What’s Your Turkey Personality?

"When you've been testing turkey recipes for 15 years, you come across some interesting techniques," says executive food director Lucinda Scala Quinn. "I am not firm about any one way of cooking a turkey. I recommend different things for different times and different cooks."

 

Check out our collection of methods for brining, dry rubbing, basting, roasting, grilling, smoking, deep-frying, and spatchcocking and find out which method is the ideal one for you this year.

"If you are a less experienced cook, brining leaves room for some margin of error, keeping the bird moist if you're shy about cooking accuracy," recommends Lucinda Scala Quinn. "That's why the turkey recipe in my Mad Hungry book calls for brining." Before beginning, make sure to clear out lots of refrigerator space, or get your hands on a big cooler packed with plenty of ice. 

“My favorite method is the overnight salt rub,” declares Sarah Carey. “Some people call it ‘dry brining,’ but because the liquid isn't reabsorbed via osmosis, it’s not technically brining at all. (Isn't science fun?) But the technique adds such great flavor -- especially when you add herbs and citrus zest to the salt rub, like we did in this recipe -- and results in a nice, crisp skin. This rub works as a last-minute thing too, so if you forget to rub the night before, don’t worry, there is still time. Throw it on right before you roast, and it will still add lots of flavor. Who doesn't want that?”

 

See Sarah prepare this turkey.

When the turkey's backbone is removed and the halves are flattened, it takes only a little more than an hour to roast the whole bird. Since this method doesn't allow for stuffing the bird, simply make a batch of turkey stock to flavor and moisten the stuffing as it bakes beside the turkey.

 

See the step-by-step photo instructions for spatchcocking a turkey.

Heritage turkeys are historic breeds unaltered by modern agriculture and are heralded by devotees for their superior taste and sustainability. Heritage birds have more dark meat, a proportionally smaller breast, and a more pronounced “turkey” flavor than the Broad Breasted White (your standard supermarket turkey). This roasted heritage bird gets a layer of butter between skin and meat before going into the oven, giving it crisp skin and moist breast meat.

It hardly gets more exciting than lowering a 15-pound turkey into a vat of boiling peanut oil. The results are flavorful and juicy meat with sensationally crispy skin.

Inspired by Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini's famous porchetta (a stuffed pork loin and belly), a whole, boned turkey is rolled up with fresh rosemary and fennel pollen, and wrapped in prosciutto.

This turkey's crunchy, sweet crust is the result of boiling down maple syrup until it's almost crystallized and then brushing it on the bird during the last hour of cooking for a taste of the New England woods in every bite.

Behold, the famed creation most often credited to Louisiana chef Paul Prudhomme, composed of three deboned birds -- a chicken, a duck, and a turkey -- stuffed inside of each other. This (slightly) simplified version calls for the breasts of a turkey and a duck, plus homemade forcemeat of chicken thighs and livers.

Notes of smoky, earthy Aleppo pepper and fresh orange juice give this turkey the exotic allure of warm and far-off lands.