No Need to Get Fancy to Get Good Turkey Meat

Deep-frying. Wood-smoking. Sous vide. The mind-numbing number of suggestions for mining flavor from the typically unforgiving Thanksgiving bird have proliferated in recent years.

This photo taken Nov. 2, 2009 shows that rubs are a great way to tailor your Turkey Day bird to...

This photo taken Nov. 2, 2009 shows that rubs are a great way to tailor your Turkey Day bird to your specific taste. A Brown sugar and cider turkey rub is slathered both on and under the birds skin prior to roasting to give it a rich and sweet flavor. (AP Photo/Larry Crowe)

(AP)

This year, leave them all behind.

For tasty fowl on Turkey Day, the new thing can be the old thing: a classic one-two punch of an overnight brine followed by a quick morning rub before the bird goes into the oven for a slow roast.

The good news is that while the process requires a little planning, little hands-on time is needed. And the payoff — white meat that doesn't need a gravy bath to be choked down — is worth it.

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THE BRINE

"It's a couple of minutes, but you are going to get much more flavor," Jack Bishop, of Cook's Illustrated magazine, says of brining, a technique in which the turkey is bathed in seasoned salt water to help it retain moisture during roasting.

"The theory behind brining is that the white meat tends to overcook, and by the time the dark meat cooks the white is dried out. I brine my turkey Wednesday night and in the morning I am good to go."

Brining is essentially what Butterball has been doing for decades. And that's the caveat. Don't brine a bird that's already been plumped with a salted, seasoned solution, such as a kosher bird, says Bishop. Be sure to read the labels.

The one disadvantage is that the drippings (and even the turkey) can be salty. To moderate this, most people add sugar to the brine. Brent Young, one of the butchers at The Meat Hook in Brooklyn, N.Y., likes brown sugar.

"The sugar balances the salt a little," he says. "Also, the sugar will penetrate the skin as well. And since sugar browns so well, you get that picture perfect golden hue to your turkey. Brown sugar is better than regular for a more caramelized flavor."

Because a turkey must be refrigerated during brining, you need a bucket large enough to hold the bird (plus liquid), yet small enough to fit in your refrigerator. Alternatively, most grocers sell special bags for brining turkeys. These fit more easily in most refrigerators.