How to win at Thanksgiving turkey: this is our actual 2017 bird as it came out of the oven and onto the serving platter.
If you want to win at Thanksgiving turkey, you need a game plan. In past years we’ve talked about cooking your first ever turkey, oven temperature options and so on. This time, we’re just assuming you want to just head for the finish line. Let’s go.
Take advantage of supermarket loss leaders, or not. This year in my town I could buy a frozen bird with a coupon and a minimum grocery purchase for 37 cents a pound, or a humanely raised bird from one of several specialty stores for over $3 a pound. When you are planning to buy a bird of 20 pounds or more, that difference is a week’s worth of gas money. The same big-breasted breeds are used for the humane meat cases, so your meat’s not going to taste too different. Also, note that the price differential here is far greater than between a free range or factory pig, making the moral considerations more acute. Undecided? Maybe you should do what we do in our household, and buy one of each. Wife gets to cook the virtuous bird on Thanksgiving, and hubs has a nice smoked turkey at some point during the year.
Go big and go home. Especially if you’re buying at a great price, the bigger the bird the better the value because the meat/bone ratio improves at higher weights. And it takes the same trouble and not much more time to cook a 20-pounder vs a 12-pounder. Don’t worry about leftovers. When the time comes you can wrap them tightly and freeze in a carefully sealed zipper bag, and you’ll be ready for some good sandwiches or turkey salad in the springtime.
Defrost your turkey. Assuming you bought a 20-pound behemoth at the supermarket, it’s frozen and will require a minimum of 24 hours at room temperature to defrost. So if you’re reading this on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, your goose is cooked but your turkey won’t be, at least not in time. Your bird is going to come from the precooked deli section.
Brine your bird. A brined turkey will produce crackling crispy skin and moist, tender meat. Any problems with that? There do exist reasons not to brine but we won’t go into them here. To brine you need a really big pot, which you probably don’t have in your kitchen unless it’s a canning kettle. Go out and buy a mini-garbage can just big enough to hold the turkey and remember not to put garbage in it afterward.
We use the Chez Panisse formula: 2 ½ gallons cold water, 2 c Kosher salt, 1 c sugar. We also throw in a few bay leaves, a few cloves of garlic and a scoop of juniper berries. If we have some fresh herbs left over from the summer, we’ll throw those in as well. Mix all this up in your bucket with a big spoon like a witch uses. Then extract the packets of innards from the turkey (there might be more than one, and in more than one spot), drain any liquid inside the bird, and dunk it in the brine to leave overnight in a cool spot, and ideally 24 hours. Put it in neck first, then flip it halfway through. Pro tip: the turkey doesn’t have to be completely defrosted to start marinating, as long as you can reach your hand and get those bags of parts. In fact, a partially frozen bird will insure your brine stays at a food-safe temperature.
To keep things simple, we’re not going to stuff this turkey. But you definitely want some stuffing at the table. Use this recipe, or make sure someone else is doing it.
Meditate. Take a bio break. Have a glass of wine. Since all the above tasks need to be completed by Wednesday morning, on Thanksgiving eve when everybody else is in a panic, you can relax. Why are there no football games on TV the night before Thanksgiving, BTW?
Sleep in Thanksgiving morning. That’s right. If you are eating at some reasonable hour in the mid to late afternoon, no need to get up at the crack of dawn to put in the turkey. (Yes, there are many side dishes but you don’t have to worry about them because your responsibility is to win at Thanksgiving turkey.)
Prep for the roast. Bring the turkey out of the brine and into the kitchen. Pat it dry with paper towels. Dust it with a bit of ground pepper (maybe 1 ½ t) in and out; no need for salt because of the brine. Put the turkey In a roasting pan, breast up. Maybe you have a pan that’s the right size with a rack to stabilize the turkey. But it’s fine if you grabbed a disposable aluminum pan at the store. Pro tip, if the latter: make your own “rack” on the bottom of the pan with lined up cleaned celery stalks and carrots. No need to peel these; they are there to flavor the juices as they are produced. Finally, take a double thickness of cheesecloth or paper towels, smoosh them up with some softened butter, and position over the top of the turkey so it covers both breasts. Drizzle over some olive oil. This is how you keep the breast from cooking too fast and becoming tough.
Cook the bird. You don’t want to roast at a high temperature during the entire cooking time because the exterior will burn, but we’ve found there is little difference in the result whether you start at a high temp like 400 degrees then lower to 325 when you put in the bird, or cook at 350 the entire time. Allow 15 minutes per pound for your fully defrosted, room temperature bird but also have a meat thermometer handy.
Pan juices will start to appear at about the two hour mark. Collect these with a long spoon or (much safer) a basting tube and distribute over the top of the turkey, especially on the paper towels/cheesecloth covering the breast. When the bird is nicely browned, remove the protective cover from the breast so it can brown as well. Once the temperature, measured by inserting the tip at the joint where the thigh meets the body and making sure you aren’t close to any bones, is 165 degrees… you’re done.
Rest, carve and serve. Let your bird rest for up to an hour after it comes out of the oven while your co-cooks take up their dishes. Now bring to the table on a great big platter. Not enough attention is paid to the reality a turkey is a messy carcass to carve. We like to do our best by focusing on one side, leaving the other for leftovers. Deftly slice some breast meat with skin—that always comes off nicely—and place in an open area of the platter. Cut off the drumstick and place it at the opposite end of the platter. Now take the thigh and sort of shave off the meat with the knife; it will not cut so much as fall apart. Hide the thigh bone under the turkey where you’ll retrieve it later for stock, then arrange the thigh meat next to the drumstick and serve. The above will produce enough meat for half a dozen servings.
Do all these things, on time and in order, and you will win at Thanksgiving Turkey. Congratulations.
