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browning too quickly or drying out, create a foil “tent” to cover the turkey breast.This will help insulate the quicker- cooking breast and maintain its moisture. Remove the tent for the last 20 minutes of cooking for that nice, crisp, golden- brown skin. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving with Chef Ardoin this year, you’ll discover his secret for preparing the most flavor- ful turkey imaginable. “I like making a little compound butter and sticking it beneath the skin,” he says. He takes soft- ened butter and mixes it with salt, pep- per and fresh herbs — chopped parsley, green onion, fresh sage and rosemary. He puts on a pair of kitchen gloves (“Again,” he says, “safe handling practices.”) and separates the skin from the breast meat without tearing it. He takes the softened butter and gently works it beneath the skin. This keeps the breast moist and fla- vorful and crisps the skin nicely. “When that skin renders out, you can see flecks of herbs underneath sitting on the turkey breast. It’s beautiful and has a great fla- vor,” he says. Another method of preparing a turkey is called spatchcocking; this method has become particularly popular in the last few years. Spatchcocking involves carving out the turkey’s backbone and spreading the spineless, featherless fowl on a baking sheet with the breast facing up, the bird splayed open. It will slash the cooking time while allowing you also to indulge any latent and grisly Halloween impulses. The finished product will re- tain its moisture better simply because it doesn’t have to cook as long. To spatchcock a turkey, you will want first to brine it, just as you would a bird for a traditional roast. When ready to roast, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, brush the turkey with oil and, depending on its weight, cook for 70 to 90 minutes. (A 12-pound turkey will take approxi- mately 70 minutes.) Because your turkey is splayed open with no center cavity, a safe internal temperature is 165 degrees. Once the roasting is complete, you’ll discover a very even cooking of the legs, thighs and breast. (The breast is typical- ly the part of the bird that suffers most THE SPATCHCOCKED TURKEY

during a traditional roast, drying slowly over time. By opening the turkey with this technique, the breast will be far juic- ier and have more flavor.)

So you’ve roasted your turkey. The family is gathered around the table, and you stand, Charles Dickens-style, carving knife in one hand and carving fork in the other. It’s time to carve the bird. The order is pretty straightforward: Remove the legs and thighs, and separate them. Carve the breast meat. Remove the wings. Every- thing goes onto a platter. But what if you slice into the turkey, look inside, and find a pink, translucent mess? Your turkey is undercooked! What do you do? “To bring a turkey back to life,” says Ardoin, “the easiest, fastest and safest way to get it fully cooked is to cut the rest of the turkey off of the bone.” He suggests carving as stated above, setting the parts on a baking tray, and sticking the whole thing back in the oven. Don’t put the uncarved turkey back in the oven whole, he says, because the parts fully cooked will completely dry out. Rather, he says, expose as much of the raw, uncooked turkey to heat as possi- ble so that it cooks faster and is finished evenly. “Again,” he says, “that’s why you use a meat thermometer. It’s the easiest way to avoid this problem.” What about the opposite prob- lem? You carve into the turkey and it’s like plywood: the bird is an overcooked nightmare. “There’s nothing you can do about that,” says Ardoin. “You can’t resuscitate it, but you can take it and shred it and use it to make a turkey pot pie, because it will braise in the sauce. Or you can make turkey salad with a mayonnaise-based dressing. But that’s about all you’re going to be able to do with it.” IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY ! ! !

MAKING THINGS EASIER

Rouses is on a mission to make this Thanksgiving the easiest and most flavor- ful ever. The stores now carry brine bucket kits that take the guesswork out of preparation. The buckets include two giant resealable plastic bags and a salt- and-seasoning mixture. To create your brine, boil the mixture in about two quarts of water. Afterward, cool the solu- tion before mixing it in the bucket with a gallon of ice water.Wash your turkey, pat it dry, and submerge the bird in the brine, adding a little more ice and water to keep the bird submerged and its cavity filled. Seal the bucket and let it soak overnight. The next day, pull out the turkey, pat it dry, and get your oven ready for roasting.The brine bucket is a great all-in-one pack- age for people who don’t know seasoning ratios or don’t have the tools to do the job. And if you don’t have room in your fridge for a big brine bucket, you can use the included plastic bags. Drop the turkey in one, pour in the brine, and seal it. You can protect it from catastrophic leaks with a second bag. (It’s not a bad idea to lay the double-sealed brining bird in a roasting pan.) And don’t worry: The bucket includes a recipe card that tells you everything you need to know. But it can be even easier than that.What if I told you that you didn’t have to do anything at all to prepare your turkey? That you could just…pick up a perfectly prepared bird, and then tell everyone how hard you worked on it? Rouses offers two fully prepared, tradi- tional Thanksgiving dinners: a basic meal that includes a turkey and such sides as cornbread dressing, peas, gravy and rolls. It also offers a premium dinner with more sides in greater quantities. In addi- tion, you can buy the items à la carte: You can order only a prepared turkey or only a ham, or such items as sweet potato casse- role by the pound, gravy, cranberry relish, and macaroni and cheese. The meals are designed for families to get from box to table in about one hour.

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