Monday, November 9, 2015

Oven Roasted Turkey 'Food For The Holiday's'




The time for giving thanks is upon us again which is kind of ironic as we should be giving thanks everyday for the people in our lives that are most important to us, but often we get so involved in our own little world that we often take our friends and family for granted. However, since the mid 1940's the fourth Thursday of the month has been a national holiday here in the United States where we are reminded that we should slow down and take the time to thank God for the blessings of family, friends, and prosperity that he has bestowed upon us. It is a time to get together and share or good fortune and bounty with our friends, family. Yes, it is time to eat turkey, talk politics, and watch football!

I know, I know, some of you have been tortured over the years with dry overcooked turkey that was as tough as shoe leather that you chewed with a smile praying silently to yourself that if God has any mercy, then aunt Martha will not be cooking the turkey next year. Our maybe you are silently sulking in the kitchen because the turkey you worked so hard to prepare just came out wrong and well, your embarrassed. That's ok, because in this article I am going to teach you how to roast turkey that will have both you and your family fighting over the leftovers. To do this we are going to follow three easy steps. The first step includes brining the turkey to add moisture and flavor, the second step is cooking the turkey low and slow (325 degrees) in a covered pan or bag to preserve that moisture, and the third and final step is allowing the meat to rest sufficiently before carving to help redistribute the juices throughout the meat. If you follow these three easy steps you will have a perfectly roasted turkey everytime.


Thawing Your Bird

If you are like most of us, you will purchase a turkey from your local grocer that is frozen. Before you can brine your turkey, it has to be thawed. The only truly safe option to thaw your bird is to place it in the refrigerator several days before you wish to brine it. Now, depending on the weight of the turkey, it could take up to 5 days for a frozen turkey (20 to 24lb bird) to thaw in the refrigerator. Fortunately, must of us will purchase a 8 to 14lb turkey which will thaw in about 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. I place my turkey in the same pan in which I will be roasting it in and place it in the fridge to thaw before brining. Once the turkey is thawed, do not forget to remove the neck, giblets, and the sauce packet if there is one before beginning the brining process. Keep them if you want to make gravy, but I generally just feed the neck and giblets to the dog that way everyone gets to enjoy thanksgiving.




The Brine

This recipe is for two gallons of brining liquid which should be sufficient for any turkey under 16 pounds. An 18 to 20 pound turkey may need 3 gallons of brine. When brining your turkey, place the turkey in your container breast side down and add the brine, there should be enough liquid to cover the bird completely. To ensure optimum flavor, I believe that the turkey should be brined for 24 hours, so you must plan accordingly. This is my basic all-purpose turkey brine, it is simple, easy and a good foundation to build on. This is what I use every time I cook a turkey whether roasting in the oven or deep frying. If you want to add dried fruit, oranges, apples, or a variety of other spices and aromatics to this brine feel free to do so, just make sure you keep the water, salt and sugar ratio the same. For more information on brining chicken, rabbit, or turkey check out my article 'Brining: Adds Flavor and Juiciness to Chicken, Turkey, and Rabbit' on our blog.

Basic Turkey Brining Recipe

2 gallons of water
1 cup kosher salt
½ cup brown sugar
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

While your bird is thawing in the fridge, measure out two gallons of water, then remove 2 quarts (64 ounces) and place in a medium sized saucepan. Add all the ingredients and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and stir to ensure that the salt and sugar are thoroughly dissolved. Once the salt and sugar are dissolved, remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool. Combine the cooled concentrated 2 quarts of brine with an additional 6 quarts (192 ounces or 1 ½ gallons) of water to the container in which you are going to brine your turkey and place it in the fridge so that it is nice and cold and ready to use when the turkey is completely thawed.

Remember the turkey needs to be kept cold during the brining process or those nasty bacteria may begin to grow and multiply. I place my birds in an old Styrofoam cooler with the brine and place it in the fridge. If you do not have a cooler, any type of container will do as long as the bird can be completely submerged in the brine. I have used plastic 5 gallon buckets with good success as well, you just have to have enough shelf space for something that tall.

Chef's Note: I know some people have used plastic bags for brining, but I have to admit I have not. You need to take care if you wish to use some form of plastic bag as a gallon of water weighs approximately 8 pounds, add a 12 to 14 pounds turkey (total weight 20 – 24 pounds) to that and it you are not careful you could end up with quite the mess in your fridge and kitchen if the bag breaks.

The turkey should be turned at least once during the brining process, however, I usually turn my bird every six hours to insure that the brine can infuse into every part of the bird. When the 24 hours are up and your ready to start cooking the bird, make sure you rinse it with cold water to remove any residual brine from the turkey. Remember the cavity of the bird may contain liquid so make sure it is rinsed and drained thoroughly.

Chef's Note: You do not want to use a self basting turkey for this process as self basting turkeys already have a flavored liquid infused into the turkey. Brining a self basting turkey could result in a bird that is too salty to eat.


Roasting The Turkey

As I have mentioned before, a brined turkey is a juicy and succulent turkey, and when cooked properly should never be dry. I have been roasting chicken and turkey's for many years and I must admit I started out pretty much following the standard 'Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook' (circa 1962) instructions for roasting a turkey, but often found the cooking times were way to long as they generally included cooking times for stuffed turkeys. Because I do not stuff my birds, it takes less time to bake a whole turkey. Below I have listed the approximate cooking times and techniques that I use when roasting a whole turkey, they are simple, concise and they work.

Once the bird has been brined, remove it from the brine and rinse it throughly. I then generally cut up one large onion into chunks and place it in the cavity with 2 cloves of garlic. You can add additional aromatics if you wish, but I like to keep it simple. I then place the turkey in my enamel ware roaster and place it in the oven. I have included three variations on how to roast your turkey below. The oven temperature and times are the same for all methods, but there are slight variations in technique depending on the type of pan and method you use.




Inverted Baking Rack (No Lid)

I do have a roasting pan with a 'V' rack that allows you to place the turkey breast down, but it does not have a lid. I was given this roasting pan as a gift, I tried it once, but I prefer to cook my turkey's in a covered roasting pan with a lid. I have not used it since, I guess I need to send it to Goodwill, but I haven't gotten around to it. So what is the advantage, of placing your turkey, breast side down, well in theory this allows the turkey to self baste in it's own fat and juices keeping the breast from drying out. To roast a turkey using one of these racks you cook the bird breast side down until the last 45 to 60 minutes, then you flip it breast side up to finish it and allow the breast to brown. Once you flip the bird over you may want to brush the breast, legs and thighs with some melted butter to help the skin brown up and crisp. If the skin and top of the legs begin to brown too much you can cover them with foil. Personally, this is more work than I want to do on thanksgiving, turning a 12 to 14lb bird that is almost completely cooked is a messy affair. For me it is simply not work the effort, but if you have one of these pans and have never tried it, go for it. Many people I know swear by these but they they are not for me.

Covered Roasting Pan

This is my preferred method, I use a plain old blue two piece (top and bottom) enamel ware roasting pan without a rack. To keep the turkey off the bottom of the pan, I rough cut some onions and stalks of celery (4 – 5 inches in length) and line the bottom of the roasting pan with these aromatics. I know this is old school country cooking, but this method is easy and there is no pesky rack to clean when the turkey is done. In addition, it allows me to remove the celery and the take my emulsion blender and puree the gravy and onions in the bottom of the pan to make brown onion gravy with. If you have a covered roasting pan with a rack then use it. I do not, and have never felt the need to buy one as my old turkey roaster has never let me down.

If you are using a covered roasting pan, place the turkey breast side up and bake. After about 90 minutes remove from the oven and take a ½ stick of butter peel back part of the paper and rub it all over the turkey breast legs and thighs and return it to the oven (you can melt the butter and brush it on if you prefer). Remove the turkey from the oven during the last 20 to 30 minutes and coat again with butter. Return it to the oven, if you want a browner crispier skin then leave the lid off the roasting pan, otherwise cover it and put it back in the oven.

Brown Bag Method

When I was quite a bit younger, I used to roast my turkey's in an old aluminum roasting pan stuffed into two brown paper bags (i.e. double bagged) that you stapled shut and then placed in the oven. My grandmother roasted her turkey's using this method, they owned a country grocery store and paper bags were in abundance. I called this the “bag it and forget” it method. Take your turkey and brush the whole turkey with melted unsalted butter (btw, I use unsalted butter in all my cooking) then place it in your pan, then slide the pan into the brown paper bags, fold and staple shut and cook using the guidelines as listed below depending on the weight of your turkey. Until about 15 years ago this was my preferred method, but it is hard to find large grocery store paper bags these days, so I started using an old enamel ware turkey roaster. 

This method requires the least fuss, like I mentioned you simply bag it and forget about it. Just in case you wondered paper does not burn until it reaches 451 degrees so there is no chance of starting a fire when cooking a turkey this way using the times and temperatures listed in this article. Now, the USDA does not recommend roasting your turkey this way due to the unknown quality of the inks and glues used in making paper grocery store bags. Do as you wish, it never hurt us when I was growing up and If I could still get the large paper grocery store bags I would roast my turkeys this way.I keep looking but everyone here has gone to plastic....Bummer cause this method is very easy.




Cooking Times And Checking For Doneness

Below, I have listed the cooking times that I use to estimate the amount of time it will take to roast a whole unstuffed turkey in the oven. Every oven is slightly different, and you will see that there will be some variation in the cooking time depending on the size of your turkey and the accuracy or efficiency of your oven. The best method to determine whether your turkey is done is to check the internal temperature of the meat with a thermometer. Insert your meat thermometer into the meat of the thigh being careful not to touch the bone, it should read at least 170 degrees F, then check the breast and make sure it reads at least 165 degrees F. You should begin to start checking the turkey for doneness when it reaches the minimum cooking time as indicated below. Remember that a turkey is a large bird and it will continue to cook once it is removed from the oven so your internal temperature may increase by 5 degrees before it starts to cool. Testing for doneness using the 'paper bag method' requires you to stick the thermometer through the paper bag to test the meat. Finding the breast is easy enough, but you may have to do some feeling around to find the area between the thigh and the leg. So what do you do when you do not have a meat thermometer? Well you will need to make a small cut between the thigh, the leg, and the breast and check the color of the juices. If the juices are clear, then your turkey is done, if you see any pink or red colored juices then the bird needs to go back in the oven until the juices run clear. 

You will note that I cook my turkeys on low heat and for a longer amount of time. Cooking low and slow is the second step that will help to ensure that your turkey is nice and juicy. The following table should help you to determine how long you will need to cook your individual bird regardless of the type of pan or method you choose.

8 to 12lbs, 3 hours to 3 hours and 45 minutes at 325 degrees.
12 to 16lbs, 3 hours and 30 minutes to 4 hours and 45 minutes at 325 degrees.
16 to 20lbs, 4 hours and 45 minutes to 5 hours and 30 minutes at 325 degrees.
20 to 24lbs, 5 hours and 30 minutes to 6 hours and 30 minutes at 325 degrees.

Once you know the turkey is done, the next step you need to follow to ensure your turkey maintains it's moisture is to allow it to rest. This is an important step that is often overlooked by many home cooks. Meats such as roasts, steaks, and poultry benefit from being allowed to rest or sit undisturbed for about 20 minutes to allow the juices and moisture in the meat to redistribute themselves equally throughout the meat before cutting or carving.




Conclusion

Timing is important if you what to have your turkey ready for thanksgiving. You need to give yourself plenty of time to get the bird ready, or you and your family might be eating something else that day. Remember your average turkey 10 to 14lbs will take 2 to 3 days to thaw, add one day for brining. That means you need to get your turkey in the fridge 4 days at a minimum before thanksgiving, 5 days would be better. Keep in mind, the bigger the bird, the longer it takes to thaw.

While this recipe is pretty basic, you can add additional aromatics (apple, lemons, cinnamon sticks, cloves, anise etc...) to your brine if you want but it is important to maintain the same water to salt and sugar ratio.We would like to wish you and your family a blessed thanksgiving. As always, if you have enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+ so that you will not miss out on any of our new articles.



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