Bacon wrapped! OMGobblegobble.
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The first time I ate this pumpkin i was amazed by this feature.
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Definitely following you on my own marinades, it’s entirely possible I don’t understand the things that go on in terms of osmosis, or brining (however you’d call it for sugar based liquids), and maybe it just makes the turkey cook perfectly (doesn’t dry out) if you marinade it in carbonated sugar syrups… I say this as someone who can’t stand maple syrup on bacon, or honey glazed ham, I have a hard time understanding that combination.
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Just a thought…
Why couldn’t the pie filling also be cooked in the squash?
But, no pie crust I guess, waawaawaah.
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The salt gets up in the meat and denatures the proteins, this prevents them from contracting as hard when cooked. So they don’t wring too much moisture out of the cells when fully cooked. So things are less dry, and generally more tender.
Brines and marinades work the same on this front as dry salting. But will carry liquid into the meat bloating it up with water, the vast majority of this extra water cooks back out early in the cooking phase. But for poultry (and skin on pork) can leave too much in the skin. Preventing it from crisping properly.
Everything else in a brine or marinade is basically a surface treatment.
Sugar is a really common component, and sodas specifically are more of a Latin American and Asian thing than a US thing.
Sugar is hydroscopic though, so it tends to have a similar impact on skin as brining and marinading.
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Before:
After:
Even with foil, the bacon got a bit too brown, but the turkey was tender and ■■■■■. A lot more work on the front end, but no basting required.
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HOT DAMN! This is going to be a thing for us at the Trout residence.
Smoked, spatchcock bird (an 18 lber to distribute to family for Zoom Thanksgiving:
I had enough time to make a from-scratch gravy from drippings, giblets, onion, celery, sage, and stock. Made the roux with olive oil. I thought it was going to turn out lumpy, but once everything was incorporated it ended up smooth. Needed a little something, so I added a little garlic salt and apple cider. The cider really added some nice brightness, plus the acid probably helped with emulsification.
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Oh yummmmmmmm
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Heritage bird from a local farm.
No shit best turkey I’ve ever had.
I’ve given up on most of the hoop jumping to improve the turkey. Once you figure out how to season it properly and roast it without over cooking most of it renders very little improvement. However “perfectly” you cook the turkey you’re still left with turkey. Which is fundementally a dry, bland ass piece of meat.
I just sit it for a couple days with a salt rub. Uncovered for the last 12 hours. Stuffing goes in hot. Roast it at 250f till it’s just shy of 140f in the boob. Let it rest, and crisp it for 10 minutes in a hot oven right before carving.
This heritage bird on the other hand tasted great. It cooked up way more even, had way more room for stuffing. Stayed juicier with less effort. It was firmer without being tough.
It was $6.99/lb though.
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Wow! I’ve never seen that before. Looks amazing.
What was the turkey skin like after? Does it crisp up, too?
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Skin? What skin? THERE’S BACON!!! 
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that is such a reasonably sized turkey. despite the cost, that looks much more like what a free-range wild bird would look like than the typical hybrid monsters that loom so large in the freezer. and it’s no surprise it tasted good too.
very nice, very nice.
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(Why not both? Gif)
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18.5lbs. Much larger than we needed but we had to reserve it and place a deposit back in July. So too late to adjust it down.
You hear these things are less meaty than a regular turkey, but it certainly wasn’t. The proportions are much different. Breast is slimmer the cavity is larger, but the thighs and legs are meatier so it seems to work out. Seemed to produce the same amount, if not more, carved meat than a similar sized commercial turkey.
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Serious Eats Stuffed Roast Pumpkin and yeasted pumpkin rolls. Great success. Happy T-day.
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That looks like the bird I got from a local pastured poultry farmer, and mine turned out like yours - such a wonderful bird. I did the “low and slow“ cooking, plus the dry brine beforehand - no dry white meat and the dark meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. Such a different eating experience.
(I didn’t take photos; yours are better anyway.)
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Disappointingly, the skin was only crispy in the spots not covered by bacon. But there was bacon…and bacon crumbles made the turkey much more appetizing. (I eat turkey once a year, for Thanksgiving. Not a fan.) But this was tasty! And improved 100% by passing on the gravy and having some homemade cider spiced cranberry sauce with it.
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the last time i shared a wild turkey with a friend who went hunting in west texas, the bird he got dressed out at just under 18 pounds. your bird is right in the range. again, nice.
my late mother-in-law who grew up in england always used her leftover turkey to make a hot and spicy curry with all kinds of things like apples and raisins and sliced hard-boiled eggs “just like her mother made”. i forewent the eggs but the rest of it was not bad at all and virtually the only thing she cooked with a spice kick like that.
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hard boiled eggs in curry is good!
I put them in a spicy chicken curry. chicken, potatoes, the eggs in a peanut - yellow curry sauce. it was my kid’s mom, from Hong Kong, recipe. she called it “Singapore style”. I have no idea if that is really a thing, tho.
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