A bit of work upfront but a breeze at dinner, perfect for a small group. Cooked sous vide for 2 1/2 hours and then browned in a pan (thought about a deep fry finish but opted against the mess)
Tried something new - turkey with a butter/Thai chili paste baste. Loved the red color of the bird and gravy was spectacular. Going to have to try spatchcock and smoke before next Thanksgiving to see if i can pull it off in prime time.
This year I got one of my best results ever with a pasture raised heritage breed turkey. The shape is different than modern top heavy turkeys, giving a higher proportion of the dark meat I like better. To counter the firmer meat I brined 16 hours and slow roasted at 250 degrees for five hours. I upped the oven temperature right at the end because the skin still wasn’t crisp. Final temperature was 160 degrees, a little cooler than the overly cautious recommendations. I stuffed it loosely with a buttery, onion packed, herb packed dressing, and pushed butter under the skin. I kept adding sage and rosemary to the olive oil rubbed skin throughout the cooking process.
The only thing lacking was that there were almost no drippings for gravy. It was a lean bird in the first place, and the brining helps keep the juices in.
Here is my Honeysuckle white 18 lb turkey that cost $6.66, stuffed with Pepperidge Farms stuffing (recipe on the bag).
Just like mom used to (well, still does) make.
It cooked way too quickly so never had a chance to flip it . Probably better off!! Tasted great but no chance at any sort of nice presentation
I smoked two turkeys this year. The first we donated to my daughters school who had arranged a traveling Thanksgiving for the Dayton PD. I heard they liked it. The second was for us, and it’s 100% gone. My older children all took hefty to go containers of food home and left me with a fair amount… then the youngest daughter took the rest for a carry in her a cappella group had today… not even a turkey sandwich…
Not even enough turkey left for one sandwich??
I feel like that’s both an amazing compliment and a ridiculously tragic situation.
IKR? That’s my favorite part of turkey… It was easy though and I can smoke another or a breast and some thighs. I’ll take it as a compliment!
I deep fried a turkey breast for the first time. I dry brined it first for a day and served it with a homemade compound herb butter (rosemary and sage). It was good, but I am not used to frying something quite that large and need to better regulate the temp of the oil next time. Also, it wasn’t nearly as good as the rack of lamb I served for the following course.
Over the past few years I’ve vacillated between smoking my turkey and cooking it on my Weber Kettle rotisserie. The rotisserie not only makes a moist, tasty bird – but it cooks so quickly, too! And because it’s spinning on the rotisserie, it’s essentially self-basting. Just give it a good coating of oil before you begin, and baste once in the middle of cooking. Gives such perfect crispy skin and the meat is still moist. Just be sure to pick the skin off the bottom of the bird before you put it down on the board to cut.
Turns out I don’t have to choose between smoking and using the rotisserie.
That rotisserie recipe calls for a bed of charcoal started with a chimney, but it works just fine with a bunch of split cherry that you start with a chimney full of charcoal. Not as smoky as the overnight smoke in the bullet, obviously, but you do get some smoke flavor. Best turkey I’ve made yet. And with an old beat-up small roasting pan to catch the drippings, it makes a great gravy.
Just had a hot sandwich from the leftovers. Mmmm. Many more leftovers to come, too – the market misplaced my order and I ended up with a 23-lb bird. Good thing the rotisserie cooks it quickly.
Sorry, Nola – I’d give you sandwich fixings if you were local.