Roasting Turkey

[Rosie]

How do you cook your turkey? Do you start out breast side down? Do you grill it? What do you baste it with?

[Wilfrid]

The first thing I always do, especially with wild turkey (and I do recommend wild turkey if you can get it) is put it in a marinade for twenty four hours.  Roughly, a cup of kosher salt, half a cup (or more) of brown sugar, stirred into enough water to cover the turkey.  You can use a big, non-leaky, clean plastic bag.  Promotes juiciness, tenderness and taste.

After that, I roast, and indeed will put the bird on each breast for some of the cooking time.

[Rosie]

Where can you get wild turkey if you are not a hunter? Also, I buy a kosher turkey which is already brined.

[Wilfrid]

Quote: from Rosie on 12:01 pm on Nov. 14, 2001

Where can you get wild turkey if you are not a hunter? Also, I buy a kosher turkey which is already brined.

1.  Union Square Greenmarket, or I expect a good butcher could order it for you.

2.  Yes, I have seen that solution too.  I haven't tried it because making my own brine only takes a couple of minutes - and I guess the kosher ones aren't wild.

(Edited by Wilfrid at 2:03 pm on Nov. 14, 2001)

[tommy]

can we get some input here?  

this year is the first time i'm cooking a turkey, and i must admit, i feel a bit intimidated about a 15 lb animal in my oven.  

some basic guidelines would really be helpful (temp, time, rub, baste, etc.

any help would be greatly appreciated.  at the very least, wish me luck!

(Edited by tommy at 4:30 pm on Nov. 20, 2001)

[Rosie]

Tommy--Do you have a grill? I put my turkey in a pan on the grill and close the top. It cooks much faster and is very juicy. Rub the turkey with butter. Add whatever spices you like-- poultry seasoning, sage, garlic salt, paprika etc.  Some people start there turkey breast side down for about an hour. Figure 20 minutes to a pound but that all depends on your oven. Use a meat thermometer and plan on letting the turkey rest 20-30 minutes before you carve it. Oven can be 350 degrees but you can raise or lower it depending on what else is cooking. Oh--be sure to take the innards out and clean the turkey!!! Hope this non-information helps.

[Fat Guy]

I rarely find consumer oriented cooking information helpful, but the Buterball turkey talk-line is a masterpiece.

On the Turkey Talk-Line, 45 trained home economists and dietitians dish out turkey preparation tips, carving and thawing directions to more than 100,000 callers each holiday season. These ladies are truly the experts on everything related to turkey. Every year before the Talk-Line opens in November to field an average of 2,000 calls daily, each home economist goes through a week-long training session at Butterball University.

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Take

the advice from those ladies, then cut ten degrees off the recommended temperature. Be sure to use a thermometer. If you don't have one already, a Polder combination timer/thermometer with remote probe is a really nice thing to have around.

[tommy]

thanks for your advice.  and rosie, if i put the turkey in the grill, my mother-in-law would have me committed!

[tommy]

question for those who have or who have thought about deep frying a turkey:  how do you make the gravy without pan drippings?  just a thought that i've been wondering about.

[awbrig]

It's my first year making one this year...Anyone have any great recipes/techniques for roasting a turkey or what brand I should purchase. Thanks!

[GordonCooks]

I recommend a test turkey. Roast one up this weekend to practice.

I just did a test bird myself due to the fact I have a new stove. Better to discover any minor flaws in your technique beforehand - and not the day of

[Shiva]

I've used Alton Brown's recipe a couple of times with good results.

Show Transcript.

[ChocoChris]

A test turkey is a great idea is alleviate that first time anxiety (so to speak)

GordonCooks what stove did you purchase? Do you like it?

[Jim Dixon]

one word: beer baste (okay, 2 words...or 3: brine)

Despite my wife's pleas, I continue to make almost exactly the same thing for Thanksgiving year after year. Click for complete instructions.

Jim

[ChocoChris]

JIm,

Your link didn't work.

[Robert Schonfeld]

If you can't brine your bird, get a kosher one.

[awbrig]

what size turkey do I need to serve 10-12 adults 5-6 kids? what is the general rule for size of turkey - amount of people...

[Jim Dixon]

chocochris

thanks...I fixed it

but here it is again

jim

[Varmint]

Get the biggest one you can and brine the hell out of it. Seriously, with that many people, you need a mongo bird, particularly if there's any expectation of leftovers. Moreover, I cannot overemphasize how much difference brining makes. Adding some apple cider or other sugar to the brining solution also helps to brown the bird. If you're going to stuff it, follow the Cooks Illustrated method by heating your stuffing before filling it.

[Varmint]

one word: beer baste (okay, 2 words...or 3: brine)

Despite my wife's pleas, I continue to make almost exactly the same thing for Thanksgiving year after year. Click for complete instructions.

Jim

Jim-

I'm very proud of you for sticky with tradition. This is the one meal of the year where I don't deviate too much from the norm. Your menu is quite similar to the ones you'll find on a lot of tables across the country. Sounds good to me (although I have started adding roasted garlic to the taters).

[col klink]

I can attest to the Alton Brown method. That's exactly the way I've roasted turkeys in the past. However, I'll mention that I have to double that brine recipe and nothing really matters in the brine except for the salt, sugar and vinegar, you'll get more spice and herb flavors from stuffing the cavity with aromatics. Also, I'd use the darkest brown sugar for the most color and flavor.

[awbrig]

Why do you have to brine? i found a recipe that doesnt say to brine - just salt and pepper and putting sage leaves under the skin...what does brining do...

[col klink]

Brining adds moisture to the bird and accentuates the natural flavor of the bird. I wouldn't dare cook up any poultry without brining it first. Just try brining some chicken parts and cooking them up next to unbrined chicken. The brined chicken will be infinitely more excellent than the unbrined.

[Dave the Cook]

The scientific explanation for brining goes like this:

1. The solution of sugar and salt in which the meat is immersed exceeds the concentration inside the meat. Nature being what it is, the liquid inside and outside the meat seek equilibrium, so the brine moves into the meat. (those like me, who missed that quarter in high-school chemistry, might be interested to know that this is called osmosis. Personally, I had other chemistry on my mind...).

2. As the brine insinuates itself into the tissue, the proteins in the meat ravel from their normally coiled state into longer strands that interact with each other more readily. These strands form a matrix that holds the water and seasoning in the meat.

3. As the meat heats up, the matrix firms, trapping the brine inside the cooked meat. Voila! Juicier, better seasoned turkey! Better living through science! Call it smug if you will, but it's better turkey (or chicken or pork or shrimp).

Note: By definition, a brine includes salt, and it is the salt that is responsible for the denaturing. Other water-soluble substance can be carried along with the salt, but suspended particles can't physically penetrate the cell walls. This explains why sugar, salt, cider and vinegar work, but most spices and herbs have little or no effect, except to season the exterior of the meat. (This also describes the difference between a brine and a marinade.)

Brining does not diminish the effects of other seasoning practices, including specific techniques like stuffing herbs under the skin, or stashing some citrus in the cavity. Just remember that, chemically speaking, these flavors cannot penetrate deeply into the flesh in the way that brining can. And watch the salt. After brining, there's almost never a need to add salt.

I also suggest timing your brining so that the turkey can be air dried post-brining, since bring tends to leave the skin kind of flabby. Drain the brine, rinse the turkey (pretty important), and set it on a rack in the refrigerator (uncovered) for six to eight hours. In other words, brine your bird on Wednesday, drain and rinse it Wednesday night, and let it air dry over night. Air drying makes it easier to achieve a well-browned surface.

My personal preference for turkey is a combination of water, apple cider and salt. Too much sugar and the turkey starts to get hammy--especially the dark meat. It's not a bad taste at all, but it's not turkey to me.

[mixmaster b]

Yes--Brining is great insurance against a dry bird. The meat is moist, salty, and delicious.

The pan drippings can be quite salty, so taste the gravy often as you are making it and have some good unsalted turkey/chicken stock on hand to dilute (depending on your recipe).

I started brining my turkeys a few years ago and won't go back.