Turkey is a Christmas essential, and if you’re choosing to make one this year, follow these easy turkey tips to make it your best turkey yet.
Roast the Bird Legs-Forward!
This tip came from the amazing Chef Samin Nosrat in her Netflix show Salt Fat Acid Heat. Do you normally pop your turkey in the oven with the breasts facing the back of the oven, and the turkey legs closest to the door? Well turn that bird around and you’ll have a more evenly cooked bird with less chance of dry breast meat! The idea is that your oven is hottest at the back because air escapes through the front every time you open the oven door. Keep the legs at the back of the oven since they take longer to cook, and will cook more evenly in the hottest part of the oven. The breasts take less time to cook, and therefore are likely to overcook compared to the legs, if put closer to direct heat. If you roast your turkey sideways, flip it halfway through cooking so that each side of the turkey gets equal time closest to the back of the oven.
Brine your turkey!
Brining helps make your turkey more juicy from a molecular standpoint, and you can’t argue with science. Either use a wet brine like this one or a dry brine, like this one. Both methods use very simple ingredients, but dry brining is definitely the easiest – you just rub salt all over the bird the day before you plan to cook it! Either method will give you an exceptionally juicy turkey with extra crispy and seasoned skin – just perfect, in other words! Note that brining the bird will also make your gravy pre-seasoned, so be sure to taste your gravy before adding additional salt.
Baste only with FAT
Basting with fat (which could take the form of turkey drippings, oil, butter, bacon fat, or any other kind of fat you like) is what gives a turkey its crispy skin! If you baste with anything other than fat – like stock, wine, juice, or something else you might want to get creative with) your skin will not reach its crispy potential. This is because anything water-based makes the skin soggy. So if you want crispy browned turkey skin, only baste your turkey with fat. If it’s getting too dark, you can always put a piece of tinfoil over your turkey.
Cook to the Right Temperature
Don’t undercook your turkey, but please don’t overcook your turkey either. A turkey is cooked properly when an internal thermometer reaches 165 degrees F in the thickest part of the thigh. Anything less and you risk food-borne illnesses like salmonella (not very much in the holiday spirit) and if you go too far over, you risk a dry, sad, turkey (but put enough gravy and cranberry sauce on, and I bet no one will even notice). Do yourself a favour and get an instant-read thermometer to keep the guess work out! However, other clues your turkey is done: when you tip up your turkey, the drippings run out clear, not red/pink, and the legs should easily twist out of their sockets.
Wait Before Carving!
Don’t carve your turkey the second it reaches 165 – that bird needs to rest! Cover it in foil and give it around 30 minutes so that the internal juices can re-distribute and you won’t end up with (as much) turkey juice all over your cutting board. Having just a bit of patience will make your turkey that much more moist, and it won’t get cold – we promise! Not a bad idea to use that 30 minutes though to make sure your gravy and all your other turkey accoutrement is ready and piping hot!
#TreatYoSelf to the best turkey ever this Christmas. These little efforts will go a long way to making your Christmas dinner extra delicious!
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