Deconstructed Thanksgiving Turkey

Next week you’ll see the recipe that essentially requires me to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner even if we’re not dining at home on the holiday.  Today’s post is from one Thanksgiving when is was just John and I eating at home by ourselves. (Don’t knock it, no pressure, no need to socialize, pajamas all day, no obnoxious relatives, it’s not a bad thing!)  

Anyway, back to our dinner.  I have always labored over how to make sure the breast doesn’t got all dry and icky in the interest of getting the legs and wings cooked to a nice golden crisp.  I did some research to see if anyone had any fail-safe method and what I found was a couple of ‘deconstructed Thanksgiving turkey’ recipes that ultimately inspired this one. (since it was just the 2 of us, I figured we could always go for Chinese if it failed)

If you're the type who needs to make that presentation of the entire turkey on a platter with a wreath of beautiful root veggies surrounding it, this recipe is not for you. We loved it and have done it a few times.

You start with the breast-side up and basically deconstruct the turkey by slicing along the breast bone toward the center to end up with one butterflied breast with the skin intact, then remove each leg / thigh and the wings.

For the breast, with the skin down, you pound it to a uniform thickness, 3/4 to 1”, and then spread it with some kind of filling.  I saw various ideas that ranged from rice and bread stuffing to Florentine spinach, to a mushroom pate.  I opted for my traditional stuffing.  However you fill it, when it's sliced the presentation is a beautiful spiral of goodness.

After you spread your filling of choice, you roll the breast into a giant braciola and tie it with butcher’s string.  You season the outside as you would a whole turkey and do the same for the legs, thighs, and wings. 

Using this method allows you to bake everything separately but together to get everything to the proper doneness.  You start roasting the dark meat first and add the breast roast in a bit later so that it's all just right when the dark meat is completely cooked with all of the skin is perfectly crisp for stealing.  (Maybe TMI here but, one year I actually snagged so much crispy turkey skin while the carving was happening that I was almost too full to actually eat the dinner -- good ting it’s only once a year). 

Once you’ve dissected the bird for roasting, it’s a perfect time to get out the stockpot and boil the carcass for soup. Note that the year I took this photo, I had used the wings in for the soup, so they never were part of the roasting effort.

Deconstructed turkey when legs are partially roasted and breast roast is added to continue roasting.

THE RECIPE

1 14 to 16 lb turkey

4c or so of turkey stuffing or other filling

salt / pepper

any combination of Bells poultry seasoning, or garlic powder, onion powder, and sage, to taste

1 stick melted butter

olive oil

With a good sharp knife, carefully carve the raw breast from it's bone slicing up one side then repeating up the other side, The idea is to remove the both breasts in one piece and keep the skin intact. If you fail and end up with 2 separate breast, don't fret, that will work too. It actually happened the first time we attempted this; I say we because the dissecting task belonged to my husband John. I simply made 2 separate roasts which actually worked out better because after roasting, I froze the second one for a future turkey crave.

Carve the legs, thighs, and wings off the raw turkey. Place the dark meat in a baking pan on a wire rack and season with salt / pepper and poultry seasoning Preheat the oven to 375º When over reaches temperature, place the legs thighs and wings in the oven.

Baste periodically with melted butter and roast until the internal temperature reaches 165º and juices run clear. Time depends on size.

With a kitchen mallet, pound the breast(s) (on the meat side) to an even thickness of about ¾ to 1".

Spread the stuffing or your choice of filling evenly over the flesh side of the breast(s).

Roll the breast(s) with the skin side out into a pinwheel and tie it closed with butcher's twine in a couple of places.

If the dark meat pan has room, place the rolled breast on the wire rack, otherwise use separate baking dish with a wire rack.

Season with salt / pepper and poultry seasoning, drizzle with olive oil or melted butter.

Place the stuffed breast in the oven with the parts and roast -- basting periodically with butter -- until an internal read thermometer in the meat reaches 155º. (60 to 75 minutes) Remove from the oven and set on a cutting board and tent loosely with foil. Temp will rise to 165º. That's when it's ready for slicing.

The parts will take longer than the breast so getting them in the oven a bit ahead of time will ensure that everything is ready together and cooked to the perfect temperature. Sadly, the only photo I have is what's here, but it tells a good story: it shows how golden the dark meat had cooked before I added the roast to the pan for the remaining roasting time. At that point I moved the thermometer to the breast roast to tell me when it was at 155º, and yes, the legs and thighs came out perfect.