I can think of a couple options I would consider.
- Pre-cook the stuffing in a casserole dish the night before, then heat it in the oven towards the end of the bird's cooking time. Covered, you could probably leave it in the entire time the bird is cooking, but I don't think it would be necessary to reheat for that long.
- Cook the stuffing most of the way in the microwave, then put it in a casserole dish or cast iron skillet under the broiler (while the bird sits to rest after it's done cooking) in order to get the crust you want.
- Make stovetop stuffing in a large cast iron skillet with a lid over low heat. I would think you would get some kind of crust on the bottom, but I would finish it under the broiler regardless.
A recipe similar to this one for stovetop stuffing seems to be the way to go. This also has make-ahead and reheating times to give you a guide.
I am firmly in the "stuffing is evil" camp... but lets take that as read :-)
If you absolutely must have in the bird stuffing, here is a link to a (I hope legal) excerpt of Alton Brown's Good Eats, showing his technique for doing turkey with stuffing:
http://www.aol.com/video/alton-browns-turkey-with-stuffing/444711017/
He uses a food-safe cotton bag, and pre-cooks the stuffing in the microwave. Then, he uses what looks like a flexible plastic cutting board to guide the bag of stuffing into the turkey.
The summary of his technique is that the stuffing is partially pre-cooked, so that it is hot when it goes into the bird, and comes up to temperature together.
. . .
In the abstract, independent of the pre-cook the stuffing method aluded to above:
The temperature of the inner surface of the cavity is going to be essentially equal to the temp. of the outer surface of the stuffing. Since neither is in contact with any of the heating modalities in the oven (radiation from the hot oven walls, conduction from air contact, convection from circulating hot air), that interface will only heat by conduction through the outer turkey. You want cooked stuffing without overcooking the turkey--that is tricky. But the short answer is yes, the stuffing prevents the turkey from getting convection/conduction heat on the inside.
To assess the temperature at the inside of the turkey, take the temperature of the stuffing, at the edge of the cavity. It will be safe at approximately 155 F (there is some variance depending on your assessment of risk, and which source you look at). This only indicates the turkey is safe, not the center of the stuffing, which you should also check.
Best Answer
The idea of cooking a turkey upside down is that the fat from the fattier bits of the bird (the legs etc) runs down into the breast. As a crown has none of these bits, there's no point in cooking it upside down.
By all means butter and bacon it though - turkey breast is very lean so needs all the fat it can get to keep it moist, so use good fatty bacon.
Take it out of the fridge a good hour before you cook it, preheat the oven to 180C, and cook for 20 mins per pound (454g) + 20 mins. Baste regularly, but be aware that every time you open the oven door the heat drops dramatically, so don't be overzealous - once every 20 minutes should be ok. Then let it rest for half an hour, on a warm plate, under foil. This will help with juiciness.