A Tale of Two Turkeys
Back in the early days of PixieTips I shared my favorite and well tested turkey recipe. It is an almost unaltered recipe of Roasted Turkey with Sage from Real Simple (I always omit Sage and Rosemary with poultry recipes as it smells and tastes like mold to me) and it was both simple and easy and produced the most moist turkey I had ever tasted. However now that we have a gourmet foodie in our family, there is a dark bird in the running, so to speak, to take over the top turkey spot.
Now when I make my Roasted Turkey with Sage from Real Simple I usually have a good turkey from the Florence Meat Market in Greenwich Village, but I have also tested the recipe on more than one garden variety turkey from Cleveland with delicious and moist results. I still believe this is the best recipe for amateur or “holiday” cooks like myself because it isn’t so complicated that even this detail-averse Organic Freedom (NFP) won’t accidentally forget something crucial. This is also perfect for Classics (SJs) and Organic Structures (NFJs) who like their Thanksgiving just so, but are too busy multi-tasking their little butts off in the kitchen to have time for something as distracting as basting. I’m assuming Smart Structures (NTJs) have either catered, gotten everything pre-made from Whole Foods, or smartly delegated some key tasks to other people with known culinary competencies.
We know one exacting Wall Street Smart Structure who cooks Christmas dinner for his extended family. He demands perfection and has two sous chefs — his sister and brother-in-law. His sister plates the food — yes, he plates courses — and his brother in law who is “a good chopper” preps everything for him. Our Smart Struture friend does ALL of the rest. Although frankly, his brother-in-law does the hard part in my book!! Even though he says he enjoys it, when I hear the tales of how hard he works, it almost seems more self flagellating performance art and a display of his culinary skills than the usual “You are expected to cook this meal because you are the matriarch” expectation that we gander 80% of the Thanksgiving Chef population lives under.
But for you gourmet cooks out there with patience, and that does include Smart Structures who have delegated most tasks but the turkey, our family’s gourmand took over the turkey duties last year with a fabulous recipe from that foodie bible, Saveur Magazine. It has a similar theory working with it—lots of chicken broth so that you’re almost steaming the thing—but this one has lots of basting, lots of salt, and complicated directions for making a gravy with the drippings (something many get it done Classics, Organic Structure and Smart Structures forgo in favor of making up a gravy ahead of time with flour and store bought chicken stock.) And yes, it was the most delicious and moist turkey I have ever tasted. And then she made it again for Christmas. Yes, we and our brother thank God for her every day!
Our gourmand Becca is a Fun Freedom (SFP) and loves food and the process that is required for such a time and labor intensive project (even though I don’t think she even sees it as time or labor intensive!) So this recipe is perfect for perfectionist types — Funs, Organic Freedom, Smart Freedoms (NTP) — or those who don’t have to multi-task on Thanksgiving and are just in charge of the turkey. If this isn’t you, then keep it simple with the Real Simple recipe on top! We have often copied and pasted the recipes into our article, but this year we just include the links. If you click on the complicated Saveur Magazine “recipe” you will understand as it’s not your standard Ingredients with a bulleted list of directions. It’s a whole article with lovely illustrations that may or may not be helpful. But I almost laughed because I know this would annoy most Classics, definitely a lot of Organic Structures and even Smarts who might logically choose one with easier to read directions — except for self flagellating, exacting Smart Structures like our friend who shall remain nameless because we love him.
Complicated—The Perfect Bird:How To Roast the Best Thanksgiving Turkey