Cooking a standard Thanksgiving meal is a ceremony of passage for many American cooks, gamified in repetition, like a tricky Mario stage you repeat yearly till you nail it. That final fort holds the Bowser boss of a turkey—a hulking fowl no less than thrice the dimensions of something we’ve cooked on simpler ranges. But by far the worst factor about this closing boss fowl is that it’s invariably bought deep frozen. Americans eat greater than 40 million turkeys on Thanksgiving, and regardless of what you’ve heard about free-range, pasture-raised turkeys, no less than 85 % are bought frozen. So the primary hurdle of Thanksgiving dinner, as a cook dinner, is getting this fowl from iced-over to pliable.
This is a supply of nice psychological stress for our fellow Americans. Late-November Google searches for “how long to thaw a turkey” peak at over 300,000 more and more panicked hits. There are calculators, by the pound, of when to begin the thaw-out, however the course of is unreliable and susceptible to pre-holiday forgetfulness. I spoke with Meredith Carothers, a U.S. Department of Agriculture meals security specialist and a veteran of the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline, and requested her to inform me a few of the most hair-raising calls she’s personally taken. There was the cook dinner who’d tried to thaw their fowl through dishwasher wash cycle. Another who’d left their turkey in a sizzling bathe, water operating. Yet one other had known as in a panic, saying their employer had gifted them a turkey however they’d forgotten it of their work locker over the weekend—was it nonetheless protected to cook dinner? (It was not, however no less than it was thawed.)
I personally, a meals editor and James Beard Award–profitable cookbook creator, have retrieved a fowl after three technically appropriate days of thawing and located it nonetheless stiff with ice. Frozen turkeys actually don’t care how good of a cook dinner you might be! There’s additionally the chance of a leaky mess when leaving a 20-pound fowl in your crisper for every week. If you might be squicked out by poultry cross-contamination, the turkey thawing course of is simply not your completely satisfied place.
Time for some excellent news: All of this stress is completely pointless. Like many different features of our yearly American Gladiator cooking problem, there’s a higher manner, stunning as it could be: Don’t. Thaw. Your. Turkey. Cook it frozen. Rock strong. Straight into the oven. Not solely is that this a lot simpler, from unwrapping onward, it’s—you are not hallucinating—completely protected and USDA-approved. And your friends by no means should know.
“You can cook anything frozen,” Meredith’s colleague and fellow USDA meals security skilled Archie Magoulas instructed me. “Here’s the general rule of thumb on frozen: You can do it, but it takes about 50 percent longer.” This is the official USDA steerage on cooking any frozen protein, in truth: It’s completely protected so long as you cook dinner it at a temperature no decrease than 325 levels. (No matter what your grandmother did, it’s simply not a fantastic thought to cook dinner a turkey at 200 levels in a single day, OK?) Just be certain that it reaches a totally food-safe temperature, which—and right here’s the essential bit—takes about 50 % longer than when thawed. Start by consulting this USDA chart on advisable cooking occasions by turkey weight, and add 50 % to roughly calculate your anticipated time.
Did I point out it’s protected? So protected! In truth, I’d personally argue that it’s safer to cook dinner a turkey this fashion than it’s to take care of all of the potential cross-contamination of thawing a fowl and opening its juicy, splooshy bag inside spraying distance of your clear counters.
Salmonella crime scenes apart, Meredith identified the true concern most cooks may have with giving up the thawing marathon: “It’s more about quality considerations—you can’t season until further into the process.” Yes, we’ve arrived on the large query. What does this fowl style like? No brine? Can you season it in any respect? I’ve cooked turkeys through this methodology for years, and right here’s the factor, hand on my coronary heart: A turkey cooked on this trend will style roughly the identical as your common roasted turkey. In truth, I typically discover that the breast is healthier and doesn’t dry out, because it cooks extra slowly than in a standard thawed turkey.
If you’re a cook dinner who has a standing commitment to dry-brining and split spatchcocking, that’s not available to you right here, however then once more, you’re most likely not the kind to land on an article about cooking your turkey from frozen.
For the remainder of us, I’ve a confession. I simply assume that turkey isn’t the best possible protein on the market. In truth, I’m dedicated to the assumption that complete turkeys have solely two God-given functions: to carry out because the ritualistic centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner and, way more importantly, to become turkey stock, which is the golden elixir of life. (If you aren’t turning your turkey carcass into soup, please mail it to me. I’ll take it!) The high quality hole between one of the best and the worst turkey you’ve ever had might be fairly small, and it’s definitely smaller than the trouble hole between a turkey cooked effortlessly from frozen and one which has been lovingly brined and basted in no matter elaborate methodology America’s Test Kitchen has deemed this yr’s scientific greatest.
This is a long-winded manner of telling you that when you make a median roasted turkey yearly, you’re most likely simply not going to note a distinction in style when you roast it frozen. Also, it can look supremely beautiful, burnished and golden like a Norman Rockwell portray, due to that further cooking time.
This is tips on how to do it. Buy a frozen turkey. It will be any dimension (consult this chart to search out the correct dimension on your crowd). Ideally, this can be a turkey that has already been brined, like many industrial turkeys are lately. Kosher turkeys will allow you to skip the giblet step later too, as they’re bought with out the gizzards packed inside.
Heat your oven to 325 levels. Slit away the turkey netting and plastic wrapping. (I exploit a field knife for this.) The turkey can be iced up and make a pleasing tink-tink sound when you faucet it with a spoon. Put it in an enormous roasting pan, ideally on a rack (however don’t sweat it when you don’t have one). Put it straight within the oven and roast it for 2 hours. Carefully take away it to the stovetop, and sprinkle it liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for one more two hours. Meanwhile, soften ½ cup (1 stick) of butter and put aside. Cut a big lemon into quarters, and a head of garlic in half crosswise (peels keep on), and select a handful of herb sprigs, like sage, thyme, and rosemary. When the time’s up, once more on the stovetop, use a pair of tongs to tug out the giblets and neck from the physique cavity (until you obtain a kosher turkey, through which case you’ll be able to skip this grisly step).
Stuff your lemon, garlic, and herbs into the now empty cavity, and brush or drizzle all the melted butter over the turkey. Put the turkey again within the oven for about yet another hour, however begin taking its temperature in half-hour. Depending on the dimensions, it could be completed at round 4 and a half hours, or it may take as much as six and a half. I used this methodology over the weekend to roast a 15-pound turkey, and it was achieved proper on the five-hour mark.
You completely shouldn’t roast a turkey by this (or every other) methodology and not using a meals thermometer. Meredith and Archie each wished me to remind you of this—it’s essential that you just take the temperature in three locations: the thickest a part of the breast, the innermost a part of the wing, and the interior thigh. Make certain all have reached no less than 165 levels.
At that time, your turkey is finished. Congratulations! You’ve received the sport. Let the turkey relaxation and make your gravy. This is the place you actually come out forward taking the simple route, as a result of the prolonged cooking time signifies that your drippings can be further browned and can make extra-delicious gravy.
I attempted out this no-thaw fowl on my cookbook membership a number of nights in the past, simply to see the way it went over. My good friend Logan took a chunk and pronounced that it “just tasted like turkey.” Which, let’s be actual, is all one can ever hope for from turkey, and it’s adequate on your Thanksgiving desk, the place everybody got here for the facet dishes anyway. This vacation, take the simple manner out and cook dinner confidently, even gleefully, from frozen—it’s a cheat code you will be pleased with.
● To see full cooking directions on frozen turkey and to have each query answered, check out this recipe from the Kitchn.
● The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline (1-888-MPHotline, or 1-888-674-6854) is open every day and can be taking calls Thanksgiving Day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.
