Thanksgiving 101 (11 page)

4.
Roast the turkey, basting with the pan juices after 45 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 180°F, about 1¾ hours.

5.
Transfer the turkey to a serving platter and let stand for at least 20 minutes before carving. If the drippings are black and taste burned, discard them and serve the turkey with the reheated gravy. If the drippings look and taste fine, pour them into a separator cup, leaving the browned bits in the pan. Let stand for 5 minutes, then pour off, reserving the drippings and discarding the fat. Return the dark drippings to the pan and place the pan on two burners over medium-high heat. Add the gravy and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits in the pan with a wooden spatula. Simmer until the gravy thickens. Strain and transfer to a warmed gravy boat.

6.
Carve the turkey and serve with the gravy.

Herb-Brined Roast Turkey

Brined turkey first made a splash a few years ago in the pages of
Cook’s Illustrated
magazine, whose editors, in turn, derived their recipe from a Portuguese version in Jean Anderson’s
The Food of Portugal
(with a few tips from kosher butchers along the way). The brining idea is a good one, as the bird soaks up moisture and seasoning (I include herbs for added flavor), but the logistics can be daunting. I have done my best to simplify the procedure.

• When I teach this method in my classes, it is not universally loved. The public has become salt-conscious, if not salt-phobic. Some people don’t like the extra seasoning, and find the turkey meat too salty. And the brine firms the meat to give it a texture that some find odd. Don’t kid yourself—brining does not make a juicier bird. It is salted water that you taste, not turkey juices. Critics of the brining method argue that you might as well buy a frozen bird, which has also been treated with salted water. But brining is insurance against a dry bird.
  
• This method only works with fresh turkeys—self-basting, frozen, or kosher turkeys have already been salted, so don’t use them. If you are spending the money on a beautiful, organically raised turkey, I would think twice about brining because it changes the natural flavor of the bird. I like this method best for supermarket-quality, commercially raised fresh turkeys.
  
• You’ll need a container big enough to hold your turkey. You will see recipes that require a huge (minimum 5-gallon) stockpot, but few home cooks have such a utensil. Also, the combined weight of the turkey, brine, and pot could challenge your refrigerator shelf, especially if it is plastic. I enclose the turkey and brine in jumbo oven-roasting bags, then keep the brined turkey chilled in an ice chest.
  
• To estimate the amount of brine, place the turkey in the bags in the ice chest, and measure the cold water needed to cover the bird completely. The proportions in the recipe are for 2 gallons water, but the amount of brine can be adjusted as needed. For each 2 quarts water, use ¼ cup plain salt; ¼ cup sugar;
        1½ teaspoons each rosemary, thyme, and sage; and ¾ teaspoon each marjoram, celery seed, and peppercorns.
  
• Use plain, noniodized table salt for the brine. Kosher salt is problematic because the crystal size changes from brand to brand. If you wish, use twice as much kosher salt by volume, or 2 cups kosher salt for 1 cup plain salt. Fine sea salt often has a finer grain than the iodized salt, so you need slightly less (about ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons) if you substitute for plain salt. I know that many cooks have their favorite salt, but in this case I find that for consistency’s sake, plain salt is the best choice, and that a particular salt’s subtleties are muddled with the flavors of the turkey and herbs.
  
• The turkey must be well chilled during brining. Surround the brined turkey in its bag with lots of ice cubes (buy bags of ice if you don’t want to deplete your freezer’s supply), or use frozen “blue-ice” packs.
  
• Don’t run the risk of the risk of stuffing the turkey, as the salty juices could ruin it. Instead, loosely fill the cavities with seasoning vegetables and bake the stuffing on the side.
  
• As the pan drippings will be seasoned by the brine as well, they could be too salty to
  guarantee palatable gravy. It’s a good idea to prepare Head Start Gravy, and add the degreased drippings as needed to color and season it, stopping when the gravy is salted to taste.
  

BRINE

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

1.
To make the brine, in a large stockpot, mix 2 quarts water with the salt, sugar, rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, celery seed, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Remove from the heat. Add the ice water and stir until the ice melts and the brine is very cold.

2.
Place the turkey in a roasting bag, then slip the bagged turkey into the second bag to make a double thickness. Place the turkey in the ice chest. Pour the brine into the bag. Close the bag, being sure that the turkey is completely covered with brine, and with a rubber band. Surround the bagged turkey with ice cubes or blue-ice packs. Close the chest and let the turkey stand for 10 to 16 hours. Do not brine the bird for longer than 16 hours or the flavor and texture will be compromised.

3.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. In a small bowl, mix the onion, carrot, and celery.

4.
Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well, inside and out, under cold running water. Pat the skin and body cavities dry with paper towels. Turn the turkey on its breast. Loosely fill the neck cavity with the onion mixture. Using a wooden or metal skewer, pin the turkey’s neck skin to the back. Fold the turkey’s wings akimbo behind the back or tie to the body with kitchen string. Loosely fill the large body cavity with the remaining onion mixture. Place the drumsticks in the hock lock or tie together with kitchen string.

5.
Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in the roasting pan. Rub all over with the butter. Pour 2 cups water into the bottom of the pan.

6.
Roast the turkey, basting all over every 45 minutes with the juices on the bottom of the pan, until a meat thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh (but not touching a bone) reads 180°F and the stuffing is at least 160°F, about 4½ hours. (See Estimated Turkey Roasting Times.) Whenever the drippings evaporate, add more water, about 1½ cups at a time.

7.
Transfer the turkey to a large serving platter and let it stand for at least 20 minutes
before carving. Pour the pan drippings into a separator cup, leaving the browned bits in the pan. Let stand for 5 minutes, then pour off and reserve the drippings and discard the fat. Place the roasting pan on two burners over medium-high heat. Add the gravy and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits in the pan with a wooden spatula. Gradually add the dark, degreased pan drippings until the gravy is salted to taste. Simmer until the gravy thickens. Strain and transfer to a warmed gravy boat.

8.
Carve the turkey and serve the gravy alongside.

Smoked, Cider-Basted Turkey

Smoking adds a robust flavor to turkey. The turkey is cooked by the indirect method, where the bird is cooked by the radiating heat supplied by a bank of coals. Of course, the bird can be cooked on a gas grill, too, but I much prefer the deeper flavor provided by charcoal.

• This method smokes the turkey in a standard 22½-inch charcoal grill. The turkey can also be smoked on a gas grill, but the recipe was not designed for use in a water smoker, which should be used according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
  
• Two accessories, available to owners of Weber charcoal grills, will help simplify indirect cooking. One is a hinged cooking grate that makes it easier to add the ignited coals to the grill. To hold the charcoal in a mound and concentrate its heat, use a basket-shaped charcoal holder. If your grill didn’t come with these accessories, you may want to mail-order them from Weber-Stephen Products at 1-847-934-5700, or call other manufacturers to see if they have similar products.
  
• Allow about 15 minutes per pound of turkey. If the grill temperature fluctuates, adjust the timing.
  
• Smoke the turkey in a disposable aluminum foil roasting pan. The smoke will discolor the pan, so you won’t want to use your best roaster.
  
• Maintain a grill temperature of about 325°F. With a charcoal grill, you will need to add coals every 40 minutes or so to keep up the heat.
  
• Even with a gas grill, it is a challenge to maintain an even temperature. The weather is a factor (cold breezes can chill the outside of the grill and affect the inner temperature, too), as well as the kind of charcoal used (briquettes burn more evenly and slowly, while hardwood charcoal burns very hot and quickly, and I often mix the two to get the best from each). If you can, cook the turkey in a grill that has a thermometer in the lid. Otherwise, place an inexpensive oven thermometer next to the turkey on the grill to monitor the temperature, or insert a prong-style deep-frying thermometer in the lid vent. Don’t open the lid too often because the heat will escape.
  
• Smaller 12-to 14-pound turkeys cook best on the average grill. It’s risky to cook big turkeys outside, because a big bird won’t even fit onto a typical gas grill. (A Weber gas grill can cook a turkey up to 18 pounds. The unique design has burners that go front-middle-back, instead of side by side, and they have more cooking space. To fit the burner configuration, choose a turkey with an elongated, not round, shape.) If you insist on
  barbecuing a large bird, grill it with plenty of wood chips for about ½ hours to get it nice and smoky. Then, transfer it to a solid metal roasting pan and continue cooking it indoors in a preheated 325°F even for the rest of the time.
  
• Smoke-cooking gives the turkey a very dark brown skin. If the bird is getting too dark, tent it with foil. Also, there will be a thin layer of pink under the skin, caused by the smoke, which is harmless and does not indicate that the turkey is undercooked.
  
• To my taste, regular stuffing gets oversmoked inside a barbecued bird. I substitute a seasoning mixture of apples and onions. My favorite dressing, baked separately, is Southwestern Chorizo Dressing.
  
• For real Western flavor, serve the turkey with Cranberry-Pineapple Salsa. If you want gravy, be flexible, as the condition of the pan drippings is unreliable. With a charcoal grill, ashes from the coals could blow into the drippings. Even if they are clean, or you have cooked the bird in a gas grill, they can be too smoky. Make Head Start Gravy. Pour the drippings into a separator cup, leaving the browned bits in the pan. Discard the fat from the cup and taste the drippings. If they aren’t too smoke-flavored or gritty with ashes, stir the hot gravy into the pan, scraping up the browned bits with a wooden spoon (you won’t be able to place the aluminum foil pan on the stove, so just scrape up what you can), then pour in the drippings to color the gravy. If the drippings aren’t usable, just serve the Head Start Gravy without the drippings.
  

CIDER BASTE

1.
To make the cider baste, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 1 minute. Add the chili powder, and stir for 30 seconds. Add the cider, rosemary, sage, and salt. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to very low. Simmer for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

2.
In a small bowl, mix the apple, onion, garlic, chili powder, rosemary, sage, and salt. Turn the turkey on its breast. Loosely fill the neck cavity with the apple mixture. Using a thin wooden or metal skewer, pin the turkey’s neck skin to the back. Fold the turkey’s wings akimbo behind the back or tie to the body with kitchen string. Loosely fill the large body cavity with the remaining apple mixture. Place the drumsticks in the hock lock or tie together with
kitchen string. Place the turkey on a roasting rack in a large disposable aluminum foil pan. Set aside while you light the grill.

3.
For a charcoal grill
, light 3 pounds of charcoal briquettes on one side of a grill and let burn until covered with white ash. Place the roasting pan on the cooking grate on the empty side of the grill opposite the coals. Sprinkle a handful of drained wood chips over the coals.
For a gas grill
, preheat the grill on High. Wrap a handful of dried wood chips in a packet of aluminum foil. Tear open the top of the packet to expose the chips. Place the packet directly on the source of heat. With the grill lid open, let the chips ignite (this may take about 10 minutes). Turn one burner off, and adjust the other(s) on Medium to Low to regulate the heat to 325°F. Place the roasting pan in the cool (off) part of the grill.