Those special days and such, I'll do a roast turkey *breast* at family request. They like mine better than the whole turkey, mostly because they are too lazy to deal with bones in their meat.
Anywho, my whole roast turkeys come out pretty darn good as everyone here agrees. Today, I shall reveal my secret ancient cooking technique. It's been passed down in my working family treasure chest for generations. Followed carefully, it will give a perfect roast bird every single time, with crispy golden brown skin and juicy meat both white and dark.
What is the secret? What one single thing makes this recipe the absolute winner it is?
Now, some folks will say a turkey benefits with a good brine soak more than any other critter. I agree with this, and wish my turkey to be brined. That is nice, since just about every frozen turkey one can buy is already soaking in brine.
Of COURSE it is. Then they can sell you salty water at turkey meat prices. Here, this bird is already 9.5% by weight juicy brine. That's enough, even for me. Just thaw it, unbag it, pull out the neck and innards they stuff inside, and put on a big sheet tray. I use a rack on my tray because I am fancy like that.
Use a remote grill thermometer if you have one. The target is 175 in the breast. Astute shoppers are already howling, saying "Too high for breast!" and "Too low for dark meat!". Meh, carryover will take care of the dark and a few extra degrees never hurt a 9.5 moist breast. This idea of rotating the turkey like it was George Washington watching a California election from his grave is silly. So is the careful construction of aluminum foil 'hats' and breast guards and whatevs. Total waste of time, but hey, do what makes your heart go thumpy.
Mine gets a little salt and pepper on it, and then into a 350 degree oven till the thermometer goes Bingly Bingly BEEP. At that point I shut off the oven and set the turkey to rest for a while.
Wait... no stuffing with 1.8765 onions and exactly 7.75 sage leaves, collected under a full moon? No basting every 23 minutes, using only grannies turkey baster made from pig intestines?
Nope. Just put it in the oven, which is TURNED ON, and....
2 comments:
I smoked a turkey the day before Thanksgiving, although I hadn't intended it to be Thanksgiving dinner. Ended up putting it in a foil pan and taking it to my mother's anyway, and it was enjoyed almost as much as my wife's traditional roast turkey.
However, a couple of days ago I took all the bones and skin and what not and made it into a base stock (no veggies) and then blended the remainder of the solid bits for dog goodies.
Today I took that base stock and made smoked turkey gumbo. Just got done eating, and it was delicious. Amazing what a 79 cent turkey can give you. I even saved the turkey fat off the top of the boiled stock and used it as the fat for my roux.
I hadn't considered using the turkey schmaltz like that. Good idea.
Occasionally I grill a few family packs of chicken thighs, pick the meat, and make stock with bones and skin. The grilling brings a whole new depth of flavor to the stock.
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