The Fail-Proof Turkey

 I can't believe I just discovered this turkey cooking method this year!! It is life changing!!! Ok, maybe that's going too far...but I'm so excited about sharing this! The funny thing is that when I've been mentioning it to people, a few of them have already heard of it, some have been doing it for decades! It yields the most tender, juicy, perfectly cooked turkey you've ever had. The method is unconventional, ridiculously easy, and completely fail-proof if you follow my instructions! PLEASE NOTE: you start this turkey the night before! So this is not a method you can do the same day.

 Cooking a turkey can give even the most seasoned chef anxiety, and on the few occasions I've been able to make one (my grandma insists on doing it pretty much every year), it is a bit nerve wracking. I've done the brining method. Kind of messy but it is nice. Herb roasting, butter basting, naked, de-boning, you name it. None of them have come out bad, they can just be a tad high maintenance, worrying if it will be done in time, over cooked, too dark, too dry. Who needs that?? 

 Follow these instructions & you will be sooo happy with the results, I promise. 

 

 There were 16 of us and EVERYONE took home leftovers because you get practically every morsel off of the bird. It's fantastic.

THE Fail-Proof Turkey (serves 16-18)

One 20-22 lbs turkey 

Olive oil

Kosher Salt

The night before Thanksgiving (or any occasion)...

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. 

Remove all gizzards & neck from turkey, and pat dry. Rub entire turkey with a few tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with salt on the outside & inside the cavity. 

Place the turkey breast side DOWN on your roasting rack in the roasting pan.  

(The reason for the upside down cooking is because as the turkey slow roasts, it literally bastes all the white meat keeping it moist and juicy!) 

 Cook the turkey for 1 hour at 300 degrees, then turn down your oven to 185 degrees and let it sloooooowroast for 14 more hours. That's literally it! Set it & forget it! It can't burn because the heat is too low. It can't overcooked because it being cooked so low. It is perfect. 

If you start your turkey at 8pm the day before it will be done by 11am, but it can go another 3-6 hours easily & still be perfect! I went the full 24 hours and we let it rest for one hour. (And yes, a smaller turkey will cook for less time. The nice thing is that it's so low & slow that you can check it anytime and you have a large window of forgiveness. 

Now, for some other important info:

-I have a double oven, so it didn't effect my side dishes cooking. But even if you don't have a double oven, your turkey should rest for one hour before you slice it, so if any side dishes need to go into the oven, they can go in right after! Perfect, right?? 

- Many ovens have automatic shut-off after 12 hours! Please set an alarm to check it at the 12 he mark. Mine shut off at 8am & I just immediately turned it back on. No worries. 

- All you crispy skin freaks (like my husband), relax because even though the breast skin is not as crispy, the legs, thighs, wings & backside of the bird skin still is totally crispy! My roasting pan is somewhat elevated so even the breast meat got a little crispy! Score!! 

- If you are the family that brings the entire bird to the table, it may not look as pretty as you like. My family slices it in the kitchen and brings it out on platters, so I didn't care about "whole turkey presentation". It also didn't look that different upside down as you can see from the picture. (it was a little darker in person, this photo washed out some color.)

- The turkey is so tender, it literally separated the breasts from the legs & thighs! And you can kind of see the marks on the breast meat from being upside down. It still got color though. Check this out!

- This method yields 99% of the meat, it's crazy! The bones are clean & it pretty much falls apart but can still be sliced beautifully. My hubby did a great job! 

 We loved this recipe so much, it's the way will do it in my family from now on. Can't wait to have it again on Thursday! But everyone at our "Friends-giving" had zero complaints!! Amazing!!