WASHINGTON 鈥� Thanksgiving Day is almost here: Do you know how you鈥檙e going to cook your bird?
With endless recipes and a variety of preparation methods, settling on one for your Thanksgiving turkey can be more stressful than hosting a houseful of relatives.
But it doesn鈥檛 have to be. Three D.C.-area chefs and restaurateurs offer their best tips for brining, roasting and frying a turkey, so that your holiday meal is moist and memorable. 听
Brining the turkey
Joe Palma, executive chef at , has cooked countless turkeys throughout his career. And he says it doesn鈥檛 matter if the turkey is roasted or fried: If it鈥檚 not brined, it isn鈥檛 worth it.听
Brining a turkey 鈥� or soaking it in a solution of salt, water and often a few additional seasonings 鈥� does a few things for the turkey. For starters, it pre-seasons the protein.
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鈥淏ut it also allows cell walls to suck up more moisture than they would normally hold,鈥� Palma says. Which helps to ensure your turkey won鈥檛 dry out during the cooking process.
鈥淚t sort of tricks it into obviously pulling in the salt, but when it鈥檚 pulling in the salt, it鈥檚 also pulling in a good amount of water as well. The salt is more of a pathway and a vehicle to trick the cells into absorbing more moisture than they normally hold.鈥�
That said, it鈥檚 important that you don’t let the turkey get too salty. Palma says one way to avoid an over-salted bird is to keep the salt to 3 percent of the total water weight of your brine. (If you submerge your turkey in 1 kg of water, dissolve 30 grams of salt in that water.)
He also throws a bay leaf, rosemary, black pepper and juniper berries into the solution for some added seasoning.
鈥淚f you do a 10 percent salt brine, it will absolutely be too salty. Whereas if you use a 3 percent brine, what you鈥檙e doing is very gently adjusting the amount of liquid in the bird.鈥�听
If you buy a frozen turkey, make sure it鈥檚 completely thawed before you brine it. Palma recommends brining for a minimum of 24 hours, and even longer if you have a bigger bird or an artisanal, farm-fresh turkey. Those tend to be leaner and tougher than the store-bought varieties.
When it鈥檚 time to take the turkey out of the soaking solution, put it in the refrigerator to dry out for a few hours before you start the cooking process.
鈥淭he only thing that鈥檚 going to do is let you get crispier skin,鈥� Palma says. 鈥淭hen you chuck it on into the oven and it will be nice and brown and evenly crisp and beautiful for you.鈥�听
Roasting the turkey
If you choose to roast the turkey after it brines, Brant Tesky, executive chef of , says the simplest approach is often the best.
Tesky starts by filling the cavity of the bird with some 鈥渁romatics.鈥� Onions, celery, carrots, garlic, herbs and peppercorns are a few of his favorites. He never puts his stuffing in the cavity of the turkey.
鈥淭he problem is, if you put all that stuffing in the bird, that鈥檚 the last thing to cook. So the breast meat will dry out because it鈥檚 going to get overcooked, while you鈥檙e still kind of waiting for the stuffing in the middle to really cook through.鈥�
His best tip is to make a packet out of aluminum foil in which to cook the stuffing, and place that next to the turkey in the roasting pan.听
鈥淭hat way, if I am basting the turkey, I can always put a little bit of the liquid on top of the stuffing as it cooks. And if it looks like it鈥檚 getting too dry, I can just kind of push the foil over top of the stuffing and that way it will keep it moist,鈥� Tesky says.
鈥淚t ensures that if the stuffing is done before the turkey, you can pull that out and continue to cook the turkey or vise-versa. If the turkey鈥檚 done and the stuffing still needs more time, you can always keep it cooking in that little aluminum foil cup.鈥�
Tesky says to start roasting the turkey in a 400 to 425 degree oven for the first 30 minutes. 鈥淎nd then after that half-hour, I鈥檇 lower it down to about 300 degrees,鈥� he says, until the temperature inside the turkey reaches about 165 degrees.
Let the turkey rest for about 30 minutes before you鈥檙e ready to carve it for your meal.
Frying the turkey
Mark Bucher, co-founder of , is a fan of fried turkey. Only, he doesn鈥檛 suggest you fry your turkey at home. This Thanksgiving, he wants to fry it for you 鈥� for free.
For the past seven years, Bucher and his staff at Medium Rare in Capitol Hill, have been frying up turkeys for local residents on Thanksgiving Day.
He pulls out all of the restaurant鈥檚 fryers, plus six that he rents, and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Washingtonians come to the Barracks Row restaurant with their raw turkeys and leave with a fully cooked听pi猫ce de r茅sistance.听
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 dry out a turkey when you fry it,鈥� says Bucher, who adds that a dry turkey is everyone鈥檚 greatest Thanksgiving Day fear 鈥� and one that is perpetuated in the movies.
鈥淚t cooks it fast, it cooks it in a moist environment so it keeps it moist, it keeps the outside crispy, and it鈥檚 just a different flavor,鈥� he says.
Over the years, the turkey fry at Medium Rare has turned into an event of sorts. Bucher offers hot cider and coffee, and shows听the Macy鈥檚 Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV.
鈥淧eople will bring desserts, baked goods, pies. Everyone just sits and hangs out and it鈥檚 one of those magical moments where there鈥檚 no cellphones because no one鈥檚 work is calling them, no phones are ringing. People are just talking to each other. It鈥檚 an amazing day,鈥� Bucher says.
The Medium Rare turkey fry has also turned into an affair that helps some of D.C.鈥檚 neediest families. Bucher says he originally started the event thinking it would be a nice service to offer busy families or those who live in apartments with limited kitchen space.听
However, after the first fry, Bucher found a note on his windshield from a family who attended the event. They lived in a shelter down the street and had a Thanksgiving turkey, but no way to prepare it.听
鈥淭here are plenty of free turkeys for those who need them, they just don鈥檛 always have places to cook them. So part of this event has become a place to cook it,鈥� says Bucher, who cooked 342 turkeys last year.
If you want your turkey fried for Thanksgiving, Bucher鈥檚 best piece of advice is to arrive to the event early, to ensure your bird gets a cooking slot. He recommends keeping the bird between 8 and 15 pounds 鈥� that size takes approximately 30 minutes to cook.
When each turkey comes out of the fryer, Medium Rare puts it into a pan and covers it with foil so participants can transport it home. Approximately 30 minutes before you鈥檙e ready for Thanksgiving dinner, Bucher says to heat the fried turkey in a 170 to 200 degree oven.
鈥淚 tell everyone it鈥檚 just like fried chicken 鈥� The best fried chicken is slightly above room temperature.鈥�
The turkey fry is free, but Medium Rare will be collecting donations for , as well as an organization that collects hats, scarves and mittens for newborns and children,听at the Thanksgiving Day event.
