Turkey Prep for Thanksgiving

[omaniphil]

Thought I'd call on the collective wisdom here to get some ideas for prepping a turkey for Thanksgiving. Even though I'm the only person who actually enjoys cooking in either my family or my wife's family, I've never had the opportunity to take charge of the main course for Thanksgiving. All that changes this year, and I can finally get the opportunity to avoid dried out, overcooked, bland turkey.

I probably don't have the time to put together something for deep frying turkey, although I hear that is delicious. People seem to be over wet brining too, as the texture changes too much to more resemble deli meat. Can anybody confirm this? Has anybody dry brined? Smoked a turkey? Which options allow for stuffing inside the turkey? I don't care for stuffing myself, but I'm told inside the turkey stuffing was non-negotiable.

[cwd]

At my house we still wet-brine, then cut the backbone out, crack the breastbone to lay it flat and roast it fast at high heat.

Very tasty and moist, and the skin gets crispy.

Smoked turkey is very good, haven't done it myself yet. Deep-frying looks like a good way to burn my house down, not interested.

[mbasic]

I don't have any T-day turkey prep suggestions...but here's funny thoughts

TL;DW version:
A "Fresh" turkey can be "soft frozen" down to 29 F for up to 6 months and still be labelled "Fresh" in the stores.

Organic Free Range Turkey Guy Explains:

[mbasic]

Deep-frying looks like a good way to burn my house down, not interested.

I did once, it was alright. (EDIT: deep fried the Turkey; not burned down the house)

Maybe if we dialed it in over a few attempts we would get better at it.

We did it in the backyard, farther corner of the yard away from the house.

[iamsmu]

I did Raichlen's indoor smoked Turkey a few times. The recipe is in the NYTimes, I think. I got inconsistent results.

My ex brother in law did the Jamison's smoked turkey from Smoke and Spice. It's brined, injected, wrapped in cheese cloth like a mummy, and smoked for 17 hours or so. It was the best turkey I've ever had. My sister is a fool to have divorced such a wonderful cook . . .

Since I don't like turkey very much and we aren't typically feeding a big crowd, I've just been smoking a breast. I use a slightly simplified version of APL's bacon wrapped turkey from Serious Barbecue. It comes out like a delicious ham. Here are some picture of the recipe.





This is the only picture I can find right now of the results:

[damufunman]

I like Martha's idea:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GK3JC9dSE1VGo4XT7

[omaniphil]

At my house we still wet-brine, then cut the backbone out, crack the breastbone to lay it flat and roast it fast at high heat.

Very tasty and moist, and the skin gets crispy.

Smoked turkey is very good, haven't done it myself yet. Deep-frying looks like a good way to burn my house down, not interested.

I'm thinking I might dry brine AND smoke. Wife doesn't like strong smoke flavor, so might do it with just a little but of apple or cherry, and stay away from hickory which tends to impart a stronger flavor. Hopefully I can smoke it while leaving the turkey un-spatchcocked so that the stuffing cooks. That might be a recipe for bacteria growth though. I wonder if I keep the stuffing in the turkey for a few days while it dry brines to soak up the turkey juices, and then bake the stuffing outside the turkey. That might be be close enough to inside the turkey stuffing, and it will allow me to spatchcock the turkey to cook it faster and more evenly.

This is the only picture I can find right now of the results:

Nom Nom Nom. that looks great. Do you know if the Jamison recipe is out on the web anywhere? I can't seem to find it.

I like Martha's idea:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GK3JC9dSE1VGo4XT7

Lol...

[iamsmu]

Nom Nom Nom. that looks great. Do you know if the Jamison recipe is out on the web anywhere? I can't seem to find it.

[Hanley]

Thought I'd call on the collective wisdom here to get some ideas for prepping a turkey for Thanksgiving.

1. Replace turkey with a big-ass prime rib
2. Rotisserie the prime rib over lump and a handful of hickory pieces
3. Serve prime rib with a horseradish sauce.

[omaniphil]

Thought I'd call on the collective wisdom here to get some ideas for prepping a turkey for Thanksgiving.

1. Replace turkey with a big-ass prime rib
2. Rotisserie the prime rib over lump and a handful of hickory pieces
3. Serve prime rib with a horseradish sauce.

I've long been an advocate of culling turkey from Thanksgiving and replacing it with Roasted Leg of Lamb. All I get in response to that is "blah blah tradition blah blah"

[Hanley]

All I get in response to that is "blah blah tradition blah blah"

Tradition = masking the flavor of turkey with heavy brines,wood-smoke and rubs because turkey taste like farts

[Fzt]

A lot of people go on about all sorts of other wacky stuff, but I just butcher the turkey and cook it in parts.

You can roast the breast as a crown if you want a bit more of the traditional presentation, but I usually just take it completely off the bone
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/tu ... sts-thighs
I do that in the morning and then let it rest in the fridge with salt to season it and dry out the skin. You could also brush the skin with soy sauce if you want it to roast up darker. Final seasoning is up to you, roast it on a bed of sage and lemon or with thyme and juniper berries. Maybe you want to use some tandoori spices or whatever

I use the carcass to make stock for gravy and stuffing and other stuff. One other thing I do is to cut around the base of the drumstick so that I can pull out the sinews after cooking. I usually just roast the turkey for an hour at 500ish (dark meat needs to cook longer, so it goes in first, breasts a bit later). I pull the breasts when the internal temp will rise to about 150F, the legs when the sinews come out cleanly.

One benefit to this is that it turns out about as well as turkey can, the oven is largely free until the hour before dinner

[quark]

https://www.rlrubens.com/Thanksgiving.html

[Allentown]

A lot of people go on about all sorts of other wacky stuff, but I just butcher the turkey and cook it in parts.

This is indeed the best way.
Inside-turkey-stuffing is bad, and mostly a waste of time, but do it anyways, then make proper stuffing on the side.
If you must cook a whole turkey (which is, admittedly, the easiest way) I did all right with a wet brine that included mustard seed and coriander, then I wrapped the whole thing with bacon.

1. Replace turkey with a big-ass prime rib
2. Rotisserie the prime rib over lump and a handful of hickory pieces
3. Serve prime rib with a horseradish sauce.

I support this, but I am also a fan of farts masked by heavy brines, wood smoke, and rubs.

[Root]

I'm also gonna butcher it before cooking. Never done it before, but the advantages seem to be numerous.

• Easier to wet or dry brine while in pieces

• Salt and/or rub and/or smoke gets on all sides of meat

• Even and easy cooking. All skin gets a chance to crisp, and individual pieces can be taken off at the right temp

• Can make gravy from carcass the day before

• Minimal carving right before dinner when space is at premium and chaos is at a peak

The thing I'm most excited about is not having to make gravy and carve in a crowded-ass kitchen.

[cwd]

Inside-turkey-stuffing is bad, and mostly a waste of time, but do it anyways, then make proper stuffing on the side.

After flattening the wet-brined turkey, we put it on a grill over the casserole of stuffing, so the turkey drips into the stuffing. This is the best way to make stuffing, it gets a nice browned crust on top.

Baking it inside the turkey is a terrible idea. The turkey takes hours to cook, and dries out. The stuffing is damp, and you risk salmonella. Don't stuff.

[Root]

Turkey plan: Butcher the day before and dry brine for 24 hours. Before cooking, rub herby butter under skin and rub olive oil on top of skin with some Root's Rub™. Grill indirect at 350 with lump charcoal and a little hickory. Thinking it should take a little over an hour for a 12 pounder.

Gravy plan: After the butchering, braise carcass and giblets with onions and garlic in a pan for a couple hours on the grill. Strain braising liquid and make gravy from it. Reheat on grill with turkey the next day.

[Hanley]

I am also a fan of farts masked by heavy brines, wood smoke, and rubs.

I won't kink shame, bruh

[Allentown]

I am also a fan of farts masked by heavy brines, wood smoke, and rubs.

I won't kink shame, bruh

It's the memory of farts gone by.
Eating myself sick then struggling to stay awake in front of a TV watching the Lions lose, sandwiched between the Christmas Story marathon, worried I'll get redid-whip blasted in my ear...

[Hanley]

It's the memory of farts gone by.

Just swap in delicious, perfectly-cooked prime rib with hot horseradish...you know you want the rich fatty, salted goodness with that faint but profoundly delicious sweet-smokiness.

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