Wednesday, November 26, 2014

roasted whole turkey


Soaked overnight in diluted buttermilk. The moistest most flavorful turkey I've ever eaten. Prepared simply with olive oil, salt and pepper. Started upside down over diced potato so moisture sinks through the breast while baking then turned upright at midpoint to finish. Baked a few hours, no basting, no fussing about. It is not so evenly browned, but I do not care about that. 

13 comments:

chickelit said...

The buttermilk bath sounds interesting if only because of lactic acid.

I haven't roasted a still turkey in several years. It's spit roasting on the barbie baby -- evenly tanned skin -- better than Boehners or Charlie Crist's!, lots of drippings, no mushy side. It's quick too!

It's kind of paleo too, given that cave people used cook this way.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Nice job. I wonder how it would work splatchcocked. I like the buttermilk too.

Chip Ahoy said...

Bloggerlady, splaying will cook it much faster. The technique mostly but not exclusively for outside roasting. It works beautifully.

Best with hot embers pushed to the sides with a pie tin underneath the bird to catch drippings. So, not direct heat from below. The smoke is incredible.

I roasted a whole turkey once using a weber and it is amazing. I'd do it again too, but open flame bbq grills are not allowed downtown.

Synova said...

So that's happening tomorrow. It's looks wonderful, Chip. I hope mine comes out half as nice.

I need to make pies tonight, and some yeast dough for bread to sit in the fridge overnight (like pizza dough) and bake tomorrow while the bird is resting. (I'm super hoping that will work.)

Haven't done a thing to clean or anything. I've been working on a paper that was due this morning, that I was supposed to write yesterday but all day yesterday I felt like my face was going to fall off and stayed in bed all day (missed work at my new job *and* a major test). Bleh. At least it's just my best friend coming over and she won't mind if we end up cleaning up together.

Friends are awesome.

AllenS said...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

ndspinelli said...

Thanks, Chip. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all here.

Christy said...

Thanks Chip. Next year I'll try it with buttermilk. I always have most of a carton left after making buttermilk pies and hate to waste it.

At my first Thanksgiving dinner last night, a cousin & I compared the buttermilk pie recipe Grandma gave each of us. Mine uses twice as much buttermilk and his uses twice as much butter. We figure Grandma used whatever she had on hand. His is tastier, but mine for today's dinner were already made.

The veggie platter was so pretty last night I stood there admiring it and then realized a penguin of sweet pepper and carrot guarded the dip. So cool I took a picture.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Fr Martin Fox said...

Great stuff, Chip, congratulations. May I ask a few questions?

First, have you brined a turkey? If so, how would you compare the results with using buttermilk?

Second, how was the skin? I love crispy skin, and that is something I don't get when I cook a bird upside-down.

Third, I'm curious: any particular reason for roared potatoes? Would you do that again?

ndspinelli said...

Padre, Regarding the skin, when you flip it halfway, the skin should get good and crispy.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Happy thanksgiving to you too AllenS.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Chip, I have done big turkeys splatchcocked on the weber with just enough coals to slow cook it and get it smokey with chips added through the process. I put the bird in a big heavy roasting pan to hold the juice but uncovered to get the smoke in.

Chip Ahoy said...

Fr Fox,

I did brine a turkey in a bucket. Along with herbs and white wine.

I've brined chickens too, it works well but I find all that too salty.

I've brined chickens, then dumped the brine and continued to soak in clear water so once the tissue is damaged and water flows back and forth the salinity concentration evens between bird and filled bucket.

I might have rushed that part.

For maximum crispiness the bird must be thoroughly dried then oiled.
I use a dish fowl, not paper towels.

I've inserted seasoned butter under the skin, but that gives me the creeps and I'm a klutz the skin tends to tear when I do it.

Now I don't bother with any of that fancy French techniques.

Next time I do this I will re-oil when flipped over. The drippings dragged some of the oil with it.

I used potato because that's what I had three of those. A wire rack is better. Diced potato made dents in the breast. I don't much care for carrots, mixed hard vegetables works well, especially parsnips and squash and of course onions. The potato is delicious.

The buttermilk stays inside the bird adding flavor.But some drips out with as it bakes. That flavored the potato along with s/p It could also carry other spices and herbs.

The buttermilk is in powder form mixed with water it turns thick and yellow. because I do not like having liquid buttermilk around because then I have to predict how much will be used before it goes off. I diluted it considerably because I soaked overnight. Otherwise a few hours will do. This way I can make biscuits, pancakes, whenever I like. The stuff is awesome. And yes, I will do this again.

I do have a rack and proper pan just for this but I was too lazy to dig it out.

I put water in the 1/2 sheet baking pan but it dried out without me noticing and the drippings nearly burned in the pan. I added more water and that loosened it off the tray as it finished baking. The drippings contain buttermilk and the resulting liquid soaked into the potatoes. It's darker than usual. I'm using it as au jus and it is absolutely delicious with none of the gravy fuss.

I still have the neck and giblets frozen for soup later.

This was the easiest turkey I've ever seen baked. Mum fussed with her turkey over night and a good portion of the next day. She labored, um, laboriously, and the result was a beautifully browned turkey dry as all hell. I grew up thinking that is what turkeys are supposed to be. Then she fussed further with gravy.

I did none of the temperature monitoring, switching temperatures for even browning, covering with tinfoil. Just soaking, then drying, olive oil s/p bake @350F for less than an hour until I could smell it, checked the temperature, it was well short and suggested how long to finish.

Had I used a rack or spread better vegetables and re-oiled the breast when flipped then the skin would have come out even crispier and more evenly browned.

The skin is the first thing I eat directly out of the oven. For I am a foul skin eater.

I meant to say 'fowl' just now.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Chip --

Thanks for all that. I hope you don't mind one more question; I have a lot of respect for your cooking observations and experiences.

The question is, oil, not butter? Reasons?

I love olive oil, but when I intend to use the drippings for gravy, I like butter better. What say you?