Since I got a few questions on it and could have explained it better, here is what I mean by 'holding the temperature' for the time temperature charts: After the turkey hits the target of 150 F (or whatever you are using), take it out of the oven and set a timer for 4 minutes, then after the timer is up take the temperature again. There will be enough residual heat on the exterior of the bird that will continue to travel inward so the internal temp will either stay at 150 F and actually may rise a couple of degrees. This is known as carryover cooking. Since it's hard to tell exactly how much carryover cooking will raise the temp in a large bird like this. I suggest pulling it at the target temp of 150 F to play it on the safe side. Even if it rises to 155 F after taking it out of the oven it will be plenty juicy. Carryover cooking is also the reason why if a turkey is pulled at 165 F in the breast it may rise up to 170 or 175 F after taking it out of the oven and ends up even drier than expected.
another thing he's just blatantly incorrect on his borderline religious insistence on no-effort cuisine causes him to make absolutely nonsense statements at times on things being 'too difficult to be worth it'
You've legitimately became my favorite cooking RU-vidr over the past year, ethan. Thank you for the quality and consistent content and can't wait for your patreon!
I feel like this sponsorship makes a lot more sense than Pizza Oven one. Detroit pizza is better in an actual oven but this made good sense and was a smooth transition
My favorite Chef/cook of all time is Alton brown, and you sir are a SOLID second. I love how in depth and detailed you go into your cooking from a scientific approach. And your ability to communicate and explain concepts is second to none. With your great video editing, watching your videos are extremely enjoyable and I want to say THANK YOU!
@PewDie-Ton EX Guga used to do it for me. It's just that now he stray away from my personal dining experience, I do kinda miss watching his video though
This year I’m hosting thanksgiving dinner and I’ve watched a lot of videos to make sure I take the right steps to ensure for a juicy and delicious turkey. Thanks Ethan for this timely video. I love all your videos as they continue to encourage me on this culinary journey. Thanks for making the time to be so detailed and provide accurate information. Happy thanksgiving 🍽🍁🦃
I love the content and explanation. And no, it was not too much information. It was just right! It feels like a "rabbit hole" simply because you know that the majority of the rest of the world hasn't bothered to look that deep into the matter, and so you're going deeper than everyone else. But you're not going deeper than you need to. Thank you for all the effort to research and explain this!
I love the science behind this. I have broken down my turkey for 20 years and would never cook it another way. Coat the dark meat with fresh herbs and olive oil and people who swear they would never eat dark meat will gobble it up.
This is by a mile the most informative turkey video on RU-vid now. So much information from so many sources condensed into one wonderful video. Well done as always man, love your content!
I may have missed it but did you mention: - a basic temp for whole turkey, spatchcocked, and legs only? - an estimated time / lb for those who simply don't have a Meater thermometer? Thank you for the lesson in how the collagen breaks down. It was quite clear and informative. On a personal note... if you don't have a thermometer use a wet brine as it is your best insurance against destroying the bird.
First off, you do an amazing job putting these videos together. Thank you. I grew up in the sixties and all of our turkeys were cooked according to the "come-with-the-turkey" button thermometer which popped red at 190 degrees F. The brining technique didn't exist so putting it all together, we never had a moist turkey. My mom always feared for "Holiday Disease" (salmonella) so dry over cooked turkey was the order of the day. Looking back it was easy to see that if anyone got sick (not in my house) it would be from bacteria inoculated under cooked stuffing combined with a long period of time in the Food Temperature Danger Zone (40 to 140 degrees F). We always had dressing as a precaution, never stuffing. Thanks to professionals like you, educating the public with science based techniques has made Thanksgiving more enjoyable and safer.
If you edit your videos yourself then seriously the amount of effort you put in to them is incredible. I personally know how long it takes to make videos but the way you do it it crazy. Big fan right here man. You’re an influence.
Ingredient Report: Mayo and Pickled Onions were not seen in this video. This has been your ingredient report. Also, I was asleep (again) when this video uploaded, so I couldn't catch it early. Sorry and I hope you can forgive me!
Ethan, this was a lot of good information formatted in a very logical and compact way. Great job! Particularly important is the amount of salt by weight for the brining (I prefer dry brining for the crispy skin).
Austin, the same thing happened to me. After many years of dried out turkey on Thanksgiving, I volunteered to make the dinner. And I researched it extensively so that I could end that horrible tradition of dried out bird. About that time, wet brining became all the rage. So I did a very extensive Martha Stewart brand brine and became the hero of the family. Only problem is, now everyone wants me to make Thanksgiving dinner every year.
About cooking leading to loss of water molecules thus overcooked = too dry, that is not accurate. What happens is that the proteins (chemical, not nutrient protein) break down with heat and time. But those breakdown products are also themselves proteins, which break down at higher temperatures. Its this second order breakdown that we taste as "overcooked". Scientifically, the degree of moisture loss between overcooked and properly cooked meat is very minimal to produce the observed effects.
I discovered the time and temp info on poultry when I started to play around with my sous vide stick. Although, cooking chicken to 150 to 155 grossed my family out. They didn't like the texture as they found it to be too soft and squishy even though it was perfectly safe. A lifetime (well, for each one of us) having something a certain way and being used to it is hard to change.
I've been using a meater since their first unit and it's one of my favorite tools. I am so glad they added the block so I don't need a spare phone to act as a bluetooth/wifi device anymore. Easiest and best turkey I ever made was sous vide 12-24 hours quartered turkey (dark @ 150, white @ 130) then chill and smoke to reheat on the big day. Using the meater mainly with the smoker has been amazing.
So glad to see someone finally talk about not having to cook poultry so high! I've been buying, deboning and cooking turkey breasts off season for a few years now and find 150 to be a great temperature to cook to. I'm going to have to look into getting one of those wireless thermometers too!
I used to spatchcock, but for the past few years I've started fully deboning my turkey - it takes a while, but it lets me control the brining and cooking a lot more and it gives me bones to make a stock the day before, which helps.
For a change, a very useful sponsor! I'm fed up with that web site business that seems to have taken over RU-vid, so a fabulous wire free thermometer was very welcome. I'm ordering today.
I used this method last Thanksgiving and the result was top notch! The breast meat was as moist as a nice sirloin steak. Everyone raved about how good the turkey was. I stick by this method on all of my poultry now and love the results!
I learned this, then stunned most cooks either unaware or even (emotionally) resistant. Doing 3 turkeys next week, deconstructed, will be excellent like last year. BTW, pork loin in sous vide same story, me using 140F, but seeing others at 135F which with proper time works. Nothing like pink juicy lean pork! I'm serious. Thanks for getting the word out Ethan.
I do sous vide to obtain temperature, yes I realize that's competing to the advertising. Salting method. Break down turkey. Salt on rack. (Along with pepper, spices, herbs). Sealed in plastic. In fridge. That dry brine basically turns wet because it's contained in the bag. I don't have to worry about fridge smells.
Your content just keeps getting better. I already have my turkey method down, but I watched anyway. Love the charts. This approach let's people choose what's right for them, not what some chef feels is the "best way to do it".
I love everything about your channel. I've been cooking turkey for more than 40 years but learned some things today which I will apply this week for my Turkey Day preparation. I also just bought a Meater Thermometer. If it works as promised, I will love you forever for telling me about it!!
Alot of hard work went into this video. As a chef I respect you greatly for showing how important salt is when it comes to texture and taste. Well done and excellent video 🐳🐳🐳
I cook my turkey in a roasting bag, take it out at 155° and let it rest for 2 hours. It ends up reaching 165° as it keeps resting and is fall off the bone delicious. No brine just herb butter and a roasting bag.
Wet brine tools are super easy to find this time of year. I use a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot. Mine is super nice with a scew on lid, but cheap ones work too. It's not "food grade" so I line the bucket with a couple of turkey roasting bags and just twist tie them closed.
Thank you for putting all that time and energy into this video. I am tasked with making a turkey for a friends-giving and this video answered all my questions. I have watched a few of your videos in the past, but after seeing how committed you are to producing quality content I just now subscribed. Please keep up the good work in future videos.
Awesome breakdown Ethan! I also prefer a wet brine, but after the brine, pat dry and let sit uncovered in the fridge for 24h to dry the skin. It is the perfect combo to everything you ever wanted and need from your bird. Trust! Love your content brother!
My favorite way to have turkey as a holiday meal is to leave it in the freezer at the store, buy a rib roast, slow cook it with root vegatables, and make Yorkshire puddings to go with the gravy.
Great video! Kenji Lopez also suggests to add baking powder with salt to the dry brine and refrigerate on a wire rack to get really crispy skin. Works amazing for oven baked chicken wings. How you tested that out against these other methods?
Best turkey video around - hands-down. Tight video, packed with practical info, no filler. I'd love to see Ethan add to this with buttermilk brine and its mutant cousin, the buttermilk powder dry brine.
love it thanks and i do a wet brine with a sugar salt mixture and then i do herb butter under and over the skin covered for most the cooking until the last half hour :)
I found your channel a couple of weeks ago and I'm loving it. It reminds me of all the other cooking channels I used to love before they became super commercialize. Keep it up!
Thank you so so much for making this video!! I have been watching and reading turkey videos/articles for days and got super confused about what is best to do. It's so clear what I need to do now after watching your video! You're my turkey hero, Ethan! Thanks a ton!!
Another great video! If I had some constructive criticism, I love the way you organize your videos where there is like a high-level introduction to the recipe/content, and then you break it down into sections- but I felt like this video was a little too compartmentalized and didn't flow as well. Still better than 99.9999% of cooking videos out there. Thanks for making great content!
Absolutely love the style of Ethan's videos. Presenting the science, refrences and the reasons behind the different techniques, all in the quest for delicious food at home. Bravo!
Ethan, I've been spatch cocking now for several years and am fully invested in the technique. The question I have that I cannot find an answer to is "Why does the thigh/leg meat jump ahead by as much as 40 degrees F vs. the breast?" It is chemical? To me, it's almost a magic trick. I trust my multi probe thermometer, but I still cannot figure why there's a differential. I really hope you can shed light on this. BTW, great video and terrific research.
Very enjoyable video on the topic. What I like about Ethan's content is that he doesn't try to present himself as an authority, simply someone who has researched a subject and is presenting his results. I favor dry brining over wet brining. I don't like the texture that results with wet brining. Dry brining can also be applied to other animal proteins such as pork and beef without issue whereas wet brining is more troublesome, especially with beef. It takes more effort but with either chicken or turkey, I think breaking down the bird and cooking the breasts (skin on and off the bone), thighs, and drumsticks, while reserving the wings and carcass for stock for gravy, maximizes what can be harnessed from the bird.
Thank you for this video. I'm in charge of make the turkey this year and I'm going to put this method to use. Keep up the great videos. Very much enjoy them!!
Sweet just found this channel. I learned all this stuff from j kenji lopez food lab, but I like how well the info has been presented and elaborated on. Beautifully crafted videos.
Really appreciate your scientific approach to these food experiments, you're one of my favourite RU-vidrs and I really trust your methods. Thank you for putting out such quality videos! I learn so much.
Sir, this was tremendous effort and presented so very well. You've earned a new subscriber! (I am hopeful the rest of your content is so detailed and thorough)
Great video, Ethan! America's Test Kitchen has a great recipe for "high roast turkey" floating around on the interwebs. IIRC the cook time is less than two hours. I've had it, and it's awesome.
@@madthumbs1564 I have just the regular large 11-19 or whatever they are sheet pans and have done up to 16 lbs. You could always throw it on a grill or in a smoker top if you're brave!
My family cooks the turkey the same way that's recommended but upside down to get all the juices in the white meat. The dark meat is dryer Towards the spine but still Plenty juicy. Not sure if it's better than this guys turkey. But it's easy and way tastier than anyone else's turkey.
