How We Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey
We've come a long way since the first time we ever cooked a turkey. See here for Steven's account of that.
In spite of that discouraging beginning, we persisted in trying. A couple years ago, we came across an article in the Denver Post (Shaw, Tucker. "Get it Perfect." Denver Post [Denver] November 17, 2010, Features, D-01) that gave us a lot of good ideas. Searches online gave us some more ideas of how to do it. (Unfortunately I don't have the references for those anymore. You can do your own search.) The last couple years we have still had our hang ups, but once the turkey was cooked, it tasted wonderful! So here's what we do:
1. Saturday before Thanksgiving: Remove turkey from freezer, place in refrigerator so it can start thawing.
2. Tuesday morning: In a clean ice chest just large enough to fit turkey, mix 1 gallon cold water with 1 cup salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and some thyme, pepper, garlic and bay leaves. Unwrap turkey, remove any giblets from neck and cavity. Add turkey to water in ice chest, if necessary add water to cover, close lid and let "brine".
3. Wednesday Evening or Thursday morning: Remove turkey from brine, rinse well and pat dry inside and out with paper towels. If Wednesday evening, let sit uncovered in refrigerator over night. Remove turkey from refrigerator at least an hour before you plan to start roasting it.
4. Sprinkle cavity lightly with salt. Place a carrot, an onion, a celery stick and maybe lemon slices or an apple - all cut in half - loosely into the cavity. (We learned that stuffing the turkey seems to dry it out.) Secure legs with skewers or string.
5. Rub butter all over outside of turkey. Try to get it under as well as over the skin. Place turkey breast side up on a rack in roasting pan. Cook at 400*F for 45 minutes, reduce heat to 300* and cook until thermometer in thickest part of thigh reads 160* (Estimate 12-14 minutes per pound). When turkey starts to turn brown, cover it loosely with a tent of foil.
6. Allow turkey to rest 1/2 hour before carving. Remove vegetables from inside before carving.
I understand that the drippings from under the turkey can make a wonderful gravy... but we're still working on that. :)
In spite of that discouraging beginning, we persisted in trying. A couple years ago, we came across an article in the Denver Post (Shaw, Tucker. "Get it Perfect." Denver Post [Denver] November 17, 2010, Features, D-01) that gave us a lot of good ideas. Searches online gave us some more ideas of how to do it. (Unfortunately I don't have the references for those anymore. You can do your own search.) The last couple years we have still had our hang ups, but once the turkey was cooked, it tasted wonderful! So here's what we do:
1. Saturday before Thanksgiving: Remove turkey from freezer, place in refrigerator so it can start thawing.
2. Tuesday morning: In a clean ice chest just large enough to fit turkey, mix 1 gallon cold water with 1 cup salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and some thyme, pepper, garlic and bay leaves. Unwrap turkey, remove any giblets from neck and cavity. Add turkey to water in ice chest, if necessary add water to cover, close lid and let "brine".
3. Wednesday Evening or Thursday morning: Remove turkey from brine, rinse well and pat dry inside and out with paper towels. If Wednesday evening, let sit uncovered in refrigerator over night. Remove turkey from refrigerator at least an hour before you plan to start roasting it.
4. Sprinkle cavity lightly with salt. Place a carrot, an onion, a celery stick and maybe lemon slices or an apple - all cut in half - loosely into the cavity. (We learned that stuffing the turkey seems to dry it out.) Secure legs with skewers or string.
5. Rub butter all over outside of turkey. Try to get it under as well as over the skin. Place turkey breast side up on a rack in roasting pan. Cook at 400*F for 45 minutes, reduce heat to 300* and cook until thermometer in thickest part of thigh reads 160* (Estimate 12-14 minutes per pound). When turkey starts to turn brown, cover it loosely with a tent of foil.
6. Allow turkey to rest 1/2 hour before carving. Remove vegetables from inside before carving.
I understand that the drippings from under the turkey can make a wonderful gravy... but we're still working on that. :)
Thank you! I'm going to try it. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds great! I liked Steven's story... I think early in our marriage (first one on our own without visiting family...) we tried an oven bag, followed the instructions, had it come out perfect, and have stuck with what works... though we have had friends smoke a turkey for us before and that was wonderful, too.
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