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Dark meat has about 9% fat, 33% more than white meat, so it tastes and feels best at about 175°F. White meat is very lean, about 6%, and it dries out quickly if it is overcooked. It is at its best texture and juiciness at about 155°F, but that's 10°F below the USDA recommendation and I can't risk a lawsuit by telling you to serve turkey at that temp. So I will advise you to cook it to 160°F and let the temp rise to 165°F while it is resting before serving. More on this later. USDA wants to keep things simple for us in order to keep us safe. Admirable! What USDA doesn't tell you is that microbes start croaking at about 130°F. The hotter the food gets, the faster the pathogens die. You can pasteurize your turkey at 130°F in 2 hours or at 165°F in 2 seconds, hence the USDA recommended minimum of 165°F. What the USDA doesn't tell you is that you can kill them all if you heat the bird to 160°F for 7 seconds, 155°F for 23 seconds, or 145°F for about 4 minutes. Chefs who cook sous-vide (the ultimate low and slow cooking) know this. They put cut up turkey parts in plastic bags, vacuum seal them, and place them in water baths at 150 to 160°F for 2 to 3 hours and the results are incredibly tender, tasty, and safe. But most of us don't have expensive calibrated sous-vide water bath cookers, and even then, if you aren't careful, there is risk. In 2011, for the first time, USDA gave a nod to the concept that time and temp work together to make food safe when it revised the recommended temp for pork. They lowered it to 145°F for 3 minutes. The world would be a better place if the turkey lobby was as effective as the pork lobby. For more on how time and temp work together in the process of pasteurizing meat, read my article on food, knife, and grill safety. Conduction heating and carryover cookingThe USDA doesn't factor in carryover either. Carryover is simple physics. In a 325°F oven, the surface of the meat will slowly warm. This warming is the process of exciting the molecules so they move faster. It takes time because the meat is a combination of water, fat, and protein, and they are good insulators. As the surface warms it conducts its heat slowly inward to the cooler cells beneath, passing it along like a bucket brigade. Excited molecules get their neighbors excited by bouncing off them like billiard balls. Slowly the heat marches towards the center. As the exterior passes the heat along, it loses heat so the bucket brigade prevents the surface from zooming up to 325°F. Also, moisture on the surface evaporates cooling the surface in the same way sweat cools you off on a hot day. If the meat is thin, the heat builds up rapidly. If it is thick, it takes much longer to get to the desired temp in the center. The trick is to get the center to the target temp without overcooking the exterior. One technique is to baste the exterior, but that keeps the skin wet and soft, and we want it dry and crisp. Another technique is to cook low and slow. We'll keep the temp at 325°F, which is medium, and I'll explain why later. Interestingly, the meat keeps cooking after you take it out of the heat. The hot outer parts continue to pass their heat inward and in 15 to 30 minutes after coming out of the oven, the center of the muscle can rise another 5°F. The heat also escapes into the air, so we don't want to leave the meat sitting around too long. 
In this illustration, on the left we have a piece of meat cooking at 325°F. It is absorbing heat from all sides, the outer surfaces are hottest and the heat is passed to the center by conduction. In the center picture, the meat has been removed from the oven. Heat continues to be passed towards the center, even though it is sitting at room temp, and some of the heat is escaping into the surrounding air. On the right, the meat has come close to an even temp throughout and now it is cooling as more heat escapes. To be absolutely safe and still have moist and tender whole birds, and to make sure nobody sues me, you should serve turkey at 165°F in the deepest part of the meat and test it in multiple locations with a good digital thermometer. At my house I usually take the meat up to 160°F and let it rise 5°F by carryover. Cooking tempI recommend you cook whole turkey at 325°F. Readers know that I love low and slow and many of my recipes recommend a 225°F setting. That's a great temperature for gently melting tough collagen-based connective tissues without getting their protein panties in a bunch and squeezing out moisture (see my article on meat science). But turkey doesn't have the same composition as pork ribs or beef brisket, so we don't need to worry about melting tough collagens. Turkey can handle higher temps, and higher temps are needed to render the fats in the skin in order to crisp it. The higher temp helps brown the skin in the short cooking time allotted. We want brown skin because when cooking, brown means deep rich, complex taste. Browning is the result of a process called the Maillard reaction and it really kicks in at about 310°F when amino acids and sugars form scores of scrumptuous new compounds. This chemical reaction is responsible for the rich flavors in toasted bread, coffee beans, and dark beer.
Besides, at higher temps the window of opportunity opens and closes too quickly. The amount of time at which the meat is properly cooked in the center is short, and in short order it is overdone. Slow pitches are easier to hit than fastballs. So 325°F is a nice compromise. High enough to benefit from the Maillard reaction on the skin and to melt some of the fat, hot enough to gelatinize connective tissues, but not flamethrower hot, not risking a badly overheated outside of the meat before the center is cooked. If you have a smoker or grill that doesn't get to 325°F (some smokers won't, especially gassers), you will need to cook longer. Don't sweat it. The skin will still be brown because the Maillard reaction can still take place at lower temps, but at a much slower pace. Besides, the smoke is going to darken things, too. If you have a pellet smoker that generates its best smoke at about 200°F or so, start there for about 30 minutes, and then crank it up to 325°F. Cooking timeA clock cannot tell you when food is cooked. Only a thermometer can do this. Turkeys are notoriously unpredictable in the wild and only slightly less so in the oven. The two most important factors in determining cooking time are the cooking temp and the thickness of the thickest piece of meat, the breast. But actual cooking time will vary depending on how well it is defrosted, whether or not you brined or injected, what temp your fridge is, if it sat at room temp for a while, how close your bird is to the gravy pan, how well your cooker holds a steady 325°F, the quality of your thermometers, airflow within the cooker, humidity in the cooker, and the breast size of your bird.
Given all those disclaimers, this table is a rough guide for how long it will take to get the temp in the deepest part of the breast to 160°F and the thigh to 170°F. Do not bet on it. Bet on a good thermometer. If you don't have one, don't blame me if your guests get tummy aches (or worse), if you keep your guests waiting, or if you serve shoe leather. And please don't ask me how long a stuffed bird will take. I don't test recipes with stuffed birds, so I have no idea how long they take. Here's why: Don't stuff the bird!
1) If you stuff the bird, the temp in the center of the stuffing must be at least 165°F to be safe because juices from the bird get into the stuffing. By the time the heat penetrates that far, the breast will be overcooked and void of moisture. 2) An empty cavity allows smoke and flavor to enter the meat from the inside as well as the outside. 3) If you don't stuff you can put herbs and other aromatics in the cavity to amp up the flavor. Stuffing does little for flavor. 4) Stuffing sticks to the ribs of the turkey. If you use the carcass to make stock the next day, which you absolutely should do, the bread in the stuffing will make the stock unappetizingly cloudy. If you cook stuffing outside the bird, you can spread it in a baking pan and get more crispy brown bits, the bits everybody wants. Or better still, make muffings (see sidebar). How big a bird do you need?There are several variables to consider when deciding how much meat to buy. Do you want leftovers? What is your male to female ratio? How many young children will there be? How many big eaters will there be? Are adult beverages in play? How many appetizers and snacks? What are the side dishes and how many? When does the football game start? As a rule of thumb, 1 to 1.5 pounds raw weight per person usually will be more than enough. When you subtract bones, giblets, and shrinkage, you will lose about 20%. I usually plan on 2 pounds per person so those who want leftovers can take some home (make sure you have plenty of aluminum foil or zipper bags on hand).
Here's why: The bigger the bird, the thicker the breasts and the longer it takes to cook the center of the breasts to proper doneness. By the time they are done, thinner parts are overcooked, and the outer parts of the breasts are dry. Cooking two smaller birds will actually take less time than one large bird and it will not take any longer time than one smaller bird if you get the cooker up to the proper temp. What you need to know about turkeys
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I use two thermometers when I cook indoors or outdoors: One, the 
And just for good measure I use one more digital when I'm doing turkey, the super fast 
The problem with wet brining is that it can take a long time to get the salt water deep into the meat. It is also wasteful. You mix up a couple of gallons of salt and spices, and the bird only sucks in about a cup.
, above. In a pinch, tin snips from your tool kit in the garage will do the job.
If your cooker is tall enough, and most 
You'll need something to lift the hot turkey out of the cooker. You can buy specialized turkey lifters, but they are mono-taskers. I use my bear paws (shown here).
After tasting this bird you will never again risk life or limb, nor stain the driveway with grease by deep frying a turkey. This will be the best turkey you've ever tasted. I know because hundreds of readers have written to tell me so (see the comments and pictures at the bottom of the page).
On the other hand, we don't want to cook turkey too hot. Recently I have been seeing more and more recipes for cooking turkey at high temps, like 500°F. This just risks incinerating the skin and flies in the face of physics as shown in the illustration here. High temps are fine for thin cuts like 3/4" steaks because we want the exterior dark with the interior at 130°F, much lower than turkey. But turkey breasts are much thicker than most steaks and we need to allow enough time for the heat to travel to the center. At high temps, by the time the heat penetrates, the exterior and outer layers are overcooked and dry.
If you must have bread stuffing (and if you're having me over, you must have bread stuffing) then cook it on the side (some people insist on calling it dressing if it is not in the bird).
If you need a lot of turkey, and space permits, it is better to cook two small birds than one giant bird. They will cook faster and be more tender and juicy.
| WHAT TO DO | WHEN TO DO IT | |
| Begin thawing regardless of size | Friday morning | |
| Unpack bird, check thaw | Wednesday morning | |
| Prep gravy, make the wet rub | 8 p.m. Wednesday | |
| Inject (optional), apply wet rub | 9 a.m. Thursday | |
| Preheat cooker and gravy | 1 p.m. Thursday | |
| Put the bird on and add wood | 2 p.m. Thursday | |
| Add water to gravy pan, remove foil | 3 p.m. Thursday | |
| Add water to gravy pan if necessary | 4 p.m. Thursday | |
| Remove gravy, strain, skim fat, taste | 4:30 p.m. Thursday | |
| Remove bird, rest, heat gravy | 5 p.m. Thursday | |
| Carve, splash with gravy, and serve | 5:30 p.m. Thursday | |
| Take a bow | 6:00 p.m. Thursday |
Thawing
To thaw a frozen turkey, place the bird, still in its plastic shipping bag, in a large roasting pan in the refrigerator. You need the pan because the bags always seems to leak. Allow 24 hours in the fridge for every 4 pounds. If you don't want to do the math, just put it in the fridge 7 days before the day you will eat it. That's a bit more time than needed, but hey, when you want to catch a train, you get to the station before the train does, right? Most turkey disasters I hear about are because the bird has not defrosted properly. There are faster ways to defrost a bird discussed in my article on thawing.
A day before cooking, strip off the plastic bag and remove the organs and neck from both the front and rear cavities. That's the deep center and the last part to thaw, so removing them will help insure that the interior is melted. Just leave the neck and giblets in the pan. We'll use them later. If you do not plan to submerge the bird in a brine, sprinkle the skin with salt. This will help the skin crisp during cooking because it breaks down the structure of the skin and dries it out. It will also help season the outer layers and denature the proteins so they hold water better. Drape the bird in plastic wrap and let it thaw in the fridge.
As much as it pains me to tell you this, you can cook a frozen turkey, but expect the exterior to be overcooked by the time the center is cooked to a safe temp, so make sure you have gravy. Here are the rules: (1) You absolutely positively must use a meat thermometer for this maneuver; (2) you cannot stuff the bird; (3) you may have to cook for an hour before you can remove the giblet package and neck, but you really should get them out as quickly as possible, especially if they are in plastic, which can melt; (3) cooking time will be 1.5 to 2.0 times as long.
Ingredients for the gravy
3 quarts [2.8 L] water
1 cup [56 ml] apple juice
2 onions, skin on, ends removed, cut into quarters
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch lengths
1 stalk of celery, leaves and all, cut into 2 inch lengths
1 tablespoon [15 ml] dried sage leaves, crumbled (do not use powdered herbs, they will cloud the broth)
1 tablespoon [15 ml] dried thyme leaves
2 whole dried bay leaves
About the liquids. You can ubstitute some of the water with chicken stock, vegetable stock, or a bottle of a white wine. I usually get a white wine from the closeout bin of the local liquor store. Oxidized white wine is fine; in fact I think it adds depth. Just don't use anything that has turned to vinegar. And never use red wine unless you want purple turkey! I have occasionally added mushrooms (fresh or dried) to the gravy, too. You can substitute a small handful of celery leaves for the celery stalk. This is a good way to get rid of them.
About the onion skins. Onion skins contain a pigment that darkens the gravy. Using them in making stocks is an old chef trick. In fact they are sometimes used as fabric dyes. If the skins are musty, or the underlayer is mushy or rotten, discard them.
Add no salt. Drippings from the meat will have salt, so wait until you taste the final gravy and add salt at the end if you think it needs more.
Ingredients for the wet rub
4 tablespoons of Simon & Garfunkel rub
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil
1 tablespoon table salt
About the rub. Click the link above for the recipe.
Optional. If you don't want to bother making it (you really should have a bottle on hand at all times), just use a simple blend of herbs, perhaps 1.5 tablespoons finely chopped or powdered sage (fresh or dried) and 1.5 tablespoons thyme leaves (fresh or dried).
Ingredients for the bird
1 turkey, any size
1 medium onion, cut in quarters, skin on
3 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
2 large sprigs of fresh sage or thyme, about 3 to 4" long
Peel of one orange or lemon
4 ounces [113 gm] or so of hardwood or fruitwood chips
Preparing the gravy
If you wish, you can do this a day in advance.
Whatever you do, don't skip the gravy. I know this whole approach may sound a little goofy, but trust me: This nectar is a show stopper. First time out of the gate, follow my recipe closely until you get the concept. The truth is, now that I've made this umpteen times, I no longer measure the ingredients.
This gravy is not the thick and pasty stuff made with flour that sits on top of the meat and forms pudding skin. This gravy is a thin, flavorful broth that penetrates the meat, making it incredibly moist and tasty. And if Grandma insists on the thick glop, there is more than enough of my gravy to mix with flour to make her happy. I'll show you how, reluctantly, below.
There is almost always leftover gravy that you can freeze. It makes a killer soup base or stock for cooking rice, risotto, couscous, or whenever a recipe calls for stock. I use it to make the gravy for turkey pot pies with the leftovers.
Do this
1) After the bird has thawed, open the bag it came in and pour the juices into the pan in which it was sitting. Even if they bird was salted, save those the juices. They will not be too salty.
2) If there is a plastic pop-up thermometer, remove it and discard it. If you rely on it you will be eating balsa wood. If there is a gizmo holding the tops of the drumsticks together, remove it. By holding the thighs and drums tight to the body, it prevents them from cooking properly and keeps the skin in the bird's crotch from darkening and crisping. Yes, I know the books tell you to truss the drumsticks. They're wrong. I'll explain why later.
3) Pull the stuff out the cavities. Check both front and rear openings. Typically you'll find the neck and a bag of "giblets" in there. Put the neck in the pan. The bag usually contains the heart (looks like a heart), the gizzard (two marbles connected in the middle), and the liver (it is the floppy, shiny thing). Put everything except the liver in the gravy pan. The liver will not be used for the gravy. Freeze it in a zipper bag and save it along with other chicken and duck livers until you have enough to make a nice pâté, or toss it in a pan with some oil, cook it, and feed it to the dog.
4) Remove "the part that goes over the fence last", a.k.a. "the Pope's nose", and trim excess skin and fat from around both cavities, front and rear, and put them in the pan along with the neck and the juices. Then whack off the wing tips at the first joint and toss them in the pool. There's a lot of flavor in them. Don't worry about the fat, you can skim it later.
5) Add the rest of the gravy ingredients to the pan and refrigerate. We will use it when we cook the bird.
Injecting and brining
If you wish, you can do this a day in advance.
Injecting and wet brining are two excellent ways to amp up your bird. Since most grocery store turkeys have already been injected with brine at the slaughterhouse, there is no need to soak it in brine or inject salt at home. But if you get a bird that has not been injected, I recommend that you do it.
Even if it has been injected with a salt solution at the slaughterhouse, you can still inject it with butter or oil. As with salt, oil amplifies flavors. I've included complete instructions for wet brining and injecting in the sidebar at right.
Preparing the wet rub and the bird
If you wish, you can do this a day in advance.
A dry rub is a mix of spices and herbs rubbed into meat, but for turkey, we're going to use a wet rub, a mix of herbs, spices, and oil. Wet rubs are especially effective because many of the flavors in herbs and spices do not dissolve in water, but they do dissolve in oil. This is especially true of green herbs. Turkey and herbs get along like peanut butter and jelly. Click here to read about the Zen of Herbs and Spices.
The wet rub goes under the skin so they can be in intimate contact with the muscle tissue and don't have to fight their way through fatty skin. Then we'll put some rub on top of the skin to flavor everybody's favorite part and because oil helps crisp the skin.
I recommend you use my Simon & Garfunkel poultry rub blend. It's a mix of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (sing it), with oregano, basil, bay leaf, black pepper, and sugar.
If you want to use your own favorite rub, use something without salt if the bird has been salted at the factory or you have salted it with a brine or injection. My Simon & Garfunkel rub has no salt. Remember, you can always add salt, but you can't take it away. Click here for more about rubs.
Sometimes, if the sage in the garden hasn't frozen by Thanksgiving, I'll put olive oil or butter and several whole fresh sage leaves under the skin instead of a wet rub and use the wet rub on the outside of the skin only. If you click here and look at the picture of the finished bird up close you can see the sage leaves under the skin. They taste great and look kewl. People will ask about the secret ingredient.
Do this
1) Mix the herb blend with the oil and let it sit for a few hours if you have the time. That helps break down the cells in the herbs and releases their flavors, but this is not a necessity because the flavors will marry while on the bird. Why oil and not butter? Butter is not pure oil, it has water in it so it will not brown as well as other oils. Olive oil or cooking oil do the job of delivering herbs to the muscle tissues just fine. The herbs are where the flavor is.
2) If your bird has been swimming in brine, pull it out. Pat the skin dry, take off your Superbowl ring, and gently push the herbs and oil under the skin. Spread it out and work it as far down to the thighs and legs as possible. Try to avoid leaving behind large clumps.
3) Spread the remaining rub on top of the skin. If you run out, rub the exterior with olive oil or vegetable oil and sprinkle it gently with a little black pepper, sage, and thyme. Then sprinkle salt on the skin to help it crisp.
4) Do not tie the legs together. Most turkeys come with an armature holding the tops of the drums together. And most cookbooks tell you to tie them up if they didn't come that way. This just doesn't make sense. Here's why.
Dark meat is best at about 175°F, but if you tie the drums together you pin the thighs tight against the body of the bird and they'll take longer to cook. So if you remove the bird when the breasts are 160°F, the thighs will also be about 160°F. But if you let their freak flag fly, heat will infiltrate them from all sides and, because they are thinner than the breasts, they will be at 170°F when the breasts hit 160°F.
Some chefs tell you to put a Wagnerian breast plate made of foil on the white meat in order to reflect heat so the thighs can get ahead of them. Now that is really goofy. A thin layer of foil is not going to reflect much heat nor is it going to be much of an insulator. All that will do is retard the browning and crisping of the skin.
Some other chefs tell you to put ice bags on the breasts before cooking in order to chill them so that the thighs will have a head start. One New York Times expert whom I normally worship even use Ace bandages to hold the icebags in place so the poor turkey looks like was up all night drinking Wild Turkey. Just letting the thighs free so hot air can surround them will do the job just fine, thank you. And doing so has the added bonus of letting the crotch area brown.
Setting up your grill or smoker
You absolutely, positively do not want the bird sitting directly above the flame or coals unless you have always secretly wanted to run avian crematorium. The best arrangement for a grill is what is called a 2-zone setup. The grill has a hot side with direct heat underneath it, and a cooler side where the heat flows in from the hot side. We call them the direct zone and the indirect zone.
The meat goes in the indirect zone and roasts by convection airflow circulating all around the bird rather than by direct radiation from the flame. If you have a smoker, they are usually designed for indirect cooking. If you have a grill, you need to set it up for 2 zones.
Long ago you should have done dry runs sans food with your grill so that by now you can hit two target temps: 325 and 225°F. Almost all my recipes call for one or the other and becuase only pellet grills have a thermostat control, you need to play thermostat. If you haven't calibrated your system, click the link and practice long before you try to cook anything.
When setting up for 2-zone cooking, I normally recommend you put a water pan under the meat. It acts as a heat sink, absorbing energy and moderating fluctuations. A water pan also puts humidity in the atmosphere to reduce evaporative cooling and helps keep the meat moist. If you have a small grill, the water pan can actually sit between the flame and the meat, casting a heat shadow above it so the meat doesn't overheat.
For this recipe, we replace the water in the pan with the fixins for our special gravy and it will collect dripping further enriching the gravy. This gravy/drip pan should have at least 3.5 quart capacity and must be large enough to fit under the entire bird. The best choices are stainless steel, ceramic, or CorningWare. Be forewarned, the pan it will get smoky and need serious scrubbing. Don't use copper because it can react with the salts and acids in the gravy. I have used a disposable aluminum pan and noticed no off flavors, but I now have a stainless steel roasting pan that I use just for outdoor cooking because I got tired of sleeeping on the couch.
You never want to put the bird in liquid on on the bottom of a roasting pan. If you put it in liquid, you will boil the back and end up with soggy flavorless meat and inedible skin. If you put it in a dry pan, it will stick and the dripping oils will fry the back, usually overcooking it. So you'll need a grate for holding the bird. You can use one from your grill, or even one from your indoor oven.
The tricky part is arranging everything. Because there are so many different grill designs I can't go through all the options, so grasp the science and adapt it to your own rig. The ideal setup is to place the bird on a rack 2 to 3" above the pan so heat and smoke can travel between them. If the bird is any lower, the mass of the cooler gravy, evaporation from its surface, and the sides of the pan will conspire to block heat, airflow, and smoke and you will end up with a pale, soggy, undercooked bottom.
The traditional turkey roasting configuration is a V-shaped rack that sits in a deep roasting pan with water in the pan to keep the drippings from burning. Below is a picture from the FoodNetwork's website. It is a recipe for skin as pale as a Seattle sunbather on the bottom and sides, and undercooked dark meat. I can see you nodding in recognition from here.
Dr. Greg Blonder, is a physicist, entrepreneur, former Chief Technical Advisor at the legendary Bell Labs, food lover, and the AmazingRibs.com science advisor and mythbuster. He measured the temps at different levels above the liquid in a 3" tall pan of water.
Even though the oven was 325°F, the liquid never reached boiling temp in the time it took to cook a turkey. That's because air is a lousy conductor of heat. You can put your hand in a 325°F oven, but don't put it in 325°F oil. Because the evaporation of water from the surface cools the liquid in the same way sweat cools us on a hot day, the temp of the gravy may never get above 175°F.
As you can see from the illustration, if the bird is below the lip of the pan and about 2" above the gravy, the bottom of the bird is in 240°F high humidity air, 85°F cooler than the top of the bird which is chugging away nicely in dry heat. That's why turkey backs are so often as flabby as an elephant's.
Even if you lace the bird on a grate on the lip of the pan, the bottom will still be much cooler than the top and will almost certainly be undercooked. He did experiments with a shallow pan and got similar results.
In order to heat the bottom of the bird properly, if you are using a 3" pan with liquid as I recommend, you need to get the meat at least 2 to 3" above the pan.
If you can't get your bird above the pan, you should start it breast side down and turn it over after an hour. Another option is to just remove the drip pan about 20 minutes before the bird is finished and put its back above direct heat. Just be sure to watch it carefully so it doesn't burn and check the temp in the breast before bringing it in.
Charcoal grill setup. Put the drip pan on one side of the charcoal grate and the charcoal on the other side and the meat on the food grate above the drip pan. I do not recommend putting the meat and the drip pan in the center. It is too easy to burn the thighs and wings that way. See my article on the best setup for a charcoal grill.
Gas grill setup. Put the drip pan on the flame deflectors below the food grate. The bird roosts on the food grate above. See my article on the best setup for a gas grill.
Bullet smoker setup. If you are using a bullet shaped water smoker like a Weber Smokey Mountain, you can use the built-in water pan for the drip pan. See my article on the best setup for a Weber Smokey Mountain.
Gas smoker setup. Put the turkey on a shelf high up in the cabinet and the gravy pan on the bottom shelf. You won't need the built-in water pan. You'll probably need to set the dial on high.
Offset barrel smoker setup. Put the drip pan on the bottom of the cooking chamber under the cooking grate. See my article on the best setup for an offset smoker.
Pellet smoker setup. Put the drip pan on top of the big deflector plate under the cooking grate and put the bird on the cooking grate.
If none of these works for you, try to raise the bird up by placing it on an oven rack sitting on top of several empty tall beer cans (don't write to me if you don't know how to empty them). If they are clean, they can sit right in the drip pan.
Beware! A disposable aluminum pan will not hold the rack and a bird without collapsing, so if you use a disposable pan, it must go under the grill grate and the bird must go on top of the grill grate. That, or you must rest a cooking grate on empty beer cans.
Finally! Let's cook that bird!
Finally! All the pregame activities are over. It's time to get down to business. You want to begin by preheating the oven about 5 hours before your guests are ready to sit down. Yes, your grill or smoker is really an oven. Get over it.
1) Crank your oven up to 325°F or as close as possible as measured at the level of the cooking grate by a digital thermometer. Do not measure the temp using the cheap thermometer in the lid unless you plan to eat the lid. There can be a great difference between the grate temp and the lid temp.
2) When it is hot, clean the grate you will cook the bird on before you put the drip pan in. Week-old grease and gunk the cooking grates will not add the kind of complexity you want in your gravy. Now put the drip pan and all the gravy fixins onto the cooker at least 2 to 3" below the bird if possible.
3) If you have a leave-in digital thermometer with a probe on a wire, insert the probe into the breast so the tip is in the center of the thickest part of the breast, being careful not to touch the ribs. Digital thermometers have small sensors and they are very close to the tip, so they are by far the best. The sensitive areas of a dial thermometer are too big to be accurate.
4) Put the onion (remember to quarter it), garlic, orange peel, and fresh herbs into the cavity. These aromatics will release aromas and they will penetrate the meat from the inside of the cavity, along with the smoke. Do not cram them in so tightly that hot air and smoke can't circulate inside. If you must, leave something out.
5) Grab 4 pieces of aluminum foil, each about 8" square, and coat one side with vegetable oil so it won't stick. Cover the tops of the wings and drumsticks with the foil. You did lop off the wing tips and toss them in the gravy, didn't you? The foil will keep these skinny parts from burning. You'll take the foil off after an hour, so the skin will brown and crisp.
6) Now add your smoke wood. Turkey loves smoke, but too much can ruin it in a hurry, and there is is a fine line. The first time you try this recipe I beg you to go easy on the smoke wood. Overdo it and the bird will taste like an ashtray.
I've had good luck with apple, alder, peach, cherry, and oak. Avoid mesquite, and hickory. They'll work, but I think they're a bit too strong for delicate lean meats like turkey.
On a charcoal grill or smoker, you may not need to add wood at all. The charcoal will probably give you all the smoke flavor you need. If you do add wood, you can toss it right on the coals. 2 to 4 ounces by weight should be enough. Smoke adheres to wet surfaces, so add the wood at the start of the cook.
On a gas grill you'll need 4 to 8 ounces of wood. You may decide after tasting it that you want more on your next cook, but don't ruin the first one with too much smoke.
On my gas grill I usually place one golf-ball sized chunk of wood right on a burner in the flame. Chunks smolder slowly, but if you do not have chunks, you can use chips or pellets.
T
o use chips or pellets, make a little pouch of aluminum foil and poke holes in one side. There is no need to soak the wood. Wood does not absorb much water. That's why they make boats out of it. Put the packet as close to the flame as possible. Click here for more on The Zen of Wood.
7) Place the bird on the cooking rack, breast side up, close the lid and don't open it for an hour. That means no basting. Not if you want crispy skin. Remember, basting just makes the skin wet and soft.
8) After an hour, open the cooker and remove the aluminum foil from the wings and drums. This lets them brown properly and you will have potato chip crunchy skin on your wings.
If you don't have a thermometer on a wire already in the breast, spot check the temperature with a good digital instant read thermometer by inserting the probe into the deepest part of the breast. Push the tip past the center and pull it out slowly. The lowest temp is the one to watch for. You can do this occasionally as needed. You won't harm anything by peaking.
If necessary, add a quart of boiling water to the gravy pan. Don't add cold water or you can cool off the cooking chamber. Make sure there are at least 2 inches of liquid in the pan at all times. Do not let the onions and other solids in the pan burn! Let them get dark, but not black. While you're under the hood, if you are using charcoal add another 15 to 20 chunks every hour. Resist the temptation to reach for the wood chips.
If you fear that the bird is progressing too slowly and you are having trouble keeping the temp up to 325°F, preheat your indoor oven to 325°F and move the bird and the gravy inside. Finishing it this way is fine. You will not lose you pitmaster card. The smoke flavor is already in the bird so now your focus must be on making sure it is not overcooked.
9) As the meat temp approaches 160°F in the center of the breast, tilt the bird and drain the cavity into the gravy. Now check temps all over, especially the back which can be a bit soggy or even undercooked if it is very close to the water. If the back isn't 160°F, remove the gravy pan and put the bird over direct heat to firm it up. This should take no more than 20 minutes or so, but watch things, because without that buffer of water, you can burn the back in a hurry.
Now it is time to move the bird to the cutting board or a platter. Pick a platter with a lip that contain the copious juices. Let the bird rest at least 15 minutes before you start carving. Resting allows the pressure that has built up inside the meat to ease off a bit so the juices don't come gushing out. A lot of books say you should put a foil tent on the bird. Don't do it. This just makes the skin soggy. There is plenty of heat in the meat that it will not go cold in 15 minutes or longer.
If you are going over the river and through the woods with your bird, or if your bird finishes early, read about how to keep it hot with a faux Cambro.
10) While the meat is resting, carefully remove the gravy pan from the cooker. Pour the gravy through a strainer into a large pot or saucepan. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and with a large spoon or basting bulb, remove most of the fat. You'll never get it all, so don't obsess. Besides, fat brings flavor. Now taste it. It should be rich and flavorful. If you find it too weak (unlikely) bring it to a boil and cook it down a bit. Taste again and add salt only at the last minute. If you add salt and then reduce it, it will be too salty.
I pour the gravy into a coffee carafe to keep it warm especially when I have to go to someone else's house for dinner. The fat rises in the thermos, so I can just pour some off before serving, or shake it up to mix it in. When you are ready to serve the bird, you can transfer some of the gravy to a gravy boat or serving bowl if you don't like the looks of the carafe.
As proof of its goodness, when you chill the leftovers it will solidify into a jelly. That's what happens to melted collagens, they turn to gelatin, and collagens bring flavor and texture to the table. See my article on meat science for more on the subject.
Please resist the temptation to thicken this gravy with flour or cornstarch. If the idea is to moisten meat, starchy sauces just don't get the job done. Starches are large molecules and they can't penetrate the tiny pores in the meat. The gravy just floats on top like a life preserver after the ship has gone down. My thin gravy will soak into the meat and add much more flavor. After you taste my gravy, you won't do the thick high school cafeteria stuff again. But if there are hardened traditionalists in the house, in the sidebar I have included instructions on how to satisfy them.
Carving
The first thing to do is look at the bird and remember who is winning this contest and remind yourself that you are smarter than a dead turkey. It is not hard once you understand the logic. Go ahead and parade the whole bird around the room and take a few bows, but do the carving in the kitchen, not on the dining table. You need elbow room, you don't need adoration or the heckling, and you certainly don't need to ruin the tablecloth.
The second thing to do is to reach for the best carving knife you own. Some folks prefer an electric knife, but I prefer a good carving knife. Just make sure it is sharp or the skin will give you fits. Good carving knives should be professionally sharpened every year or so depending on how often you use them. A honing steel is no substitute for a real sharpening. You can do it yourself and I recommend some sharpening devices in my article about required kitchen tools, or you can take your knives (and lawn mower blade) to a pro once a year.
I have a nice Messermeister Meridian Elite 5 Knife Set but, don't tell my professional chef friends, the knife I reach for most is my cheap Rapala Soft-Grip 7.5". This cheapo blade has a thin flexible dangerously sharp blade, a wicked sharp tip, and it's only about $16. It is not strong enough to cut through bone, but there is nothing better for cutting things off bones. When it's dirty, it goes in the dishwasher and you can't do that with the fancy knives. When it is dull I hone it and when it no longer holds a razor edge, I chuck it and get a new one. To see all the different sizes available, click here
Below I will describe the process of carving a turkey (BTW, carving is much easier if you butterfly the bird or break it down into parts before you even cook it). Click here to see an excellent step by step slideshow of the process.
The goal is to get as much of the meat off the bones as possible. You want to slice it across the grain so it is easier to chew, and you want as many pieces as possible to have a bit of tasty skin.
1) Hone the knife with a honing steel. A sharp knife has a razor thin edge, and with use that edge can bend. A honing steel can straighten it out. A honing steel is a rod that has a sandpaper like surface. I know you've see TV chefs hone knives by crossing the steel and knife in front of them and zip zop, they're done. Don't try it. It's not accurate and it's a good way to add your bodily fluids to the gravy.
Begin by placing the tip of the rod on a table and hold it vertical, perpindicular to the table. Hold the knife by the handle firmly in your other hand. Rest the part of the knife closest to your hand against the top of the steel and tilt it to a 45° angle. Then roll your wrist so it is halfway between 45° and the steel, about 22.5°. Draw the knife slowly towards your body gently sliding it downward towards the table at the same time. Hne the entire blade, right to the tip. Repeat the process on the other side of the blade. Hone each side alternatively about 3 or 4 times.
2) After the meat has rested, you can begin to carve. You will need a cutting board with gutters to catch the ample juices, and a serving platter or 2. Let's start with the dark meat. Take a paper towel and grab the top of a drumstick and bend it until the joint between it and the thigh is visible. Flex it back and forth until you have a good clear shot at the knee from behind. Sever the meat around the joint, and then cut between the ball and socket to remove the leg.
3) You can serve the drumstick whole for the cavemen like me, or you can stand it on the meaty end and slice downward, removing the meat. I usually carve one and leave one whole.
4) Now pull out those pieces of stiff cartilage with your fingers. Repeat the process with the other leg.
5) Now hold the thigh and cut through the skin that connects it to the body. Bend the thigh back to find the hip joint. Cut through the ball joint removing the thigh.
6) You can serve the thigh whole, but then the choicest pieces of dark meat go to only 2 guests. If you have more people who want thigh meat, you need to remove the bone so you can slice the meat. To do this, flip the thigh skin side down, and run the knife around the bone and under it until you can lift it out.
7) Now turn the thigh skin side up and cut it into slices across the grain. Repeat with the other thigh.
8) Now grabbing a wing, bend it back to locate the shoulder joint and cut through the tendons holding together the ball and socket.
9) Now for the breasts. The old fashioned method was to cut slices off the breasts while they were still attached to the carcass. There are several things wrong with this approach. First of all, it is awkward. It is hard to get even slices especially as your knife approaches the rib cage, which is curved. The process is even more awkward because the carcass is wobbly. Besides, it's not fair because the person who gets the first slice gets most of the skin! The old fashioned method has you cutting with the grain, and slices cut with the grain is always chewier than slices cut across the grain. The better plan is to remove each side of the breast from the carcass and then cut it into beautiful slices across the grain so it is more tender. Here's how: In the middle of the two lobes is the breast bone, sometimes called the keel bone. Cut down along one side of the breast bone with long strokes until the knife hits the rib cage.
10) Then tilt the knife and work along the rib cage with long strokes until the breast falls away in one football shaped hunk. On the fron the knife will slide along the wishbone. Don't forget to pull it out from under the skin flap!
11) Lay each breast skin side up on a cutting board and slice it across the grain in slices at least 1/4". I like thicker slices, especially if the meat is tender. But there is a trick to slicing it properly (I'll bet you're not surprised to hear that). Remember that we loosened the skin so it is no longer attached to the meat? If we're not careful the skin will slip slide around and you won't get neat slices with skin with each slice of meat. The trick is to have a really sharp knife. Place it on the center of the breast near its handle. Place the thumb and forefinger of your free hand on either side of the knife pressing down on the skin gently. In one gentle steady stroke, with slight downward pressure, draw the knife toward yourself across the skin, cutting down through it and into the meat. If you use a dull knife or a serrated knife, the skin will move around. This takes a bit of practice.
12) When you have the meat cut, re-assemble it into a breast shaped presentation in order to keep the meat warm. If you are careful, you can slide your knife under the assembly and lift the whole thing onto the serving platter. On second thought, play it safe and use a spatula.
13) Just before serving the bird, give yourself a reward. Flip the carcass over so the backbone is facing up. Run your fingers along the sides of the backbone and near the joints where the wings were attached, right under the shoulder blades, you'll find tender, juicy blobs of meat, each about the size and shape of the meat from a large oyster, hence the nickname, turkey oysters. You can pop them out with your fingers. Savor them for a job well done.
14) Now pour a little gravy over the top of the meat in the platter, enough to moisten it but not drown it.
Leftovers and that valuable carcass
Do not discard the carcass. There is plenty of meat left and plenty of flavor inside those bones. Put it in the fridge. Don't leave it sitting at room temp for more than 30 minutes.
1) Once the guests are gone (or the next day if you're beat), wash your hands well, and begin pulling all the remaining meat off the carcass. Set it aside for smoked turkey supper salad, smoked turkey pot pies, turkey sandwiches, turkey fajitas, turkey salad, turkey soup, or pulled turkey. The meat freezes well if wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or a zipper bag.
2) Take the stripped carcass and break it into chunks. Put it into a deep pot, cover with water, and toss in 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped onions (skins and all), a few celery leaves, a bay leaf, and some herbs. Add any leftover gravy from when you cooked the bird.
3) Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Do not boil yet. Simmer just below the boiling point for at least 2 to 6 hours. Turn off the heat, skim the scum, remove the big chunks, set them aside, and strain. Taste it, but resist the temptation to add salt. You can always add it later, but you can't take it out. Thin it if you wish or cook it down to make it more concentrated. I like to concentrate it and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then I drop the cubes into a zipper bag and label it with the date. Then pick the boiled meat off the carcass and add it to the other leftover meat.
4) The next time you are making rice, risotto, couscous, paella, or soup, use the frozen cubes for a wonderful flavor. Pour some in an ovenproof bowl, add some caramelized onions, float a toasted crouton on it, put some muenster cheese on top, stick it under the broiler, and you've got a killer French onion soup.
Pretty Bird Contest 2012
After you cook your bird, take photos and enter my Third Annual Pretty Bird Contest. To enter, post your picture below in the comments section. The only rules are: You must have cooked the bird outdoors sometime in the calendar year using this recipe as a guide. You don't have to follow it precisely. Deadline is December 31, 2012. Past winners are not eligible to win but are encouraged to submit pix. Amateur photographers only, please. My definition of an amateur is anyone who has not been paid for a photograph in the past year. My family, business associates, vendors, employees, customers, advertisers, and the immediate families of any of these people are not eligible. By entering you solemnly swear that you have adhered to these rules, and you agree to let me use your photo as I see fit on this website or to promote this website.
Tell us what you cooked on, especially if you did something fun and creative. The prizes will be awarded solely on the merits of the photo and the judge is a man with a Masters in Fine Arts and who has in the past made his living as a professional photographer. He now runs this website and does most of the photography. He is also the interpreter of the rules. Click here for tips on food photography. Prizes to be announced, but they will be good.
Pretty Bird Contest 2011
Thanksgiving 2011 was most profound for me. It came at the end of my second year of working full time on this website, and I had a lot to be thankful for. I made a respectable living cooking, eating, writing, and photographing my food. What a dream!
On the big day I made the decision to stay by my computer until the last possible minute fielding questions like the Butterball Hotline. Your inquiries really helped me fine tune my recipe to anticipate future questions and as a result I have completely rewritten it. It was especially thrilling as the first pictures started rolling in. I felt like a proud Grandfather as his children sent in pictures of the grandkids. There were about 100 entries (I stopped counting) and more on my Facebook page. Selecting winners was not easy and took me a whole day. So many pretty birds!
First Prize by David Lauro. David's bird (above) was not only perfect looking, he took time to garnish it with lettuce and grapes, and frame it perfectly with his centerpiece in the background. This could be a magazine cover! He cooked 2 birds and submitted photos of several stages of the cooking process from brining to the heavily laden dining table, most of them out of focus. But he nailed this one and first prize in the process!
From his comments: "Here are pictures of the smoked turkeys I did for Thanksgiving 2011. I hope they are pretty enough, lol. I've cooked smoked turkey before in the past, but decided to follow your recipe in entering the contest, as well as seeing and tasting the end results. Your method produced a very moist and extremely flavorful bird. Your brine recipe is definitely a keeper! And so is your method for making your thin gravy. The herb rub added a lot to the flavor as well (just sage and thyme). My guests continually raved about how juicy and incredible the turkey tasted. They were big fans of the Grilled Apple Salad too!"
He also said "I wanted to add that these two birds were cooked in a Oklahoma Joe Longhorn smoker at around 260-275 degrees. It does render quite well at that temperature I've found, without it getting scorched on sides near the firebox. I used a mixture of soaked Guava and Apple wood chips that I would add to red-hot Kiawe coals at 1 hour intervals."
First Prize. Thermoworks ThermaPen. With this superfast precision digital thermometer, you'll never overcook anything again.
Second Prize by David Bradley. A perfectly carved bird (at with the thigh meat glowing pink from smoke and garnished with green onions, lemons, flat leaf parsley. His presentation is not overly formal or prissy, but achievable. He also submitted another picture of the dark mahogany bird roosting on his Weber Kettle. I've cropped this slightly so you can see more of the bird.
From his comments: "This was my first time fixing the turkey. My dad always smoked the turkey when I was growing up and I wanted to do it too. With your method I'm pretty confident I improved on my Dad's. Just used a Weber classic - no Smokenator." That's right, he used an $89 grill. Dad would be proud David, and you know it is just going to get better over the years. You're setting a high bar for your kids.
Second Prize. Weber's Time to Grill by Jamie Purviance. Chef Purviance knows more about grilling than anybody. You'll drool over the pix.
Third Prize (tie) by IndyDuq who did his Pretty Bird on a MAK pellet smoker. That's almost like cheating. I love the color of the bird and the platter and the place settings, devoid of people whom I can guess he had to shoo away for the shot. I vsualize them standing 5' away drooling, as am I as I write this.
From his comments: "Brined, smoked turkey. I've been smoking my birds for nearly 20 years, and brining for the last few. It was always an adventure chasing the temperature on my gas smoker depending on the fickle Midwestern weather this time of year. Thanks to Meatheads thorough reviews, I purchased a MAK 1 Star this summer, and for the first time, my smoke was worry free thanks to the oven-like precision temperature control. Had a bit of a scare when the bird was done a full 90 minutes early, but dialed back the grill, and in spite of coming off at 175 deg, the meat was still very tender and juicy! So very nice to not be messing with the old gasser!! I should add that I had always been told that low & slow was the ticket for turkey, and that is how I have always smoked my birds. Meathead explained that since there isn't an abundance of connective tissue in poultry, that you can cook at 325 deg. for a much shorter period of time. So nice to put the bird on at 9:30am this year as opposed to 5:30am for so many years!!"
Third Prize. The Hamburger: A History by Josh Ozersky. Fun stuff to know about America's favorite iconic sandwich by one of my favorite food writers.
Third Prize (tie) by Jeff Boldt (right). Boldt submitted a lovely composition that was not quite in focus, but he wins a prize for his creative video of the process posted on YouTube. His notes on the preparation: "Last year I cooked my bird on my 22" Weber kettle, this year I did it on my newly purchase rotisserie, can I add, this is my first cook with the roto. 13 LB Bird pre brined from Trader Joe's. Apples and Onions in the cavity. Smoked with Apple, Cherry and Maple wood." Boldt will also get a copy of The Hamburger: A History by Josh Ozersky.
Honorable Mention by Kevin Keller (left). I love the way he presented the bird by reconstructing it although I am left wondering what he did with the thigh meat (I think there's a piece of it peaking out between the breasts so maybe it is underneath). Incidentally, this is similar to the way I try to present my turkey, but it rarely comes out looking so nice.
He cooked his on a ceramic cooker that looks like a Big Green Egg judging by his other pix. I love the lighting, but I wish you had found a better place to put the bird so I didn't have to crop out the faucet...
From his comments: "Thank you for one of the best turkeys I've had for Thanksgiving. I've never cooked a turkey on a grill, so I supposed I violated one of your [tenets] above by doing it for the first time for the big day, but apart from a few other minor deviations I stuck to the plan and it came out moist and tasty. As instructed, I let the bird get up to 160 at the thickest part of the breast (multi-probe digital thermometer...one probe for the grill temp, one for the meat) and then pulled it out, set it in my cooler and let it work its way up to 165 and stay there for awhile stewing in its juices while I prepared the "gravy," which was freaking amazing. My dogs both hate, and love you by the way...they were begging by the time I was done...the smell was driving them nuts."
Honorable Mentions. All HMs get the new AmazingRibs.com Temperature Guide Magnet
Honorable Mention by Smokin in Colorado (left). Let's hear it for focus! Smokin In Colorado submitted four nice sharp pix showing all sides of a perfect bird that practically glows. Alas there might have been more prizes if folks held their cameras a little steadier, used a higher ISO, or a tripod. From his comments: "My first ever smoked turkey did not disappoint. Followed your recipe for the most part and it was the juiciest turkey any of us had ever had. Thanks for all your great insight on BBQ!" Congrats. You can Tebow now.
Honorable Mention to Dean Shultis (right). Dean made a smart move with two small birds. He is clearly a man of good taste. "My wife wanted me to smoke a turkey for Christmas day, so I decided to do two 10 pound turkeys rather than one 20 pound turkey. I used a horizontal type smoker for about four hours and then transferred the turkeys to an indoor oven to finish them off. Following your advice, the turkeys were cooked to perfection! While is Positano Italy this summer we ordered a ceramic table which was to be cut from solid volcanic rock in a single slab and then decorated with hand painted ceramics. The table arrived just three days before Christmas. The plates are also hand made in the same area of Italy and hand painted, all a perfect compliment to the perfect turkeys."
Honorable Mention by B Tucker (left). Tucker submitted two shots, this facy fella ready to go out on the town dressed in spats, and another sitting on the beat up old Weber Genesis that has clearly served him well. "I've tried many of your BBQ recipes with great success. This was my first time smoking a turkey. I was a little skeptical that it could be better than fried turkey, but this was by far the best turkey I've ever had! I followed your instructions step by step on my Weber gas grill and the result was out of this world. The pics I submitted below for the contest are actually a second, smaller turkey I smoked on Friday because there was no turkey left to eat with the rest of the leftovers from Thanksgiving Day!! I give Thanks to you for such a wonderful and informative site. You have made me my family's 'Grill Master'!!"
Honorable Mention by Scott D. Streaker (right). "Hey Craig, here's our submission for the photo contest. The bird was excellent, only thing we goofed on was not having a big enough platter! Thanks for the excellent website, you taught me everything I know about BBQ." Platter? That looks like one serving! But it still shows a nice presentation of white meat and dark meat.
Pretty Bird Contest 2010
First Prize. Steve Navarre took great stills and made a fun 2 minute movie that shows the whole process of smoking a bird with a mix of video and stills.
Second Prize. Shawn Mullins sent in this beautiful presentation.
This page was revised 12/18/2011
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Read this before posting a comment please:1) If you are looking for info, please use the table of contents or the search box, at the top of every page. 2) Don't ask me any questions that involve temp or time unless you tell me that you are using a digital thermometer! Bi-metal dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F! If you are not using a good digital you have no idea what the temp really is so I can't help you. If you are still using a dial thermometer, please read this article about thermometers, then buy a good digital, and then, if the problem persists (chances are it won't), hit me with your questions. Then, please tell me everything I need to know to answer your question. Like the type of cooker you are using. Remember, I am not a mind reader. 3) Please don't ask me "What grill (or smoker) should I buy?" Read my Buyer's Guides and the buying checklists and follow the links. I've shared just about everything I know. Pay attention to the awards I have given my faves. I cannot pick the right cooker for you any more than I could pick the right car or spouse for you. 4) If you have problems posting with Internet Explorer, please read this. If problems persist, send me a note. |
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