Roasting the Turkey
My guess is that many people already have a favorite way to roast a turkey. This is by no means going to be a comprehensive turkey roasting guide. Here are just a few suggestions:
Brown, crispy skin
Pretty much a no-brainer. All you need to do to get this delicious and beautiful covering is to cook the bird until the skin gets crispy. What you want to avoid is over-crisp, aka burnt and dried out inside. You can either start the roast on a higher temperature (450-500 F) or finish up with a quick broil to brown. Usually, a low slow cooking naturally achieves the perfect skin. Seasoning helps with look and flavor too. If you’ve brined your turkey, make sure to rinse it off! Then add a wee bit more salt to the skin, and fresh ground black pepper. Any other herbs are best put inside the cavity, in the brine, or under the skin so they don’t burn.
Juicy meat
Brining is key to getting the meat to absorb and hold liquid. See Brooks’s last post for instructions. The other trick is to get the whole turkey to cook without the breast meat getting all dried out. One way to do this is to actually roast the turkey upside down. This way the dark meat, which takes longer to cook, is closer to the top of your oven and absorbs more heat, while the breast stays in the cooking juices and retains moisture. One of our customers told me tonight that he read in Cooks Illustrated about the ultimate method for even cooking, which is a variation on the upside down technique. It involves starting the turkey upside down (breast down), then turning it to one side, and then the other.
Another way to keep in some moisture is to put foil over the breast. We learned this from Alton Brown’s show on the cooking channel. The turkey comes out really nice by just covering the breast with a triangular folded piece of foil after briefly browning the skin and roasting on a low temperature. You could achieve the same result by using strips of bacon instead of foil.
Even Cooking
Cooking the turkey upside down helps to even out the cooking of the white versus dark meat. Also, roasting the turkey withOUT stuffing lets it cook more thoroughly in less time. It is best to just put your stuffing in a separate casserole dish and baste it with drippings from the turkey. The cavity of the turkey is the perfect spot for “aromatics” – apples, onions, sage, cinnamon stick, garlic, etc. If you do want to stuff your turkey with a bread or meat stuffing, expect to add at least another hour of cooking time. In a 350 degree oven here are the rough cooking times:
Weight of bird Roasting time (unstuffed) Roasting time (stuffed)
10-18 lbs 3-3.5 hours 4-4.5 hours
15-22 lbs 3.5-4 hours 4.5-5 hours
22-24 lbs 4-4.5 hours 5-5.5 hours
24-29 lbs 4.5-5 hours 5.5-6.25 hours
Use a meat thermometer! That is the most reliable way to get your turkey cooked perfectly. Take the turkey out when the thickest part of the thigh is at 165 degrees F. Remove from the oven and let sit for 20-30 minutes with a loose foil covering to rest before carving.
Giblets?
What do you do with your giblets?
- Gravy – simmer the giblets in water for an hour or so (best to add the liver for only the last 20 minutes), then remove the meat from this broth. Reduce a little, add turkey drippings and thickener of your choice. Season to taste. The old fashioned giblet gravy includes chopped pieces of meat from the neck, liver, heart, and gizzards.
- Stuffing – follow above directions for gravy, but use both the liquid and meat from the cooked giblets combined with bread crumbs, celery, onions, and spices for a traditional stuffing.
- Soup – When your turkey meat is all carved off of the carcass, throw the bones into a pot of water along with the giblets and simmer all day to make stock. Then either discard the giblets, or take the meat and cut it into bits and put back in the soup with your other leftover turkey and vegetables.
- Give them to the dog. Not the best option for thrift and enjoyment, but you will have a happy dog.
What’s your favorite way to cook the turkey?
-Anna
