Turkey roasting guide

Sunset, Nov, 1997 by Elaine Johnson

Every year, we chant the same turkey mantra: Don't overcook. Buy a meat thermometer and use it. The objective - moist, juicy breast meat and succulent thighs.

Today's young, moist, tender turkeys take much less time to cook than tougher birds of yore. Almost without exception, if a bird is dry, it's been cooked too long - and the breast meat suffers most.

Over the years at Sunset, we have cooked 1,000 turkeys or more, in ovens and on barbecues, charting cooking temperatures and times. Here are our tried-and-true techniques for turkey.

- Elaine Johnson

Best-ever Turkey, Roasted or Barbecued

Prep time: About 10 minutes, 20 if stuffing the bird. See chart below for cooking times

Notes: Thaw turkey, if frozen, at least 72 hours in refrigerator. Reserve giblets, neck, and drippings for gravy, if desired. If stuffing the bird, do so just before cooking. Use Cornbread, Sausage, and Dried Fruit Dressing (page 138), Mushroom-Quinoa Dressing (page 156), or your favorite recipe. Makes: For generous servings, allow 1/2 to 3/4 pound uncooked turkey per person, more if you want leftovers.

1 turkey (10 to 30 lb.)

Olive or salad oil

[TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

1. Remove and discard the leg truss from the turkey. Pull off and discard lumps of fat. Remove giblets and neck. Rinse the bird inside and out; pat dry with towels.

2. Rub turkey skin with oil. Insert a meat thermometer straight down through thickest part of breast to bone. (If using an instant-read thermometer, insert when checking temperature.)

3. Cook turkey until the meat thermometer registers 160 [degrees]; see chart below. Baste with drippings, if desired.

To oven-roast, place turkey, breast up, on a V-shaped rack in a 12- by 17-inch roasting pan (or one that is at least 2 inches longer and wider than the bird). Roast in a 325 [degrees] or 350 [degrees] oven.

To barbecue with charcoal use a barbecue (20 to 22 in. wide) with a lid. Mound and ignite 40 charcoal briquets on firegrate. When coals are spotted with gray ash, in about 20 minutes, push equal portions to opposite sides of firegrate. Place a metal drip pan between coals. To each mound of coals, add 5 briquets now and every 30 minutes while cooking. Set grill 4 to 6 inches above coals. Set turkey, breast side up, on grill over drip pan.

To barbecue with gas, use a gas barbecue with indirect heat controls; heat should be parallel to each side of the bird with no heat down center. Turn heat to high, close lid, and heat for about 10 minutes. Set a metal drip pan in center. Set grill in place. Set turkey, breast side up, on grill over drip pan. Close the lid.

4. Transfer turkey to a platter; let stand 15 to 30 minutes (keep warm).

5. Carve bird. If thighs are still slightly pink at the joint, cook, uncovered, on a microwave-safe plate in a microwave oven at full power (100%) until pink disappears, 1 to 3 minutes.

Per 1/4 pound boneless cooked turkey, based on percentages of white and dark meat found in average turkey (including skin): 229 cal., 39% (90 cal.) from fat; 32 g protein; 10 g fat (3 g sat.); 0 g carbo (0 g fiber); 82 mg sodium; 93 mg chol.

FREE RANGE, FRESH, OR FROZEN?

Should you pay extra for a fresh turkey? Or for a free-range bird? To put the issue to rest, we did a blind taste test of five turkeys that represent typical holiday choices.

Two contenders were supermarket house-brand birds - Safeway Manor House frozen (49 cents per lb. last holiday season) and Petrini's frozen (99 cents per lb.). Two were brand-name turkeys - a frozen Butterball self-basting ($1.09 per lb.) and a fresh Norbest all-natural ($1.68 per lb.). The fifth turkey was an organically range-grown Diestel fresh ($1.79 per lb.). The birds were of similar size, 12 to 14 pounds each. And all were cooked simultaneously on separate, identical charcoal barbecues with identical amounts of heat to the same internal breast temperature.

The judges were Sunset staffers and members of a local television crew that filmed the tasting. Evaluations rated meat for flavor, tenderness, and juiciness.

The results: The Safeway, Petrini's, Butterball, and Diestel birds were neck and neck, with close scores. Winner by a drumstick? The cheapest - the Safeway frozen turkey. Least favorite by an equally narrow margin - the Norbest bird. Its breast was the least juicy.