Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey
PERFECT THANKSGIVING TURKEY😍
The Thanksgiving turkey of your dreams, this turkey comes out incredibly moist and flavorful! Last year was my first year making this turkey, and now 6 turkey testing recipes later, this one is the tried and true - it really never fails me.
Prior to last year I had never in my life even attempted to cook turkey for Thanksgiving all by myself but I figured if we can get through 2020 we can cook a turkey right? Trust me when I say I SCOURED the internet, read no less than 80 turkey recipes, all the tips and tricks from the top food publishing sites, and BOY was it worth it. I decided to combine a few techniques from Ciao Samin’s Buttermilk Turkey, Food & Wine’s butter soaked cheesecloth turkey, and Kenji’s Compound Butter Turkey recipe. The result: a beautifully golden turkey that was perfectly moist and seasoned all the way through. I swear this is fool proof and will take away all the stress for the big day.
Tips:
Buy your turkey 5-7 days in advance. Fresh turkeys are REALLY hard to come by and often have to be reserved in advance. I bought my 13 pound turkey frozen and it took about 5-6 days in the fridge to thaw. You DO NOT want to be freaking out, pulling out hair dryers on Thanksgiving Day because your turkey is still frozen lol
Before you start, make sure you have everything you actually need to bake a turkey: roasting tray, meat thermometer, twine, baster, etc. For this recipe specifically, you’ll need cheesecloth and either a pot large enough to hold your turkey and the buttermilk or a brine bag. I linked everything you need below:
Twine (if your turkey doesn’t already come tied - mine came with an extra skin pocket to hold the legs together)
I followed Ciao Samin of NYTimes concept of using buttermilk as a brine for the turkey. She recommends brining the turkey for 48 hours, but I’ve done up to 24 hours and it’s still perfect. Since lactose can cause skin to brown more quickly, she spatchcocked her turkey. I didn’t want to even attempt to use my poultry shears to do so, so when I removed the turkey from the brine, I patted it dry with paper towels and let it hang out on a wire rack for a little over an hour to come to room temperature and allow any excess buttermilk to run off. If the store does not have enough buttermilk, you can use regular milk with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice for a similar effect.
Aside from the buttermilk marinade, there were 3 other ways I imparted flavor into my turkey:
Stuffing the cavity with aromatics like lemon, onion, herbs, carrot and celery helped add flavor from within the turkey, not just from the outside. You also want to make sure the cavity is full, so no hot air enters and dries out the turkey.
Using a compound butter to rub all over the skin of the turkey and underneath added sooo much great flavor. Compound butter is essentially just softened butter that you season with herbs or whatever you have and leads to great flavor. You can make this a few days in advance, keep in the fridge, and just remove 1 hour before using to get it to room temperature.
Butter. Soaked. Cheesecloth. WOW. It kept the skin from browning too much in the oven, infused the turkey with butter and flavor while it cooked, and kept the breast perfectly moist. I added some additional flavoring to the butter to impart even more flavor in the turkey, but you can do with just the butter.
Another thing I did to ensure the turkey was as moist as possible and that I would have sufficient gravy was adding chicken broth to the bottom of the roasting pan before baking. I do this with my roasted chickens, as it adds more moisture around the turkey as it bakes, helping it to not dry out.
The biggest life saver and stress reliever was using a digital meat thermometer. I LOVE my Meater thermometer because it connects to my phone so it alerts me as my turkey is nearing 165 degrees. This was crucial this time as my turkey ended up being done a full hour before I expected it to. Depending on the size of your turkey, it will likely take anywhere from 13-15 minutes per pound. You want to start checking your turkey about 1 hour before the time you expect it to be done.
I actually like to stick my meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast vs the thigh, as the breast is the area that tends to overcook the fastest.
Basting - the cheesecloth recipe from Food and Wine didn’t say to baste the turkey, but I did about 3-4 times throughout the cooking process. I think this also helped to keep the turkey flavorful and moist.
Gravy Tips:
My grandma makes ahead the gravy every year by buying up some extra turkey parts and making a really good stock. Depending on the year, I usually either make the make ahead gravy below, or I just whisk flour into the remaining juices after the gravy comes out. Both come out great!
Almost every time I have made this, the skin is browned when the turkey is done, but sometimes, depending on the thickness of your cheesecloth, your turkey may be done before your skin has browned. If this happens, crank the heat up to 450 degrees and brush with melted butter. Cook for a few minutes or until your skin is browned to your liking.
Schedule to help your Turkey Planning:
4-6 days in advance: purchase your turkey! It will need ample time in the fridge to thaw. A good guide is to plan on 24 hours of fridge thawing for every 5 pounds of frozen turkey. If you are in a bind, you can thaw a turkey in cold water. It usually takes up to 24 hours, depending on the size of your turkey.
24-48 hours before cooking: place your turkey in the buttermilk bath. If you don’t have enough buttermilk to cover the turkey, either add a little bit of water or flip your turkey in the bath 2-3 times. You can also make your compound butter in advance to save time.
3 hours before cooking: remove the turkey from the buttermilk and pat dry with paper towels. Place on a wire rack to allow any excess buttermilk to run off.
2 hours before cooking: pat dry again with paper towels. Also remove your butter from the fridge to soften if you are making the compound butter day of.
1 hour before cooking: Pat dry with paper towels and season the turkey all over with salt and pepper and inside the cavity. Complete steps below for prepping your turkey and preheat your oven.
Serves 10-14 depending on size (again, this will work just fine with a smaller turkey or chicken, just account for cooking time)
For the Herb Roasted Turkey:
10-14lb turkey
4 quarts buttermilk
6 tbsps salt
3 tbsps black peppercorns
6 sprigs fresh thyme
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh sage
½ lemon
½ onion
1 carrot
1 celery
1 head of garlic, sliced in half to expose the cloves
6 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
For the Compound Butter:
1 stick softened salted butter
8 sage leaves, chopped
3 sprigs thyme leaves, chopped
3 sprigs rosemary, chopped
Zest from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
For the Herb flavored Butter Soaked Cheesecloth:
1 stick salted butter
Juice from 1 lemon
8-10 sage leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs rosemary
2 whole garlic cloves, smashed
For the Make Ahead Gravy:
Turkey neck, giblets, wings, or whatever comes with your turkey
1 tbsp olive oil
1 qt chicken broth
1 small onion, cut in half
2 celery sticks
1 carrot
3 tbsps salted butter
6 tbsps flour, divided
½ tsp dried sage
¼ tsp poultry seasoning (or more sage)
¼ tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
Directions:
For the Make Ahead Gravy:
Day before or 2 days before Thanksgiving, heat up a large pot on medium high heat.
Add in the olive oil, and sear the turkey neck, giblets, and wings if you have them for a few minutes per side until browned on all sides.
Add onion, celery, carrot, and chicken broth.
Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer uncovered for 30-40 minutes.
Strain and reserve.
Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat.
Whisk in 4 tbsps of flour until smooth and no raw flour pieces are showing.
Slowly pour in the chicken broth, whisking frequently.
Simmer for 5-7 minutes until thickened. Season with poultry seasoning, black pepper, and salt to taste. Reserve in a lidded jar until day of.
Day of: heat the prepared gravy on the stove. Once the turkey is out of the oven, remove to a cutting board and tent with foil to rest for 20 minutes. Add the juices from the turkey pan into the reserved gravy.
For a thicker gravy, whisk in 1 tbsp of flour at a time until smooth and thickened up to your liking. I typically use an additional 2-3 tbsps depending on how many juices come from my turkey. Keep warm until serving.
For the Herb Roasted Turkey:
Take the turkey out of the bag, drain excess juices, remove the neck and giblets and set aside for the gravy.
Add the turkey to a large pot or brine bag, pour over the buttermilk and add 6 tbsps salt, 3 tbsps black peppercorns, 3 sprigs fresh thyme, 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, and 3 sprigs fresh sage. If you don’t have enough buttermilk to fully submerge the turkey, either add a bit of water or flip over 2-3 times throughout the marinating process. Marinate for 24-48 hours.
3 hours before cooking, remove the turkey from the brine, and remove as much of the buttermilk as you can with paper towels. Place on a wire rack to drain off any excess buttermilk. Let the turkey come to room temperature - depending on your bird, it could take 2-3 hours on the counter. 1 hour before cooking, take the butter or compound butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature as well.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven.
Pat the turkey dry again with paper towels, and season all over the bird and inside the cavity with salt and pepper. Place the turkey on the rack of a large roasting tray.
Add the lemon, onion, whole garlic head sliced in half, celery, carrot, thyme, and sage to the inside of the turkey. Use twine to tie up the legs.
Now make the compound butter by mixing the softened butter, chopped sage, chopped thyme, chopped rosemary, lemon zest, and salt and pepper.
Using your hands, carefully lift the skin from the breast of the bird and rub about half of the compound butter under the skin of the turkey breast. Rub the rest of the butter all over the outside of the turkey as well.
In a small saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter with the sage leaves, thyme, rosemary, garlic, and lemon juice. Simmer for 2-3 minutes to infuse the butter with flavor.
Place the herbs on top of the turkey.
Wet your cheesecloth and squeeze out any excess water. Place the cheesecloth in a bowl and pour over the butter until the cheesecloth has fully soaked up all the butter.
Drape the cheesecloth over the turkey.
Pour the 6 cups of chicken broth into the roasting tray under the turkey.
Place on a rack in the lower third of the oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 350 degrees.
Bake for about 13-15 minutes per pound of turkey, basting the turkey 3-4 times throughout the process. If you are using a meat thermometer, the temperature should register around 160-165 degrees as it will increase as it rests. If your turkey is done but the skin is not browned yet, remove the cheesecloth, crank the heat up to 450 degrees and brush with melted butter. Cook for a few minutes or until your skin is browned to your liking.
Remove the cheesecloth from the turkey, place the turkey on a cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for 20-25 minutes.
Reserve ½ cup of the juices from the roasting tray and pour the rest into your gravy.
After carving your turkey, drizzle the ½ cup of juices over top. Enjoy!
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