8 top turkey roasting tips from a 4th generation turkey farmer

Diestel was very generous with her time and walked us through the turkey roasting process from start to finish. Their main themes were preparation, simplicity and trying to relax and have fun. We think this is pretty great life advice too.

1. Take a Deep Breath (and Buy a Good Bird)

When we asked Diestel for her top tip, it had nothing to do with the actual preparation of the bird. “The biggest problem I see is the anxiety that comes with frying the bird,” she says. People worry a lot about this because they don’t do it often, and so they get into the situation and think, “Holy goodness, I’m going to screw this up, and it’s for my whole family.” That’s a lot of pressure.

If you buy a good quality bird, you can forget about fear because the bird will do the work. If you have a really good quality product, it’s much easier to make it taste delicious. It’s like buying a really good, juicy, delicious, tasty tomato that’s local and in season, instead of buying it at the supermarket and it’s neither in season nor local.

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2. Check the bird

Once you have the bird home, make sure you prepare it properly. “Check the bird before roasting,” she says. “People buy a turkey and don’t realize how cold it is, especially natural and organic birds with no preservatives. They’ll be really, really solid and cold.”

Diestel says most turkeys are “supermarket cold,” meaning they have been stored in poultry refrigerators set at 28 to 30 degrees. For comparison: most household refrigerators have a temperature between 35 and 38 degrees. As a general rule of thumb, you should let your turkey thaw in the refrigerator for one day for every four pounds of bird. Diestel says you want the bird to be tender and oven-ready so it cooks evenly. (If this is not the case, we have some ideas to speed up the defrosting process.)

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3. Keep it simple

There are many different schools of thought when it comes to seasoning your turkey. Some like a dry brine, others swear by a wet brine. We’ve also seen people use mayonnaise and parmesan cheese to make crispy turkey skin. But Diestel and her family prefer a simpler approach.

“I think it’s super fun to experiment because turkey can take on so many flavors, but for Thanksgiving we’re keeping it simple,” she says. “Thanksgiving has a lot to offer. You have a lot of sides, you have people coming over and I don’t want to deal with the turkey. I just want it to be easy and delicious. So we just rub it with salt, paprika and olive oil. The salt gives it flavor, the paprika gives it a nice red color that roasts beautifully, and that’s it. We stick the turkey in and let it do its thing, and we focus on the family, drinking a cocktail and making the mashed potatoes.

Once the turkey is seasoned and in the pan, add a little water or stock to the roasting pan to make sure the drippings don’t burn.

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4. To stuff or not to stuff?

It’s a hot topic of conversation around Thanksgiving, but Diestel’s family is firmly in the turkey-eating camp.

“Oh man. Stuffing the bird is by far the best part. All of the turkey’s juices mix with the stuffing. I find that the filling takes on such a dynamic flavor that you can’t get in a pan. Cooking them in the pan gives turkey a flavor that is second to none.”

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5. Consider taking it slow and slow

Temperatures when cooking turkey are also a hot topic around Thanksgiving. Some people prefer to cook the bird at high temperature to crisp the skin and then reduce the heat to cook the meat. Here too, the Diestel family relies on simplicity. “We are a humble and slow family,” says Diestel. We roast our turkey at 325°.

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6. Yes, you need a thermometer

Once your turkey is ready to bake, make a mental note of how the bird will cook. This will help you plan your meal – and make sure you have a meat thermometer.

“Cooks have to remember mass and oven, ovens and mass. The bird will cook more quickly in the second half of your roasting time than in the first half, because as the large animal absorbs it and cooks and cooks and cooks, “The drippings flow over the whole mass into the oven, the meat becomes in the second half warmer,” says Diestel.

“That’s why it’s really important to check your turkey with a thermometer. You can use a fancy thermometer or do it the old fashioned way where you check the bird with the basic thermometer, but if you check the bird’s temperature halfway through, which is ideal as it will be quicker in the second half garden. You want to remove the turkey from the oven before it is over-roasted.

For a tender, juicy turkey, aim for a temperature of 350°F. However, remember that a turkey is a large piece of meat, which means the temperature will rise as it rests outside the oven. Also remember that when you stuff your turkey, the stuffing also needs to reach 350°F.

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7. Skip the basting and start making your sauce in the oven

Diestel’s family doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on basting the bird while cooking because depending on how often you baste the bird, there’s a risk that the skin won’t be as crispy and opening and closing the oven can increase the cooking time . As she mentioned, the family also likes to put the turkey in the oven and move on to other things. The less babysitting, the better.

The only thing they do is help the gravy a little during the cooking process. “About halfway through the roasting time, we pour about a cup of white wine, for example a nice, tasty Chardonnay, something really buttery or earthy, into the roasting pan,” she says. “It gives the sauce a good flavor.”

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8. Give yourself a break

This is one of those full circle moments. Remember when Diestel said to take it easy when thinking about roasting a turkey? Well, the bird also needs a break when it comes out of the oven. This final rest will help both the cook and the turkey.

“When it comes out of the oven, cover it with foil, tape it to the counter, and let it sit there for 30 minutes while you reheat the casserole, crisp up the potatoes on top, and do whatever else you want have to do.” Says Diestel. “And then carve your bird after the rest period. This is crucial to lock in all the juices. If you slice the bird directly five minutes after removing it from the oven, the juices will literally squirt out the turkey, and that’s not what you want. You want all of those juices trapped in the meat.

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