Peking Turkey?
November 29th, 2013 · 1 Comment · Posted in dinner
If you like really crispy skin on your turkey, try this: A full 24 hours before you put the bird in the oven, unwrap it, clean it and salt it aggressively for flavor. Then place the turkey on your roasting rack inside a pan and place it uncovered in the refrigerator. The fridge will suck all the moisture out of the skin and the skin will turn up beautifully browned and crispy when you cook it. Here’s our meal yesterday, all made from scratch by my wife the catering chef, including the cranberry sauce, stuffing, maple-seasoned squash, mashed potatoes and onion casserole. The turkey came from a farm in Vermont, purchased at the local food co-op here. It was a 17-pound bird and took three hours to roast, the thighs measuring 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. I turned the drippings into gravy: equal parts fat and flour, the drippings, stock made from the neck and gizzards, heavy cream from a local dairy. It was a great meal, shared with family who drove 400 miles from Annapolis to be with us.
The turkey was delish, as was everything else on the plate. The company….they were alright. ;0)