Preparing a Complete Thanksgiving Turkey in a Compact Cooking Space: Guidelines and Tips
Roasting turkey parts for a flavourful and juicy Thanksgiving meal is easier than you might think. We spoke to the Fleisher's Turkey Hotline specialists, Sophie Grant and Jason Yang, to get some tips and tricks for preparing your turkey this holiday season.
Before we begin, it's important to note that if you're butchering a turkey, it should be refrigerated.
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees for roasting. While the oven heats up, prepare your roasting pan. Add shallot halves, thyme springs, garlic, cloves, and stock to the pan. For a smoky lemon flavour, consider adding lemon halves as well.
Combine room temperature butter with a spice blend and rub all over your turkey parts and under the skin for extra golden and crispy skin.
Once your oven is ready, place the pans in the oven and turn down the temperature to 350 degrees.
Baste the turkey parts periodically, taking the temperature each time. The optimal cooking temperature for white meat is 145 degrees, for dark meat, 165 degrees. Once white meat reaches 145-150 degrees and dark meat has reached 160-165 degrees, take out the pans.
To remove the breast from the body cavity, cut along the rib cage from the tail end to the neck on both sides of the bird. To remove the first leg, cut through the skin between the thigh and the body, continue cutting while pushing on the leg, and then cut through the joint. For the wings, pull them away from the body and cut into the hollow area between the wing and the breast.
For those who prefer to cook white and dark meats separately, roast them in two separate pans or start cooking together and pull the breast when it comes up to temperature.
To make gravy, reduce the cooking juices on the stove top, add butter, flour, remaining stock, and adjust consistency with more flour if desired.
For more Thanksgiving recipe inspiration, check out The FeedFeed.
Fleisher's carries broad breasted whites that grow up on pasture and eat certified organic feed, and are never given hormones or antibiotics.
Remember, cooking time for a whole turkey is approximately 13 minutes per pound, but when broken into parts, it cooks faster. So, keep an eye on your turkey parts and enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving meal!
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