Brush the Whole Turkey With Butter
Most turkey products are designed to compensate for the lack of fat and therefore flavor. Dry brine is the best way to season your poultry from the inside out, but for the juiciest and tastiest meat, you need to add a little fat – and there is no better fat than butter.
This is one of the ” do what it says on the tin ” technique. Simply soften a piece of butter (or two if your turkey is over 15 pounds) and massage every square inch of the turkey with it right before frying. Really go for it: the skin is important, but don’t neglect the cavity and make sure you put as much oil under your skin as possible. Unsurprisingly, I prefer salted butter , but unsalted butter is fine, especially if you’ve moved heavily to dry brine this year.
Plain butter is great and all, but it’s a feast for the frills. Creamy butter rapid preparation of post- still keeps your turkey nice and juicy, but it gives even more flavor during cooking. Any of these would be great, but turkey is a clean enough canvas of flavor to really go crazy on:
- Fresh rosemary, black pepper and one or two heads of fried garlic: hard to argue with the classics.
- Lemon zest, cinnamon and sage: This is Jamie Oliver’s dairy chicken , just for turkey!
- Miso pasta and some brown sugar: Cheerful, salty, sweet and addictive.
- Champagne- soluble vinegar, tarragon, lemon zest and shallots: turkey birch , anyone?
One thing to keep in mind: All these mixtures will burn almost instantly in the oven if you don’t keep them under your skin. Add flavor to only half of the butter you are using and set aside the other half to grease the surface. The result is deep-tasting meat with oily, cracked skin, without the burnt garlic that ruins the party.
Feel free to do it in any direction you like. You can substitute lemon zest for orange, use whole herbs for a beautiful stained glass effect under the skin, or even brown and chill the oil before adding other ingredients. Just don’t get hung up on it; when you pour oil on your meat, it’s hard to go wrong.