Andy Makes Thanksgiving Turkey

[women talking]

Sorry.

You just saw me roll my eyes [chuckles].

I'm the shady one in the test kitchen,

but you guys all know that right now.

It is my first turkey recipe for BA.

I was told that it should be fairly traditional, classic,

two words that I hate

only because I don't know exactly what that means,

but I think in the Thanksgiving setting, I get it.

It's like no tandoori turkey this year,

not my mother's pomegranate yogurt turkey,

no turkey [mumbles], although that's really great.

Okay, so we have a turkey

that is about probably around 14 pounds

and removed all the kind of insides,

and we're just gonna do a dry brine.

We love a dry brine

just because it makes for really crisp skin.

It's also just less of a mess than doing a wet brine,

and dry brine always consists of salt.

This is half a cup of kosher salt

and a tablespoon of brown sugar.

So, I'm just gonna combine this by pinching my fingers.

This is probably enough brine

for anywhere from a 12 to 14 pound turkey,

and I'm just gonna season it really liberally all over.

And I'm sprinkling and kinda pressing it into the skin.

I prefer dry brine over a wet brine because it's less messy.

With a wet brine,

you're kind of looking for some kind of

an enormous pot of sorts or even a...

Oh, what's it called?

What?

Cooler, yes, a cooler.

Did not grow up with those, believe it or not.

I'm gonna flip this bird over.

Okay, I'm gonna flip, get this at the back.

I'm gonna season the cavity lightly, and there you have it.

We're gonna place this in the fridge uncovered

so the skin kind of dries out and we get a nice,

brown skin on top.

We pulled the turkey out.

I cleaned the rimmed baking sheet

and then lined the rimmed baking sheet

with three layers of foil.

The reason why I take the turkey out

and let it rest for three hours

is so that it can cook more evenly in the oven.

It's also gonna cut the cooking time.

Then I'm just gonna smear this with a good amount of butter.

I'm using a stick of butter, unsalted.

We already have the salt from the dry brine.

I'm just gonna use my hands.

There's nothing pretty about this,

and that's that.

I'm just gonna try to separate the skin

between the breast meat like so.

You see how far I'm going.

I should've been a plastic surgeon.

I love that show Nip/Tuck.

Awful, trashy show, but what did I know?

So, I wanna put about four tablespoons of butter

between the skin and the breast meat.

Two tablespoons per breast,

and just kinda push it all over like that.

Is it?

Who does that, though?

I'm gonna take the remaining butter

and I'm going to just spread it all over on top.

Try to get through all the kind of

little nicks and crannies.

Nooks and crannies, nicks and crannies.

ESL.

I'm gonna put some butter on the back.

Next, I'm gonna take the wings

and just tuck them under like that.

And this is just so the wing tips don't brown.

Next, I'm just gonna tie the legs together using some twine.

I'm gonna pour one cup of water

just to prevent any kind of burning happening

from the drippings, and we have an oven at 450.

This is gonna go in the center rack for 30 minutes

where it's gonna start to brown,

and then we'll turn it down to 300.

This glaze that is just kind of at the flavors

that I want on my turkey this year.

It's a really simple glaze

and you kind of combine everything together,

let it simmer until it slightly thickens.

So, first things first,

I'm just gonna add a quarter cup sherry vinegar,

four teaspoons Worcestershire sauce,

and two tablespoons honey.

So, this is actually double the amount of glaze

just because I wanted to make sure I was a little paranoid.

That's me, I'm just a paranoid person.

That's what this city does to you.

I'm gonna do four cloves of garlic.

Give them a slight smash, pop them out.

Four sprigs of rosemary, two orange peels.

You could just throw this in,

but I'm gonna just kind of tie it together

so it's easier to fish out.

Alright, you got this going

and we're just gonna place this over medium heat.

You're also gonna add a stick of butter

and you're gonna cook this down until it starts to foam

and slightly thicken.

This is gonna go for about five minutes,

still at medium heat.

[mumbling] Okay.

It's been 15 minutes.

We're just gonna rotate the turkey

and let that go for another 15.

Okay, so this has been about five minutes.

I turned it to the low.

I'm just gonna remove it off heat.

We're gonna pull our bird out.

[groaning]

So, see, just golden.

It's not golden brown yet.

We're gonna turn the oven down to 300 degrees.

I do 300, sometimes some people do 350.

I just wanna go really low and slow with this turkey,

so I'm gonna glaze this bird a bit.

We're gonna glaze it a few times while it's roasting.

We're gonna turn the turkey back in the oven.

So, we're gonna let that bird go for about 60 to 80 minutes

depending on the size of your bird,

and we're gonna glaze it every 30 minutes

for another two times.

Okay, it's been 30 minutes.

We're gonna glaze this turkey again.

[groans] It's already getting a really nice color.

It was a little spotty, the browning, in the beginning.

With the glaze, it kind of helps even that out.

This bird's gonna go in for another 30, maybe 45 minutes,

but really, don't focus too much on the time.

The best way to tell when your turkey's done

is by using a Thermapen and taking its temperature,

which I'll show you

when the turkey comes back out of the oven.

Oh, wait, I'm gonna check on the bird.

It's browning really nicely.

[groaning] [laughing]

How do you like that, Martha Stewart?

No, I really like Martha Stewart.

I wanna see her, meet her, cook with her.

I check the breast and go to the thickest part

just around here.

I don't wanna hit the bone, though,

and so it's going about 145.

We're gonna let it go for another five degrees.

We want it to hit 150, the breast.

Some people are gonna say, no, it should be 165.

It's when we remove it at 150,

it's gonna sit and rise and you're gonna have the tastiest,

juiciest breasts you've ever had.

So, we're gonna glaze this one more time.

Now, remember I was talking about the...

When I was stretching the skin

between the breast meat and the skin,

I thought about this face that I make for some reason.

I don't know how it got started,

but it's my plastic surgery face.

It's like this.

And I have lips, but I don't know,

it's something to do with Kylie, Kylie Jenner,

one of the Kardashians.

They just...

I'm gonna check it after another 15 minutes, 10 minutes,

actually, just to make sure.

And once the breast reaches 150 on the Thermapen,

we're ready to go.

Okay, we're going to check on our bird.

Ah.

Look at that.

I'm gonna take the temp one more time.

I'm gonna go over the thickest part of the breast.

151, that's pretty good.

I'm gonna transfer it over

so it could rest on the cutting board.

So, what I like to do is just kind of lift the turkey up,

tilt it, get the juices from the cavity out.

Do it with two metal spoons or just do what I'm doing.

Tongs up the turkey's butt and then a wooden spoon.

You'd do that, and you can let this rest for [sighs],

depending on the size of your turkey,

this is like a little over 14 pounds, for 45 minutes,

even up to an hour.

It's still gonna be warm.

Okay, the bird's been resting for 30 minutes.

If I had all the time in the world, it'd rest for an hour.

I don't got time.

I got a lot of other stuff to do.

I'm gonna take this twine off.

I'm gonna have the legs facing me,

and I'm just gonna cut the leg off.

I like the dark meat, and really,

I kind of just treat this as a big, a big chicken,

and I hold it down.

You could use a kitchen towel.

That's probably better.

And I kind of just pop it, the leg, out.

Woo, that's hot.

And then severing the thigh and the breast.

I'm gonna wash my hands.

Is it waterproof, the Google Pixel?

I wish I had some gravy.

We have a really good gravy recipe this year.

I developed it.

Don't they sell these at circus things?

Renaissance fair, yeah.

Super delicious.

The meat is really flavorful.

It's seasoned well, and you get this sweet,

savory glaze on top.

I mean, it's crazy.

There's only a few ingredients in that glaze,

but it perfumes the whole bird,

it gives it a beautiful, deep mahogany color.

This is one of the easier, if not the easiest,

turkey recipe you'll make,

and I hope it'll become a go-to staple

for your holiday season.

That's pretty good.