Adventures in frozen fowl. I know you want to know.
(Photo forthcoming.)
Yesterday was Day 2 of the failed Roast Turkey Project. On Sunday Ben got me a full on, 15 lb organic free range sans-antibiotics frozen turkey from our favorite butcher shop. I put it immediately into the refrigerator to begin thawing, thinking that on Monday afternoon it would be ready to roast.
Well, one thing led to another, and come roastin’ time, there is a plastic handle thingy sticking out of the butt end of this turkey, and I can’t for my life get it to come out. (Especially not when I’m trying my hardest not to touch the turkey or anything inside it with my bare hands, but my sissy-tude is not in question at the present moment.) I donned rubber gloves and fought and wrestled and fought some more with this godforsaken turkey, to no avail.
A quick IM conversation to one of my many friends of exceeding culinary talent later, I am advised that under no circumstances am I to attempt to cook this turkey if it is not fully thawed. At first I thought this was because of health concerns – and it is, but not entirely. The concern is that if you cook the frozen inside of the turkey to a hygienic temperature, you have essentially charred the skin and outer flesh, and/or set your house on fire. So, scratch that plan.
Instead, I used the recommended recipe: Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey. I prepared the brine and soaked the turkey overnight in the fridge, turning once in the morning (that was a debacle, but not worth posting about. Just know that it involved a full small load of our kitchen rags used to sop up brine on the kitchen floor, and let your imagination do the rest. But don’t imagine a turkey on our unsanitary floor. That part didn’t happen.)
I didn’t wind up getting it into the oven in a timely way, but it was finished cooking not too long after Sami went to bed, and boy does our house smell good.
And here’s the punch line. I covered it and let it cool some before popping the whole covered roasting pan into the oven. When I went to research how to carve a turkey, I noticed that all the pictures of mid-carving turkeys were like mine, but upside down. Yes, I roasted my turkey back-up, breast-down. *sigh*
So I let it rest, covered, in the fridge overnight, and turned it breast-up in a 500-degree oven for about 20 minutes, just to get that final crisp on the skin of the breast. It worked just fine, even if it didn’t get out the roasting-rack wire marks from the otherwise luscious, moist skin and meat.
I got my info on how to carve from Google, here and here. The video is just hilarious, getting the rundown of carving a turkey from the British accent just puts some extra polish on the experience. And I relied more on the text and images (second link) because I couldn’t keep up with the video.
Now, one can say that in our family, I am the one who has the first clue about how to carve a turkey. And I think we will give Thanksgiving a try at our house this year. Though I don’t have *much* of a clue, I can get the job done if given enough time (and some more practice turkeys!)
On to planning my turkey stock, soup, and future turkey-based meals with probably the best roast turkey meat I’ve ever had. Thanks for the recipe recommendation, AB!
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Yum, sounds delicious! I will have to try it.