If you have been given the big responsibility of cooking the turkey this year and you don’t want to dry out your bird, listen up.
Turkey is a tricky bird. It takes ages to cook, can be difficult to carve, and often still ends up dry, no matter how hard you try.
Here are some game changing tips from some of the best chefs around the world.
- Brine your turkey for 24 to 48 hours before cooking it. Brining your turkey, which means to treat your meat with salt or a salty water mixture, you can also add seasoning to the meat, this breaks down proteins to make it more tender and juicy.
- Fry your turkey. Do it outside so you don’t burn your house down. Make sure you let your turkey air dry for a couple of days in the fridge before you cook it. When you fry it, let it fry in oil for about 35 minutes.
- Do it south Texas style and smoke your turkey in a smoker. Let it smoke for eight to ten hours at a low temperature, around 225 to 250 degrees.
- If you do decide to roast your turkey, roast it upside down. Roasting the bird upside down for the first half of the cooking time allows for the juices to sink into the turkey breast. Then flip it for the last twenty five percent of the cooking time to get the skin nice and crisp.
- And you can’t go wrong by adding butter. Melt half a pound a butter to brush onto your turkey and sprinkle a bit of sea salt on it.
Happy carving!