Turkey Time

The roasted 20lb turkey after over four hours in the oven!

This year I had the task of roasting a 20lb turkey. Usually we wet brine it, a trick I had learned from a chef over 10 years ago while working on a radio show. He said it was the best way to ensure the turkey was moist after roasting in the oven for several hours.

Almost an hour into roasting the turkey

But in recent years dry brine is the way to go and in our case it was a necessity, as the massive bird barely fit into our giant stock pot.

I looked up a few dry brine recipes online and they all basically said the same thing -- use kosher salt, pepper and add a few herbs like rosemary, thyme, orange or lemon zest and be sure to season the cavity too.

For our 20lb turkey, I used five tablespoons of kosher salt, liberal amounts of ground pepper, about half a tablespoon of brown sugar to help the skin turn golden brown, as well as fresh rosemary, thyme and some dry oregano.

We added a bit of oil to the mixture, but it wasn't really necessary -- it helps get some of the moisture out of the turkey, which means more turkey flavour.

After over two hours in the oven it is browning nicely

After 24 hours we put the massive bird into the oven at 375 degrees and checked it every hour. The legs started to turn brown first and then we turned it down again to 350 degrees and kept checking on it.

At around the 3-hour mark we had to flip the turkey around to breast side up, which was a two-person operation, one actually doing the heavy lifting, the other scooting it into place in the roasting container. Phew!

Over four hours later the bird was done and we let it rest for almost an hour. The end result? Very moist, though the skin wasn't particularly crispy. But we were glad it was completely cooked through.

We flipped the turkey with the breast side up, almost done

Meanwhile the cranberry sauce was made from fresh cranberries, very liberal spoonfuls of brown sugar, the last few drops of Tia Maria and a good dash of white Zinfandel, which resulted in a complex flavour! Delicious! Perfect accompaniment to plain yoghurt...

Gravy was also made in advance with carrots and celery and the turkey neck.

So it's a wrap! Hope we remember the turkey recipe for next year...! In the meantime we'll be having lots of turkey leftovers, congee and soup for the next week...