Larding the Turkey

I watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen saturday. They covered the breast of the turkey with 1/4" thick slices of salt pork and then covered the bird with wet cheesecloth and foil and poured about 1 1/2 cups of water in the bottom of the roaster. Roast at 350 untill the breast temp. is 140 and then remove the covers and pork and brown at 425 until the breast reaches 160-165. Chris Kimball appeared to be in ecstasy when he tasted the bird. Has anyone tried this technique? Was it a really salty bird?
Thank you!

I do a simpler version that I learned from my mother. I cover the turkey with thick-cut bacon slices. Roast in a medium oven until the slices are brown--a few hours. Then remove and let the skin brown. The only tricky part is timing when to remove the bacon. You don't want it to stick too much to the skin and rip it when you take the pieces off. The bacon is wonderful for turkey club sandwiches after the holiday. This technique works well with a big bird because you need time for the bacon to cook. It is not too salty, although when I brined a turkey AND covered it with bacon, it was too salty for my taste. The bacon adds a nice taste to the gravy as well.

It's really 'a problem in search of a solution' as a good turkey needs nothing other than a light coating of butter or olive oil and proper cooking to deliver a nicely browned skin and tender meat. Kimball seems to delite in trying to discover new ways to cook something when there are simple tried and true techniques available. Maybe it's a way to sell the Magazine?-Dick

I was crestfallen when my friend handed me the "enhanced" bird to prep. This has put the lard on the back burner. Now I'm searching frantically for a prep that will not produce too salty a turk.

budrichard wrote:It's really 'a problem in search of a solution' as a good turkey needs nothing other than a light coating of butter or olive oil and proper cooking to deliver a nicely browned skin and tender meat. Kimball seems to delite in trying to discover new ways to cook something when there are simple tried and true techniques available. Maybe it's a way to sell the Magazine?-Dick

Because something is good, why can't a different method be different good or even better?

lougord99 wrote:

budrichard wrote:It's really 'a problem in search of a solution' as a good turkey needs nothing other than a light coating of butter or olive oil and proper cooking to deliver a nicely browned skin and tender meat. Kimball seems to delite in trying to discover new ways to cook something when there are simple tried and true techniques available. Maybe it's a way to sell the Magazine?-Dick

Because something is good, why can't a different method be different good or even better?

If you read the magazine articles (BTW I have given up reading them) you will find they hand the problem to a novice who literally makes the mistakes that a novice would make and them comes up with some new fired method that is a 'discovery'! Usually the method is convoluted and is actually more work then a tried and true technique.
The rational plays upon the phychological belief that there is always something new and better and the 'Pitch Man' has that answer. Cook's Illustrated is like an old fashioned Carnival Pitch, take the money and run.
For example, an article on how to cook a beef tenderloin, never addresses the different USDA Grades that are available. Most of the work in preparing a nice tenderloin is procuring the right grade and actual preperation of the meat i.e. trimming and cutting. Cooking is as simple as can be but leave it to Cook's to come up with a convoluted method.EOT-Dick

budrichard wrote: Cooking is as simple as can be but leave it to Cook's to come up with a convoluted method.EOT-Dick

I feel that I have learned a lot from Cook's Illustrated.

To me cooking can be very simple and very good. Yet some extremely complex recipes can be outstanding. Yesterday, I cooked a Jambalaya from Donal Link's 'Real Cajun'. Compared to other Jambalaya's I have made, the recipe was quite complex, time consuming and convoluted. It was also, by far, the best Jambalaya I have ever eaten.

I to was given an "enhanced" turkey. I used the larding technique at any rate. The turkey turned out absolutely wonderful. One of the most flavorful birds I have ever eaten.

I highly recommend using the larding technique. Very easy and VERY forgiving. My family raved over the bird and it was one of the easiest birds I ever cooked.

No brining (which I am a big fan). Just cover it and cook.

Enjoy.

Yes, I have used this recipe numerous times and it is wonderful. The turkey is NOT salty just very flavorful. My daughter hated turkey and has become a convert with this recipe. For years I brined my turkey but we all like this recipe better. Happy Turkey Day!

Hi,

Cleaning my desk in search of something else, I came across the November, 2009 Cook's Illustrated featuring this technique and a few others.

I am not so desperate for additional flavor for my turkey, that I want to drape bacon or salted lard over the breast. I don't mind pork sausage in my stuffing, I do mind a porcine flavor to my poultry. I'd rather slather more butter.

Never mind this, there was an additional method discussed in this article: massaging the turkey with baking powder and salt rub to create a crackling crisp skin. Has anyone tried this? How was the gravy made from these drippings?

Rather than waiting for stuffing to reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, they pull the turkey when the breast is 160 degrees F and thigh 175 degrees F. Once the turkey is pulled, they remove the stuffing, mix it with any previously uncooked stuffing, add broth and eggs, then bake to 165 Degrees F while the turkey rests. I pretty much did this at Thanksgiving, because the turkey was ready and the dressing needing catching up.

Regards,

For turkey I am all for the simpler approach. There are ever so many convoluted ways to prepare it. I am all for experimenting but I think this could be misleading to people reading this site. You do not need to do much to a roast turkey for it to turn out good. I like to put fresh herbs in the pan and onions and also add some of these to the cavity. I like to baste with a mixture of butter and oliveoil with a few shakes of paprika for color. Follow standard directions for roasting and you will have a good result. Tent the top as directed if its getting too brown. I do not put stuffing in the bird as I bake it in a separate pan.

I will try this one last time.
These methods make no mention of the different varieties of turkey available on the market and by variety, I don't mean turkey variety but processing variety.
The varieties range from the ubiqitous 'Butterball', Frozen Basted with chemicals and the 'All Natural' fresh? which is in reality an adulterated turkey with addidives. It is extrememly rare to almost impossible to fnd a 'minimally processed' fresh turkey these days i.e. without any additives.
The Turkey industry simply cannot process enough volume to account for demand without processing over a number of months. so freezing is the main solution, then holding the bird at 27F is the next. This results in birds that require chemical tretment to make them palatable.
A truly fresh turkey processed a few days before using requires no additives, no larding or other convoluted methods of preperation, just simple, salt, pepper and a few herbs with either an olive oil or butter rub. We have been doing this for decades and either obtain our bird locally or from a source such as John's Live Poultry.
When an article such as those that Cook's publishes makes no distinction between type of products that are available on the market and uses novices to try various approaches, that should be a clue to the quality of the results.
As I said previously, it's akin to selling 'snake oil'.-Dick
FWIW Our turkey this year came from a local grower, butchered the day before, chilled in water bath, simply prepared with a rub of olive oil and herbs, legs tented in foil and simply roasted in an oven. Stuffed with a leek, celery, herb mixture, everyone who participated, said it was one of the best turkey's that had ever eaten, the comments were made spontaneously.
I actually purchase two turkeys from this grower and deconstruct and freeze one for future use.