Thanksgiving for many Americans is perhaps the most stressful cooking day of the year. It is a day dedicated to giving thanks and gorging on feasts with the centerpiece usually being a large, cooked bird.
The pressure is on for the host to produce the traditional meal, but the method of cooking the turkey does not have to be so conventional. The following are a few more unique ways to serve the turkey.
Grilling
Watching football on Thanksgiving is, for some families, just as much a tradition as any other activity. What goes better with football than grilled food?
This method can be a bit more complicated as it requires more focus on the poultry meat. Turkeys can dry out easily on the grill and need to be watched and checked with a meat thermometer every 10 to 15 minutes, according to Food Network.
Grilled turkeys have a smoky flavor and more crispy skin compared to traditionally cooked birds.
Deep-fried
Maybe the most unconventional (and least healthy) method of preparing a turkey is deep frying it. However, the taste is undeniably worth it to those who have tried it. Rachael Larimore of Slate said that not only does it taste better than an oven roasted turkey, but the dark meat is more flavorful and the skin is very crispy.
Preparing a turkey this way is much more complicated, though; the process requires oil and a fryer that is preferably big enough to place a whole turkey. Butterball.com recommends that the turkey should be deep fried three to four minutes per pound. The dark meat should be around 175 degrees Fahrenheit and the white meat should be tested until it is 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Brining
To maintain the roasting technique but add a little extra flavor, some people choose to brine their turkeys for the holiday. Brining is simply soaking the turkey before cooking it in the oven. The best type of solution is highly debatable and based on personal taste, but they mostly consist of salt and water.
How long the turkey is soaked is important to some people; Bob’s Burgers said that a two day brine is not as good as a three day brine, but that is also debatable. Again, depending on what the brine consists of, a turkey can still get a good, intense flavor after an overnight brine.
Stewing
Making a turkey stew will take less time and help with the meat’s natural dry texture. A stew might not go well with some normal turkey sides but some of that could be made up for with the vegetables that go into the stew accompanying the turkey meat. The good news is that the vegetables and salt will liven up the flavor of the meat.
