Every year around the Christmas and Thanksgiving season, the internet is flooded with tips and tricks on how to roast the turkey perfectly. However, although many spend hours in the kitchen, the result is the same: a dry turkey.
With so much preparation going on to roast that turkey, why does eating dry, chewy turkey seem inevitable? And not only on certain dates, any recipe with this type of bird can fail if some advice is not taken into account. The reason turkey dries out is that dark meat takes longer to cook than white meat.
Methods to make a juicy turkey
To make sure your turkey cooks evenly without drying out, these tips should be kept in mind:
- open the turkey it will help it cook faster and more evenly. This involves splitting the turkey in two so it can be placed on a skillet or grill.
- Cook the different parts of the turkey meat separately, removing parts of the whole turkey as it roasts based on when each type of meat appears to be done. Separating the turkey pieces as they cook instead of waiting for the entire bird to roast may not give you exactly the same wow factor when you place a perfectly browned turkey on the table.
- Removing the turkey from the oven before it is fully cooked. Because the turkey is so hot, it will continue to cook on the countertop after you remove it from the oven. That is why it is advised that we give the turkey time to rest.
- Let the turkey rest on the counter. It will be enough between 30 minutes and a couple of hours. Some experts say it’s best to refrain from covering your turkey with aluminum foil. Since it’s already hot right off the grill or oven, covering it will essentially lock it in another makeshift oven until you’re ready to serve it. And that will make it dry.
The type of turkey matters too
While the aforementioned techniques are good methods for avoiding a dry turkey, it’s also important to consider the type of turkey. Although white turkeys are commonly purchased, they are not known for creating the juiciest cut of meat after roasting.
Turkeys have been bred for grow up so fast that now must be raised at a very young age to produce the 11-pound turkey that most people want. Since they are only in their early teens when hatched, they have not deposited the fat that would keep the bird naturally juicy. A white turkey is typically raised at 12 weeks, compared to a tan turkey that hatches at six months. As the turkey ages, it produces even more intramuscular fat, which helps keep the meat moist rather than dry when roasting.
Turkey is not a very forgiving meat, and once it warms up, it dries out very quickly. A slow-growing bronzy breed will cook faster than a fast-growing commercial breed, simply because it has more intramuscular fat which conducts heat through the bird faster.