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Thanksgiving: Crisped-Skin Roast Turkey

Source of Recipe

From "America's Test Kitchen Thanksgiving Playbook"


Recipe Introduction

"In 1993, we developed a recipe for turkey with thoroughly cooked legs and moist breast meat by calling for brining the bird, using a V-rack to elevate it while roasting, starting it breast side down, and finishing it breast side up. But for a bird with superbly crisp skin, we discovered, years later, that the turkey needed to air-dry in the refrigerator after brining. This allowed residual moisture in the skin from brining to evaporate and resulted in skin that crisped instead of steamed in the oven. Use a small turkey, no more than 14 pounds, in this recipe. If the liquid in the pan has totally evaporated after the turkey is roasted and removed from the oven, add another ½ cup of water. When you remove the turkey from the oven to rotate it in step 5, be sure to close the oven door to prevent heat loss."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 cup salt
â—¦ 1 12- to 14-pound turkey, rinsed thoroughly; neck and giblets discarded
â—¦ 3 onions, chopped coarse
â—¦ 2 small carrots, chopped coarse
â—¦ 2 celery ribs, chopped coarse
â—¦ 6 sprigs fresh thyme
â—¦ 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted


Recipe

Dissolve salt in 2 gallons cold water in large container. Submerge turkey in brine and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours.

Remove turkey from brine and pat dry, inside and out, with paper towels. Place turkey, breast side up, on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate, uncovered, for 8 to 24 hours.

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line V-rack with heavy-duty aluminum foil and poke several holes in foil. Set V-rack in roasting pan and spray with vegetable oil spray. Toss half of onions, half of carrots, and half of celery with thyme sprigs and 1 tablespoon melted butter in medium bowl. Remove turkey from refrigerator and fill cavity with mixture. Tie legs together with kitchen twine and tuck legs behind back.

Scatter remaining vegetables in shallow roasting pan; pour 1 cup water over vegetables. Brush turkey breast with 1 tablespoon melted butter, then set turkey, breast side down, on V-rack. Brush back of turkey with remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter. Transfer to oven and roast for 45 minutes.

Remove pan from oven; using 2 large wads of paper towels, turn turkey breast side up. Return turkey in pan to oven and roast until the thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees and thickest part of thigh registers 175 degrees, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove turkey from oven and gently tip turkey so that any accumulated juices in cavity run into pan. Transfer turkey to carving board and let rest, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Carve and serve.

Serves 10 to 12