) Teachers I hate to say, start out erudite and end up whining or complaining 98% of the time.  Social workers talk about the latest politics and the sad state of society.  Non-profit talk about anything but work and often end up talking about the embarrassing stories from their own lives looking for the biggest laugh, groan or sympathy vote.  While these are all huge generalizations, I must say that the group that I noticed talks the most about cooking tips is the Non, or Not for Profit crowd.  It was where I was introduced to "The Bag." 

Okay, I had heard about oven bags, I'm not a hermit crab, but I had never been that interested in them.  Somehow it just didn't seem right to basically steam food in the oven.  Whether it is right or wrong I am soooo glad that I jumped in and tried it after hearing about the success my fellow co-workers had had with them.  First off, it is still cooking in the oven, so it greatly reduces the chances of burning the outside and leaving the inside raw.  Second, all of the mess is kept inside of the bag.  Third, cooking time is reduced.  Fourth, the meat is very juicy.  Last but not least, you can cook vegetables together with the meat and have a complete meal ready in one shot.  Before you go for it, read all of the instructions carefully or you could have an explosion in your oven.  No, this did not happen to me, but I have heard about it happening.  Really! (This is me rolling my eyes.)

I had seen the idea of oven bags in cooking with aluminum foil pouches or pans topped off with foil, but this is not the same.  What I had never seen, but have later found out to be a commonly used bag in the past, is cooking with a paper bag.  In the lunch room we were discussing cooking turkey for Thanksgiving and someone mentioned that their father had always used a paper bag.  Hmmmm, okay why not?  I tried it and I will never cook a turkey another way again.  I am going to try cooking my chicken the same way.  So how do you cook in a paper bag?  Well it is pretty easy.  Get a clean paper bag from the grocery store, one of the brown ones.  Cover the entire inside with butter.  Stuff your turkey with whatever fruits and or spices you like.  Cover you turkey with salt and other spices you regularly use and then put the turkey in the bag (I cooked a 25lb turkey as I have 6 boys including my husband and so I had to use 2 bags), fold the edges down and put in the oven.  Cooking time and temperature is the same as it says on the package the turkey comes in.  That was it!  No basting, checking or looking at the turkey.  5 hours later I took it out, and it was brown, juicy and delicious.  There was lots of meat juice that I used to make the gravy.  So my recommendation is to definitely, "Bag it."