Dry-Brined Turkey: Time to Roast!

The turkey has been brined and has dried overnight in the fridge. What next? Well, any large hunk of meat will cook better if you put it in the oven at room temp. So, take that bird out of the fridge about an hour prior to roasting.

A word about stuffing. Don’t. Just don’t. I know all the arguments for stuffing a turkey. I don’t care. If you roast a stuffed turkey until the stuffing is done, the turkey will be drier than the Sahara. So, please, just fix dressing instead.

That isn’t to say that I don’t put anything in the cavity. On the contrary, I cut up an orange and onion to stuff in the bird with rosemary and sage. I like to heat the orange and onion in a little water prior to shoving it up the turkey’s... what end is that anyway??? I can never remember.

Heating up the orange and onion will help speed up the roasting process. I’m not sure by how long, but I like to do it. So, here you go. My prefered method for roasting a turkey.

Roast Turkey

1 dry-brined turkey
1 orange, cut into quarters
1 onion, cut into quarters
fresh rosemary and sage
canola oil
foil

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Yes, you read that correctly. 

Place the turkey in a roasting pan on a rack, if you haven’t already done so.

Put the orange and onion quarters in a microwave safe container with a little water. Nuke until hot. You could just as easily heat them in a saucepan. All of mine were in use.

Insert the orange, onion and a few sprigs of rosemary and sage into the turkey cavity. Place the drumsticks into the truss that came with your bird. If your turkey doesn’t have a plastic or metal truss, truss the bird with cotton twine.

Next, make a “breast plate” for the turkey out of a double thickness of foil. Remove. You’ll need this later and it’s much easier to form it now.

Rub a thin coating of canola oil all over the bird. Wash your hands.

Place turkey in the oven and roast at 500 for 30 minutes.

Once the 30 minutes have gone by, open the oven and put the foil “breast plate” on the turkey. Close the oven and turn it down to 350 degrees. 

Continue roasting until an instant read thermometer reads 165, in the breast meat. The thigh meat should read the same or higher. Depending on the size of your bird, this could take another 1 ½ to 3 hours. My 13 lb turkey took a little over 2 hours total.

Once the turkey in done, cover in foil (or a large bowl) and allow to rest. I would allow, at least 15-20 minutes for this.

Carve and serve to a grateful crowd or, in my case, a grateful twosome. We are going to have leftovers for weeks! I love that. This soup will definitely be on the menu.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Now where’s my eggnog?