That site has a lot of good info!

For even more details on picking, cooking, and carving turkey, check out these Mahalo pages. I wrote 2 of them myself, and we tried to make them as useful as possible:

[www.mahalo.com]
[www.mahalo.com]
[www.mahalo.com]
[www.mahalo.com]

evbro

@CV: you're right, blotting up those juices is a crime. I've got a cutting board that has a "ditch" in it to capture juices, but the "ditch" is not deep or wide enough. I'll use your suggestion to put the cutting board on a pizza pan. Thanks for the idea!

Julie D

This year, we're trying a turkey breast on a rotisserie. My step-father found an attachment for his grill somewhere, and has been cooking hunks of meat the size of his head every night for two weeks now. If anyone has any advice on rotisserie + turkey breast, I'd welcome them.

MrsIrB

did anyone mention those temperatures are way too high if they are taken while the turkey is still in the oven? :p

Totorototoro

Blotting up the juices from carving is tragic. Those delicious juices should go back into the gravy. Put your cutting board on a sheet pan (or other cookie sheet with a higher rim) and recover the juices.

Don't waste hard-earned, precious goodies such as this.

cv

Roast your turkey in a convection oven. The convection oven swirls warm air around the bird and sears the bird. All the juice is held inside and makes the most beautiful roasted turkey (or any meat for that matter)you've ever seen. When you carve the turkey, you'll need lots of paper towels to blot up the juice. The only downside of cooking the bird in a convection oven is that you won't get enough liquid from the pan to make the gravy. But the turkey will be the best turkey you've ever eaten!

Julie D

Pulling out the relevant info from CWW's link: "... the Agriculture Department insists that the temperature between the thigh and the breast should be 165 to 180 degrees (the department has given different advice in different places), but professional chefs scoff, saying that's a guaranteed formula for dryness and for a texture that crumbles like plaster."

I would tend to agree with those saying get the turkey to 160 F or so and then let thermal momentum carry it to 165. Sorry if the overly-strict standards in the article were misleading. Glad you're all around to offer some words of experience!

Therevan

Forget the turkey: at my house, we're having goose. More flavor, no dryness, and when you're done cooking you'll have over a cup of the most amazing rendered fat that will add flavor to anything you're frying. Yum.

Areia

I thank all of you for pointing out the temperature problem. Everyone has pointed out the essentials so there really isn't anything to add, except that I hate Alton Brown. Can't stand him.

lentorre

Here is this year's Thanksgiving article from the SF Chronicle:

"While most sources recommend cooking poultry to an internal thigh temperature of 180° to 185°, the U.S. Department of Agriculture standards say 160° to 165° will kill contaminants, including salmonella.

At 180°, turkey tastes like dry cardboard. At 165°, turkey is moist, juicy and succulent - without a trace of pink. Plus, the temperature continues to rise several degrees when the turkey is allowed to rest the recommended 20 to 30 minutes before carving."

No amount of gravy is gonna rehydrate a dried out turkey. Not only are the juices gone, but most of the delicate turkey aroma is lost.

I hate dried out turkey. I might as well eat week-old stale bread, toasted dry.

This posting a great example of why blogging sometimes stumbles. If you don't know the quality of article you're reposting, you might end up with a dud like this one.

While no harm will come anyone who follows these instructions, this Thanksgiving turkey will not be memorable to anyone (well, not in a positive way). Sorry, but I suggest the editors rescind this article.

This is no lifehack.

cv

180? That turkey is gonna be bone dry by the time it gets to the table.

Sorry, zero credibility points for the author of this article.

cv

iceland adverts fill me with dread with all the frozen joints and things, like fish and pork and turkey etc etc it's just asking for trouble

Gonzie

First, the use of the word "Master" in the article's title is really silly. It should be something along the lines of "How to heat a turkey".

I second the recommendation for frying a turkey (and Alton Brown in general), but it's quite an undertaking. For traditionalists, here's my take:

1. Buy the right turkey. Fresh, not frozen. Free range or small producer if you can (I prefer Bell&Evans). Not "self-basting". NOT TOO BIG! I wouldn't go above 16 lbs or so- the bigger ones are tough and dry out too easily. If you need more, cook two.

2. SALT SALT SALT!!! Both for flavor (turkey has virtually none on its own) and as a guard against dryness. My preferred method is brining the turkey overnight in a salt and water brine. I'm not sure of proportions (I eyeball it) but a google search should turn up some ballpark figures. Cooks Illustrated (another cooking bible, and a big proponent of brining) has an alternative method of heaping salt in between the skin and flesh, which has some benefits over brining, but I stick with brining. You can experiment with the brine too, for instance using apple cider and herbs/spices.

3. MORE FLAVOR! Carefully separate the skin from the flesh around the breasts and thighs and put good stuff in there. Softened butter mixed with something (herbs, garlic, etc) is ideal. You can also try finely chopped mushrooms, anchovy paste, anything with a flavor which is worth permeating.

4. Reconfigure the turkey. Like most poultry, the turkey isn't structured for even cooking, which is why you have to choose between dried out breast meat or bloody thighs, dance around with flipping and tenting, etc. The simplest reconfiguration is to butterfly the turkey by cutting down either side of the backbone to remove it, opening up the bird, and pressing down to flatten it (by breaking some of the bones). Your butcher may do this for you too. You can use the backbone to make or enrich stock for gravy. When I really want to impress people, I separate the legs, bone them, fill with butter and herbs, then truss them. When done you can slice them into medallions (This is a Julia Child technique)

5. Rub the skin with butter (this promotes browning) and roast it. Reconfigured, you don't have to move the bird while cooking. I prefer starting at 500 degrees until the skin just starts to blister, then dropping to 375 until done. Use a real thermometer.

If you have butterflied the turkey, you can pull another trick - cut up some aromatics (carrot, celery, onion, green onion, bell pepper, garlic, mushrooms, lemon peel, whatever) - mound them in roasting pan, then put the bird on top of them (so that the inside of the bird is touching the aromatics and the skin faces up). This flavors both the bird and the pan drippings.

rogerkaplan

If you follow the above advice (cook to 170+!?) then have lots and lots of gravy on hand. You'll need it; even if you tried to get a "self basting" or you brine to death or whatever, it'll still come out dry.

Instead, cook the meat to 150F or so and let it rest under foil. It'll make it to 160, the joints will be loose and the juices will run clear. Plus it gives you that extra half hour or so to make gravy with the drippings, pop open a few bottles of wine and have your starter course.

Some more turkey advice: [www.nytimes.com]

All this said, I think the best turkey I've had was when it was slowly barbequed. But that's not traditional.

CWW

If you haven't seen the episode of "Good Eats" in which Alton deep-fries a turkey, you should. The "how not to fry a turkey" segment, in which he dunks a still-wet, still-half-frozen turkey in a too-full pot of oil (with the fire department on hand) is worth the price of admission alone.

carlosdelvaca

Brine your turkey. See Alton Brown's recipe

grambo25

Just deep fry the damn thing.

dorylomorphs

We have recently experimented with cooking the Turkey upside down. This allows for the juices to settle in the breast meat and keeps it moist. I would still recommend basting or tenting to keep the legs and wings from drying out too much.

neonsocks

Brining is so last decade. Tried salting the bird with healthy amounts of kosher salt and rosemary, and the bird came out pretty damn delicious and most.

And I do agree that 180F is criminal. I roast until 160 or so at the breast, and let it rest, letting the momentum do the rest of the work.

This year, however, should be interesting, as I'm going for broke and making me a Turducken... Any tips on those, Lifehacker?

Damage

Oh, and I think it's criminal that she calls for jarred gravy. That stuff's institutional-style and nasty tasting. However, I think giblet gravy is a bit too much work and a bit temperamental. Same for gravy made from the pan drippings. Instead, go to your library, and photocopy the All Purpose Gravy recipe from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It's easy and it's some of the best gravy I've ever had.

TVarmy

It's a shame he didn't mention not to buy too small a bird. I'd say anything under 12 lbs will be too boney and have almost no breast meat, which is a real problem for some people. When serving a small group, either prepare for leftovers or serve something else. My family will be roasting a capon (google it), which is smaller than a turkey, but also more flavorful. I could see cornish game hens working out if it's a Thanksgiviing for two (It happens).

TVarmy

@Julie D: Searing does not "hold in juices". This is a misconception held even by chefs. Searing creates browning, which is the Maillard Reaction, which creates flavor components. It does not create a barrier to lose moisture.

Convection cooks food faster by transferring heat slightly more efficiently to the surface of the meat. But "searing" really requires oil between the heat source and the meat.

rogerkaplan

@Tvarmy:

Really big turkeys have more meat because they've given growth hormones. A naturally grown turkey can't get much bigger than 16-18 pounds. The smaller birds actually have better flavor and are more tender. It is far better cooking two 12-pound birds than one 24-pound bird.

Holy crap, both the article and the comments are full of bad advice.

cv

@rogerkaplan:
I can't really comment on the distinction you make about searing the meat. Everything I've read about it calls it searing. What I can say is that when using a convection oven, it is not necessary to turn the oven up to a high temperature (as one poster here recommended) to sear the meat in order to hold the juice in the turkey (and any meat you are cooking). Convection cooking circulates air in the oven so there are no cool or hot spots and makes for an even distribution of heat. Food cooks evenly.

A common misconception of convection cooking is that it cooks food faster, and I suppose if you set the oven temp to the same temp as you would with a conventional oven, this might be true. But done correctly, you lower the oven temp by about 25 degrees and cook the food for the same period of time.

Julie D

Get up at 7:00 am, put the oven on 200 degrees, put the turkey into the pan upside-down, and then cook the turkey until around 4:00 pm. It will fall off the bone and will be anything but dry!

JonBobFrog

Lots of butter, salt, parsley, and garlic. Put that mixture under the skin. Baste with white wine every half hour for first hour and a half, and then baste with the drippings. That's what I'm trying this year. I don't agree with the articles temperature though, 160 and then let it sit for 20-30 minutes.

sloped

Throw that bird on the smoker for 4-6 hours. I've been doing this for about 5 years. I've never deep fried because I have no reason to be unsatisfied with the smoked turkey. The slow cook process helps to maintain equal moisture throughout the bird.

I use a weber smokey mountain smoker using the provided water tray which helps maintain a moist cooking environment and also regulates temperature fluctuations. I use kingsford charcoal and some combination of apple, cherry or pecan wood chips. How I baste it changes every year but you can be sure it usually has significant amounts of butter in it.

Kringo