Mackensy LunsfordNashville Tennessean
There are turkey hacks that sound dubious at best. Deep-fried turkey sounds downright dangerous.
But Linton Hopkins' go-to turkey trick, which yields a crisp, shattering crust he likens to laminated baked goods, is more than a trendy technique. It's a recipe that just might change the way you think of Thanksgiving dinner.
Atlanta-based chef Hopkins roasts his turkey "shrouded" with cheesecloth that's first dipped in a mixture of white wine and melted butter.
"It's my go-to turkey right now," said Hopkins, co-founder of Holeman & Finch. "I love the ritual of it, too. Like, trust me, I can just take a turkey and pop it in the oven and just rub a bunch of butter on it and it's going to come out great."
But Hopkins, with his extensive turkey-roasting experience, said this recipe stands head and shoulders above the rest. That's because the cheesecloth holds turkey fat, wine and melted butter on the surface of the bird as it roasts, allowing plenty of time for fat, acid and salt to work its magic.
Hopkins likes to combine with the melted butter an unoaked Chardonnay and dry vermouth, which adds a touch of sherry-like flavor without cloying sweetness.
After two hours of basting and roasting, peel back the butter "shroud" from the turkey and prepare for greatness as the skin blisters.
"It creates a beautiful, crispy shell, like the outer layer of a croissant," Hopkins said.
The recipe and notes below come from Hopkins.
Ingredients
- 1 unbrined turkey (16 to 18 pounds is ideal)
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt, Diamond Crystal
- 2 tablespoons medium ground black pepper
- 2 cups room temperature butter, unsalted
- 750 ml bottle of white wine
- 2-3 cups sage herb stuffing (storebought is fine), or enough to pack the bird without overfilling
- 2 cups of onions, thinly sliced into rings
- 1 garlic head, top sliced off to expose cloves
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 quart turkey or chicken stock (homemade is preferred)
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Instructions
Rinse turkey, inside and out, and pat dry. Cut off wing tips (reserve for stock). Season thoroughly with salt and pepper inside and out and let sit unwrapped in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow salt to penetrate.
Stuff the turkey cavity with stuffing and truss with desired method. (I truss so that the string isn’t too tight and doesn’t cut across the breast.) Preheat oven to 475.
In a large roasting pan, scatter onions over the base. Place stuffed, trussed turkey on top of the onions. Take 1 cup of butter and rub thoroughly over the entire turkey. Having a dry turkey skin makes this easier.
Heat the remaining butter with the white wine and soak a 16-by-16-inch square of cheesecloth in the warm butter/wine mixture. I have found using a high-quality, dense-weave cheesecloth is ideal for this method and a single layer works fine. Otherwise, fold the cheesecloth over on itself to create a thicker shroud.
Place garlic head adjacent to turkey. Lay soaked cheesecloth over the whole turkey and place in oven.
After 30 minutes, reduce temperature to 375, and baste with remaining wine-butter mix every 30 minutes for 2 hours. When you run out of the wine and butter mixture, use the drippings in the pan for basting.
At the 2-hour mark, gently remove the shroud, quickly baste the turkey and return it to the oven for close to 30 minutes. Cook it until the internal thigh temperature is 180. A probe thermometer is essential for an accurate reading. Keep checking every 30 minutes, while basting, until the desired temperature is reached.
Remove the turkey from the oven, place it on a serving platter and let it rest with a foil tent in a warm place.
For the gravy:
Pour off all juices from the pan into a graduated glass measuring cup (leave a little fat in the pan to help facilitate the roux (about ½ cup). Let the grease rise to the top (10-15 minutes) and pour off.
Bring roasting pan over direct flame, squeeze roasted garlic into pan with the onion and bring up the heat so that it makes a "cooking sound." (Editor's note: You can also scrape the contents of the pan into a heavy-bottomed pot and otherwise follow the instructions as written. This is perhaps a better bet if you have an electric stove.)
Add a 1/2 cup flour into the pan and stir around until a pan roux comes together. Whisk in 1 quart of your best turkey or chicken stock (homemade is really the best).
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, add reserved juices and let cook for 2 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Strain all into a gravy boat.
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