How to Roast a Turkey to Perfection
• First things first: thaw your bird completely
before putting it in the oven. Thaw it in the
fridge for a few days - up to four, depending
on the size of your turkey.
• 400°F is the perfect temperature for
cooking a whole bird. You'll get crispy skin
without compromising tenderness.
• Depending on the size of your bird, it
should take anywhere from 3-6 hours to
roast at 400°F. I highly recommend a meat
thermometer, one that stays in the turkey
while it cooks and lets you set an alarm for
when it reaches the proper temperature. This
keeps you from continually opening the oven
door, which will greatly increase your cooking
time. Here's a greattime chart for turkey
roasting.
• Basting the bird won't give you crispier
skin. In fact, you'll get limp, soggy skin and it
only marginally affects the flavor.
• Some argue that rubbing the entire bird
with fat, inside and out, doesn't affect the
flavor, but I disagree. It depends on the
fat, though - olive oil won't give you a flavor
boost, but butter mixed with a heaping dose
of salt and herbs will yield a tasty dish indeed.
• It doesn't matter what orientation you
roast your turkey in. Breast up, breast down,
flipped over halfway through or hanging from
the rafters - no position will make the breast
more moist.
• Stuffing some flavored fat (such as butter
with salt and herbs) under the skin will help
flavor meat, but don't go overboard. Too
much fat will just just make the meat greasy.
INSIGHT
• They (whoever "they" are) say that you're
supposed to cook a whole turkey to 180°F, but
I find that 170° yields a perfectly moist bird
that's still cooked completely through. Make
sure to measure in the thickest part of the
breast.
• I don't recommend stuffing your turkey
before roasting, and this can lead to all
sorts of holiday misery - namely salmonella.
If you insist on stuffing the bird, make sure
you roast it until the stuffing has an internal
temperature of at least 165°F.
• Let your bird rest for a few minutes after
you take it out of the oven. A good 20
minute nap will let everything settle and keep
the moisture where it belongs: in the meat.
• The easiest way to guarantee that pieces
of breast will be moist is to let them soak
in the bird's juices for a few minutes after
they've been cut. This includes the fatty
runoff from what you've rubbed over the
surface or stuffed under the skin.
• You want the entire thing to roast evenly
and have crispy skin all over, so consider
elevating it off the surface of the roasting
pan. A good-sized roasting rack will do the
trick, which allows air to circulate under the
bird - crisping it all the way around.
• Get a decent oven thermometer, one for
measuring the turkey andone for measuring
your oven's temperature. 'Nuff said.
• Don't waste the juices in the bottom of the
pan! Reduce in a saucepan with a little white
wine, add a little cornstarch and you've got an
amazing gravy.
November 2014
11