- Cooking a whole turkey doesn’t have to be stressful with a few key tips.
- Martha Stewart shares her new turkey-roasting recipe using parchment paper.
- This is an upgrade from her previously recommended tip using cheesecloth.
One of the top fears of any Thanksgiving host is serving a dry, overcooked turkey—along with the fear of undercooking it and giving everyone food poisoning). If you’re responsible for the turkey this year, Martha Stewart has a tip for you in two words: parchment paper.
On a recent segment on the TODAY show, Stewart was asked by a viewer how to keep his Thanksgiving turkey juicy while cooking. After revealing to the hosts that we should ideally eat an organically grown, fresh-killed turkey for best results, Stewart adds that we can make a previously frozen turkey “very delicious by wrapping it in cheesecloth or in parchment. My new, improved recipe is in parchment paper,” says the Thanksgiving Queen.
What does the parchment paper do? “It holds all the moisture in while cooking, so it’s steaming inside the parchment until the last half hour when you take the parchment off and you brown the turkey in the oven,” explains Stewart.
Stewart’s recipe for Roasted Turkey in Parchment gives step-by-step instructions, including allowing the turkey to sit for an hour to come to room temperature before roasting, and spreading 6 tablespoons of butter on the outside of the turkey before simply seasoning it with salt and pepper.
The recipe’s accompanying video shows how to wrap the turkey in the parchment paper. This includes taking a large sheet of parchment (about 48 inches long), spreading 2 tablespoons of butter on the top side of it, and then placing the turkey on top of that. The ends of the parchment should be generous enough to come together over the turkey. Simply fold the ends together and staple them shut. Repeat the process with another piece of parchment, omitting the butter and going the other direction so that the turkey is completely encapsulated in the parchment package.
Stewart starts her turkey at 325°F until the final 30 minutes, at which time, she increases the temp to 425°F to begin the browning process. That might be the trickier part of this recipe—sliding the parchment off the turkey so the skin can crisp up for the last 30 minutes.
Browning the skin at the end is different from what EatingWell’s former senior food editor, Sean Brady Kenniff, recommends. He suggests starting the turkey at 500°F until the skin begins to brown, then lowering the temperature to 325°F until the thickest part of the breast registers 160°F.
Whether you use Kenniff’s strategy or Stewart’s, rubbing butter or oil under the skin on the breast meat before roasting will add extra insurance for tender, moist breast meat. And don’t forget the herbs! We use plenty of them on the skin and inside the turkey cavity for our Herb-Roasted Turkey, which is as beautiful as it is tasty. As long as you serve your turkey up with all your favorite sides and sweets, you’re sure to have a delicious Thanksgiving.
