HOW TO BOOST THE BIRD
Why does my turkey always end up dry?
Ah, the eternal question. It might be that the cooking timings you have been given are wrong. Terrified of being found responsible for food poisoning, recipe writers (and I put my hand up here) err on the side of caution. After all, what if the reader’s oven is running a bit cool, we ask ourselves. Better safe, overcooked and dry, than sorry, is the unspoken rule.
The person who bucks this trend is Paul Kelly of Kelly Turkeys, whose timings – which he guarantees only for his own birds – are far shorter, only two hours at 180C/160C fan/Gas 4 for a 5kg bird. I’ve used this method for other high-quality purebred bronze turkeys, and it’s worked well. I would be more cautious with a mass-produced white turkey, as these have a different muscle density.
It’s also worth investing in a digital thermometer to check the internal temperature of the bird, going into the inside thigh at the thickest point without touching the bone. But don’t forget that after you’ve taken the turkey out of the oven, it needs to rest at room temperature for about 40 minutes – a vital part of the cooking process, and important for the juiciness of the bird. During this time, the internal temperature will rise, by as much as 10C. So factor this in: salmonella is killed after the bird has reached 70C for 42 seconds, according to US guidelines (you should have a little water in the roasting tin to create steam as well). If you take it out at 60C, as Paul Kelly suggests, then it should be fine by the time it has rested. That said, latest NHS guidelines (for all turkeys, white and bronze) are to remove the bird when the reading reaches 70C and has stayed there for two minutes.
Another way to keep the bird juicy, and one I swear by, is brining. In the past I’ve immersed the turkey in a plastic box full of salt water (100g salt per litre of water, dissolved) for 24 hours. This works very well. Recently, though, I’ve preferred “dry-brining” – essentially just rubbing the bird with salt, which means that I don’t risk slopping salty water everywhere and it makes for a crisper skin.
To dry-brine, use 10g of sea salt per kilo of bird, and rub inside and out, and under the skin too if you can ease it away from the breast meat without tearing it. Place the turkey in a roasting tin and store, uncovered, in the fridge for one to two days. Cover it loosely with greaseproof paper if necessary, but the skin will dry best – and cook most crisply – if it is uncovered. Add ground black pepper and dried herbs to the salt if you like.