How to roast a turkey using the 'dry brine' method. A dry-brined turkey is simple and uncomplicated -- best of all, it turns out a whole turkey with a dark, crispy skin but the breast meat and the dark meat both? Oh-so moist and flavorful!
Wild turkeys bob through the woods in a wild country place in the Missouri Ozarks about an hour from home here in suburban St. Louis. They leave three-toed tracks and occasional feathers, too, in muddy spots along the dirt road that follows the ridge to the river. A group of turkeys is called a ‘rafter’, a rafter of ‘poults’ if they’re young. Some times I try to catch them mid-trot with a camera lens, mostly I’m happy to spot them at all, wily elusive creatures that they are.
For Thanksgiving, however, most of us ‘hunt’ for turkey with our wallets by traipsing through not the woods but the grocery store.
In October, I roasted the first turkey of the season to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, opting for a frozen turkey with one of those pop-up dealies to show when the turkey is done. Good thing: I love-love-love my instant-read meat thermometer but it failed me here. It’s just hard to 'insert in the thickest part of the thigh until the temperature registers 175F' in exactly the right spot.
For American Thanksgiving, I hope for a first taste of heritage turkey, or maybe, just maybe, wild turkey.
No matter, I love this simple recipe for cooking a turkey. The skin comes out dark and crispy (just try to stop tearing off pieces of skin while you’re carving, oh wait, don’t stop, it’s the kitchen treat), the white meat moist and flavorful, the dark meat to die for. It’s one of those recipes that proves that some times, perhaps many times, simplicity outshines complexity.
If oven space is an issue, cook one or both turkeys the day before. (See How to Cook a Turkey the Day Before.) Allow up to a week to thaw a frozen turkey, though thawing can be sped along, some, by placing the turkey in cold water to thaw. Just be sure to find a vessel large enough to hold a turkey that fits into a fridge. If the weather’s cold enough, 35F – 40F, say, place it outside away from direct sun and hungry critters. A V-shaped roasting rack isn’t necessary, just mound up the vegetables in the center and place the turkey on top. Why do we let meat rest? Many recipes call for letting a piece of roasted meat rest for 15 – 30 minutes after it’s fully cooked. This lets the juices re-distribute themselves throughout the meat, making every bite moist and flavorful.
In 2009, Kitchen Parade celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special collection of my mother's recipes. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. ROAST TURKEY RECIPE
Time to table: 24 hours, allow 3-1/2 – 5 hours to roast, rest and carve, depending on the turkey’s size and whether stuffed
- 1 whole turkey, thoroughly thawed (see TIPS)
- 1 tablespoon ground sage
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Water
DAY BEFORE Reach into the neck end and, er, the ‘other’ end to retrieve the neck and giblets; put aside to use, if you like, for making turkey gravy. Rinse the turkey inside and out, pat dry with paper towels. Stir together sage, salt and pepper, rub all over the bird. Place on a roasting pan and refrigerate uncovered overnight.
DAY OF Preheat oven to 400F. Drain off any liquid in the bottom of the roasting pan, rinse the pan well. (If you’re going to stuff the turkey, do it now.) Toss the vegetables with oil, arrange in the bottom of the pan. Place a V-shaped roasting rack in the pan (see TIPS) with the turkey, breast-side down on the rack. Roast for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven; baste the back and sides with some of the pan drippings. Turn the turkey over to put the breast side up; baste the breast and sides. Return to the oven, continue to roast the turkey until done (allow 1-1/2 to 2 hours for an unstuffed turkey, another hour or so for a stuffed turkey) checking every 20 minutes or so to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water whenever the vegetables in the bottom become dry.
WHEN DONE Remove the turkey from the oven. To make gravy, transfer the liquid in the bottom of the pan to a saucepan. (See my recipe for simple and delicious and never-lumpy Turkey Gravy.) If the turkey is stuffed, transfer the stuffing to a baking dish, cover and keep warm in a low oven, about 200F. Cover the turkey with foil and let rest for about 30 minutes (why? see TIPS).
CARVE To carve the turkey, slice off the legs and wings, cut off the meat. Then slice into the breast meat in even layers. If serving the turkey later in the day or another day, here’s how to reheat the turkey, retaining all the moisture and flavor.
AFTER DINNER Pick the meat off the turkey and refrigerate for turkey leftovers. Get out the stockpot for it’s time to make turkey stock!
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Ali ~ BIG thanks!!
Cynthia ~ Thanks for the confirmation! Unfortunately, there seem are no heritage turkeys available in St. Louis, at least this year. Our local Slow Food group gave two farms grants this year to start raising them, so maybe another year.
GreenGrannie ~ Thanks so much for adding this information, I didn't realize that the USDA had come out advising against it. (Of course, they're also the people who tell us to cook pork to a shoe-leather 160F.) For anyone who wants direct access, here's the USDA link. I'll also share my own tips for handling meat safely. I know after washing my most recent turkey, I did clean the sink. So apparently the idea of avoiding cross-contamination is in my own head, too.
First, even cooking. Huge turkeys have huge breasts, so by the time the interior is cooked, the outer areas are dry and stringy. Smaller turkeys have smaller breasts, so it doesn't take as long to get fully cooked in the interior, the outer meat is just fine. Make sense?
Second, even cooking again. One big turkey takes up so much space in the oven that there's little room for air movement (although convection would help). So do two turkeys (in two ovens if you have them or one the day before (using the tips on how to do that and then reheat that are referenced in the column) and then one on the day of. Or really, I supposed, do both the day before!