Roasted Turkey (Dry-Brined)

The technique for this beautifully browned, crisp-skinned, succulent and flavorful roast turkey, inspired by the late Judy Rodger's Zuni Cafe roast chicken, was developed for the big bird by Russ Parsons at The Los Angeles Times in 2006, when I was Food Editor there. In the annual effort to come up with something original for a Thanksgiving issue, I had a brainstorm: what if you treated a turkey like Zuni Cafe chicken? I asked Russ to investigate, he nailed the technique and Thanksgiving would never be the same.

The recipe has but two ingredients (turkey and salt). (If you’re looking for a recipe for an 11- to 16-pound that includes sauce, use this one.) What's brilliant about this technique is you don't have to wrestle the bird into a huge pot of brine. Just rub it with salt two or three days before you serve it (depending on the size of the bird) and seal it in a 2 1/2-gallon zipper bag. Take it out of the bag Thanksgiving (or Christmas) morning (or the morning of whatever day you want to serve it), and let the skin dry in the fridge. Into a 425 degree oven it goes for a half hour, then turn down the heat and forget about it – no basting required. It's so much easier than wet-brining a bird – and so much better.  

The best time to get started – by salting the bird – is the morning three days before the event, or two days before, if the bird is 8 pounds or smaller. So if we're talking about Thanksgiving, that means Monday morning (larger bird) or Tuesday morning (smaller bird).

Please note that it’s really important to weigh the turkey — not only to get the right amount of salt on it, but also because it may weigh significantly less than the package tells you, once you remove the neck and the bag of giblets and such. We also wonder if there is sometimes funny business with store’s labeling. We bought a turkey this year that was labeled as 11.36 pounds, but actually weighed only 8 pounds, 3 ounces. The neck, giblet bag and plastic clip weighed 9.6 ounces. That does not add up.

Note: For birds 15 pounds and larger, getting the turkey into a 2 1/2 gallon plastic bag may be tight; if it is, you can also use a clean plastic trash can liner. Squeeze out all the air, and secure the bag with a rubber band.

Serves 8 to 12 or more. You will need a 2 1/2 gallon zipper bag, a roasting pan (with or without a rack), clean oven mitts, and an instant-read thermometer.

Ingredients

One 8- to 16-pound turkey

2 to 4 tablespoons sea salt or Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, depending on the size of the turkey (see instructions)

Instructions

1. For 8+ to 19-pound turkeys, begin on the morning three days before you plan to serve the turkey (so Monday morning for Thanksgiving); for turkeys that are 8 pounds and smaller, begin on the morning two days before you plan to serve. Remove the giblets and neck from the turkey, wash it inside and out and dry it thoroughly with paper towels. When you think it's dry, dry it some more. Weigh it. (If you don't have a kitchen scale, subtract about a pound and a half from the packaged weight for the neck and giblets. 

2. Into a small bowl, measure 1/4 tablespoon of salt for every pound of turkey. (A 12-pound turkey gets 3 tablespoons salt; an 8 pound turkey gets 2 tablespoons salt.) Sprinkle the inside of the cavity lightly with salt (about half a teaspoon or so). Place the turkey breast-side up and salt the breasts – using a little more than a tablespoon of salt, and salting most heavily in the thickest part of the meat. Flip the bird onto its side, and use half the salt left to salt the side, focusing most heavily on the thigh and leg. Repeat with the remaining salt on the other side. 

3. Put the salted turkey into a 2 1/2-gallon zipper bag. Press out the air as much as you can, seal the bag, place the bagged turkey on a platter or sheet pan and refrigerate for three days, turning the bird over once a day or so. 

4. About six hours before you plan to roast it, remove the turkey from the bag and place it, breast-up, on a platter in the fridge, letting its skin air-dry. No need to wipe the salt off the bird; it will have sunk in.

5. An hour or an hour and a half before you plan to begin roasting, take the turkey out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

6. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Tie the turkey's legs together at the ankles, if you like (you don't have to). Place the turkey, breast-side-down, in a roasting pan fitted with a rack, if you have one (if you don’t, don’t worry, just put it directly on the pan). Roast for 30 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and use oven mitts to turn the turkey onto its back, so it's breast-side up. 

7. Reduce the oven heat to 325 degrees, return the turkey to the oven and roast (no need to baste!) until the thigh meat reaches 165 degrees when tested with an instant-read thermometer. Be sure to check the thickest part of the thigh, making sure the thermometer isn't touching the bone. Start checking about 2 hours after the bird first went into the oven to make sure you don't overcook it. It will probably take about 2 hours and 45 minutes for a 12-pound bird, but oven temperatures vary widely, so be sure to check. 

8. Remove the turkey to a carving board (tenting it loosely with foil, if you like) to rest for 30 minutes. Carve, and serve.