Turkey troubles

Another November is here, and you all know what that means - Turkey Day approaches. In fact, I'm already enjoying an extended Thanksgiving break (for which, I might add, I am indeed very thankful).

I do love me a good Thanksgiving dinner. Lots of food, family, and (forgive the overuse of alliteration) fun. Unfortunately, there seems to be this nasty little habit of serving a turkey that's about as dry as last year's spackle. Sure you can toss some gravy over it, but why not go for something that's good and delicious on its own?

Here are a few tips to get you a nice juicy bird...

First of all, you want a good slow roast. Especially on a large bird (or large anything for that matter) too high heat will result in a black outside and a raw inside. Also, higher heat causes more contraction and shrinkage. A slow roast will leave you with more once you're finished.
Now actual cooking temp and time will depend on just how big of a bird you've got. The bigger you go, the longer it will take. If this takes you below 300 degrees, be warned - sugars don't caramelize unless the temperature is 300 or higher. No worries, though, if you're roasting at 275, just kick on the broiler for a few minutes at the end to crisp things up a bit.

It's worth talking about temperature, too. Internal temperature, that is. Most people have heard that poultry needs to hit 165 F to be safe. Alright, that's fine by me. But know this - food doesn't stop cooking right when you pull it out of the oven/pan/fryer/coals/other-cooking-method-of-choice. There's an old saying, "an egg done in the pan is overdone on the plate". The larger the item in question, the more heat it's holding, and the more it will continue to cook. With an individual steak, you may be looking at a degree or two. With a big turkey (or other large roast) you could be looking at a solid 10 degrees of continued cooking.
So let's say you pull the turkey out at 165 (and really, who ever catches it right on the dot like that?). After it sits on the counter waiting to be carved (and I'll explain why it's not already sliced in just a minute) it's up to, say, 175. Maybe even 180. Why is this a bad thing? Well, proteins fully coagulate at 185 F. And to fully explain why that's not the greatest thing in the world, I need to talk about that rest from before.

Why should you always (and I do mean always) let meat rest after it's cooked? It's all in the juice. You can imagine protein strands as kind of like a spring. As they cook they tighten, stretching out and squeezing out liquid. When you hit 185 and they're fully coagulated, they've pretty much squeezed out every last drop of juice that they once held, and that's a sad thing indeed. Now, let's say that we haven't cooked every last glimmer of hope out of that piece of meat. What happens when you give it a minute to relax and cool back down just a tad? The proteins recurl (at least a bit) and reabsorb some of that juice. Some will drip off (which should by all means be saved for some sort of sauce, be it jus, gravy, or just a quality hot beverage), but the proteins will soak back up plenty. This means juicy, flavorful meat. Cook that meat into oblivion, and the juices are going to go that way too. Also, if you cut into the meat before it's had a proper resting time, all of those juices are going to spill out (they're just sort of hanging out in the space between the cells and all that). Sure that gives you more to make a sauce out of, but the meat itself will be dry, and no one wants that.

One last thing, but definitely not least. There's a right way (and as such, lots of wrong ways) to take the temperature of that turkey. The idea is pretty simple, really. You need to get into the thick of the meat. There are two good spots to do this - the breast, and the joint between the thigh and the body. Of these, the joint is probably your best bet. You can't go straight down into the bird from the breast or you risk hitting the cavity (at which point you're measuring the internal temperature of the oven moreso than the temperature of the meat). You have to go sideways into the breast. The only downside to this is that juices can start to leak from the hole. It's not going to make or break your dinner, but hey, I'll do whatever I can to keep things as juicy as possible. So dig into that joint - just make sure you're getting the temperature of meat, not of bone.

And one more last thing. I have two thermometers, one digital and one dial-style, both instant-read. The only thing I want to mention is that the spot on the probe where temperature-taking starts is different. On the digital version, the temperature is taken basically from the tip. On the other, though, it doesn't start reading until nearly two inches up (it's marked by some divets on the probe). Make sure to take a note when you buy yours (and yes, it is absolutely a requirement that you have a good thermometer for this, in case you haven't picked that up by now) so that you know how to make the best use of it. However, if you've long since thrown away the package, there is still hope. The easiest way I know to calibrate your thermometer is to fill a glass with ice, then cold water. Let it sit for a minute to get good and cold. Then stick in the thermometer and make sure that it's reading 32 degrees. Now, if the thermometer starts reading from the tip, you'll get a different reading if the probe is touching the bottom of the glass as opposed to being suspended in the icewater.

It's really not too difficult to get a nice juicy turkey for dinner. Just keep an eye on the temp and plan for residual heat to carry you through. Here's hoping you a happy Thanksgiving, and a good turkey.