Page 31 - NOV2020 BNM Digital Issue

perfect turkey
This is no ordinary turkey prepa- ration, pilgrims. Not only is it guaranteed to make the best turkey you’ve ever tasted, it leaves room in the indoor oven for pie, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and more pie. Try it and you’ll be cooking turkey on the grill all year-round.
This method results in a magnif- icent-looking, dark mahogany bird, with incredibly tender and juicy flesh, delicately and ele- gantly flavored with savory herbs and seductive smoke, and anointed with a gravy that eclipses all others. Here are a few tips on technique:
Do not take risks with Thanks- giving dinner. If you have doubts, practice before the big day. You’re allowed to eat turkey in August or October.
Let the turkey flavor shine.
Don’t go crazy with powerful injec-
tions that hide the natural flavor of the bird.
Meathead, AmazingRibs.com
BarbecueNews.com - 26
NOVEMBER 2020
The Perfect Turkey
Do not trust the pop-up ther- mometer. The key to turkey suc- cess is to avoid overcooking or undercooking it even the slight- est bit. A good digital thermome- ter is never more important. Remove the turkey from the heat when the breasts hit 160°F, not 170 to 180°F, as many recipes recommend.
Dry brine. Read the label to see if the bird has been salted by the processor. If not use a dry brine. Don’t waste money making a big bucket of wet brine loaded with
apple juice, sugar, and spices. You are wasting money. Only the salt penetrate. Sprinkle on the salt the day before.
Use an herb based rub. Our Scar- borough Fair is parsley, sage, rose- mary, thyme, and a few other things.
Do not put anything in the cav- ity. When you stuff the bird, heat takes far longer to travel
to the center of the stuffing, and in the process, the exte- rior gets way too hot and the meat becomes overcooked. When you leave the cavity empty, the heat and smoke fla- vors can enter the cavity, cooking the bird much faster and more evenly. Onions and oranges in the cavity do very little to enhance flavor and just block airflow. To bring flavor, sprinkle the cavity with spices and herbs.
For the best, most moist bird, butterfly (spatchcock) it or break it into quarters. When you open up the bird by removing the backbone and laying it flat you can brown the cavity and brown is flavor. It will also cook faster and that preserves moisture. Better still, cut it into quarters so you can cook the thick white meat and the thinner dark meat sections to optimum temps. Go to AmazingRibs.com to learn how to spatchcock it.