With skepticism and an armor of hope, I courageously embarked on my Thanksgiving Day Journey with brined heritage turkey and high temp cooking instructions in hand.  The recipe I decided to follow, (and recommended to all those who chose a Heritage Naragansett or Bourbon Red from www.ourlocalfoods.com ), suggested a radical oven temperature of 425 degrees with NO BASTING!  This idea seemed  blasphemous and to be undermining of the basic truths of my Turkey Day ritualistic behavior.  How to endure the anticipation without a frequent peek?  How to know for sure the skin would not turn to pale rubber instead of a crispy bronze if we left it covered for the entire cooking time?  What assurance could I have that I would be able to carve the flesh of this annual culinary trophy without dousing it with pan juices at regular intervals?  Faith?

According to Sandra K. Miller, in an article posted on www.localharvest.org, the heritage turkey’s cooking style is as different as it’s lifestyle.  The differences include brining the bird before roasting, adding a liquid to the bottom of the roasting pan, and keeping the bird covered during the entire cooking time without basting.  It is suggested that a slathering on and under the skin with a butter/maple syrup blend will improve the succulence of the part of the bird that often becomes dry during roasting.  Additionally, I sprinkled the surface of the breast with a chopped fresh herb blend to impart some of the delicate flavors of the season from the garden at this time of year (in the south, our herbs are rejuvenated by cool temps and moisture in the fall).

Heritage Turkey (in parchment paper)

The ideal cover for the bird to roast evenly and fully is oiled parchment.  The circulating air of my convection oven seemed to only slightly notice the parchment around the pan, imparting a sleeve of crispy goodness by the sound of the bell.  My first realization when preparing the turkey for roasting was that I would need four hands to place the parchment paper around the roasting pan.  Without detailed instructions, but a fair amount of experience working with parchment paper, I summoned my daughter to the task and we came up with a plan.  We wrapped the long edge of the parchment paper around the perimeter of the roasting pan, overlapping the beginning and ending edges.  Pulling the paper snug around the lip of the roasting pan, we tied a twine “belt” around the paper to tightly secure it.  The cylinder of paper that rose up around the bird in the pan was folded over and in (sort of like folding an origami pocketbook).  As it was folded over, it held itself intact and became a perfect envelope around the bird.

My oven has a convection feature, and so we set the oven temperature at 410 degrees.  Weighing in at 20.63 pounds, we sheepishly placed the timer at 3 hours, shrugged our shoulders and hoped for the best.  When we committed ourselves to this cooking method, we took a “pinkie swear” not to baste and not to open the oven door.
At the end of the torturous three hours of uncertainty and fear of the worst, we pulled the roasting pan from the oven and opened the end of the “pocketbook”.  What we found was that the centerpiece of the celebration was quite extraordinary; it was cloaked in bronze, and the hinge of the bird’s thigh joint was relaxed with juices running clear.

All indications were in line for a completely abnormal result – a perfectly roasted turkey, tender and more full of flavor than we have ever experienced!

Now… well I’m a firm believer in the heritage turkey and the contemporary cooking temperature!

Best Wishes!
Maria

Tags: brine, Heritage Turkey, high temp cooking, Holiday cooking, local food, localharvest.org, roasted turkey, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, Turkey
Posted in Healthy Eating, KTC-recipes