Note: This post was authored by my sister, Christina. I was hoping I could get her a byline, but apparently this WordPress theme doesn’t support this feature.
It’s that time of year again: Thanksgiving. It puts both excitement and dread into the hearts of cooks everywhere. For me, what I love about Thanksgiving is that it’s a time when so many people are cooking very similar foods… and talking about it. Everyone wants to share their opinions, recipes and secrets for how to make the best stuffing, the creamiest mashed potatoes and, of course, the juiciest turkey.
I don’t know what it’s like in your family, but in ours, the side dishes are almost sacred and based on years of tradition. Sometimes we vary some of the vegetables, but we end up liking the old standbys the best. So, there’s not much to talk about there.
But when it comes to the turkey, we’ve tried all types and all methods: heritage breed, organic and kosher. Brined and not. Breast side up, breast side down. Basted and not. High heat, low heat. Butter smeared all over the top of the skin, under the skin and just a rub down with olive oil. You name it, we’ve tried it. Because let’s face it – turkey can be dry and boring. And there’s just so much of it. Shouldn’t there be a trick somewhere??
Last year at this time, I was doing an internship in the kitchen at Jean-Georges restaurant in New York City (which was an amazing experience). Thanksgiving is one of the restaurant’s busiest days of the year, and all the chefs were extra crazed. Me – I was mostly peeling mountains of garlic and picking the leaves off more thyme that you can imagine.
But peeling garlic and picking thyme are relatively mindless tasks that are perfect for conversation. And I took the opportunity to ask some of the best chefs in the world how they cook their turkeys. Of course, it turns out that many of them have NEVER cooked a turkey at home. Crazy, right? But it makes sense – they are always working in the restaurant that night.
That’s not to say that these culinary masterminds didn’t have ideas and opinions about how to cook the bird. In the restaurant, they think the breast tastes best when cooked sous vide. Well, I don’t know many home cooks who have their own immersion circulators, so that wasn’t so useful. Turns out Jean Georges flips his bird over 4 times. And another chef (who was cooking turkey at home for the first time) was planning to slash the meat on the legs so they would finish cooking at the same time as the breast. Very interesting.
But the biggest revelation – which was universally noted by all of the chefs – was that the turkey should be pulled out of the oven the moment breast reaches 145 degrees F. Not 165 F, as most recipes say. If rested properly, a large turkey will have enough carry over cooking to take the meat up to 165 F, the temperature at which a turkey is safe to eat. Genius.
With that tip in mind, I began the process of preparing my thanksgiving turkey, and it was agreed by all at the table, that it was the best, juiciest bird we’d ever had.
A couple of notes. I recommend air drying your turkey to make sure you get crisp skin. But if this seems excessive, you can skip this step. Just make a lighter brine (2 cups kosher salt to 2 gallons of water) and brine for up to 12 hours. Timing and temperature are what this recipe is all about; I use a probe thermometer and put it in the turkey breast once the bird is flipped over. That way I know exactly when the turkey reaches the magic temperature.
Chefs’ Thanksgiving Turkey
4 cups kosher salt
1 12-14 lb. turkey (don’t forget to remove the giblets and the neck from the cavity!)
6 cups stuffing, optional
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1. The day before Thanksgiving, brine your turkey. Make the brine using the kosher salt and 2 gallons of cold water. Submerge the bird in either a big bucket or use a brining bag (if using the brining bag, you may have to turn the turkey from time to time). Refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours.
2. Air dry your turkey. Remove turkey from brine and rinse well. Pat dry both inside and out with paper towels. Place turkey breast-side up on a rack inside the roasting pan and refrigerate, uncovered, 8 to 24 hours. This will help to make your turkey skin nice and crisp.
3. When ready to cook the bird, adjust the oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 400 F.
4. If stuffing your bird, microwave your stuffing. This helps to ensure that the stuffing starts off at a high enough temperature to ward away bacteria. Microwave stuffing, covered with plastic wrap, on high until stuffing registers 120 to 130 degrees on instant-read thermometer, about 6 minutes. Using a spoon, place the stuffing into the bird’s cavity, making sure not to pack to tightly (it will expand during cooking). If not stuffing the bird, place a halved onion, a halved head of garlic (skin on) and several sprigs of thyme in the cavity. Close up the cavity and tuck the wings behind the bird’s back.
5. Brush melted butter all over the breast-side of the bird and then set the bird, breast side down on a foil-lined roasting rack. Then brush the rest of the bird with melted butter. Add about 1 cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan. For a stuffed bird, roast 1 hour, then reduce temperature to 250 degrees and roast 1 ½ hours longer, adding more water to roasting pan if necessary to keep the drippings from burning. For an unstuffed bird, roast 45 minutes and do not turn the temperature down.
6. Remove roasting pan with turkey from oven. If you turned the temperature down in the previous step, turn it back up to 400F. Using thick wads of paper towels, turn the turkey breast-side up and brush with remaining butter. Continue roasting until thickest part of breast registers about 145 degrees, about 1 hour for a stuffed bird, and about 45 minutes for an unstuffed bird. Let the turkey rest at least 30 minutes before carving. (For food safety sake, make sure the thickest part of the breast has actually reached 160F before serving.)
Note: The photo at the top of this post is our Thanksgiving turkey from last year. It was legendary.
