I’ve been experiencing some writer’s block lately, I find myself more drawn to Criminal Minds marathon then adding new entries to this blog. There hasn’t been any lack of “new creations” lately though, the fall always bring out the inner “domestic diva” in me, I love cooking (and eating) in this cool weather, and why bother turning on the heat when the oven is warming up the whole house?! =P
The first holiday of the fall/winter season is of course Thanksgiving, the one holiday that is purely around food in this household! I make the exact same thing every year for thanksgiving, roast turkey with stuffing and my hubby is always very excited. I know a lot of people associate turkey as dry and tasteless, if you are one of those people, then you need to keep reading! I don’t take particular pride in anything I make, but this turkey is going to change your mind definitely! Roasting a huge turkey looks like a very daunting task, but if you follow this (or any similar recipe online), you will be praised by your family and friends at your next turkey gathering!
How to Roast a Turkey
One misconception about roasting a turkey is that the meat will dry out if the timing is not precise, well, obviously if you roast the turkey for too long, the meat will dry out and the skin will be charcoal black. But this problem can be easily solved if you have a good oven thermometer, just turn off the oven the moment the bird reaches 165C. But the secret to a moist, tender and juicy turkey is not in the cooking technique (at least not in my experience), it is in the prep work. I have used the brining method for years, on expensive, organic, grain-fed turkey and also on inexpensive, generic ones, and the results are just as good. Brining is the cooking technique of submerging the meat in a salt water solution prior to cooking, the salted solution allows the cells in the meat to hold on to the moisture while they cooked. This sounds all scientific, but all it means is that we need to soak the whole raw turkey into water with added salt (and other spices) for a period of time before roasting it. The brining step can seem excessive, but it is a small price to pay for a thanksgiving turkey that will blow your mind.
For this year’s thanksgiving, I chose a 9kg butterball frozen turkey, be sure to pick up the ones that DOES NOT contain stuffing. I left the frozen turkey in the fridge for 2 days to defrost.
Turkey Brine Solution (a combination of many different recipes):
- 2 cups of kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups of brown sugar
- 1 onion (cut in half)
- 2 garlic cloves (coarsely chopped)
- 2 sprigs of thyme (optional)
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- As much water to keep turkey submerged
I prepared the brine solution inside a garage bag over the biggest bucket I’ve got, before putting the turkey into the brine, I took out the neck and giblets for later use. The whole turkey is submerged into the brine, garbage bag tied up, place ice and ice packs on top to keep the solution cold. The bucket was kept in a cool area (or outdoor if the weather is cool enough) and let the magic begin. After the 6 – 8 hours of brining, remove the turkey, and pat dry with paper towel before placing it on the roasting pan. Another important note is that the turkey should rest uncovered in the fridge overnight, this will allow the skin to dry up, so the butter/herb mixture will stick on the skin better.
Preheat oven to 350C.
Remove the turkey from the fridge 30min – an hour prior to roasting, spread a mixture of room temperature butter, chopped herbs (thyme, rosemary, etc or whatever you have around the house) and garlic powder onto the turkey skin. There is no need to add salt to the mixture as the bird is well seasoned from the brine already. You can roast the turkey with or without stuffing, I usually do mine with stuffing.
Quick rice stuffing
The stuffing I make is a bit non traditional, it is very popular with my family who always like rice with everything! And the leftover is super tasty. Prepare the Uncle Ben's Natural Select Wild Rice as per direction (the whole package), mix it with sauteed chopped vegetables like carrots, celeries, onion and mushrooms.
Place the turkey in the oven, loosely cover with foil to prevent over burning the skin, baste with drippings occasionally, and depending on your oven setting and size of your bird, it should hit an internal temperature of 165C between 3 – 6 hrs. (My turkey was 9kg, took 3.5 hrs of convectional roasting at 350C). If you are unsure, follow the roasting time on the turkey wrapping. Remove the foil in the last hr for additional browning if desired, ensure to let the turkey rest for 30 min before carving.
Turkey stock gravy
Stock: Boil the turkey neck, gilbets, one onion (chopped in half), a few mushrooms, and one coarsely chopped carrots in a small pot of water, seasoned to taste. Strained the stock and set aside.Roux: Set aside 1 cup of drippings while the turkey is roasting in the oven (remove the dripping when basting the turkey), heat the dripping in a saucepan, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of flour. Whisk mixture until thick paste, slowly add the stock into the mixture until no more lumps. Seasoned with salt & pepper to taste, you can add chopped mushrooms or herbs as well. the gravy will thicken as it cools down, add more stock or water if it gets too thick.
Viola!!! The end product is going to change your mind about turkey forever, everyone will be fighting for the moist, juicy, tender meat. And the leftovers is even better, it doesn't get dried out even if you reheat it!
