For my personal reference and for anyone trying to make a turkey, I've documented how to make a turkey. Whether it works or not will be left up to fate so we'll just try to improve every year!
Backstory: So... back in 2008, most of my family was going out of town so my sister and I decided not to have a Thanksgiving. To ensure my intake of my yearly turkey, I decided to host a potluck with my friends. My brother ended up staying in town so I ended up having two Thanksgivings that year. ha!
Anyway. Every year I forget how I made the turkey and just google it so I decided to blog about it this year so that I can perfect it.
1. So first things first, buy a turkey! If you buy it last minute, it can cost a pretty penny. A lot of stores have specials with turkeys so look out for those.
2. Put your turkey in the fridge to let it thaw for a couple of days.
3. I learned that brining is key to a moist turkey. Brine is basically just letting the turkey soak in a mixture for a couple of days. This helps the turkey soak up some flavor and help it cook nice and moist.
Here's a recipe my sister sent me. You can google this for your own to see what works for you. I use a turkey oven bag for the brine (they're usually very cheap and end up leaking so I double bag it).
BRINE RECIPE:
- 8 cups water
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar
- 1 lemon or orange, cut into wedges
- 1 small onion, cut into wedges
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced roughly
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper, pepper balls are better but you can also use ground pepper
Mix until salt is dissolved. Soak turkey into brine overnight. Discard brine after removing turkey. Pat turkey until dry.
4. After you've patted the turkey dry, you want to season it so that it will get some nice flavors to the meat. You want to remove everything inside the turkey. Every article I see, they recommend you do NOT stuff the turkey. It cooks unevenly and could harbor a lot of bacteria. It also lengthens the cooking time so I never stuff it. So the best seasoning is and always will be butter!
I just read that buttering the inside of the turkey helps too so I tried it out. You also want to butter UNDER the skin to help the breast cook nice and moist.
Butter the TOP of the skin to help it get to that golden color we love. Then season it with whatever you see fit. At the very least, you want some salt and pepper but feel free to throw on herbs.
5. I usually use a rack but I just read that chopped vegetables can serve the same purpose and provide more flavor so I did that this year. A rack will help the turkey cook evenly by lifting it off the pan.
6. Tuck the wings under the turkey and tie the legs together. Article I read
7. I also read that putting a double layered foil on the breast will help cook it slower so that your thighs have time to cook. I'm not really sure if this helps or not but I decided to try it out.
Now recipes usually tell you to cook it uncovered for 45 minutes and then cover it loosely with foil (or uncover it the last 45 minutes of cooking). This helps the turkey get that golden brown color. I don't really care right now because I make my turkeys a day in advance and cut it into little pieces so no one ever sees my skin.
8. Cook at 350 and the time will depend on the weight of your turkey. Google this for a rough estimate but do NOT rely on it! The final cooking time will be when the deepest part of the thigh measures about 165 degrees. Do not touch any bone when you use the thermostat because that will throw off the reading. A meat thermostat is really cheap and will help SO much.
Well, personally... my turkey was already at 170 degrees after 3 hours so I'm glad I checked early. If you google turkey temperatures, the thigh should be about 180 degrees. You always want to stop it short because they tell you to let the turkey sit for a while so that the juices can redistribute. That will actually cook the turkey MORE so make sure you allow for about 5-10 degrees.
In the picture, the turkey doesn't look very nice but as I mentioned earlier, I was going to carve it and let it soak overnight so the appearance does not matter to me. If you are serving this day of.. I would recommend such things like removing the foil and letting it bake uncovered for the last 15-30 minutes. I also read that basting it throughout cooking will also help it brown nice and evenly.
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