A dry and flavorless turkey can mean holiday heartache. But bad turkeys are a problem that science can help solve.
Or, if you want to skip the hassle, just ask the butcher to spatchcock the bird for you when you buy it. Sharma notes you can also just buy the turkey cut up in parts.
The whole goal, really, is to get all the turkey parts to lay flat, so the breast and turkey legs and thighs all get the same amount of heat at the same time. The thighs and legs are relatively thin compared with the bulky breast, so they will cook faster. Which is what you want, because that dark meat is going to hit 175 degrees or so just as the breast is getting up to 150 degrees."So it works out perfectly," López-Alt says.
For food safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends cooking turkey to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. But at that temperature, López-Alt notes, breast meat will dry out."Food safety is actually about temperaturetime," he explains.
Traditional brines are wet — they involve soaking your meat in a saltwater bath. But López-Alt says this can lead to a bird that, while juicier, is also watery, which can dampen the flavor. He prefers a dry brine, where you rub kosher salt and perhaps herbs and spices on the bird and let it sit in the fridge for a night or two before cooking.
Too lazy to brine? Buy a kosher turkey — these come pre-salted, so they're essentially already brined.
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