D’Artagnan Thanksgiving Survival Guide: Day 4

It’s Day 4 of our Turkey Day guide! And the home-stretch of Turkey Roasting 101. S0 – the bird is now perfectly roasted and ready to come out of the oven. You have already cleared a safe place for it, with surfaces protected if necessary from the intense heat of the roasting pan. Your cutting board with juice trough, sheet pan or warmed platter are situated close by………. uh… now what?!

Turkey Roasting Basics, Part 4

Give the Bird a Breather… Finally, it is time for a good rest. Unfortunately, that rest is for the bird, not for you. After the turkey is through cooking, remove it from the oven, and transfer it to the waiting board, pan or warmed platter. Then place it in a warm place (out of the way of any drafts) to allow it to ‘rest’ with the dressing still inside. Do not just place it on a flat cutting board. If that is Read more

D’Artagnan Thanksgiving Survival Guide: Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of our Thanksgiving Survival Guide! By now, you’ve learned some turkey roasting basics, so you chose a technique to initially protect the turkey from the dry heat; it is in the oven roasting beautifully, and you are basting away diligently – this is great! Now comes the second step towards a moist, juicy bird – don’t overcook it!

Turkey Roasting Basics, Part 3

First, use each basting as an opportunity to keep an eye on the browning. If the skin becomes too brown – too soon before the bird has cooked through, you can prevent over browning or burning, simply by shielding the skin. You do this with a piece of aluminum foil, shiny side up, that you crease from side-to-side across the center to form a tent shape. Place this tent very loosely over the top of the turkey. Be sure to leave at least 2 to 3 inches open between the bottom of the foil and the top of the roasting pan, to avoid trapping moisture or steam under the tent (remember, dry heat). If at this point the bird is already as brown as you would like, use the foil shield through the remainder of the cooking, and continue to baste as usual.

Otherwise, take the foil off at the beginning of the last hour of your cooking range to allow the bird to continue browning and the skin to ‘crisp’ again. If after that, the skin has browned to your liking, and the bird has still not finished cooking; just put a tent back over the turkey and leave it until the bird does finish cooking. In either case, it is very important to continue basting as usual.

Are we there yet?
Even when equipped with a guideline and good intuitive timing, a quick read or instant read meat thermometer is an indispensable little tool for determining when your bird has finished roasting. These are not the same meat thermometers that protrude out of the breast throughout roasting. Quick read thermometers have a slender sensor that you push into the meat to take the temperature

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D’Artagnan Thanksgiving Survival Guide: Day 2

In the first installment of our Thanksgiving Survival Guide, we told you why turkeys should have fat added to the mix during roasting and gave specific oven temperatures for best results. For Day 2, we’re taking these lessons one step further, to ensure crispy skin and moist meat, with buttering, cloaking and barding.

Turkey Roasting Basics, Part 2

Here are three more ways to protect a turkey from the dry, oven heat, which will send you well on your way to roasting the perfect holiday bird.

Buttering beneath the skin is the second technique, and this one actually helps the bird to self-baste. This treatment is a particularly delicious choice for our free-range organic turkeys. For birds up to 16 pounds start with a well-chilled 1- pound roll of our black truffle butter, you may want two rolls if your bird is any bigger. Slice each roll evenly creating approximately 1/4-inch thick discs. Use your fingers to slip between the skin and meat at the neck opening, gently working up to using your entire hand to ease your way carefully along the breast and leg meat, taking care not to puncture the skin. Then place these black truffle butter discs in an even layer over the entire surface created between the skin and the bird; pat the skin back into place, and season generously with a Read more

D’Artagnan Thanksgiving Survival Guide: Day 1

Can you believe there are only 16 days left until Thanksgiving?! While warm, fuzzy visions of time off, family gatherings, food and football fill the minds of many, if you’re the designated chef on Thanksgiving, the tick-tock may have you feeling more distress than delight. Even seasoned cooks can feel a tad overwhelmed this time of year, and if you’re new to cooking or if this is just your first time hosting Turkey Day the pressure may frazzle your nerves like they’ve never been frazzled before. But before you have a total-food-freak-out, just remember – we’re here to help! 

This year, we’ve launched a brand, spanking new section of our website that’s chock-full of helpful articles, videos and chef recipes. And for Thanksgiving in particular, we’ve compiled a great deal of tried and true information, from how to choose your holiday bird to how to carve it and everything in between. So starting now we’re going to post a new article, video or recipe on this blog everyday until Thanksgiving.

We’ll start with the basics… Turkey Roasting Basics, Part 1! Here’s everything you need to know to get that beautiful bird into the oven. Read on…

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