A holiday turkey is one of those dishes where you do it so infrequently that it’s hard to remember all the steps, even with a recipe, to turn that bird into a succulent meal. As guests arrive, you’re nervously looking at the temperature- is it behind or ahead of schedule? If underdone, you risk sending your family home with a stomach-ache… if overdone, then it’s a tough, dry and your mouth feels like you’ve eaten sawdust. What if the breast is done, but the thighs are 20 degrees behind? What about the gravy?! What if the white meat is still pink?!
Yep, been there, done that. And with that, there’s (hopefully) experience gained. So here’s how I do the Turkey and gravy now…
- Turkey- a frozen turkey will take about 4 days to thaw in the fridge, but I like to put it into an ice bath to thaw more quickly. Once it’s thawed, I take out the neck and giblets and make a turkey stock.
- Brine. 1 cup of kosher salt to a gallon of boiling vegetable stock. Add in some peppercorns, brown sugar, and spices as you see fit.
- Let the brine cool down to room temp, then in a large stock pot (or bucket, cooler) pour in the brine, add turkey, and another gallon of ice water. I’ll top it off with ice so the brine covers bird. I usually let the bird sit in the brine overnight.
- Aromatics- in a glass bowl, I’ll put in a quartered apple, 1/2 onion, and a cup of water. Microwave for 5 minutes.
- Bird prep- pull bird out of the brine and rinse off. pat dry and cover with butter or canola oil. Place in roasting pan (the ones with a pull out rack works great!) breast side DOWN. stuff in the aromatics.
- Pre-heat oven to 500 and put big bird in for 30 minutes. Then drop temp down to 350.
- After an hour, pull bird out of over (be quick so that you don’t lose too much heat) then flip bird over so the breast side is UP. The reason is to get the thighs and drumsticks a head start as they take a bit longer to cook. Insert thermometers- one into the deepest part of the thigh, and another into the deepest part of the breast.
- Overall, the bird is done when it’s 165, but this means no bacteria can survive even for a second at this temperature… but if the temperature is at 150 for 3 minutes, it will have the same effect on bacteria. So, watch the breast and thigh temperature. When the breast hits 150, and if the thigh is over 165 (170-180 is ok since the dark meat can handle the higher temp, and in fact, might be more pull apart from the bone tender) then pull bird out, cover with foil and let it rest for at least 20-30 min. It’s also great to have an instant read to check a few place in the breast and thigh to confirm the temperature.
- Usually time is also a good guideline- 14 lb bird should take around 2-2.5 hours. Apparently the brine reduces the cooking time, although I’ve never experimented with this. The amount of aromatics might have an effect, so I never stuff cavity full.
- Gravy- Once the bird is on the cutting board covered in foil (here is where the removable rack comes in handy), then the pan and drippings go back onto the burner. I try to remove some of the fat from the drippings, but hey, it’s the holidays. I’ll have about 2/3 cup of flour ready, and a few tablespoons of drippings back into the pan. Turn on the heat, slowly add flour, and make the roux. Whisk like crazy, and add in the rest of the drippings and the turkey stock until it’s smoooooth and a nice consistency- not too thick, not too runny. Salt/pepper to taste, and if you really want to jazz it up, you can add in some red wine and finely chopped up turkey giblet.
- Carve the bird, add in the mashed sweet potatoes, roasted vegetables, stuffing, gravy, cranberry, and rice to round out a nice meal!
- Thanks to Alton Brown for the brine recipe, and a few other ideas from various blogs and recipes!
Addendum- One other thing to try is dry brine, so basically cover the bird, inside and out, with kosher salt/pepper/spices for 2-3 days.