If you’re one of the lucky food lovers who reserved one of our Heritage Turkeys or Festive Goose for your holiday feast, you’re probably asking yourself, how the heck do I cook it!?
While online searches can be a good place to find information about cooking turkey and goose, it can also result in more confusion since there is very little consensus as to what to do. So we’ve decided to put this blog post up with two great resources for Heritage Turkey and Festive Goose.
This Festive Goose recipe guide is from our archives, and results in deliciously perfect goose! View the recipe here.
If you plan to roast the wonderful Heritage Turkey, there are some great tips and guidelines below that we got directly from Farmer Mark, who is supplying us with these birds.
Brining: This can be difficult to do at home, especially with large birds. But if this is attempted, it is much better to err on the side of not enough brine time rather than too much brine time. You want the bird to taste like it was not brined so that the natural flavours of the turkey will come through and not be disguised by herbs/salt/citrus; just a hint of herb/salt/citrus is ideal. The salt aspect of the brine is more important to how it changes the cell structures (the salt actually makes individual cells more elastic, enabling a juicer bird in the end). It’s very important is to rinse, pat dry, and let the turkey rest uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours after brining.
Larding: Heritage birds have more fat than standard birds, but when roasting a whole turkey, it is inevitable that the white meat will cook quicker than the dark meat. A couple of tricks work here. Soak a cloth in some sort of fat (butter will do nicely, or melted duck/chicken/pork fat) and drape over the breast. Leave the cloth on for the first 1/3 of cooking, and then remove it to allow breast skin to crisp up. Also, a good trick is to take some softened butter and rub the breast well with it under the skin.
Trussing: I like to leave legs untrussed, which allows them to cook a bit quicker. I like to tie the wings in tight to slow down the cooking of the breasts a wee bit.
Stuffing: Don’t stuff if brining; make stuffing on the stovetop instead. It will be too salty otherwise. Purists will say that you can’t get your stuffing up to a proper temperature without compromising the breast meat (i.e. overcooking). However, there’s nothing more classic than pulling out that perfectly roasted turkey, complete with stuffing in both cavities. If stuffing your bird, having the fat soaked cheesecloth draped over the breasts will help you achieve good results.
Hope these tips help! Below is what Mark plans to do personally with his Heritage Turkey:
1) No brining.
2) Take the turkey out of its bag and let rest uncovered in fridge for as long as possible (at least 24 hours, 48 ideal)
3) The night before roasting, rub turkey all over with salt and pepper (inside cavity too); this is a bit of a cheat, but will give you somewhat similar results as brining does.
4) Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
5) Gently lift the skin from breast and rub the breast directly with softened butter. It can be seasoned with herbs as well.
6) Stuff both cavities. It’s better to under-season the stuffing, considering the cavity is rubbed down with salt and pepper already, and you can always adjust the seasoning after.
7) Tie the wings tightly into the breast.
8) Drape a butter-soaked cheesecloth over the breast.
9) Put turkey into the oven (450) and bake for 5 to 10 minutes.
10) Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and continue roasting for about 20-25 minutes per pound. Remove the cheesecloth after 1/3 of the cooking time has passed.
11) Basting is unnecessary.
12) Remove the bird when it’s cooked to your liking (Food safety dictates 160 F, tested in the middle of the thigh). Let turkey rest 30 minutes before carving, in a warm spot, covered with a foil tent.
13) Remove the stuffing and put into a pot and bring up to temp gently on the stovetop or in the oven.
14) Make your gravy while the stuffing is heating and the bird is resting.
15) Carve and serve as per usual!
Happy roasting!