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Holiday Birds, How to (Mom knows best)

Finally, I called my mother. She has been roasting turkeys for 50 years. It's always the same. A little onion and celery in the cavity, some salt and pepper and a constant 350-degree oven.

So, Mom, why were some of our family's Thanksgiving turkeys terrific and others, well, not so good?

“If you get a good turkey, you'll have a good turkey,” said my mom, who buys whatever is on sale. “If you get a bad turkey, it'll be a bad turkey.”

So I tested three different turkeys. Since a kosher bird is already salted as part of the processing, I though it might be the shortcut I was looking for. It offered juicy meat, but not so juicy to justify all the time I spent pulling feather shafts from the skin. Plus, a kosher bird can be hard to find.

I tried a frozen supermarket bird. It was inexpensive, but I didn't like the taste or quality of the meat or the industrial-style methods used to raise it.

In the end, I settled on a fresh bird sold by my local butcher. For my money, any turkey that has been allowed to forage naturally is the best option, both for flavor and politics.

As for cooking methods, I borrowed a little bit from everyone. I settled on a roasting temperature of 425 degrees, which seemed like a reasonable compromise between high-heat advocates and old-fashioned, slow-roasters. I started with a room-temperature turkey, and I tented the breast with foil. No flipping, no basting.

When the thigh hit 165 degrees, I let the turkey rest for a half-hour, covered with foil and a slightly damp kitchen towel, to allow the juices to settle back into the meat.

For a 12-to 14-pound turkey, my method takes about two hours, which should leave plenty of time to do more important things this Thanksgiving. Like call your mother.

Take it easy

Here are tips to make roasting a turkey faster and easier.

Preparing the turkey: Don't wash it, although this might go against your better judgment. The heat of the oven will kill any surface pathogens, and rinsing only splashes bacteria around the kitchen. Better to take the wrapper off in the sink, put the turkey in the roasting pan and pat it dry with a paper towel.

Tie the legs: Using a piece of cotton string to tie the legs makes a prettier bird, but for cooking speed, leave them untied. If you carve the turkey and put it on plates in the kitchen, the way the bird looks won't matter.

Start at room temperature: Allow the turkey to sit out for a half-hour before roasting. This will speed the cooking time.

Tenting: About half an hour into the roasting, cover the breast with a foil tent. This will slow the heat and help keep the breast moist.

If the pan smokes: Pour a little water or stock into the bottom of the pan if the juices start to burn.

Basting: Resist the urge; the skin comes out crispy and bronze without it. Opening the oven door lowers the temperature, adding to the cooking time.

Use a meat thermometer: About an hour and a half into roasting, begin testing the temperature. Insert a meat thermometer into the thigh, perpendicular to the pan, at the point where the drumstick meets the thigh. Test again in the meatiest part of the thigh, horizontal to the pan. Keep checking until you get a couple of readings of 165 degrees.

Rest the bird: When roasting is done, take the turkey out of the oven and tip it so the juices from the bird drain into the pan. Place the turkey on a platter, cover it with foil and place a damp kitchen towel over the foil to keep in the heat. Let rest for a half hour. During standing time, the internal temperature continues to increase by as much as 10 degrees. Resting allows juices to set in the meat.

After slicing: Pour a small amount of warm stock over the sliced meat to moisten it before serving. This can help rescue dry white meat in particular.

 

Simple Roast Turkey

6 to 8 servings

• 1 (12-to 14-pound) turkey, preferably fresh, giblets removed; if turkey was frozen, thaw completely in refrigerator (this can take days)
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 large onion, peeled and quartered
• 3 stalks celery, each cut crosswise into two or three pieces.

A half-hour before cooking, take the turkey out of the refrigerator. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Place it in a large roasting pan and set aside. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven; heat the oven to 425 degrees. Higher heat speeds roasting without too much splattering and smoking.

Mix salt and pepper together and rub mixture all over skin and inside cavity of turkey. Stuff cavity with onion and celery. If you wish, tie legs together with kitchen twine and tuck wingtips under wing, but this will slow cooking time.

Put turkey in oven, uncovered. After a half-hour, remove turkey and place a sheet of foil over breast, crimping edges to side of roasting pan. Place pan back in oven.

After another hour, remove turkey from oven, take off foil and discard. Do not baste. Begin checking temperature by inserting a meat thermometer straight down into fleshiest part of thigh, where it meets drumstick. Check a second spot, then remove thermometer.

Place the bird back in the oven, checking periodically until thermometer reads about 165 degrees. Total cooking time should be 11/2 to 2 1/2 hours, depending on size of turkey. If bird is larger than 14 pounds, keep foil on longer.

Remove the pan from the oven and cover turkey with fresh foil and then a damp kitchen towel. Let it rest for a half-hour before carving. The turkey will continue to cook and the juices will set into the meat.

Start to finish: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, plus half-hour's resting before serving.

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