!#5: How to Make the excellent Thanksgiving Turkey

!±8± How to Make the excellent Thanksgiving Turkey

When it comes to finding directions on how to make the excellent Thanksgiving turkey, suddenly everyone you know becomes an expert. Your neighbor, your mail carrier, your hairdresser, your car repairman (even though he's never cooked a turkey in his life) and last but not least your pest control man. everyone has to put in their two cents worth on the subject. Well, I guess that means I'm in good company. Here are my instructions on how to cook the best Thanksgiving turkey you'll ever eat.

Creating excellent Flavor

I am going to let you in on a miniature secret. There is a method that the five star restaurants use to give their turkeys startling flavor. What is it? It's called flavor brining. Yep, that's their secret. Historically, brining was done as a method of preserving. However, today it is used primarily as a vehicle to report startling flavor and moisture into a lean cut of meat.

Note: You should begin the brining process at a minimum of four days before you plan to cook your bird.

How to Brine Your excellent Turkey

1. Purchase a 14 to 16 pound natural, young turkey. It should not be a self-basting or kosher turkey. These types of turkeys have a ton of added salt. Be right to look at the ingredients on the turkey package and if it says it contains sodium or salt, keep finding for one without salt.

If your turkey is frozen, you will need to thaw it for at least two days before you begin the brining process. Take off the innards.

2. You will need a non-reactive, food-safe, 5-gallon plastic pail large adequate to fit your turkey with adequate headroom for the brine to cover the turkey entirely by about one inch. Bistro furnish houses regularly have these types of containers. You can also check with a local Bistro to see if they have a package like this that they are discarding. Be sure to clean it well with very hot soap and water before use.

3. To determine the estimate of brine aggregate you will need, put your turkey in the package and covering it with water. Take off the turkey and portion the remaining water. This is the estimate you will need to make. Discard this water.

4. Place your thawed turkey (innards removed) neck cavity side up in the package and cover with it the brine (see method below). If you need to weigh your bird down, fill one or two large plastic zipper-type bag with ice and place them on top of the bird. This will also keep your bird at a cool temperature.

Refrigerate or place the bird in a cool place to brine for at least 12 hours or up to two days if desired. You can place the bird covering as long as the weather won't cause it to frost and the lid is get against pests and animals.

If you are involved about the bird being too salty, stop after the 12 hour period. It is better to err on the side of caution.

5. When the brining process is complete, rinse the bird well inside and out to Take off the excess salt, then pat it dry with a paper towel. Air dry the bird over-night in the refrigerator to let the skin dry. This will help in the crisping of the skin as it roasts. Stuff your turkey as usual and roast according to the instructions below.

The excellent Brine Recipe

You may need to duplicate this method in order to have adequate to cover your bird. Added spices such as allspice berries, crushed thyme leaves, sprigs of rosemary, cinnamon sticks, and candied ginger may be added to this aggregate to generate your own unique flavor.

Approximately 1 gallon of cold, no-salt vegetable stock or water.

1 cup of diamond Crystal Kosher salt (if using Morton's Kosher salt, use 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup of light brown sugar

1 tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed

7 fresh leaves sage, bruised

1 onion, sliced thinly

10 cloves of peeled, crushed garlic

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, sage, onion and garlic in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve all the solids and then bring to a boil. Take off the brine immediately from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Pour the aggregate over the turkey and refrigerate or pace in a cool place.

Roasting Your excellent Turkey

The goal in cooking a turkey is to get your bird cooked and beautifully browned without drying out the breast. Here's the problem: white meat cooks faster than dark meat. Traditionally, the bird is cooked breast-side up. This method causes the breast meat to cook quickly while the legs that are under the bird cook slowly. What you end up with is dried-out breast meat in order for the legs and thighs to be done properly.

So what is the write back you ask? Roast your turkey breast side down. Now before you brand me a heretic and have me burned at the stake, hear me out. Yes, this is not how your mum or grandmother did it but I am telling you, once you try this method you will never go back to cooking your turkey breast-side up again.

Why do it this way? Because when the breast meat in on the bottom, not only is it protected and cooks a miniature slower but all the juices that are in the turkey drain down into the breast development it moist, tender and juicy. Unless you have your heart set on a Norman Rockwell presentation at your Thanksgiving table, this is the best position in which to cook your bird. It may not look as pretty as the other, but who carves their turkey at the table anyway? We never do.

The last tip to the excellent turkey is to put your bird in the oven a leave it there until it is done. Reckon the estimate of time that it will take to cook your bird, then put it in the oven and don't peek until the timer goes off. No basting is necessary. You don't need to baste if you cook the turkey breast-side down.

Roast your turkey at 325 degrees F. A 14 to 18 pound, unstuffed turkey will take practically 3 3/4 hours to 4 1/2 hours.

For an unstuffed turkey, place the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, taking care that it does not touch any bone. Roast the turkey until the meat thermometer reaches 180 degrees F.

For a stuffed turkey, use a meat thermometer to check the temperature of the dressing. The center of the dressing inside the bird (or in a separate baking dish) must reach a temperature of 165 degrees F. For food safety.

After removing the turkey from the oven and before carving, allow the turkey to rest at least 20 minutes so that the juices determine within the meat, which will furnish the meat with even more flavor and tenderness and will also make carving much easier.

Bon Appetite!