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turkey 101  by Yee-Fan Sun | 1 2 3

Maybe you think you don’t like turkey. It’s so dry, you complain – though you grudgingly acknowledge that Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be the same without it. So despite the fact that you’re not really a fan, you’ve resigned yourself to making a turkey this year … because if you don’t, you know your guests will be declaring mutiny come Thanksgiving day. Or maybe you’ve invited 15 friends and family over to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast at your humble abode – and haven’t a clue what to do with that 21 lb. frozen hunk of poultry now taking up space in your fridge. Either way, you’re in desperate need of a last-minute turkey-roasting tutorial – and we’re here to save the day. Check out these secrets to a perfectly browned, juicy, flavorful turkey that’ll have your guests begging for leftovers to take home.

get equipped
big ol’ roasting pan, with a v-shaped rack
kitchen twine
toothpicks or skewers
aluminum foil
baster
pastry brush
meat thermometer

ingredients
turkey, of course (you'll need about 1.5 lbs per person, to yield the requisite generous leftovers) 
2 cups or 1 can stock for basting at the beginning
1 cup white wine for basting at the beginning
butter or olive oil
fatty bacon strips
salt and pepper
1 onion, quartered
2 carrots, broken into 3" pieces
1 stalk celery, broken into 3" pieces
stuffing of choice for the turkey, fresh-cooked 

2-3 days before
Thaw your turkey in the fridge at least two days before the big meal for a 10 lb. bird, 3 days for a fifteen-pounder, and even longer for anything much bigger than that. Write yourself a note and stick it on the fridge if you must: there’s pretty much no safe way to speed up the thawing process if you wake up Thanksgiving morning and find you have a rock-solid frozen turkey, so it is absolutely imperative that you remember to do this ahead of time. (Even defrosting a turkey in a cold water bath, my usual technique for speed defrosting, will take eight hours or so with a hunk of meat this size).

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