TURKEY 101

TURKEY 101

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and this time of year always makes me think of my grandparents and the excitement of cooking a holiday dinner.  Nothing was better than a Thanksgiving dinner at my grandparents' house.  Some of my fondest memories of Thanksgiving are the ones of my childhood at my grandparents' home.  The family would gather there to celebrate, eat, and more eating.  It had to be the only dinner that lasted five hours.

Memories of the laughter in the air and the smells coming from the kitchen are things that can never be replaced in my mind.  As time has moved on we have lost a lot of my family and I have grown older.  The best part of all about Thanksgiving was being with family.  It was loud, loving, boisterous, and fun.

Those Thanksgivings are long gone and we have all since gone our separate ways, but the memories are still as vivid in my mind as if they were only yesterday.   If you talk to five different people all five of them are going to have ideas on how to cook a great turkey.

I am a firm believer in “Basic and simple is best."  So I am going to give you a few of the basic techniques which have always worked well for me and which will produce a fantastic turkey.

TURKEY 101:

If you hate the memory of dry turkey from the old days, buy a fresh (not frozen) kosher turkey. They truly are juicier and tastier because they are brined for you; it's best to go with a basic 12 to 16 pound turkey.  If you need a larger turkey always buy fresh, not frozen, and make sure it is kosher.  The brine will keep your turkey moist during the roasting.

I buy my turkey about a week before Thanksgiving and let it sit in the refrigerator on paper towels until I am ready to roast it.  I also take it out of the refrigerator about two hours before I am ready to prep and roast it.  You want the bird to be at room temperature before roasting.

First I salt and pepper the turkey; make sure to salt and pepper the entire bird inside and out. Then I rub the top of the bird with a mixture of olive oil and fresh herbs. 

I like to roast my turkey on a bed of carrots, leeks, onions, celery, rosemary, thyme, and parsley; chop the herbs in a food processor or by hand.  Stuff the cavity of the bird with the same ingredients, which I roast the turkey on.

I then add about two cups of chicken stock.   Not only will it will help in making your gravy, but it will also keep the bird moist.  I cook the turkey stuffing separately, not in the cavity, which makes it easier to cook the turkey more evenly.

Trussing is the act of tying string around a turkey in order to make the bird more round with no protrusions - no wings sticking out.  This prevents the burning of exposed areas. Twist the wing tips, which would burn first, under them with some force. Now run a strand of string under the turkey's girth and up each side, catching the wing tips under the string. Continue the string over to the drumsticks, catching them with the fatty tails flaps, and tie tightly.

I preheat my oven to 500 degrees.  Roasting the turkey on high heat for the first fifteen minutes not only seals in the juices but also starts building that wonderful golden color we all expect.

After the first fifteen minutes, I drop the oven temperature down to 325 and I continue roasting the turkey until the internal temperature is 160 degrees.  This should take about 1 ½ - 2 hours.

Once I put the turkey in the oven I leave it alone.  I know there are people who baste the bird every thirty minutes or so, but I find roasting it slow and letting it rest thirty minutes before carving will produce a tender, juicy turkey.