roast turkey – moist, tender and juicy
Thanksgiving is just around the corner so, why not planning to cook a delicious roast turkey the Italian way with my brine method and secret for a moist, tender and juicy turkey?
Yes, delicious, turkey and tender in the same sentence could sound a little bit strange, but anything is possible at Thanksgiving, right?
Oh and I promise you’ll love this recipe! It’s so hearty! My friends loved it and they begged me to give them all the leftovers… well, how couldn’t I?
I know that turkey is a bland meat and it has to be treated perfectly to become good so I read a lot about brine turkey with water, salt and apple cider but I was a bit afraid of putting too much salt in it so I came up with an age-old Italian trick that was used by our grandmothers to tenderize game meat…. baking soda!!!
I’m italian and I’ve never cooked a whole turkey in my life. It was a big tricky for me due to its big size…. and you know how italian kitchens are… small oven, small fridge…. it was 8 kg / 18 lbs and I was thinking to cut it in pieces, but finally I cooked it wholly, it was just the length of the oven… wow!
I put it breast side down and the worst part for me was turning the bird over to brown the breast as well…. it was tooo tender that I thought it would broke, but luckily my mother in law helped me and we were able to turned it over with no harm.
I really think that americans have an appropriate kitchen tool to do this, don’t they???
Roast Turkey: Italian tips for a moist tender and flavourful turkey
Difficulty: difficult
Preparation: 15 minutes 
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Yield: 10 servings or more
BRINE INGREDIENTS (for about 8 Kg / 18 lbs turkey):
- 3 big rosemary sprigs
- 8-10 sage leafs
- few peppercorns to taste
- 8 garlic cloves cut in half
- 1/2 tbsp pure baking soda for each litres water / 2 tbsp pure baking soda for each gallon water
BRINE INSTRUCTIONS:
Put the bird in a large food box, cover with water and add all the ingredients. Close with a lid and leave the turkey with the mixture in the fridge for 24 hours.
SEASONING INGREDIENTS:
- a handful of lard from rendered pork fat (called “strutto” in Italian) – you can use butter instead
- 10 grams / 2 tsp for every kilo of meat (or 4 grams / 1 tsp for every pound of meat) of fine sea salt
- 2 rosemary sprigs, 5 sage leaves and 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 2 north Italian sausages (pork meat seasoned just with salt, pepper, garlic and white wine) – about 200 grams – 1/2 pound
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 4 sage leaves
- 1/4 onion
SEASONING INSTRUCTIONS:
Stuff the turkey with two sausages, 3 garlic cloves cut in half, rosemary, sage, onion and one tbsp salt (these will flavour the turkey from the inside as it cooks).
Cover the cavity with aluminium foil so that the aromatics won’t fall out while you’re roasting the turkey and if you want to keep the wings and legs close to the body while cooking, truss the turkey with a food string.
Place the turkey breast down on a rack over a roasting pan. That way the breast will be more juicy.
Cook the turkey at 200°C for the first 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 160°C for the next 2 hours and then reduce to 100°C until it’s done. Consider 40 minutes for every kilo of meat or 15 minutes for every pound of meat.
When the turkey is almost done, turn the turkey over and put under the broiler for 5 minutes to brown the breast (not to much though! or you’ll have a dry turkey breast).
The turkey is ready when clear juices (not pink) come out when you spear the breast with a fork or a knife or when the meat thermometer reaches 75°C.
For the cooking time I followed the post on Simply Recipes Blog, where you can find useful pictures and information on how to tie and close up the turkey cavity.
STUFFING INGREDIENTS (for about 8 Kg / 18 lbs turkey)
- 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp butter
- 800 grams / 1.8 pounds north Italian sausages chopped and case removed (pork meat seasoned just with salt, pepper, garlic and white wine)
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 200 grams / 7.0 ounces chestnuts
- 200 grams / 7.0 ounces cranberries
- 100 grams / 3 cups stale bread cubes (about 3/4 inch)
- 5-8 fresh sage leaves finely chopped
STUFFING INSTRUCTIONS:
(I like to cook the stuffing into a pan and not into the turkey because the latter takes less time to cook)
Put in a large pan 3 tbsp of butter, a stalk of celery, one onion finely chopped and cook until soft.
Add north-italian sausages and cook until little brown.
Pour white wine and allow alcohol to evaporate, then add chestnuts, cranberries, stale bread cubes, sage leaves finely chopped and water as needed to cover all the ingredients and cook until all liquid is absorbed. Adjust with salt if needed.
GRAVY INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup onion, carrot and celery mix chopped fine
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 2-3 tbsp unsalted butter mixed with 2-3 tbsp flour (roux)
- turkey stock/drippings as needed
You can make this gravy during the last 20 minutes of the cooking time of the turkey.
In a sauce pan add 3 tbsp butter and sauté vegetables until soft. After about 3 minutes add white wine and let alcohol evaporate.
Cook vegetables until done (about 5 minutes), remove from heat and blend them with a mixer.
Add the roux (a mixture of equal part of flour and butter) and return the sauce pan to the stove on medium heat. Add some turkey stock/drippings as needed (not too much though because it’s salty) and some water to adjust the thickness as you prefer. If it’s too liquid, add more roux.
I have to tell you that this gravy was soo good and it made the turkey meat really tasty, so it’s definitely a must for me!Serve the turkey on a serving plate with the chestnut stuffing, gravy and some good old fashioned mashed potatoes and it will be love at first bite!
Hope my tips could help you preparing a moist, tender and juicy turkey and I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
- 3 big rosemary sprigs
- 8-10 sage leafs
- few peppercorns to taste
- 8 garlic cloves cut in half
- ½ tbsp pure baking soda for each litres water / 2 tbsp pure baking soda for each gallon water
- a handful of lard from rendered pork fat (called "strutto" in Italian) - you can use butter instead
- 10 grams / 2 tsp for every kilo of meat (or 4 grams / 1 tsp for every pound of meat) of fine sea salt
- 2 rosemary sprigs, 5 sage leaves and 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 2 north Italian sausages (pork meat seasoned just with salt, pepper, garlic and white wine) - about 200 grams - ½ pound
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 4 sage leaves
- ¼ onion
- 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp butter
- 800 grams / 1.8 pounds north Italian sausages chopped and case removed (pork meat seasoned just with salt, pepper, garlic and white wine)
- ½ cup white wine
- 200 grams / 7.0 ounces chestnuts
- 200 grams / 7.0 ounces cranberries
- 100 grams / 3 cups stale bread cubes (about ¾ inch)
- 5-8 fresh sage leaves finely chopped
- 1 cup onion, carrot and celery mix chopped fine
- 3 tbsp butter
- ⅓ cup white wine
- 2-3 tbsp unsalted butter mixed with 2-3 tbsp flour (roux)
- turkey stock/drippings as needed
- Put the bird in a large food box, cover with water and add all the ingredients. Close with a lid and leave the turkey with the mixture in the fridge for 24 hours.
- After about 24 hours, remove the turkey from the fridge and drain it well. Leave it at room temperature for at least 1 hour (2 is better).
- Spread lard or butter all over the turkey. Season with salt and fresh herbs finely ground.
- Stuff the turkey with two sausages, 3 garlic cloves cut in half, rosemary, sage, onion and one tbsp salt (these will flavour the turkey from the inside as it cooks).
- Cover the cavity with aluminium foil so that the aromatics won't fall out while you're roasting the turkey and if you want to keep the wings and legs close to the body while cooking, truss the turkey with a food string.
- Place the turkey breast down on a rack over a roasting pan. That way the breast will be more juicy.
- Cook the turkey at 200°C for the first 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 160°C for the next 2 hours and then reduce to 100°C until it's done. Consider 40 minutes for every kilo of meat or 15 minutes for every pound of meat.
- When the turkey is almost done, turn the turkey over and put under the broiler for 5 minutes to brown the breast (not to much though! or you'll have a dry turkey breast).
- The turkey is ready when clear juices (not pink) come out when you spear the breast with a fork or a knife or when the meat thermometer reaches 75°C.
- Put in a large pan 3 tbsp of butter, a stalk of celery, one onion finely chopped and cook until soft.
- Add north-italian sausages and cook until little brown.
- Pour white wine and allow alcohol to evaporate, then add chestnuts, cranberries, stale bread cubes, sage leaves finely chopped and water as needed to cover all the ingredients and cook until all liquid is absorbed. Adjust with salt if needed.
- You can make this gravy during the last 20 minutes of the cooking time of the turkey.
- In a sauce pan add 3 tbsp butter and sauté vegetables until soft. After about 3 minutes add white wine and let alcohol evaporate.
- Cook vegetables until done (about 5 minutes), remove from heat and blend them with a mixer.
- Add the roux (a mixture of equal part of flour and butter) and return the sauce pan to the stove on medium heat. Add some turkey stock/drippings as needed (not too much though because it's salty) and some water to adjust the thickness as you prefer. If it's too liquid, add more roux.
- Cook for at least 5 minutes and it's done!
- Serve the turkey on a serving plate with the chestnut stuffing, gravy and some good old fashioned mashed potatoes and it will be love at first bite!
You can just use clean dish towels to turn the turkey over (so you can still use your hands but not burn them!). I love that the turkey took up your whole oven. This sounds like a great first attempt!
Thanks for your tip! By the way, next year I’ll try to find a smaller turkey… even if this was cooked perfectly but we had a lot of leftovers! Luckily my mother in law have a lot of new ideas on how to “recycle” it 😀 (she’s always able to think a new recipe in a minute)