After being inspired by watching dozens of celebrity chefs' favorite turkey techniques over the last few days, I decided to show a turkey being prepared using none of them. This goes out to all you terrified first timers whose heads are probably spinning with cryptic visions of brining, rubbing, marinating, injecting, smoking, and frying.
This also goes out to you grizzled veterans who realize the turkey is nothing more than an edible centerpiece; merely an excuse to surround ourselves with the most delicious and decadent side dishes and desserts possible.
I’m not saying that all those tips and tricks aren’t worthwhile; they are, and I’ve used many of them at one time or another, but the fact remains that if you simply buy a great bird, rub it with a some butter, season it generously, and slow roast it – you’ll have a perfectly wonderful tasting turkey with magazine cover good looks.
Having said that, I don't really expect most of you to just settle for such a primitive method, but the point here is that you could if you wanted to. If you do decide to first use whatever brines, marinades, and/or spice rubs strike your fancy, this roasting method will still work very nicely. By the way, if you need it, check out this gravy post for what to do with all those pan drippings. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
12-24 pound turkey
seasoning salt: salt, black pepper, and cayenne
3 tbsp butter
4 springs of rosemary
1/2 bunch sage leaves
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery rib
*Roast at 325 degrees F. for about 15 min/per pound or until an internal temp of 175 degrees F.
42 comments:
Chef John, you seriously make my day with your recipes :) thank you so much!
Oh, Chef John, you're killing me. All those side dishes and now a turkey. I wish the Germans would celebrate Thanksgiving the way Americans do it!!!
Chef John do you prefer this turkey or the turkey from "Turkey Part One:"? Oh and thank you for all you thanksgiving help, I feel very confident to cook by myself this year.
I can't believe that you didn't roast the tail!
Jim
*Ahem* a "couple" tbls of butter ? ;)
Looks delish though!
Hi Chef John,
In your other Turkey prep video you stated to put tin foil on the breast for the first few hours so the top doesn't get burnt/dries out. Was wondering why you didn't do that here?
Thanks much! Have a great Thanksgiving!!
3 year dedicated Chef John Fan
I saw that Alton Brown suggests roasting the turkey for 30 minutes at 500F initially, and then lowering the temp to 350F and cooking it the rest of the way with the breast covered. He says that it makes for less cooking time and thus more moisture stays in the meat. Do you agree? Is low and slow the way to go?
I wasn't going to do a Turkey this year, since it's just me and my boyfriend. But, after watching this video, I really want to do one. Thanks Chef!
Nice and simple. Definitely K.I.S.S. :-)
One question (well request for advice). With the drippings to add to gravy (or to convert your "gravy" to an actual gravy...) what would you suggest to do with the veggies? My first instinct would be to hit the drippings with an immersion blender and purify all those yummy veggies.
Your thoughts? (Yes, I know there is no _one_ way. I'm just asking for some advice from your pallet and experience.)
I prefer the older recipe, because the butter under the skin adds flavor.
I've not tried Alton's method, but I'm sure it's fine.
I want to be sure everyone realizes this post was not supposed to be the ultimate, best tasting method...it was simply to prove point and give beginners confidence.
Less is more chef…that’s what my wife tells me; I’m not sure why, anyway, turkey looks great! Once or twice a year and this is one of those times, I pull the Mauviel’s off the rack (because their Mauviel’s), and get cooking. Brine, compound butter etc…I don’t know why; I always get a fantastic result everyway and your bird resting on the mirepoix looks good to me. I use your compound butter recipe and short stock recipe which is in the works now. Anywho; I’ve been with your site since the beginning, always entertaining! Take care Chef, I was going to write Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless to you and yours, but I’m not sure if that’s still legal, so I won’t
As usual, this recipe looks wonderful and easy!
Just wondering about rinsing the turkey though. Seems to me that I read somewhere recently that rinsing poultry is not necessary; that, in fact, it can spread bacteria over a wide radius of your kitchen, if you're not super careful. I've never done it, and it's always been fine.
Thanks again for a great video, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Hello there Chef John!! From what I've seen in a number of videos, you guys in the States do not stuff the Turkey, you cook it hollow. While we here in Greece actually stuff the turkey with a bunch of dry fruits, chestnuts, pine nuts etc. What is your idea on that. Does the turkey come out nicer with or without the stuffing. We have never cooked one empty. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving.
I think the real secret to roasting turkey is selecting the right size bird. Those 24-pound mutant monstrosities look impressive, but they just don't roast evenly in a typical home oven. You're better off buying two smaller birds and roasting them side by side.
This has the added benefit of more drippings, which means more gravy. Who doesn't want more gravy?
@Susanne - amen to that! then again, this is our tradition so i can't really complain on how the Deutsch celebrates it... if they even do.
Hey Chef John,
Long time reader, first time commenting. I JUST put the turkey using this recipe in the oven. I'm TOTALLY BLAMING YOU if it doesn't come out right. Even though I'm probably going to be taking most of that blame if we're stuck around the table with a few pizzas. Just kidding! I trust your experience. I'll be back once it's out of the oven. Sending you a picture once it's done!
Hey, my turkey didn't come with a neck. What if I just chop off these useless wings and boil them to make a stock for the gravy?
Thank you soooo much my first Turkey cane out soooo good that all they left was the bones!!!!
mmmm....that's all I have to say...looks delicious!
Dear Chef John,
I was just wondering if the seasoning salt was equal parts salt,pepper and cayenne? This is my first time making the turkey so I'm a bit nervous!
Relax! :) it may have been equal salt and pepper but maybe only 5 % cayenne.
Chef John,
Well unfortunately i couldn't find a turkey :(, but i used the same setup with a whole chicken and it turned out amazing. the herb butter made the chicken skin absolutley crispy as needed. Thanks for your recipe, definitely will be using it again!
I used the recipe on a chicken instead of a turkey and it was amazing. The sage and rosemary were more flavorable than I had imagined. Thanks for the recipe and I will definitely be using more recipes in the future.
Heh heh heh. Outside cavities. I love it.
Beautiful job on the bird.
I appreciate seeing chefs take a moment of their time to make sure newbies feel confident. Very nice.
I'm cooking a turkey with this method right now. I peeked. Looks just awesome! Aroma is making me so dang hungry! I did brine it overnite, tho'.
Excellent, Jon!
I cooked a 14lb bird and the 'formula' was off a bit - 4 hrs was too long, skin got too crisp (but meat was fine) - for my oven 3.5 hours would be right. Btw, those pan drippings mixed with the vegetables was really tasty. Gravy was wonderful.
Hey Chef John can I cut the wings off my turkey and use them for my gravy or is that a bad idea? Thanks
Yes! I do that all the time.
I just put my very first turkey in the oven, Chef John style! Thank you for your help! Off to watch the gravy video...
WHOOOHOOO!!!!! Thanks to YOU I cooked my first turkey and it turned out PERFECT!! I made it just like you said. I wish you knew how incredible this is. Now, it was quite gross dealing with it before cooking and the carving wasn't fun... but it tastes fantastic!
This video was kind of a let down. It looked really good, but I was expecting white and black face paint.
I was one of those nervous first timers cooking a full size turkey last Thanksgiving. Ever since finding this blog, I have cooked a full size turkey three more times! My husband can't get over how juicy the turkey is. I can't get over how simple it is to make it. Thank you!
Hi Chef John, I used this method yesterday to cook a pre-thanksgiving practice turkey. I followed the recipe and temp guidelines, taking my bird out when the temp of the thigh reached 175. The turkey rested for roughly 30 minutes while I made the gravy. Two things, one, there were barely any drippings in the roasting pan (less than a cup) and the liquid was burned as were the vegetables. Secondly the breast meat was terribly dry. I could barely cut through the skin on top of the breast with me 9" chefs knife. The only difference in how I cooked my turkey from what was shown in the video is that my roasting pan has a rack which the turkey sat on while cooking. What went wrong. I'm not looking forward to doing this again in 3 days. Especially since this will be for my family not just me and my fiancé.
Sorry, but there's no way I can tell for sure what exactly the problem is. Sometimes it's just the turkey. Most commercial turkeys are incredibly lean, and parts of breast Will come out dry, no matter what method you use. This is why many people brine the turkey, and there are many many blog posts out there about how to do that, so that could be an option. I personally don't bother, as I tend to undercook my turkey a little bit anyway, closer to 170. You can also try placing A triangle of aluminum foil over the breasts for the last half of the cooking. Good luck!!
Thanks for the response chef John. Would that be 170 in the thickest part of the thigh or breast? Any thoughts on carryover cooking?
Hello... Do u cover your turkey????
I'm not a fan of spending time in the kitchen but several years ago I did want to make my family a nice turkey dinner. I scoured the web and found this and have used it ever since. So simple and fuss free - I love it! And yes - it turns out perfect every time. Thank you again :)
I must have missed the part about covering breast with Foil.
DO I Cover or not? when and for how long. 1st half, or last half of cooking time.
I noticed no quite a few people asked this question and got no answer.
Please Advise. Thanks to much for this recipe. It looks great I just want to get it right. After the one said it did not turn out too good.
BONNY
Thank you so much, for posting this. My Grandma passed away 2 years ago and hadn't done any holidays since. This year was different I wanted to give my son the holidays best I could. I was given a 29 pound turkey for today but was unsure how to do it. I came a cross this posting of yours and it was so helpful my 1st thanksgiving turkey today turned out wonderful. Happy thanksgiving
What's the season salt recipe?
Hey chef I sent a relative to the store for rosemary and sage LEAVES but they brought back rubbing sage and ground rosemary instead. Can the recipe still work and how would you make it work portion-wise?
Wish me luck cause I'm using this tmrw for my Christmas dinner, my first time making turkey!
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