How do I bake a heritage turkey?

November 23, 2005 5:44 PM

Give me your best guess (or, more preferably, personal experience) as to how to prepare this heritage turkey I've got!

The recommendations are wide ranging and often conflicting: High heat or low heat? Stuffed or filled with onion and herbs? Tented in oiled parchment paper or naked as a jay bird? Turn every half hour to brown evenly at high heat or roast slowly on a rack? Butter under the skin to self-baste or brine?

Help me, gluttons!

posted by readymade to food & drink (10 comments total)

The America's Test Kitchen technique is appealing: basically you butterfly the bird before cooking, then bake it on very high heat for a short amount of time. The downside: you don't get drippings from which to make stuffing, but you can always use good quality broth and reduce it to make your own. It's not really available online (the recipe), but if you're intrigued, email me (rossination [at] gmail dot com) and I'll hook you up. I may have a friend who may own the book and a scanner. Maybe.

Good luck at any rate. Hope that the bird's already defrosting!
posted by rossination at 5:54 PM on November 23, 2005

Make a glaze of butter, maple syrup, chx broth or apple cider, salt & chile. under skin and on top. baste every 20 mins. start at 450, turn down after 45 mins to 350, then maybe 4 hours, tent it in foil if it browns too fast.

make your stuffing separately, only stuff it with a sprig of rosemary, a chopped onion and a couple of lemons and apples.
posted by luriete at 6:04 PM on November 23, 2005

And yes the American Test Kitchen butterflied-bird is great too - my brother in law made it, cooked in an HOUR (a 10 lb bird!) and it was delicious and perfectly done.
posted by luriete at 6:05 PM on November 23, 2005

This Google Cache link to the ATK butterflied bird works if you turn off javascript first.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:10 PM on November 23, 2005

It's my understanding that heritage birds are best if cooked at lower temperatures for longer periods of time (6 hours or more at 275 degrees, with maybe the last half-hour at 375 to crisp the skin).
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:12 PM on November 23, 2005

There was an LA Times article a few days ago that recommended "moist roasting" (i.e. baking/steaming) your heritage bird. I'm really not sure of the rationale... but then again, I've never had one.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:17 PM on November 23, 2005

We made a heritage turkey a few years back, a Midget White from Townline Farm. Looking back at my blog entry, I remember now how chewy and tough the meat was, particularly the dark meat. I don't know what cooking technique will avoid that, but be aware the meat texture does not end up like the freakish supermarket turkeys.

Heritage turkeys were my first MeFi post.
posted by Nelson at 6:46 PM on November 23, 2005

Thanks, all! Food for thought. Heh.

I'll probably decide which method about three hours before the relatives show up. The stress makes it more exciting!
posted by readymade at 10:22 PM on November 23, 2005

Oh, if I can mention one more thing, please resist the temptation to baste. The stuff just rolls right off the bird after you put it on, and every time you open the oven, the temperature drops by a hundred degrees. Not worth it.
posted by rxrfrx at 7:05 AM on November 24, 2005

Too late for this Thanksgiving, but I thought I'd add this for archival purposes.

We have raised turkeys free-range in our backyard for about 8 years. For the first 7 of those years, we raised either Broad-breasted White (the modern, "commercial" breed) or Broad-breasted Bronze (basically the same bird, but with the "traditional" bronze plumage). This year we raised Bourbon Reds, a heritage breed, because we were told by people who should know that the heritage breeds are much more flavorful than the Broad-breasted.

We prepared two birds yesterday, a tom and a hen. As an experiment, we brined the tom, which means we soaked it overnight in heavily salted water (total immersion). Both birds were then roasted in those plastic oven bags (we always do that), at our normal turkey-roasting temperature (350° the whole time), with traditional bread stuffing. Yes, we are stodgy traditionalists when it comes to Thanksgiving fare.

Our conclusion?

Brining made a huge difference. The tom was much moister and much tenderer than the un-brined hen (usually, the hens are tenderer). In fact, it was definitely the best turkey we've ever had—on those two counts. But...we were unable to detect a significant difference in flavor between these birds and the birds we've raised in years past. So we've decided that the flavor difference people rave about is due to the method of husbandry—free-range, scratch-grain-fed vs. confined, commercial-mash-fed—and not due to the breed.

So, make sure you get a free-range, organic bird. Getting a heritage bird is good for reasons other than gastronomic—generally, you're supporting actual farmers who practice humane and sustainable husbandry instead of large, ecologically destructive corporations—but it doesn't buy you more flavor. Brine the bird. Then prepare as you usually do (luriete's suggestion looks delicious). I do recommend either the oven bags or a closed roaster for most of the roast time. (One advantage of the heritage birds when it came time to roast them, for us, was the much smaller size. They fit in our roasting pans. Try finding a turkey roaster that will hold a 22 lb. Broad-breasted.)
posted by bricoleur at 8:32 AM on November 25, 2005