I’m in a quandry as to how to prepare the local pastured turkey I got for Christmas dinner. My Internet searches have been more puzzling than helpful:
- This piece on MSNBC about the “best” turkey, reports that Cook’s Illustrated editors basically didn’t like their pastured turkey. It goes on to give tips on roasting, but, assuming they used these very methods for their unsatisfactory pastured turkey, I’m not sure I want to follow the suggestions.
- I looked at a couple of sites associated with pastured turkeys. The Bechard Family Farm says to roast it to a temperature of 160-165 degrees, and no seasonings are necessary. At grassfedrecipes.com, they offer up the roast-frozen method, which I only recently learned about, or a basic roasting instruction, but with the note to roast to a temp of 180 degrees. Over at the localharvest.org forum, there’s another endorsement of the higher internal temperature.
- Over at Salon.com, chef Dan Barber recommends “blasting” your pastured turkey at about 550 degrees or cooking it low and slow, at around 260 degrees. Like the interviewer, I, too, am a bit scared by both those methods.
- Ed Bruske’s method at The Slow Cook makes sense to me—start it hot to brown the top, then lower the heat, turn the turkey breast down so as not to dry out the breast—but he doesn’t define “done” by temperature. Sigh.
I did make one decision—not to do the roast-frozen method. As much as I’m intrigued by it, I have to assume it was developed with an industrial bird. Also, I’m leaving open the option of whether to brine it or not. The MSNBC piece would certainly make me think so. The Bechard family would make me think not.
If anyone can advise me on this or can point me to someone who can, please let me know! Or if you have experience with a pastured turkey, let me know how it went. FYI, this one is 16 pounds, broad-breasted white.
The cooking session I recently spent with the chef at the local Charlie Palmer’s likes the idea of brining a pastured turkey even for a few hours with something like apple cider, bourbon, etc., just to add flavor. Or even just injecting a flavored brine into the bird.
Personally, I want to taste the unadulterated flavor of a tenderly raised turkey. So I don’t mess with the brine, although I’d be willing to try it. Otherwise, you have a perfectly sized turkey for roasting. After cleaning it thoroughly in the sink, I would pat it dry and leave it out on the counter for several hours to bring it up to room termperature. Then season all over with salt and pepper, stuff the inside with onion, garlic, rosemary, sage. I don’t even bother trussing the bird.
I think all the hand-wringing over how best to cook a turkey is a bit silly. I follow a modified James Bird method of roasting. Turn the oven up to 450 and put the bird in, breastside-up, for about 1/2 hour to start the browning, then turn the oven town to 325, remove the bird from the oven and turn it one-quarter, roast another 1/2 hour, turn the bird to the other side, roast another 1/2 hour. Finally, turn the bird breastside down and finish the cooking. My guess is your bird will take something less than 2 1/2 hours to cook. But I’m sure you know how to test for doneness.
Good luck!
Janet Majure // Dec 22, 2007 at 9:31 am
Thanks, Ed. I’ve never worried over a turkey, particularly, but I want to make sure that this one, which is bound to be different from the “traditional” Butterball or similar, is really good so that family members aren’t too greatly reaffirmed in their conviction that I’m crazy. :)
Gosh, I think some of what I sent you got lost in the translation. I definitely judge doneness by temperature. Some chefs advocate 155 degrees (chefs very often tilt to less being more), I look for 160 degrees as measured by and instant-read thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the thigh. And remember, the actual sensor on most instant-read thermometers is located about 1 1/2 inches from the tip of the probe. It appears as a small dent in the probe shaft.
Hope that helps.
Janet Majure // Dec 23, 2007 at 10:16 am
Thanks, Ed. I didn’t know that about the thermometer, and I have wondered. And I won’t worry about going for 180!
Bonnie // Dec 23, 2007 at 9:40 pm
I’m with Ed. Don’t brine the first time (even though my chef-y friends all swear by it), go for a simple taste. I cooked a little 10-pound pastured turkey essentially the same way as Ed advises above, except I did rub butter all over it before seasoning it. I went for 155 degrees temperature and let it rest a good 30 minutes before carving, during which the thigh hit 160 (don’t forget to catch all the juices for your gravy). Oh, and usually with pastured birds you get your “bits” (neck, liver, heart) — be sure to use them in the gravy!
Janet Majure // Dec 24, 2007 at 7:46 am
No brine it is. One less step/task between now and tomorrow’s 12:30 p.m. dinner!
Joanne // Dec 25, 2007 at 8:55 am
Probably too late now, but my best turkeys (heritage breeds, mind you) were all cooked like oversized roasted chickens…started at 425 and then reduced to 375 and cooked based on size/weight. I may have stuffed a lemon or some garlic inside, salt and pepper, olive oil rub, and maybe some herbs if I felt like it. (popular ones here include rosemary, or za’atar, or whatever else I feel like using at the time. Key to the process is not overcooking…yes, it should be cooked through but not all dry and icky at the end. Luckily, I haven’t cooked one turkey this here, so my method is a little rusty. Hope yours is wonderful!
Diners praise pastured bird | foodperson.com // Dec 25, 2007 at 8:29 pm
[…] roasted it pretty much as Ed and Joanne suggested in the comments on this turkey post. I put a hunk of onion, a fat clove of garlic, a half-dozen leggy sprigs from my rosemary plant and […]
Bechard Family Farm // Jul 30, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I realize this post was made quite some time ago, but I just stumbled upon it. Our turkey cooking advice came from the book “Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook”. Our family and our customers have had very good results using lower cooking temperatures. Please reference Grassfed author Shannon Hayes’ site at http://grassfedcooking.com/
I think you would be as pleased as our family and customers are.
We have heard mixed reviews about brining. Most say it will dry out the meat, while others swear by how good it is. We’ve never tried it.
Janet Majure // Jul 30, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Thanks, Bechard Family. I’m aware of the website and cookbook (although I wasn’t when I wrote this post), but last time I checked the book wasn’t available, darn it. I appreciate the recommendation, though. It may provoke a book hunt on my part.