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Cooks Illustrated's herbed turkey results.

J Straus
J Straus Posts: 54
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Well, just to add a few cents here at turkey time because I'm sure many a TG turkey will be done in a BGE...

I did my first Egged turkey yesterday. I wanted to try the Cooks Illustrated recipe and the BGE, and will be out of town for Thursday, so I figured Sunday football would have to do as a nucleus for the event.

I digress.

I used the below paste recipe and rubbed under the skin on the breast (separating from the large cavity side, or bottom of the breast.) I also cut in along the ribcage under the breast from the neck side with a fillet knife and packed herb past in there. This gets the mix under the breast and it permeates well during the cook.

I was a little concerned that the past may be too intense with that much parsley etc., but it was not. I did a 13 lb. bird and didn't use all the paste, wanting to err on the safe side. If doing again, I would use leftover paste in butter for the full body rub down.

Anyway, it turned out beautifully cooking at almost 400 degrees in foiled lined V rack breast down for 1st hour. Then flipped and cooked another 1.5 hours. I pulled at 160 breast temp and 175 thigh (BIG thanks to TNW and Mad Max's suggestion to ice the breast before cooking!) I would have pulled a little lower before resting, I think it came out SLIGHTLY overdone, but it was great. We breasted and then sliced the breast w/ serrated knife, and that worked great too. Herbs and Skin for each slice of breast.

The herbs are definitely worth a go, the meat picks up the flavor and I'm glad to say it's subtle. Give it a try!

Happy holidays all,

Justin

Did the paste as follows:

1 1/4 cups chopped fresh parsley (roughly chopped)
4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves (roughly chopped)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 medium shallot , minced (about 3 tablespoons)
2 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest , from 1 lemon
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil

Comments

  • Thanks for sharing. How was the gravy?
  • Gravy (basically the CI recipe too) was great. I browned neck and stuff, then sweated onion, carrot, celery for about 20 and then added stock to simmer, then strained and then added to medium brown roux (1/4 C flour and 3 T of oil). Stripped the neck and minced with liver, gizzard, and heart and added back with the drippings. It turned out great. I used chicken stock for liquid but next time want to do Max's stock instead of low sodium chicken stock. Mine was reduced quite a bit and I'm very glad I didn't add any salt because it was on the rich side and didn't need any.

    Worked great!

    Justin
  • I appreciate it. Have a Great Thanksgiving!