I recently heard that if you cook a turkey upsidedown, it stays moister... anybody know if this is true? Also how should I ask the butcher to 'prepare' the turkey? I know 'no neck, cleaned out', but other than that? it is a 6kilo female.

The challenge is to keep the breast meat moist. The simplest way, I reckon, is to cover the entire breast with buttered foil, removing it every 20 minutes or so during cooking to baste the breast with the pan juices, and replacing it. Remove the foil altogether for about the last half an hour of cooking to brown the breast.

The other challenge with turkey is to have the big legs properly cooked without overcooking the rest of the bird. I allow around 20 mins per 500g (at 220C for the first half an hour, reduced to 180C thereafter) for the breast meat. When the breast meat is cooked, take the turkey out of the oven, carve off the legs, cover the bird with foil to keep it warm, and return the legs to the oven at 200C for about half an hour or until the juices run clear.

I've heard "sventrato" used for cleaned.

Yes, cooking it upside down does keep it moister, but you should turn it right way for the last 30mins or it will look poached rather than roasted! Also works better for smaller birds. You are probably better doing the buttered foil approach that Graeme suggests unless you are really confident doing it the other way.

If you want moist and you can find one, roasting bags are also really successful, but reduce your cooking time slightly - when I cook them this way they have a tendency to disintegrate on me, but boy they are moist!!

thanks!
what are the roasting bags called here?

Yes, rotating - not just leaving it upside down - works for smaller birds like chickens.

If you really want a moist and delicious turkey, brine it. I have been doing this for years and it is hands down the best turkey there is. Also, it cooks in way less time. I cook a 7kg bird in less than 2 hours and it is perfectly cooked every time.

To follow the best directions and the best brine recipe (it is an exact science so you have to make sure you measure the water, salt and sugar perfectly) GO HERE

I have a fomula for brine depending on how many liters. If you want that, let me know and I will find it.

Trust me, one you go brined you never go behind (well back doesn't rhyme with brined so I had to fudge the words a bit

Oh and for the butcher. Just as for una tacchinella eviscerata (spelling help here anyone) which means without the head, feet, innards, etc. If you want, have them give you that stuff too in another bag as the feet, head, neck help make a better gravy. Tell them to not cut the bird and to not debone it.

quote:

Originally posted by di&andrea:
thanks!
what are the roasting bags called here?

I don't know, sorry! I have one here if you want me to post it to you? e-mail me at alyson-at-alyson02.wanadoo.co.uk if you do and I'll get it in the post tomorrow. I got them in the UK!

Cristina,

I wanted to brine this year (if pregnancy allows,) for the first time but I was wondering if brining gives you that feeling you get after eating really salty foods- like you could literally drink 26 gallons of water in one sitting.

I have never had that overly salted feeling when brining so I personally would have to say no (and I do not use a lot of salt at all).

The important thing is to be careful when making the gravy and to not cook the stuffing inside the bird as it seems that all of the salt leeches out of the bird while cooking.

I brine all chicken and pork. Smaller cuts I brine for a few hours. Fried chicken, once brined is so amazing! Pork shops brined are øut of this world.

I have to ask.
When dry-cured meat has so much more flavour...
And when meat producers place so much store in not adding any water during processing...
Why reverse this process by chucking a turkey - or any meat for that matter - into a barrel of water ?
And what is 'kosher salt' - and why is it so much better and more crucial to this exercise than regular salt ?

Aghed beef is different than white meat (pork and poultry). Beef has more fat in it so it stays juicy due to the fact that the fat slowly bastes from the inside. Turkey, especially the breast, has basically no fat so all of the juice in the breast seeps out and you end up with a flavourless hunk of flesh. Brining adds more liquid (that is flavoured as well) so that the breast does not loose all of the liquid and it stays mist as the salt enables the fibres to absorb the liquid.

Kosher salt is sale grosso. The reason it is used instead of regular salt is because of the measurement given. They could have used regular salt but the quatity by volume would be much different. Personally, I find regular salt has a more metal flavor than rock salt.

By the way, for measurements, here is the baasic by weight.

For every liter of water, add 61,38 grams of salt and 22.22 grams of sugar. Multiply by the amount of liters you are using. I round it off by the way so for 1 liter it becomes 61 and 22.

Many birds in the US are already brined so if using one of those you should not brine again.

I do a brined, deboned turkey thigh on the BBQ. Tastes like a GOOD steak. Pork chjops I brine and then cook to barely medium rare (it is safe due to the salt) and you cannot believe the flavor.

Oh and poultry producers push the no added liquid because people got angry because the extra liquid means extra weight so extra cost. The thing is though, instead of leaving the price as it was but taking out the liquid, they raised the prices so it all ends up costing more (look at the price of a pre brined bird to a non brined bird and you will see a huge difference).

OK so I went to the market on thursday and ordered the turkey for thanksgiving...but never asked for it in any special way...he seemed to know what i wanted as if he has done this before do you think I should go back and tell him without head etc and cleaned? also ordered one for 6-7KG will everything be on it when he weighs it?

he told me to come back on tuesday to pick it up.

and thanks for the brining...it looks great cristina

If it's not cleaned when you go back Tuesday he will do it then for you, I wouldn't worry! But if it isn't cleaned you will be paying for that in the weight for certain.

thanks Alyson...i will wait and see and will have learned one more lesson here...

I tried brining a turkey once but must have done something wrong because it was definitely salty. It's very popular here. I saw brining kits in the grocery store yesterday. I am going to salt a beef tenderloin roast for the first time and "dry age" it, uncovered, in the fridge for about 30 hours for a pre-Giorno del Ringraziamento dinner party. Wish me luck. Has anyone ever done that? My next Thanksgiving will be in Italy since I move Dec. 31 to Tuscany and I know I will be looking for a turkey.
Joann

Since we're in Italy, I have dispensed with the foil or cheesecloth covering the breast of a turkey while it roasts. Pancetta sliced thin and placed over the breast does the trick better than anything else. And the little crunchy bits don't hurt the pan gravy either.

I'd be in like Flynn (as the saying goes) with you, cucoa, except my wife doesn't eat red meat.

quote:

I'd be in like Flynn (as the saying goes) with you, cucoa, except my wife doesn't eat red meat.

Isn't pork "the other white meat"?

Afterwards:
Our turkey day was yesterday, and we decided to just use the foil with a bit of butter on it, and it worked really really well! The quality of the turkey was not the greatest, but it came out nice and juicy .
thanks for the tips!!

Where I grew up possom was the other white meat.

quote:

Originally posted by Gil:
Isn't pork "the other white meat"?

Absolutely. But not in my wife's eyes.

Up date on my turkey purchase in Venice at the Rialto.... we went to pick up the turkey today and if i did not know better I would say i was at an American Butcher as it had no head, feet or innards and picked really clean...weighing close to 8K instead of the 6-7 I asked for...but he was so proud that he gave me what I wanted when I forgot to ask for it...now we shall see how it tastes...it cost a fortune...but once a year hey i am worth it...in case I forget have a happy thanksgiving all you Yanks....

I'm happy for you! Mine is normally like this too, but my butcher does them both ways, so it was always 50/50! I think they know none Italians prefer them cleaned though!