First of all, there’s selecting the turkey. Don’t get anything over 18lbs, since the longer cook time risks drying out your bird. If you need more for a larger crowd, get a smaller whole turkey, plus a turkey breast. Also, frozen is probably your best bet. Turkeys are typically going to be farmed somewhere far away, a frozen bird transports better with less risk for damage. If you’re getting fresh, you’d better shoot it yourself, or pick it out from the gaggle at the farm and get someone to swing the axe. But for most of us, frozen is fine.
Now how to thaw a giant frozen bird… One option is the 3-4 day thaw in the fridge. Make sure to set your turkey in a pan with a lip to catch any drips in case the packaging has any breaks. The other method is to do a quick thaw in the sink overnight. Just make sure your sink is clean, and to drain and refill the sink with cool water several times during the thaw. Personally, I like to thaw in the fridge, since it ensures that I’ve made room for an entire turkey, and should have room for leftovers after since that space was previously occupied by a whole turkey.
But what about cooking the turkey? Well, we’re going to use the exact method Alton Brown uses in his classic Good Eats episode “Romancing the Bird.” Cook at 500° for 30 minutes, slap on the pre-formed turkey triangle, drop heat to 350°, and keep cooking until the thermometer beeps at 161°. Now in the episode, Alton recommends a wet brine. Personally, I don’t have a bunch of giant paint buckets that are clean enough to use for turkey (or that I want covered in poultry germs) just lying around. Actually, I don’t think I have any containers big enough to comfortably wet brine a turkey. Also, if you have kids or pets, leaving a brining bucket-‘o-turkey around probably isn’t conducive to Thanksgiving dinner plans, anyway. What we’re going to do instead is a dry brine, or rub.
So what’s the difference between a wet and dry brine? Well both use lots of salt, plus other seasonings, but one uses a solution to permeate the cell walls of the meat, while the other uses the existing moisture of the meat to create its own solution. The wet brine is basically a marinade, where the salt in the solution draws moisture out of the meat into the solution. To maintain equilibrium across the cell wall barrier, the meat will draw moisture back into itself, as well as the salt and seasoning. Several of these movements across the cell wall are made until the salt and water levels inside the cell and outside in the brine are at an equilibrium. A dry brine has a similar concept. The salt in our rub will draw moisture from the meat, until there’s more moisture out than in. To maintain equilibrium, the meat will reabsorb some of the moisture from outside, also drawing in salt and seasoning. However, because there’s much less overall moisture in these movements, a dry brine isn’t as effective in seasoning an entire turkey as a wet brine (although still very effective). But you can store it in the fridge overnight without worrying that a 40lb. pot of turkey and water will collapse the shelf it’s on and ruin Thanksgiving, so I’m using the dry brine.
Don’t have time to let your brine work? The good thing about a dry brine over a wet brine is that even if you’re cooking your turkey immediately, it’s pretty much your standard seasoning for a turkey. The meat won’t get a chance to absorb all those awesome flavors, but it will still be tender, with a flavorful skin and delicious drippings to make some tasty gravy. Rub the turkey down and pop it in the oven.
Now that we’re done with the basics, let’s get down to our actual recipe.
Ingredients:
1 frozen turkey, <18lb., thawed
½ stick butter, melted
2 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. dried thyme
2 tsp. ground sage
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper (2 tsp. if using pre-ground pepper from can)
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground allspice
Directions:
- Unwrap turkey from packaging, remove giblets and neck from cavity (set aside for gravy), rinse and pat dry. Place turkey in roasting pan, and tuck wings under body out of the way.
- Mix spices together and set aside. Rub melted butter onto surface of turkey, coating liberally. Coat inner cavity with any remaining butter. Follow with dry brine mix, coating turkey liberally and pressing seasoning onto bird firmly. Coat inner cavity with any remaining seasoning.
- If brining overnight in fridge, cover turkey with foil and place in refrigerator (do not let other items come into contact with raw poultry). If cooking immediately, continue on to next step.
- Preheat oven to 500°. Shape a square of foil into a triangle. Form triangle over the raw turkey to shape to the breast, with top corner pointing back to the cavity. Do this before cooking so triangle won’t have to be formed over hot bird later. Insert probe thermometer deep into breast along ribs, but not touching.
- Cook 30 minutes at 500°. Set timer on thermometer for accuracy.
- At alarm, remove turkey from oven, place turkey triangle over breast, reduce oven to 350°, put turkey back in oven, and set temperature alarm on probe thermometer for 161°.
- When temperature alarm sounds, remove turkey from oven, tent loosely with fresh foil (never reuse foil that has touched raw food), and let rest about 30 minutes for smaller bird, 45 for larger specimens. Slice and serve after turkey is well rested.
Anyway, before you dispose of that pan, make sure to drain out all the drippings for some epic gluten-free turkey gravy.
Ingredients:
Turkey neck and giblets
1 tbsp. butter
Salt
Pepper
2 c. water
Drippings from roast turkey
½ c. corn starch
2 c. chicken broth
Directions:
- Melt butter in large saucepan on medium heat (4.5/10). Add neck and giblets, plus salt and pepper to taste. Sear neck and giblets until outsides are brown.
- Add 2 c. water to make turkey stock. Reduce heat to 3/10, cover with lid, and simmer until liquids reduce to about half. Remove neck and giblets and dispose.
- Prepare slurry by whisking corn starch into chicken broth and setting aside.
- When turkey is nearly ready to serve, pour drippings through mesh strainer into turkey stock. Whisk in slurry and heat until thickened. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve warm over sliced turkey, dressing, or mashed potatoes.
So there you have it, the star of your Thanksgiving table, a beautiful brown roast turkey. Remember to watch out for cross contamination risks with raw poultry in your kitchen, wash your hands throughout the process of preparing your bird, and always cook poultry to the correct temperature. Serve your delicious turkey with cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie! Leave your thoughts in a comment below, or fill out the form on the contact page to get in touch with me directly.
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