The Simplest Roast Turkey
If you're thinking about roasting a turkey for a holiday gathering this month, or want to get a neurotic head start on your 2009 Thanksgiving planning, I strongly urge you to consider using The Simplest Roast Turkey approach from the November 2005 issue of Gourmet magazine. Here's the low-down . . . you roast the turkey on 450°F . . . that's it. I took the added step of brining the turkey overnight and adding a slathering of butter and some sage, but I'm pretty confident that the recipe as written would rock as hard as it did with my minor modifications. Whereas most turkey roasting recipes call for a much lower oven temperature . . . often 350°F . . . and a much longer roasting time, those recipes often produce a turkey with breast meat that's dried out. This turkey that I roasted on Thanksgiving weighed about 15 lbs. and took a little over 2 hours to roast. The only downside to this approach is that the high heat results in some smoking as the turkey juices cook in the roasting pan. Keeping some water in the roasting pan reduces the smoking a bit, but I readily admit that I smoked up my sister's home . . . her exhaust fan wasn't working. BUT the turkey cooked quickly, the breast meat was moist and, as you can see from the photo, the turkey skin was nicely browned. The approach worked so well that my sister's trying it on a chicken tonight. This is my new go-to roasting method. Try it and let me know what you think. Cheers.
The turkey was great, and the chicken was great too. I did a 4.3 pound chicken at 450 for 55 minutes and it was cooked perfectly. Just a little salt, pepper and herbs on top and in the cavity. Thanks for the idea, FRM!
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we had a freshly killed turkey for thanksgiving and i have to say that the breast meat was really stringy and the guy who did the turkey pulled all the skin off while he was trying to get the feathers off....so i wonder if a freshly killed turkey differs from either a frozen turkey or a turkey sitting in shrink wrap....??
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I think the differences are likely due to the breed of turkey, the way it was raised (diet, amount of exercise/movement, etc.), the way its feathers were removed and the way it was cooked . . . rather than to the fact that it was freshly killed.
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But you brined it...don't you think that helped A LOT with the moist meat?
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Now, now . . . were those CAPS really necessary? I'm sure the brining helped, which is precisely why I brined. But I think the high-heat=shorter cooking time also helped a lot. I don't know, but the reviews on the Epicurious site for the recipe are glowing . . . even those that make no mention of brining. So I'd try this approach even without the brine if for some reason I wasn't able to brine.
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FRM-what brine did you use?
I use a salt/brown sugar one that's great, but I'm curious what you've come up with in your kitchen lab!
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I've done salt and brown sugar in the past, but last week I just did a straight-up salt brine. And I didn't measure the salt. I just filled a cooler with enough water to cover the bird, poured in a bunch of salt . . . probably between 1 and 2 cups . . . and added a bag of ice. I'm a rebel like that!
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In the past, I've brined turkey in a trash bag (a new one, of course). It's such a huge hassle that, although I agree that it does make a noticeable difference, I don't think it is worth it.
Incidentally, as I wrote on a previous post of yours, this is my method for roast chicken as well, but with a couple tweaks: I push my fingers in between the meat and the skin, separating the two and allowing hot air to get under the skin, helping it to crisp up. I also put little pats of butter in there between the skin and the meat, especially on the breasts. And then I rub the outside with olive oil, for crisping purposes. Then salt and other spices and herbs you want.
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FRM - big fan, first time commenting. Your method reminds me of Thomas Keller's roast chicken technique: make sure the bird is as dry as can be, salt it, then roast at 450 degrees. He says no butter, no water, no lemons on the inside, etc., because that just creates moisture and results in a less crispy outside. Turns out beautifully crispy and moist and fabulous.
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