Thought for Food

Nov 14, 2008

I was all set to start brining a turkey tonight (for a Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow)

… until I read Harold McGee’s recent piece in the NYT, “Miracle Cure or Just Salt Water”:

ONE big November decision is behind us, and another looms. Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away. So: to brine or not to brine? Mainstream food punditry maintains that brining the turkey practically guarantees a moist, tender roast. I agree, it does. But I’m still a no-briner. […]

Instead of trying to avoid what’s pretty much inevitable [the dryness of the turkey], I try to make the best of it. My current approach takes its inspiration from the world of barbecue and its ways of dealing with well-cooked meat. In particular, pulled pork.

Roast an unbrined turkey as you wish. While the turkey rests, make a delicious pan sauce from the drippings. Keep it runny. When it’s time to carve, start with the breast. Either slice it very thin, to an eighth of an inch or less, or cut thick pieces and pull them to shreds, to create as much surface area as possible. Then turn and coat the meat thoroughly with some of the pan sauce, and keep it warm while you carve the leg and thigh.

Unlike casual last-minute saucing at the table, an extended and intimate bath gives the sauce a chance to penetrate into the meat’s smallest crannies and seams. The meat fibers may have been cooked dry in the oven, but they end up on the plate with abundant moisture clinging to them.

I really like the sound of that — shredded, moist turkey in pan sauce. So the goal of tomorrow is make the very best gravy ever.

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