Your favorite, fool-proof turkey roasting method/recipe! 🦃

The only thread specifically relating to roasting a turkey is 9 years old and has exactly 3 posts.

Since we’re only two days away from Turkey Day, I thought it might be nice to collect everyone’s favorite ways with tha Big Boyd without clogging up any existing Thanksgiving threads.

My ideal turkey has crispy, golden skin & moist meat, which ideally includes the breast meat.

No need to talk about stock, gravy, leftovers, etc., as those have been covered extensively in other threads.

What is your way with turkey that makes everyone have seconds, and ask how you did it?

Dry brine, wet brine, no brine, baking salt, baking soda, just salt, butter under the skin, compound butter under the skin and over, hi-temp, or low & slow, etc. etc.

I want to hear it ALL!

Gobble gobble hey! Gobble gobble hey!

I rarely roast a whole turkey, but my best results have been with a smallish (under 15 lbs) bird, spatchcocked and dry brined, rubbed with just a little oil to encourage browning and roasted at high heat (450) until done (like 80 mins or so if I recall correctly). My guests raved about this one - juicy breast meat, crispy skin. To me, it tasted like turkey (aka disappointment - except for the skin, which I will say was good). It also created a mess in my oven and smoked up the house. So, probably not a repeat until I have a more powerful hood. Or ever, since I prefer to make literally ANY other main course for Tday! :wink:

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I always seem to end up roasting a turkey anyway, to mixed results, but the most consistent and fool-proof turkey method for me has been sous viding the breast and confiting the thighs and wings (and drumsticks if you like). You don’t get crispy skin on the breast, but you can always cook that separately.

I don’t really confit them, but I’m not going to stop calling it that: I’m not storing this meat long-term or at room temp, so I don’t cure it ahead of time. Turkey, a little salt, fat, sometimes some aromatics. I could call it fat-poached turkey, but the first time I do and someone asks, what’s that, I’m going to say it’s just turkey confit.

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I do a whole bird, with stuffing. yes, stuffed… it’s a 4 generation history thing . . .

I use an embedded thermometer (a Thermoworks model) - and I track the temperature over time in a spread sheet. I increase/decrease the oven temperature to make the ā€˜all done’ hit the ā€˜clock time’ desired…

looks like:

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12 pounds, ā€œnaturalā€, spatchcocked, dry brined three days, air drying on the last, Meater thermometer in, checked with thermapen, breast to 155 then rested, sometimes putting the legs back if too pink by the bone…. working on that part

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Yeah, I’ve had the smoke issue with hi-temp roasting anything, TBH — e.g. duck, Zuni chicken, etc., even tho we keep our oven pretty clean.

That looks fantastic! Love the lil modesty … bikini bottoms (?), too :grin:

I’ll bookmark your method in case we end up making our turkey around holidays.