Turkey prep and gravy tips, because the sound of typing makes me seem busy...

[The Polack MSgt]

Hi everybody. I'm at my place of employment manning the phones and answering emails because:
1. I'm not traveling this Thanksgiving and
2. I'm not entertaining either.
Since there's no need for me to burn any PTO, I get to answer the phones and or emails today and tomorrow.

Except nobody is around in all the other departments either - so I am bored.

Here's a bit of background, I am the designated turkey and gravy guy in my social circle and have been for several years.

I do all the turkeys for the office potlucks, my VFW post's thanksgiving meals, Holidays at the Vet rehab facility and my family's Thanksgiving/Christmas dinners.

I have a system that yields moist meat and plenty of drippings for gravy and I have all this time behind a keyboard available to share it.

Bottom Line Up Front:
I brine the bird for at least 12 hours in a luke warm brine with equal amounts of kosher or sea salt, white sugar and some spices.

Here's how.

1st of all, do not use iodized table salt, it makes the turkey bitter. There is a reason I list this first...

For a 16-18 pound bird I use a medium sized Igloo cooler that is scrupulously clean, (a new 5 gallon bucket would also work for a bird up to 20-ish pounds).
All my amounts are tailored to that size container. Use your judgment on amounts needed for you bird, but you don't need to be super precise, the meat will only soak up as much as it will.

You can't really over season unless you soak the bird in a salt & sugar syrup.

Here we go:

In a stock pot combine 1.25 cups each kosher salt and white sugar
1 generous tablespoon of whole peppercorns (I use black only, I tried the medley and couldn't taste a difference)
2 bay leaves
4 medium cloves garlic peeled and cracked - not smashed or minced - just pressed enough to break open. This makes it easier to remove before baking. Burnt garlic bits stuck to the turkey is no bueno.
In a linen spice bag, a piece of cheesecloth or any such like, put generous pinches of Rosemary, Savory Leaves and Sage or any other herb of your choosing
fill to 75% full with water and bring to a boil - stirring until salt and sugar are fully dissolved
reduce heat and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes

Check your defrosted turkey for pin feathers and remove giblet bag and neck.

Add the brine to enough COLD water to completely submerge the bird. Do not put the bird in hot brine. That will mess up the skin.

Put the turkey into the brine making sure the cavity fills up

Leave submerged at least 6 hours, though I usually leave it overnight.

The chemical process of brining pushes liquid into the meat as long as the sodium level is significantly different between the meat and the brine, as they approach equilibrium it stops.

So you can't really over brine it, and since salt and sugar are antibacterial, spoilage isn't an issue either (within reason - don't leave it for days or anything)

I always use a covered roaster in an oven preheated top 350.

I just put the bird in the oven and leave it for 75% of the recommended cooking time, then I uncover the roaster and raise the temp to 380.
after 45 minutes (or so) uncovered, I mix melted butter with a splash of soy sauce and paint the bird with it

Leave uncovered and let cook an additional 10-20 minutes to set the color and crisp the skin

Pull the bird and let rest in a serving tray, tented with foil

Place roaster full of drippings on the stove top and bring to a boil

In a separate pan make a simple roux with butter and flour then thin with drippings half cup at a time until it's pour-able

when the dripping in the roaster have reduced by half combine with roux.

There were already herbs, salt and pepper in the drippings so check 1st before seasoning, but I add savory and white pepper to the gravy to boost the flavor.

Happy Thanksgiving

[Freddie]

1. Sounds delicious!

And I’m not really crazy about turkey although I’ve never had a brined one. Do you stuff the bird or bake it on the side? I’m all for food safety so I bake it in a casserole dish.

[The Polack MSgt]

2. I stuff the turkey, but I pre-cook the stuffing halfway done before stuffing the bird

My wife's stuffing recipe has chicken livers and eggs in it, and I don't want to ruin the holidays with the gift of salmanella

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. I think it is utter nonsense that you shouldn't bake the stuffing inside the bird.

Okay, so maybe if you leave the stuffing inside for several hours, bad things could happen, sort of like the guy who left the spaghetti (or whatever it was) on the counter for five days then ate it, but pretty much as soon as the turkey comes out of the oven you take the stuffing out. Meanwhile, by being cooked inside it's absorbed all of the wonderful juices there, and is far more flavorful than done in a casserole dish. I'm all for the flavor.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. You too, have a Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for the tips etc.

I am going to get a real small bird, so nothing heavy duty here, and with just the breast meat, keeping it simple.

[Warpy]

4. Nice and informative and you look busy enough to satisfy any boss

My brining setup in New England was a 5 gallon plastic pail I bought at a donut shop, lid included. The lid snapped on securely enough that the trash pandas were flummoxed, good thing because the only place I had to put it was either in a car (my ex objected) or sitting on the deck. After the divorce, any turkeys got butchered down to manageable pieces and could be brined one at a time in the fridge as I thawed them out and used them up.

Yes, brining is that important. Turkey meat has very little flavor, it needs all the help it can get.

My gravy is a bit different, I deglaze the pan with a mixture of dry wine and water (alcohol and fat both carry flavor), then thicken it with buerre manié*, a blob at a time until it thickens sufficiently, cooking it for 5 minutes or so to get rid of any raw flour taste. Roux is good, but if the drippings aren't sufficient, you'll need some chicken stock to thin it out, the boxed stuff is OK.

*Buerre manié is a staple I generally keep in the freezer, it's equal amounts room temperature butter mixed with flour. It is absolutely the thing for thickening pan gravies and some cream of this and that. It is especially useful for pan gravies when you can't be arsed to deglaze and then pour the contents into a measuring cup, increasing the possibilities of burns and spills. It's also useful for weekday skillet gravies. Once you make a batch, it's the easy way out.

[The Polack MSgt]

5. Thanks for sharing Warpy. Seasoning turkeys is absolutely vital - as you say

I've never heard of Buerre manié but will keep an eye out from now on to get some to try.

I deglaze the roaster with either stock, white wine or water depending on a couple factors.

Those factors are -
am I drinking wine?
do I have stock close by?
and,
fuckit. I'm busy enough already

But I figure that while you're stirring as you mix the roux and drippings, you'll feel the bottom and add liquid as required.

After all this is the DU cooking forum.

When I last sent this recipe out to my coworkers, I typed up a full-on process analyst report. There were ~1200 more words and a decision tree that included "If this then that" scenarios.

Because I wanted to prevent my colleagues who can't "kitchen" very well from catching fire or making charcoal.

[Warpy]

6. You kind of have to make it, I've never seen it sold anywhere

but it lasts for months in the freezer, wrapped airtight.

I usually do a half cup of flour and the same of butter,, quickly mashing it together until there are no streaks of butter or clumps of flour left. It looks a bit like cookie dough but tastes like nothing. If you're not me and you've left the butter out to soften, rubbing it together with the flour only takes a minute or two.

Note that this is for thickening a gravy or soup (I use it in fish chowder). It won't replace roux for most applications and it won't replace a toasted roux at all. However, it makes pan gravies dead easy and you were going to wash the pan, anyway. It eliminates the need for measuring juices and dirtying another pot to make the gravy.

(Nope, just checked a few culinary supply places, this is just too easy to bother selling)

[The Polack MSgt]

7. Man I was just looking for a way to get more butter in my life - Thanks!

Ok - I get it now.

Thanks cousin. and Happy Thanksgiving to you

[Phentex]

8. Finally got a bird small enough to brine with ease...

scaled back holiday this year so the bird actually fits in an extra large pot used for brewing beer.

God knows what my husband is using. I saw brown sugar, dried oranges and lemons, bay leaves, peppercorns...I stopped looking.

I'm busy cleaning so of course I popped in here to see what's happening.

[The Polack MSgt]

9. There are so many recipes out there

I'm sure it'll be great.
Happy Thanksgiving!

[Retrograde]

10. I delegate the turkey and stuffing

to Mr. Retrograde, who puts as much planning into it as likely went into D-Day. This includes taking its temperature every half-hour and graphing the results to get an estimated time of doneness. I make the cornbread for the stuffing, the pumpkin pies, and cranberry sauce, and we delegate the rest of the sides to the guests.

Many years ago we started having our big Thanksgiving feast on Saturday, since it was too much hassle to try to get everything done while we both were working. It's more relaxed, I think - even though some of the guests may be on their 3rd turkey dinner by then!