Turkey Cookery
Thanksgiving...the holiday of food, food, food. So much time is put into planning and preparing the meal shared with family and friends. Inevitably, the turkey, centerpiece of the laden table, causes the most worry, fear, and trepidation. Let’s be honest here...how many turkeys will you cook in a year? One…if even that one. It’s no surprise that the big bird causes all kinds of problems; most people are just not used to cooking them. There are a few things to keep in mind to ensure your fowl will not be foul.
As soon as your bird is ready (thawed), at least a couple days ahead of time, you want to season the thing. You can do this in a number of ways. The most direct and effective would be brining or dry curing.
Brining
To make a brine, bring one-half cup salt, 1 quarter cup sugar, one gallon water, and whatever seasonings you wish (I usually include peppercorns, garlic cloves, bay leaves, fresh thyme, parsley stems, allspice, and cinnamon stick) to a rolling boil. Remove this from the heat and cool it completely (down to 40 degrees). An easy way to do this is to only use enough water to dissolve the salt and sugar and to add the rest of the liquid to the boiling mixture in the form of ice. Make enough of this mixture to completely submerge the turkey. Using a bag will cut down on the amount you will need to make. If you have the ability, injecting some of the brine directly into the meat of the turkey is a great thing to do. Keep the bird on brine for at least 2 days. Remove it from the brine the day before you intend to cook it and let it rest on a rack in the refrigerator to dry it out some.
Dry Curing
Making a dry cure is less fussy and in some ways preferable to brining. Use the same ingredients you would put in the brine, but omit the water. Toss the whole mess into a spice grinder or blender and pulse it until the big chunks aren’t big anymore. Rub the turkey inside and out with this mixture. BE GENEROUS! Let the curing turkey rest for a day or two. You might need to reapply the cure if most of it melts off (it’ll be drawing moisture out of the bird so this is probable). Wipe out the cavity and brush any excess cure off the bird before you cook it.
The difference between brining and curing is, you guessed it, water. If you want your bird to be juicy to the point of wet, use the brine. If you want your bird to be firmer textured, use the cure. If you cook the bird properly, neither one will be dry in the end.
Marinating
You can also make any number of marinades to rest your bird in before cooking. Jamaican jerk, Teriyaki, shawarma, you name it. A marinade is meant to change the essential flavor of the turkey and not just support it as a brine or dry cure would.
Proper Cooking
There are as many opinions about cooking turkey as there are turkeys. I’m going to let you know what I do. Whenever I cook a turkey, I remove the breast portion from the leg portion and cook them separately. As most people know, the white meat is "done" before the leg meat. Unfortunately for the turkey, the white meat is more exposed and will, no matter what you do to stop it, get a little dried out by the time the legs are ready if you keep the whole thing together. Breaking the turkey in half is a great fix for this...granted it does not do much for the show of carving the bird at the table, but let’s think about that for a moment. Who likes carving the turkey at the table with your in-laws staring you down, judging your every hesitation, offering pointed ‘advice’ about how to do it the right way? Let’s not give them the satisfaction; carve the turkey in the kitchen and bring out an expertly arranged platter of turkey meat instead of the two halves I just had you make. When cooking the turkey, try to protect the breast as much as you can. Some will cover it with a kitchen towel rubbed with butter, some will baste every 30 minutes, some will wrap the entire thing with sliced bacon. All of these things work. Just keep the temperature moderate (325°) and have a properly calibrated meat thermometer close at hand. Remove the turkey from the oven at 145° and allow to rest for AT LEAST 20 minutes before you carve it. This is not the temperature anyone else will give you. Every other source will be much higher than that (165°). The reason they tell you to overcook the turkey is to kill all traces of bacteria from the bird lest you get sick. If you cook the turkey to this point, it will be dry. I am telling you to cook the turkey less because I trust you’ve bought a turkey not infected with foodborne illness bacteria. This leads us to our third point...
Buying a Good Bird
Buy a turkey from someone you know. That’s it. It does not have to be a fancy breed or cost $12 a pound. Just find someone in your area who raises turkeys and get one from them. Avoiding the factory farm / grocery store cycle will do amazing things for the quality and healthfulness of your finished meal. When birds are raised on small farms, they are much less likely to be infected with salmonella. The bird will be fresher than whatever you could buy at the grocery store (some of those frozen turkeys have been on ice for over a year). Most likely they’re not using antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Trust me, it’s always better.
