Let's Talk Turkey

For a 12-16 lb. turkey use two cups of kosher salt, or one cup of table salt for every 2 gallons of water. Take an unfrozen turkey, remove the giblets, rinse it, and then submerge it in a large bucket of the salt-water solution and refrigerate.

Remove it from the brine, rinse it, and then pat it dry before cooking. Some cooks also add sugar and other flavoring elements to the brine.

4) DO NOT OVERCOOK THE TURKEY. The quickest route to dry meat of any kind is to overcook it. Use a thermometer. The turkey is done when, like chicken, the breast is 165 degrees and the deepest part of the thigh has reached 175 degrees.

5) Allow the turkey to rest for 15 - 30 minutes before carving. All roasted items should rest before being carved. This allows the juices to be reabsorbed into the meat. If you carve it immediately the juices will run out.

6) Do not stuff the turkey. A stuffed bird takes longer to cook and can make for drier meat. Make your stuffing separately.

7) Use a roasting pan three inches deep or less and a rack for even roasting. If the bird sits on the bottom of the pan, or the pan's sides are too high, the heat cannot penetrate the bird uniformly.

Turn the roasting pan at various intervals to further facilitate even roasting. Some roast their turkey breast side down, the rationale being that the juices will drip into the breast. Moreover, since the breast cooks faster than the dark meat and needs less cooking, situating it on the bottom exposes it to less direct heat.

8) Do not truss the bird. The dark meat will cook faster unfettered and thus reduce the chance of the breast overcooking by the time the dark meat is done.

9) Roast a turkey at lower temperatures, usually 325 - 350. Intense heat can overcook the outside before the center is completely done.

Some start their bird at a high temperature (400 degrees or more), for the first half hour to brown the surface and produce a crisp skin, and then drop it to 325.

10) Finally, don't bother basting. The meat, covered by the skin, will not absorb the juices.

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