How to Braise a Turkey: A Comprehensive Guide

Last Thanksgiving, I decided that I wanted a heritage turkey. Reading about commercial turkeys’ selective breeding1 and their bland meat in comparison to wild and heritage turkeys So, I asked The Fiancé. Although prices can change, it’s a good idea to get your partner’s approval before making a purchase. She said, “yes” because she rocks.

I became concerned when Thanksgiving morning came and my turkey had not. I contacted the farmer to find out when I could anticipate it. Four days ago, she informed me, her voice full of concern, that the turkey had already been delivered. I went to the front office of my apartment building, like a condemned man, to see if they had left any packages for me. When I opened the office door, I realized my worries were realized because I could smell it.

The office smelled like spoiled meat. The office worker exclaimed, “I got this a few days ago, I must have forgotten to give you a notice,” when she discovered the package. That’s my Thanksgiving turkey, I said, trying to sound steady. She answered, “We were wondering what that smell was,” without missing a beat. “To top off the comedy2, I told the management office where they could stuff their turkey, and they said they would buy me a new one—FOUR DAYS AFTER THANKSGIVING!

Because of this, I had to go turkey shopping on Thanksgiving Day because I didn’t have enough time to thaw and cook a whole turkey before my future mother-in-law and I had dinner together. Evidently, there was only one thing to do: create THE BEST TURKEY EVER.

I wondered why I was roasting a turkey as I examined the turkey thighs I had chosen as my replacement for a whole turkey. Its massive size makes it difficult to avoid drying out some of the meat. And it hit me, the braise. This century-old method transforms tough meats into deliciously tender goodness Was that the best turkey you’ve ever had? If so, check out the recipe I made last year, which is attached. This year, we’re going to make it as requested.

It should come as no surprise to those who have been following these posts that I will be discussing browning once more. I will not rehash the science of browning here; instead, I will just stress how crucial it is. You can read this previous post to learn everything there is to know about the science of browning. I’m going to utilize italics to emphasize a few points to make it really clear. Are you ready? Brace yourself.

The rest doesn’t really matter to me, but I won’t tolerate you serving bland food, so we’re going to brown some food. In order to accomplish this, we will begin by de-skinning the turkey thighs. The skin will not add flavor to a braise and will prevent the meat from browning in the pan.

“But Ben,” you say, “I love the crispy skin. ” Well hold your horse there, Buffalo Bill. We can still make crisp skin. All we have to do is place the skin on a sheet pan, season it with a little salt, and bake it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until it is crisp and browned. There we go, we just made turkey cracklins. To achieve that crisp brown skin flourish, serve that over your finished braise. Now, back to the turkey.

After removing the skin, we’ll preheat our braiser 3 on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Yes, this is the pan we intend to braise in later. In this manner, any food particles that adhere to the pan or browning that develops there will find their way into our braising liquids. The turkey thighs are removed from the pan after being seared until nicely browned on both sides. Next we’ll do our vegetables. A brief high-heat sauté will help the outside get browned. These veggies are just adding flavor to our braising liquid; we won’t be eating them. Now that we have a pan full of flavorful brown foods, let’s move on to the main course: the braise.

The braising method is an easy one and perfect for producing soft meat. Braising originated in France and involved cooking food in a braiser4, a closed pot with hot coals surrounding it from all sides. These days, the phrase refers to cooking with a small amount of liquid in a closed pot. Although braising can be done in the oven or on the stovetop, I like to use the oven because the lower heat minimizes the possibility of the liquids evaporating. To prepare our turkey, we will merely combine the aromatics (garlic and herbs) and our liquids (wine, stock, and cider) in a pan with our sautéing vegetables. The turkey thighs will nestle perfectly on top, the lid will close, the oven will be closed, and the laws of physics will take care of the rest.

“What is happening in the pot that makes the meat so tender?” is the obvious question to ask.

Our liquids will begin to turn into vapor as soon as the pot reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit, filling the pot. This facilitates our cooking process because steam transfers energy more effectively than air. This indicates that even though the meat is cooking at a lower temperature (212F as opposed to 325F), it is actually cooking more quickly. If you don’t believe me, conduct this experiment at home by halving eight fresh potatoes of the same size. After putting 8 halves on a sheet pan at 325 degrees, place the remaining 8 halves in a steamer basket over boiling water and cover it. Use a skewer to check each one’s doneness after five, eight, ten, and fifteen minutes. Which finished cooking first?.

The unexpected part is that this actually reduces the juiciness of our meat. Before you get all Transylvanian and start blaming me for drying out your meat with a pitchfork and torch, remember that it doesn’t matter if the meat in your braise isn’t juicy. Juiciness is a gauge of the meat’s water content. After the meat has finished braising, we rehydrate and rejuicify it by stirring it through the pan’s liquids. So loosing the juices isn’t really a concern. The tenderness, or how easily the meat separates, is what we want to pay attention to. It’s not the best way to get tenderness, despite what Otis Redding might say, to hold and squeeze her. The best way, scientifically speaking, is low, prolonged heat. The ideal temperature for collagen, the connective tissue that binds meat together, to transform into gelatin is low and slow heat. Because the gelatin solidifies at low temperatures, leftover braises may have a jello-like substance surrounding them; however, at high temperatures, the substance will stay liquid. If you’ve ever had meat that, in my opinion, is only crumbly, it was likely cooked for a long time in a dry oven. Collagen will undergo the same conversion to gelatin; it will just take longer. But without the liquids to rehydrate the meat, all you’re left with is crumbly, incredibly dry meat that resembles sawdust.

We have the ideal meaty combination of tender and juicy thanks to our turkey drenched in gelatin and swirled through the pan’s juices. We’re even prepared to impress the mother-in-law with our turkey dish. Happy cooking and a Happy Thanksgiving.

CHEF’S NOTES 1. The turkeys we purchase for Thanksgiving must be artificially inseminated because they are no longer able to reproduce naturally. 2. Here, I use comedy more in the ancient Greek sense of “how ironic that everyone died horrible, yet fitting deaths” than in the contemporary sense of “ha ha, that’s so funny.” 3. A wide 3-4 inch deep pan with tight-fitting lid. 4. Distinct from a brassiere, though I’m sure the French could figure out a way to cook in one of those as well.

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