Holiday Recipes
Nothing says Christmas more than Roasted Turkey and American
Apple Pie, Insider rounds up two delicious recipes to help
prepare you for the holiday!
How to Roast a Turkey
A guide by Melissa Clark from the New York Times
The turkey is the indisputable
centerpiece of the Thanksgiving
meal, the sun around which the
sweet potatoes, gravy and
cranberry sauce orbit. There are
plenty of techniques for cooking
a turkey, from braising to
frying to roasting upside down
and turning halfway, all of
which work perfectly well. But
sometimes the classic way is the
best.
To this end, we offer a recipe for the easiest, least fussy
roasted turkey there is. You don’t have to brine, stuff, truss
or baste it, and it tastes terrific — crisp-skinned, tenderfleshed, well-seasoned and, best of all, low-stress. But we
also talk you through brining, if you’d like to try it, and
stuffing and trussing too, and also provide tips for every
facet of turkey roasting we could think of to help you through
the holiday.
What you need
• It’s worth buying a decent roasting pan, one heavy enough
not to buckle under the weight of the bird, but light enough
for you to carry once your bird is in it.
• You’ll need a turkey rack, which you can usually buy along
with the pan. If you buy it separately, make sure it fits
inside the pan.
• An instant-read thermometer will help you determine when the
turkey is done.
• If you do plan to truss your bird, you’ll need butcher’s
twine.
Turkey Timeline
• 3 to 5 days ahead If your turkey is frozen (the vast
majority are), it will need to be defrosted. Do this in the
fridge, allowing 1 day for every 4 pounds of turkey. Put it in
a bowl or on a baking pan to catch any juices.
• 3 days ahead You can season the turkey while it defrosts. If
you’ve got a fresh bird, season it up to 3 days ahead.
• 1 to 2 hours ahead Take the turkey out of the fridge and
leave at room temperature before roasting. This will help it
cook evenly. If you haven’t seasoned it already, do so now.
• 2 to 6 hours for cooking Allow anywhere from 2 to 6 hours to
roast and rest the turkey, depending on its size and the
recipe.
Fresh or frozen?
Your turkey will be sold either fresh or frozen. Some cooks
swear by a fresh turkey, claiming that frozen varieties are
noticeably drier and not as flavorful. This is probably true
if you are able to preorder an organic or heritage fresh bird
from a small local farm. But when it comes to supermarket
turkey, the difference between fresh and frozen is negligible,
and a fresh turkey costs more. (A fresh turkey may also still
come partly frozen, since by law it can be kept chilled at a
temperature as low as 26 degrees; it may need a day in the
fridge to defrost.) Fresh turkeys should be bought no more
than 2 days before cooking.
Before you roast
• Do not wash your turkey after you remove it from its plastic
bag to season it; just pat it dry with paper towels. Any
potential bacteria will cook off
during roasting.
• Be sure to remove the sack
containing the neck and innards
from the cavity. Reserve them
for stock if you like. If the
bird is frozen, defrost for one
day, then you should be able to pry them out. (Beware:
sometimes the giblets are under the neck flap, not in the
cavity. Check the turkey thoroughly.)
Preparing the turkey
Brine: To brine or not to brine? For me, the answer is no.
Brining — the process of submerging a turkey in a salt-andaromatic solution — is the messiest and least convenient way
to ensure moist and evenly seasoned meat, which is the whole
point.
Instead I prefer seasoning the bird all over with a salt rub —
technically, a dry brine — and letting it sit for a few days,
or even hours, before roasting. It’s much easier to keep a
salted turkey in the fridge rather than having to figure out
where to store a bird covered in liquid.
But it’s for you to decide. (And either way, you can brine or
season a frozen bird as it defrosts.) Here’s what you need to
know.
Dry Brine
Combine 1/2 teaspoon salt per pound of turkey (use coarse
kosher or sea salt) with whatever aromatics you want to mix
into it. Rub this mixture all over the bird and refrigerate
for up to 3 days. In a pinch, you can season the bird just
before cooking, though the skin will be saltier than the
flesh. The simple roast turkey recipe below uses a dry brine.
Brine
It’s important to find a recipe for brine and stick to it,
without making substitutions. For instance, different
varieties of salt have different volumes; if your recipe calls
for 2 cups kosher salt, don’t substitute table salt or else
you’ll have an inedible bird. (Never brine kosher or selfbasting turkeys, both of which have already been salted.)
The safest way to brine is to submerge the turkey in the salt
solution, cover it, and leave it in the refrigerator. If you
don’t have room, you can also try brining in a cooler (as long
as the turkey can fit, completely covered by the solution,
with the lid on). You’ll have to be vigilant about maintaining
the temperature of the solution. Check it with a kitchen
thermometer at regular intervals to be sure it stays between
26 and 40 degrees. To keep it cool without diluting the salt,
place ice cubes sealed in plastic bags into the brining bath,
replacing the cubes once they melt. Or, if you live in a cold
climate, place your cooler outside.
Stuffing
Whether you call it stuffing or dressing, the savory bread
mixture that you may or may not cook inside your turkey is an
integral part of the Thanksgiving meal. Generally speaking,
stuffings are cooked inside the bird, while dressings are
baked in a casserole dish on the side, but the words are often
used interchangeably. Both methods have their merits.
Dressing
Baking the dressing separately allows the top to brown and
crisp. Bonus: an unstuffed turkey cooks faster and more evenly
than a stuffed one. This is the biggest reason why, at our
house, we bake the stuffing outside the bird, which leaves
space in the cavity for aromatics to season the bird. Try
placing onion and lemon quarters, bay leaves, peeled garlic,
celery leaves, parsley and thyme in the turkey before
roasting.
Then, for that turkey flavor you sacrifice by not stuffing the
bird, you can add stock and bits of crispy fried turkey skin
to your dressing. (Take scraps of skin from the bird. If they
are fatty, throw them into a dry pan, or else add a slick of
oil, and fry over medium heat until well-browned. Salt
immediately after frying.) You can also add any diced cooked
turkey gizzards and shredded neck meat that you used for
stock, along with the turkey liver, sautéed in butter and
diced. Just don’t forget to make a vegetarian version if
necessary.
Stuffing
Cooking the stuffing inside the bird allows the poultry juices
and rendering fat to flavor the stuffing. You can make the
stuffing up to 4 days ahead and keep it refrigerated until the
last minute, but only stuff right before the bird goes into
the oven. Stuffing expands as it cooks, so fill the turkey
loosely.
One important caveat on timing: if your stuffing recipe calls
for shellfish or turkey giblets, they need to be fully cooked
and kept hot for maximum food safety before stuffing, says the
U.S.D.A. So add those at the last minute just before the
stuffing goes into the bird.
Stuffing slows down the roasting, so if your recipe calls for
an unstuffed bird, add at least 30 minutes onto the cooking
time (more if it’s a bigger bird). Take the temperature of the
stuffing before pulling your turkey out of the oven. Both
turkey and stuffing must reach 165 degrees. If the turkey is
done but the stuffing isn’t — a likely scenario — take the
turkey out of the oven to rest, transfer the stuffing to a
casserole dish and put it back in the oven until it reaches
the proper temperature. Do not leave the turkey in the oven
while the stuffing catches up, temperature-wise; the bird
could easily overcook in those extra minutes.
Trussing
If you don’t stuff your turkey, you really don’t need to truss
it. Allowing untrussed wings and legs to have hot air
circulating around them helps
them cook faster, so the white
and dark meat will all be done
at the same time. I stopped
trussing my unstuffed birds
years ago and my turkeys are the
better for it.
If you do stuff your bird,
trussing, or at least tying up the drumsticks, helps keep the
stuffing in its proper place, especially when you are moving
the bird from the roasting pan to the cutting board. Here’s
the simplest way to do it.
Place the turkey breast side up on the rack in the roasting
pan. Criss-cross the legs and use a piece of butcher’s twine
to tie them together at the ends, just above the joint. Wrap
the twine twice around the legs to make sure they are secure.
Take a long piece to twine and loop it around the body of the
bird, so that the wings are pressed against the breast.
Tightly tie the twine in a knot or bow at the top of the
breast.
The trussed turkey is now ready to roast.
Simple Roast Turkey
Makes 10 to 12 servings
There are so many ways to roast a turkey. You can cook it low
and slow, at 325 F (165 C) degrees for hours and hours until
it’s done. You can blast it with 450 F (230 C)degree heat at
the beginning of cooking to give it color and crisp the skin,
then reduce the oven temperature to 350 F (175 C) degrees. You
can reverse this, starting out with a low temperature and
blasting the heat at the end. You can leave the bird breast
side up the whole time, or turn it over halfway through.
All of these methods work, and only trial and error will
determine which is best for you. The recipe below is simple
and direct, with stellar results. Or see this chart for
approximate cook times if you just want to put the bird in a
350 F degree (175 C) oven. More tips for roasting are below,
too.
Ingredients
• 1 turkey (10-12 lb or 4.5-5.5 kg)
• Coarse kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 lemon, zested and quartered
• 1 bunch fresh thyme or rosemary
• 1 bunch fresh sage
• 12 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 1 bottle hard apple cider (12 ounces)
• Dry white wine, as needed
• 2 onions, peeled and quartered
• 3 bay leaves
• Olive oil or melted butter, as needed
Preparation
1. Remove any giblets from the cavity and reserve for stock or
gravy. Pat turkey and turkey neck dry with paper towel; rub
turkey all over with 1/2 teaspoon salt per pound of turkey,
the pepper and the lemon zest, including the neck. Transfer to
a 2-gallon/7.5 litres (or larger) resealable plastic bag. Tuck
herbs and 6 garlic cloves inside bag. Seal and refrigerate on
a small rimmed baking sheet (or wrapped in another bag) for at
least 1 day and up to 3 days, turning the bird over every day
(or after 12 hours if brining for only 1 day).
2. Remove turkey from bag and pat dry with paper towels. Place
turkey, uncovered, back on the baking sheet. Return to the
refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours to dry
out the skin (this helps crisp it).
3. When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove it from the
refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for one
hour.
4. Heat oven to 450 F (230 C) degrees. In the bottom of a
large roasting pan, add the cider and enough wine to fill the
pan to a 1/4-inch depth. Add half the onions, the remaining 6
garlic cloves and the bay leaves. Stuff the remaining onion
quarters and the lemon quarters into the turkey cavity. Brush
the turkey skin generously with oil or melted butter.
5. Place turkey, breast side up, on a roasting rack set inside
the roasting pan. Transfer pan to the oven and roast 30
minutes. Cover breast with aluminum foil. Reduce oven
temperature to 350 F (175 C) degrees and continue roasting
until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest
part of a thigh reaches a temperature of 165 F (75 C)degrees,
about 1 1/2 to 2 hours more. Transfer turkey to a cutting
board to rest for 30 minutes before carving.
General tips for turkey roasting
Size of turkey Approximate cook time at 350 F (175 C) degrees
9–11 pounds (4-5 kg) 2½ hours
12–14 pounds (5.5-6.5 kg) 3 hours
15-17 pounds (7-8 kg) 3½ hours
18-20 pounds (8-9 kg) 4 hours
21–23 pounds (9.5-10.5 kg) 4½ hours
24+ pounds 5+ hours
• Basting: Some people swear by basting, but I never baste
anymore. Every time you open the oven door to baste, you let
the heat out. Basting also gives you a less crisp skin.
Instead of basting, rub fat (butter, olive oil or coconut oil,
for example) all over the bird just before you tuck it into
the oven. Then leave it alone until it’s time to check for
doneness.
• Checking temperature: Start taking the turkey’s temperature
at least 15 minutes before you think it might be done. To
check its temperature, insert an instant-read thermometer into
the thickest part of the thigh and under the wing, making sure
you don’t touch any bones.
• How to tell when it’s done: Your bird is done when its
internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Don’t be alarmed if
the thigh meat near the bone still looks pink. Some turkeys
are naturally pinker than others and a fully cooked bird will
often have that color.
• How long should it rest out of the oven: Once your turkey is
cooked, let it rest out of the oven, covered loosely with
foil, for 20 to 30 minutes before carving.
• Aromatics for the pan: To add
flavor to both the turkey (and
the gravy, if you’re using pan
drippings), you’ll want to add
aromatics to the turkey cavity
and to the bottom of the pan.
Some combination of herbs,
peeled garlic cloves, quartered
onions and lemons, apples, mushrooms, celery, carrots and bay
leaves can be used in both places. Then cover the bottom of
the pan with a ¼ inch of liquid (wine, cider, beer, broth,
water) so the drippings don’t burn.
How to Bake Classic, American Apple Pie
From Jamie Oliver
Obviously apple pie is one of the all-time classic desserts.
My tip to you is to use both cooking and eating apples in the
filling. The best apple pies I’ve ever made are from apples
bought at farmers’ markets where you can pick up lots of
different varieties.
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
for the pastry250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g icing sugar
sea salt
1 lemon
125g cold butter, plus extra for greasing
1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic
a splash of milkfor the filling1 large Bramley cooking apple
4 eating apples (try Cox’s or Braeburn)
3 tablespoons Demerara or muscovado sugar
½ teaspoon ground ginger
a handful of sultanas or raisins
½ a lemon
To make your pastry
•
•
a
•
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF gas-4
You can make your pastry like this (by hand), or pulse it in
food processor
From a height, sieve your flour into a large mixing bowl
• Add the sugar, a pinch of salt, and finely grate over the
zest of the lemon
• Cut the butter into cubes, then add to the bowl
• Use your fingertips to gently work the butter into the flour
and sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
• Crack the egg into the bowl with a tiny drop of milk and
gently mix with your hands until the dough comes together
• Wrap it in clingfilm and pop in the fridge to rest while you
make the filling
To make your filling
• Use a speed peeler to peel all of your apples
• Cut the Bramley apple into sixths and the eating apples into
eighths, get rid of the cores
• Add all the apple pieces to a small pan with the muscovado
sugar, ginger and sultanas or raisins
• Finely grate over the zest of half a lemon, then squeeze in
a little juice
• Toss to mix then put the pan on a medium low heat
• Simmer gently for 5 minutes or until the apples are just
tender
• Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely
To make and cook your pie
• Dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with flour
• Divide your pastry dough into two and roll out one half
until ½cm thick
• Carefully roll your pastry around the rolling pin, then
unroll it carefully over a 20cm pie dish
• Ease the pastry into the dish, making sure you push it into
all the sides
• Don’t worry if it tears or breaks – just patch it up – it
will look nice and rustic
• Pack the apple mix tightly into the pie dish
• Separate your remaining egg and beat the yolk with a splash
of milk and brush over the pastry rim
• Roll out the other piece of dough until ½cm thick
• Carefully roll the pastry around the rolling pin, then
unroll it over the top of the pie
• Fold the excess pastry back in then pinch and crimp the
edges together using your finger and thumb
• Brush the top of the pie with more egg wash, then using a
small sharp knife, make a couple of small incisions in the
centre of the pie to let steam escape as it cooks
• Bake in the hot oven for 40 to 45 minutes until golden and
firm to the touch
• Serve with good-quality custard or ice cream