Preparing the Turkey: Essential Steps for a Flavorful Roast
A good roasted turkey is easier than it’s made out to be. Honestly, the main trick is to NOT stuff it. Bake that separately if you’re (like me) a stuffing lover. The rest leans heavily on the method described by America’s Test Kitchens.
DOWNLOAD a pdf of this recipe HERE
Ingredients
2 ¼ cup salt (if brining)
Ice (if brining)
Turkey (duh), frozen or fresh
2 onions
2 carrots
2 ribs celery
Sprigs of thyme, rosemary and sage
Salt and pepper
Chicken broth (low or no-sodium is nice to you have more control of salt)
½ - 1 cup butter, melted
Equipment
Brining bag (if brining)
Cooler (if brining)
Bag of ice (if brining)
Roasting pan with 2-inch lip
Roasting rack
Aluminum foil (optional)
Pastry brush
Meat thermometer
Two clear tea towels or clean pot holders (like, actually clean)
Big carving board
Half sheet pan that your carving board fits in (optional, but wise)
Things to do the day before:
Make your brine and chill it (up to 3 days in advance)
Brine your turkey (12-24 hours before)
Brine it? Maybe, but I do
If you have a frozen turkey, you can drop the whole frozen thing in a brining bag the day before and put that in a cooler full of ice on the back deck. As it thaws (safely) it brines. You can do this for 12-24 hours before cooking and save room in your fridge. Boom.
You can also brine a fresh turkey.
Brine recipe: For a big turkey: 4 ½ gallons water plus 2 ¼ cups salt. (Just make that amount and call it good. YOu can make your brine ahead of time and leave it outside so it’s cold when you start)
⏲️Schedule your day accordingly and work back to when you should start this business. Time management is key, but it’s not rocket science.
Dry time: 2 hours
Prep time: 45 mins
1 hr high temp bake
1 hr low temp bake
30 min rest
30 min carve
That’s about 6 hours. So if you want to eat at 6pm, you’re putting your turkey out to dry by noon or earlier. A 1pm lunch, and it’s out at 7am.
Dry and bring to room temp
1-3 hours before cooking, take your turkey out and dry it.
Place it on a rack so it’s not in a puddle. Pat it down with paper towels.
If you didn’t brine it, rub it down with salt.
Then just let it sit and dry completely. That gives you super crisp skin.
Pro tip: I aim a little fan at the bird to dry it faster!🪭
Preheat oven to 425oF, 220oC or Gas mark 7.
Prepare the pan:
Prepare your pan. Use a large enough pan with 2-inch sides that will hold a rack.
In the base of the pan, add:
Coarsly choped 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 rips celery
Also add sprigs of thyme, rosemary and sage
Your giblets (neck, organs)
Grease your rack or line it with foil. If covering it with foil, poke several holes in it and grease/spray with cooking spray. (You do NOT want your bird sticking to this, do don’t skip this step)
Prepare the turkey
Brush the breast side of the turkey with melted butter and season with salt and pepper
Place the turkey on your rack BREAST SIDE DOWN
Brush the back of the turkey with butter/salt/pepper
Roast the turkey for 1 hour⏲️.
Time to flip!!
Yep. Remove the turkey from oven. Lower the temp to 325oF, 165oC, Gas mark 3
Carefully, using clean towels to cover your hands, tip the juice from the cavity into th epan.
Now turn the turkey over breast-side up.
You might want to brush a little more melted butter on the breast (it’s gonna be so good!)
Add some chicken broth to the pan to prevent veg from burning if they’re getting brown.
Cook completely
Continue to roast the turkey until the breast registers 160oF (70oC) and the thigh 175oF (25oC)
Check your bird early so you don’t overcook it.⏲️
12-14 lbs: check after another 30 minutes (total 90 minutes)
15-17 lbs: check after 45 minutes (total 1 hr 45)
18-22 lbs: check after another 60 minutes (total 2 hrs)
Rest:🍷(Not you, the bird)
When done, set your turkey on a carving board set inside a half-sheet pan. You will thank me for this as the pan will catch all the juices as you carve.
Let rest uncovered for 30 minutes before carving
During this time, use the drippings to make gravy!!
Gravy: (This is not a full recipe)
Take the giblets (except the neck, which goes into the stock pot) out and cut them up nice and small and set them aside (you’ll add them to your gravy later).
Remove all the herbs and veg. Place them in a sieve and press the juices out of them to add to your gravy. (Sometimes, I puree the carrot, celery, onion and add the puree, but that’s a little unconventional)
Tip all the pan juices into a 4-quart saucepan, add all the juice you just squeezed out of your veg, and use that to make gravy!!
After your gravy is done, add your chopped giblets/organs.
Set up your stock pot (to make soup tomorrow)
Put a big pot of water on the stove and drop the neck in.
After dinner, pick all the meat off the bones for leftovers
Put the rest of the carcass (bones and skin) directly into the water to make soup tomorrow.
Bring it to a boil after dinner or put it in a crock pot overnight.
If you don’t want to do this now, freeze your carcass for later or send it home with a soup lover.
I deliberately left gravy out because that’s a whole ‘nother conversation. This recipe has a lot of steps, because this is a very simple method that doesn’t take the whole damn day and will make your holiday way less stressful. If you like stuffing (like I do), prep it the day before and bake it separately. Nobody will get sick and you won’t be worried about it and overbake your turkey as a result.
Love, Karen