The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 755

THE PERFECTIONIST: THANKSGIVING TURKEY TWO WAYS We’ve already talked about the problems of cooking poultry, the main one being that legs and breasts need to cook to different temperatures If you’re not too worried about absolute perfection, the recipe here will do you just fine The hot steel or stone will help the thighs cook fast enough to keep abreast of the, er, breast If true perfection is what you’re after though, you’re better off breaking the turkey down into parts to be cooked individually That way, the breast and legs can be cooked to precisely the right temperature The divide and conquer method mostly works for turkey, save for one small problem: while it’s far easier to cook the breast alone than a whole bird, the narrower, tapered end of the breast can still overcook and dry out, meaning that at least one family member is going to get stuck with subpar turkey (sorry, Granddad) Lowering the oven temperature helps—roasting it at 250°F rather than cooking it at a normal 300° to 350°F range promotes more even cooking between the edges and center and between the thick and thin parts—but it’s not quite enough What I needed was a way to even out the shape of my turkey breast, and while I’m confident there are bioengineers hard at work developing turkeys with perfectly cylindrical breasts, for the time being, I had to resort to some kitchen surgery So, how you take an unevenly shaped turkey breast and turn it into a perfect cylinder? Simple Remove the breasts from the bones and put them together head-to-heels, then wrap the whole thing up with their breast skin and tie it up to roast slowly Then, after the breast is cooked, brown it on the stove top to crisp up the skin This method offers a few distinct advantages: • Even cooking Because of its symmetrical shape, the turkey breast cooks through along its entire length at the same rate Nobody gets stuck with a dry piece • Better seasoning By removing the breasts from the carcass, you expose more surface area and you can then season the breasts on both sides before assembling the turkey roll • Easier carving With no bones and an even shape, carving the turkey breast is as simple as slicing a tenderloin • Better gravy With the bones from the breast at your disposal, it’s easy to make a delicious very turkey-ey gravy It all sounds great, right? And it is, but after all the work I’ve done on improving those darn breasts, the legs are beginning to feel a little left out Should they be content with plain old roasting? Well, sure—if you feel like it you can just add them to the baking sheet while the breast roll cooks and make sure they reach at least 160° to 170°F degrees before taking them out and following the same searing ... cylinder? Simple Remove the breasts from the bones and put them together head-to-heels, then wrap the whole thing up with their breast skin and tie it up to roast slowly Then, after the breast is cooked, brown it... on the stove top to crisp up the skin This method offers a few distinct advantages: • Even cooking Because of its symmetrical shape, the turkey breast cooks through along its entire length at the. .. Nobody gets stuck with a dry piece • Better seasoning By removing the breasts from the carcass, you expose more surface area and you can then season the breasts on both sides before assembling the turkey roll •