Comment on Your sides should be thrown away, your turkey should be frozen or almost gone.
kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
This is because the turkey is always so dry.
Seems like something someone who isn’t cooking turkey would say, but in case you are cooking it, or are able to share with the person cooking it, Gordon Ramsey has a turkey recipe that involves buttering the meat directly that has never failed. I like to pre brine for alternative flavor, but for most cases his method is more than sufficient: gordonramsay.com/…/roast-turkey-with-lemon-parsle…
There’s also a video if you prefer.
I can and have cooked turkey for myself.
When I lived on my own and worked in the restaurant industry, I took it as a point of pride to figure out how to do it well. I tried brines, but found that simple salting and leaving it on the bottom shelf overnight was easier and just as effective. And that cutting it up and sous vide was a more reliable way to get it evenly cooked. And that I could still brown the skin on a cast iron pan in high heat afterwards.
And then decided it wasn’t worth it. Not when I can cook a chicken, a duck, and a Cornish hen for half the effort.
Nowadays, I don’t even do that much.
Years ago when we still met up, we used to eat pularda (badly written poulard from French, I think). It’s basically an old chicken, right before it produces eggs, at 137 days old give or take.
It’s bigger and has stronger flavour than regular chicken, but not as dry as a turkey.
We pick a different dish every year for our main. This year was tomahawk steak. We have the normal sides, all made from scratch, and some main dish. Cause turkey sucks. I’ve done it once in like the last 15 years. It was fantasticly coffee, nice and moist, buttery and boring.
We pick a different dish every year for our main.
That sounds actually awesome.
It was fantasticly coffee
I have no idea what that means, but it still sounds pretty good.
Don’t overcook it. A lower internal temp is still safe if held for a period of time, e.g. 145 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.
Try telling that to your mother who’s been handling the turkey for decades.
You get what you get and you either like it or you shut up and pretend that you do, because that’s your mum and she’s tired and hasn’t seen you in weeks and turkey is always a little dry, trust me I know, I’ve been doing this since before you were born, eat it with some cranberry sauce, have you seen your cous…
My mother always roasted all the moisture out of a bird every year. I convinced her to get a second, smaller turkey so that I could fry it. Now I’m in charge of turkey every year cause everyone agreed it was better than hers.
kensand@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
Try brining the turkey overnight before roasting. Keeps the bird nice and moist in my experience.
kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
Rather than all of that stress, I’d rather we collectively agree that it’s just not worth it.
Cook smaller poultry.
It’s easier to cook evenly and it usually tastes better anyway.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
Or just get ham instead. That shit is juicy.
I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org 10 months ago
I always preferred ham over turkey
Saapas@piefed.zip 10 months ago
Christmas ham is the best shit ever. I can’t wait to eat it again
Paradachshund@lemmy.today 10 months ago
I don’t agree because I love well cooked turkey, but there aren’t any rules so you’re free to not cook one if you don’t want to! No consensus necessary.
kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
I support your right to love turkey at any level of doneness.
I should have specified that it’s not worth it to families (or grocery store employees) to collectively pressure everyone in the country to buy a turkey during the same one-week period.