Moist juicy turkey
The Secret to Making Moist, Juicy, Turkey!
There is nothing worse than spending hours in the kitchen to finally carve into a dry, tasteless, turkey. Especially on a day like Thanksgiving or Christmas, where your accidental bird is witnessed by a jury of family and friends that may use that one meal to find you guilty of being a bad cook! It’s just wouldn’t be fair. So for you, I’ve made this How-To-Roast-a-Juicy-Turkey recipe.
Down with breasts! No, I am not suggesting that we get rid of breast, in fact, I am a strong supporter of breasts. What I am suggesting, is that you cook your turkey breasts-down – at least for the first two-thirds of the cooking time. This alone, will ensure that your turkey remains moist.
Here is the quick science: Breast meat is the leanest (least fatty), and so it’s the first part of the turkey to dry out. So, if you cook it breast-side-down in liquid (plus the fat from the back of the turkey that will drip down into the liquid), you ensure that your breasts cannot dry out. They also soak in some of the flavor of your cooking liquid, making them not only moist, but tasty as well!
You can also brine the turkey to make it more moist. But this opens an entire other article, and for this recipe, it is not necessary, as most frozen turkeys come pre-brined anyways (they are soaked in a solution of turkey broth, salt and tenderizers – it says it on the label). So you don’t need to brine your turkey for this recipe.
Once the turkey is pretty well on its way to “cooked” (which happens during the first two-thirds of the cooking time), you flip it over, and crisp the skin to a golden brown. Let’s do this!
Moist, Juicy Turkey
Ingredients:
- 18 Lb turkey (was used in this recipe)
- 6 carrots
- 2 dozen purple potatoes (optional)
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1 bottle of your fav beer
- 3 cups of chicken stock
- 1/2 cup of Japanese soy sauce
- 1 head of garlic
Instructions:
- Thaw the turkey in the fridge following package instructions
- When ready to cook, pre-heat oven to 375 convection roast (or 375 roast if you don’t have a convection oven)
- Put carrots, onions, potatoes, on bottom of turkey roaster so that turkey will sit on them.
- Put turkey breast-side-down onto the vegetables.
- Cut the top off the garlic head and stick it in the turkey’s cavity.
- Pour a bottle of beer and the chicken stock over the turkey, followed by the soy sauce.
- Put lid on turkey roaster, put in oven for 2/3 cooking time. In my case, for 2 hours.
- After 2/3 cooking time elapses, pull turkey out of oven, flip it breast-side-up, and put back in oven without the lid to crisp up the skin. My turkey took another 30 minutes to get the skin a color that I liked.