Although the tradition of eating turkey comes from the United States, when turkey was the only food of the colonists who arrived from the Mayflower to Massachusetts in the year 1600 and from there the tradition of Thanksgiving Day arose; In Mexico it is said that a brother, Pedro de Gante, who was a missionary, arrived sent by King Charles V to evangelize the indigenous peoples, he detected that on December 25 they had a different celebration in honor of the God of War, and invited to other native peoples to their homes.
This coincidence of dates led the indigenous people to adapt theirs to the Christian holiday, celebrating Christmas accordingly and incorporating turkey into their meals. But it is not easy to cook a good turkey, in fact it is one of the driest meats that exist, but by knowing some secrets you can bring to your Christmas table the best and juiciest turkey you have ever tasted.
Below we will show you some tricks to make this dish delicious.
1 – The kettle, better than the turkey
When you are going to buy a turkey for the Christmas party, always look for and choose a turkey. Turkey meat is always much juicier and more tender than turkey. Turkey meat, being a naturally larger animal, has much thicker breasts and the meat is tougher.
2 – It must be defrosted very well
We usually get our turkeys well in advance, so I’ll probably freeze them. Always keep in mind that for every 2.5 kg you will need 24 hours of defrosting, so if it is longer the time will increase. This process should always be done in the refrigerator to preserve the flavor. Another process for thawing is to place the frozen turkey in cold water for 30 minutes and repeat this several times until the turkey is completely thawed.
3 – A good cleaning
When it is thawed, you will see that our turkey has its giblets, so the first thing you will do is remove them very well and even remove the neck, if it has one. After removing everything, wash with cold water and finish with a good drying.
4 – Good preparation
For this step, you have two modalities. One, the simplest, is to soak it in water and salt for 24 hours, so that it absorbs the water and salt. But the other is to prepare a good mixture that you can do for example:
- Make your mixture of salt, brown sugar, oranges, lemons, thyme and rosemary. Once you have this preparation, soak your entire turkey in it and, tightly covered, put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
5 – Cooking time
It is essential to preheat the oven between 160 and 185 degrees. Never turn your oven on to a higher temperature . This is a great secret that will make your turkey meat very juicy and tender. If the fire is at a higher temperature, you will only get the rapid evaporation of the juice and thus the meat will be dry and, above all, tasteless. Also keep in mind that for it to be well cooked and juicy, the time at this cooking temperature will be half an hour for each kilogram of meat or until the inside of the turkey reaches a temperature of 75 degrees. To measure this, it is normal that your turkey already comes with a thermometer that you must place inside at the beginning of cooking.
6 – Completion
If by chance you don’t have a thermometer, run a knife over your breast and when you pull it out you press it against your lower lip, and you can’t hold on because it burns, it will be because your turkey is ready. On the contrary, if you notice pink or red juices coming out when you run the knife through the meat, this is the best indication that your turkey is raw.
Once cooking is finished, you must turn off your oven and let it rest for half an hour, so that the juices are well embedded and impregnated into your turkey.