How to Cook a Perfect Turkey

Posted by Judy on 5 October 2011 in Eat | 0 comments

Thanksgiving is right around the corner (for us Canadians that is). Forgive me for adding to the gazillion how-to-cook-or-roast-a-turkey media frenzy articles out there, but what how-to collection is complete without it?

How Much Turkey?

So you decided to host Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner this year (what were you thinking?! OMG the dishes!) now you need to figure out how big of a turkey you need. The rule of thumb is 1 pound per adult and half a pound for a child. Depending how much leftovers you want, add more poundage. You hate math and don’t feel like calculating? No worries, check out the chart below:

Defrosting the Turkey

Ideally you would have gotten an organic free range fresh turkey. However, that is not always possible due to budget and/or time constraints. If you have a frozen turkey, you will need time to defrost it. The safe way to defrost a turkey is in the refrigerator. Running cold water over it or placing it in the microwave is not recommended due to the risk of contamination and bacterial growth. The guideline in the chart below will only reflect the time needed for defrosting in the fridge:

Roasting the Turkey

You will need:
- Turkey (duh!)
- Room temperature butter
- Sprigs of rosemary and thyme
- Salt and pepper
- Meat thermometer

1 – Preheat the oven to 475°F (yes that is correct, it will make sense soon)

2 – Remove the neck and the giblets that come in the turkey. They can be set aside to make the gravy or in the case of the giblets added to the stuffing.

3 – Gently separate the skin from the breast but do not remove it. You just want to be able to get your hand between the skin and the breast meat. Rub some room temperature butter on the turkey breast between the breast skin and the meat. Do not put butter on the outside of the skin.

4 – Put some fresh rosemary and thyme spigs between the breast skin and the meat as well.

5 – Salt and pepper the turkey.

6 – I don’t cook stuffing in the turkey. I do it seperately in a casserole dish. The reason for this is it increases the cooking time and the stuffing could simply not cook completely and that is when people get sick. Better safe than sorry!

7 – Place the turkey in a covered roasting pan place in the oven at 475°F for 20 minutes. I don’t think it matters which way you place it, breast up or down. Some argue that the breast is even more juicy with it down. Do what you think is best.

8 – Once the first 20 minutes are up, reduce the heat to 250°F. The goal is to slow cook the turkey now to prevent overcooking.

9 – Continue cooking the turkey at 250°F for an additional 20 minutes for each pound. There is no need to baste in this case.

10 – Note that fresh turkey tend to cook a little faster than a frozen one, so check halfway through the 250°F cooking time to make sure its not overcooking. Check that your turkey is fully cooked using a meat thermometer. Interior breast meat should be 170°F and 180°F for thigh meat. It is particularly important to use a thermometer at high elevations as cooking takes longer and there is no way to predict by how much.

11 – Remove the turkey from the oven and allow it to rest uncovered for at least 20 minutes before carving it.

Photo credit: tuchodi