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With Thanksgiving just a week away, I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite tips for achieving the perfect Thanksgiving turkey with you. First, let’s talk turkey. If you by a turkey pre-basted with all sorts of fat, salt and artificial flavors, it’s going to taste … well, artificial. So I recommend spending a few extra dollars and buying a high-quality natural, free-range turkey. You can order all-natural turkeys now from most supermarkets or pick one up at a specialty store like Wild Oats, Emigration Market or Liberty Heights Fresh. You’ll be amazed at how much better the flavor is with a turkey that isn’t injected with all sorts of stuff you don’t need.
When it comes to cooking a turkey, the biggest challenge is always cooking the thing so that the dark meat gets cooked thoroughly while at the same time not drying out and overcooking the breast meat. So here’s the method I use to insure an evenly cooked turkey with a moist, tender breast.
The trick is to cook the turkey in the oven upside down for the first 3 hours or so. Yup, I said upside down. Cooking your turkey with the breast side down initially will cause those luscious turkey juices to run into the breast and keep it moist, rather than dripping out. It’s a simple matter of gravity. Then after 3 hours just grab a couple of handfuls of paper towels and carefully flip the turkey upright and continue cooking your bird ‘til it’s done. The legs and thighs will be perfectly cooked and the breast will be browned, not burned, and more tender than you can imagine. Well, here’s to you and yours on Thanksgiving and good luck with your holiday turkey.
