Turkey theory

[ChrisTaylor]

Never roasted a whole turkey before but tomorrow I'm giving it a go using the Larousse recipe. Now the recipe says to bard the breast with bacon. Sensible. Thing is, tho', I can't get streaky bacon in my area. Won't have a chance to get it today or tomorrow, when I actually cook. The only stuff I have access to is crappy lean bacon, which defeats the whole point of barding, or really expensive alternatives like prosciutto and pancetta.

Will I get the same effect as barding if I was to rub a metric (as opposed to imperial) shit ton of butter (which I could flavour with whatever--sage and garlic or something) under the skin of the breast and thigh? I mean, part of me is thinking it'd be better, the fatty substance under the skin as opposed to sitting on top, where I'm sure most of the grease would drip off (and make for a nice gravy but not much else).

Edited December 17, 2010 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[Dakki]

AFAIK the flavored-butter-under-the-skin approach is pretty standard and renown for producing well-browned skin. No idea if it works as well as the barding but hey, your barding options look rather limited from here.

Whats the conversion between metric and imperial shittons and the shitload? Is there a shittonne?

[IndyRob]

My kneejerk reaction is that if you want to follow a specific recipe, but don't have the ingredients required, it's time to rethink your approach.

But, while I haven't barded a bird, I am skeptical of barding. Brining seems to me to be far better for a variety of reasons. Or, if introducing fat is the desired thing, lardons, rather than barding, seem more appropriate (but then you're back to the original problem). Barding seems like it could be equalled with a good amount of basting. That's basically all that's happening there, right? Well, besides the bacon flavor.

What about sausage? Can you get sausage? This might be crazy, and I wouldn't recommend it except as an experiment, but what if you cut a V into each breast and stuffed it with sausage (extra points if you can get this done while keeping the skin intact)?

Meh, I think you'd have to cut the breast across the grain to get the fat to flow where it should.

If sausage is available, and you have some butcher's twine, you could form some strips wrapped around twine that could be draped around the bird. Mash a bacon strip sized bit of sausage on a piece of wax paper, lay a couple strands of twine on top, and top that with more sausage. Press together and drape on bird.

When roasted, strip the sausage off the twine and add to gravy.

[heidih]

I am a firm believer in the sausage or the bacon UNDER the skin. Turkey is skin is thin so it still crisps up but seems to give more of itself trapped under the skin