Gargling Turkey Doesn’t Make It Juicier
Turkey watering is a practice so ingrained in Thanksgiving cooking that it’s practically a tradition itself, but according to Cook’s Illustrated, you could probably just skip it.
To determine if the time-honored practice greatly influenced cooking time and moisture, Cook’s Illustrated cooked three turkey breasts in three different ways. All were roasted in ovens at 350 degrees, but one was left completely untouched, one was watered every twenty minutes, and one was left untouched, but the oven door opened every twenty minutes. Turkeys reached the target temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit at various times, with poultry cooking the fastest (59 minutes) and turkey cooked in cream takes ten minutes longer. This slower cooking time was supposed to result in more succulent poultry, but that didn’t really matter. When Cook’s Illustrated weighed the breasts before and after cooking to check for moisture loss, they found that all three had lost “comparable amounts” of moisture (22.4 to 24.0 percent), whether they were spread or not.
The only real difference in the outline was visual; roasted turkey browned more evenly and darker and shinier. If you’re a big fan of dark, shiny turkey skin, water it with oil, but considering how much money it takes to cook Thanksgiving dinner, returning to the oven every half hour or so to polish may be a step worth skipping.
Is the basting really worth it? | Illustrated chef
Photo by Threephin .