Good day, dear friends and readers of my blog! Well, the long-awaited spring has come. Summer is just around the corner, and therefore, diet food is now especially relevant. This is also the meat of the turkey. A large number of different, delicious dishes can be prepared from it. So, the topic of our article today: delicious turkey marinade and recipes.

According to nutritionists, such meat is very useful and easily absorbed by the body. For those looking to lose weight, low calorie turkey is the best option. There are only 114 kcal in turkey meat, 23.7 grams of protein, 1.5 grams of fat. In addition to being a valuable source of protein, it contains the following nutrients:

• B vitamins including niacin and pyridoxine. Niacin aids in digestion and the conversion of food into energy. And vitamin B6 is essential for the development of the baby's brain during pregnancy, maintaining immunity and metabolism.
• Selenium, which plays an important role in the metabolism of thyroid hormones and acts as an antioxidant. If you eat 100 grams of meat, you get 40% of the daily value.
• Phosphorus - This mineral is used in the building of healthy bones and teeth. In turkey meat, about 25% of the recommended rate per day.

Turkey thigh baked in orange marinade

Believe me, it is very tasty and aromatic. I didn’t work with orange before, but now I began to add it to poultry meat.

Take the following ingredients:

• 1 kg turkey thighs;
• orange juice and its zest (can be replaced with lemon);
• 120 ml sour cream or yogurt;
• 1 teaspoon of mustard;
• small head of garlic
• 50 g butter (chilled);
• 50 ml olive oil;
• some thyme and rosemary;
• salt and spices to taste (such as black pepper and a little chili).

Wash and dry turkey thighs. Make a shallow cut along the thigh bone. Rub with salt and pepper. Grind the spices (you can do this in a mortar). And mix thoroughly with orange juice, olive oil and mustard. Rub the turkey meat with the resulting marinade. We put hermetically in a bag and in the refrigerator. We forget about it for at least an hour, ideally 4-5 hours.

Then, we get rid of the package. We make punctures in the thigh with a knife and coat with sour cream or yogurt. We make the cuts so that the turkey is well saturated with the marinade. If this is not done, the fibrous structure of the bird will not be saturated from the inside.

We push small pieces of cold oil into the incisions. This will give the meat even more juiciness. Put the meat in the roasting sleeve. I used to make such dishes in foil, but now I like the sleeve more 🙂 We put it there too: rosemary, zest, thyme and garlic. I wanted to add some vegetables, and I put in eggplant and yellow bell peppers.

Close the sleeve and send to a preheated oven at 200 ° C. After 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 160 ° C. Bake for another 35-50 minutes, depending on the size of the thigh. Open the sleeve ten minutes before readiness: for a golden brown crust.

As a side dish, anything you like can be: mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, rice, baked vegetables. I just had boiled potatoes. Prepare to be patient to wait for the finished dish - during the entire bake. A divine aroma is carried through the house 🙂

Marinate turkey fillet for barbecue

If it's cold outside, but you really want to cook kebabs, make them at home. By the way, we will not add salt to this marinade. Add soy sauce instead. For a kilo fillet, you will need the following ingredients:

• large head of onions;
• 5 cloves of garlic;
• 2 tablespoons vinegar 9%;
• 100 ml of water;
• 1 tbsp smoked smoke;
• 3 tbsp soy sauce.

First of all, cut the meat into equal pieces, put in a saucepan. Grate the onion on a coarse grater. So the juice will stand out much more than if chopped. Send the onion and minced garlic to the meat.

Dilute the vinegar with water, pour it over the turkey. We leave for 30 minutes. Add a spoonful of liquid smoke and soy sauce as it is marinated. Leave it on for another half hour.

String 3-4 pieces of meat on each skewer. Heat the oil and place the skewers in the skillet. As it turns brown, turn over to the other side.

If you are kebabbing outdoors, make a pickled onion salad. Take 1.5 large onion heads, chop into half rings. Put in a deep bowl, add salt and remember well with your hands. Then chop the green onion and add to the onion. Mix well with a spoon. From the spices, add another 1 tablespoon of sugar and vinegar 9%. While the kebab is being prepared, the salad is marinated. Add some olive oil before serving.

Fillet on kefir with mint for the oven

This recipe, I found on one culinary forum. The girls praised it very much and it turned out not in vain. I slightly changed the composition to suit my taste, it turned out incredibly tasty!

Required Ingredients:

• 300-400 g turkey fillet;
• 250 ml of kefir (2.5% fat);
• lemon;
• a small handful of fresh chopped mint;
• salt.

Divide the turkey fillet into four parts, beat off a little and add salt. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and remove the zest. Mix the juice, zest, mint and kefir. Spread the fillet liberally with this marinade and leave in the refrigerator for several hours.

Place in a baking dish and pour over the remaining marinade. Place in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 40 minutes. The fillet turns out to be very tender, and the mint adds piquancy. Enjoy your meal!

Grilled turkey fillet

This marinating option is useful if you have a grill pan. For one fillet weighing 400 grams, you will need the following ingredients:

• half lemon
• 3 tbsp olive oil (or sunflower);
• 2-3 cloves of garlic;
• ¼ tsp cumin;
• ¼ tsp dry oregano;
• salt (or 2 tablespoons of soy sauce);
• pepper to taste.

The meat will be marinated for only 2 hours. First remove the tendons and cut the fillets into grill portions. Then beat each serving lightly. In a deep bowl, combine the marinade with the juice of half a lemon, minced garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt and pepper. Place the fillet pieces in the marinade and leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Set high heat to medium and preheat a grill pan. No additional oil is needed, because it is in the marinade. Lay out the steaks. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Although look at the appearance of the meat, what is the degree of roasting.

New Year's drumstick with soy sauce

Very soft and juicy legs. Will decorate any festive table!

For 2 turkey drumsticks you will need:

• 130 ml soy sauce;
• 1 liter of white wine (the simplest possible);
• 1 small head of garlic;
• red pepper or adjika - to taste;
• salt and allspice to taste.

Wash and dry the turkey drumsticks. Make punctures over the entire surface. Coat with garlic passed through a garlic press (try to get it into the holes).

Heat the wine (do not bring to a boil). Add half of the cooked norm: peppercorns, adjika, salt, soy sauce 130 ml. Cool down.

Soak the turkey in the resulting mixture for 6-10 hours, leave in the refrigerator. The longer the better. To reduce the consumption of wine, you can put the drumsticks in a bag, pour marinade and tie. Turn over periodically.

After the time has elapsed, remove from the marinade and rub with the remaining salt, adjika, pepper. Bake in an oven preheated to 200˚C for about an hour. We check the readiness as follows: if, when punctured (with a knife, fork), clear juice is released, then it is ready. Turn once while baking: for a golden brown crust on both sides.

Chest in the sleeve

The recipe, although it seems complicated, is simple to prepare. Any hostess can handle it! For a 1 kg breast, you need the following ingredients:

• 2-3 st. l. olive oil;
• 1 PC. onions (chopped);
• 2 tbsp. l. balsamic vinegar;
• 2 p. Art. cream 30% fat;
• 1 tsp salt;
• pepper, dry garlic, chili - to taste;
• 1 tbsp. l. dry spices (for example, "Italian herbs");
• bouillon cube;
• 300 ml of water;
• 1 tbsp. l. potato starch.

We wash the turkey, dry it with a paper towel or napkin. Mix in a container: olive oil, herbs, salt, pepper, chili, garlic and chopped onion. We coat the breast well with the resulting mixture.

Put it in the sleeve, fill it with a bouillon cube dissolved in water. Tie the sleeve and make a couple of small punctures. We send to the oven preheated to 180˚C for 50 minutes.

After removing the turkey from the sleeve, strain the broth. Add balsamic vinegar, cream and starch to it. A very tasty addition will learn. Serve the breast with the vegetable cooked cream sauce. Delight!

Turkey marinade is an important ingredient that gives the meat softness, aroma and unique taste. Today there are many combinations where, by skillfully combining sauces, spices and spices, you can add juiciness to both the whole poultry carcass and its individual parts, and the recipes below will help you with this.

How to deliciously marinate a turkey?

Before pickling a turkey, you should decide on the choice of meat. Each part of the carcass has its own fat content and different cooking speeds in the oven and in a pan. Traditionally, the drumstick and fillet are marinated in kefir, the whole carcass in citrus juice, and the thighs in soy sauce. Whatever the marinade, the meat should be soaked for at least 2 hours.

1. You should pay particular attention to the choice of meat. Frozen meat should be defrosted and only then marinated, and fresh meat should only be blotted with a napkin.
2. If we are talking about cooking a whole carcass, then it is better to purchase a bird weighing no more than 10 kg. Larger carcasses are older birds and have dry and tough meat.
3. The skin of the turkey has a dense structure, so you can make small cuts on it for better saturation with the marinade.
4. Turkey is often cooked in the oven. Marinating a turkey for baking is very simple: to add spice to the meat, combine chili, rosemary and olive oil, and for tenderness and softness - mayonnaise, lemon juice and black ground pepper.
5. The best marinade for turkey is the one that uses wine, champagne, honey, cognac and herbs, these ingredients have the brightest taste and are successfully combined with each other.
6. You can simply rub the meat with salt, pepper and garlic and leave to soak for a few hours.

Turkey marinade for frying

Marinating a turkey for frying means taking into account the specifics of cooking meat in a pan and making the marinade as aromatic and rich as possible. In this case, a mixture of oil, garlic, juice and lemon peel is perfect. The oil will soften the dryness of the meat and protect it from burning, while citrus fruits and garlic will add piquancy and aroma.

Ingredients:

• lemon juice - 40 ml;
• oil - 80 ml;
• cumin - 5 g;
• lemon zest - 10 g;
• clove of garlic - 3 pcs.

Preparation

1. Combine oil, juice and lemon zest.
2. Add cumin and minced garlic.
3. Place the poultry in the turkey marinade and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

The whole turkey marinade in the oven is a big responsibility. A whole bird is weighty and it is almost impossible to saturate it in the traditional way. In this case, it is better to immerse the carcass stabbed with a knife in a spicy brine and leave it for a day. Thanks to this, it will be marinated outside and inside, and can be baked unstuffed.

Ingredients:

• water - 6.5 l;
• salt - 120 g;
• sugar - 100 g;
• a mixture of peppers - 60 g;
• honey - 100 g;
• orange - 2 pcs.;
• ginger root - 1 pc .;
• head of garlic - 1 pc.

Preparation

1. Combine salt, sugar and pepper mixture.
2. Chop the ginger root and garlic.
3. Pour all the spices and spices with 2 liters of water. Add honey, stir.
4. Cut the oranges into slices, squeeze the juice directly into the marinade, put the peel there.
5. Add water and dip the poultry into the turkey marinade in the oven.
6. Marinate the bird in brine for 24 hours.

The marinade for turkey fillets in the oven must play the role of a protective shell. This is because the breast tends to dry out, has a delicate texture and should only be soaked in delicate marinades. The best are kefir-based. Their acidity quickly and gently affects the fibers, and a high percentage of fat content keeps the meat juicy.

Ingredients:

• kefir - 150 ml;
• clove of garlic - 3 pcs.;
• dried dill - 20 g;
• ground black pepper - 5 g;
• bay leaf - 1 pc.

Preparation

1. Chop a clove of garlic and a bay leaf.
2. Add black pepper and dried dill. Pour in kefir.
3. Stir the marinade for the turkey fillet well.
4. Keep the meat in kefir marinade for no more than an hour.

Making a marinade for a turkey steak means keeping the meat juicy when roasted. One of the important steps is the proper preparation of the meat. In this case, the breast is cut into equal pieces with a thickness of at least 3 cm and spread in a marinade made from spices, oil and wine vinegar. You can start frying after 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• olive oil - 80 ml;
• sugar - 10 g;
• wine vinegar - 20 ml;
• mustard seeds - 10 g;
• mixture of spices "Provencal herbs" - 20 g.

Preparation

1. Crush the mustard seeds.
2. Mix mustard with spices.
3. Add oil and vinegar.
4. Add sugar and beat until crystals dissolve.
5. Spoon the steaks into the turkey marinade and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

The most delicious turkey marinade is made from simple ingredients. Especially when it comes to "unpretentious" wings, traditionally soaked in a thick and spicy marinade, where the combination of sour cream and mustard deserves special attention. In this tandem, the dairy product will provide the meat with juiciness and ruddy, and the mustard will provide a piquant taste.

Ingredients:

• dijon mustard - 60 g;
• sour cream - 80 g;
• lemon juice - 40 ml;
• coriander - 5 g;
• ground white pepper - 5 g.

Preparation

1. Whisk the mustard with sour cream and lemon juice.
2. Add spices and mix well.
3. Apply the turkey wing marinade to the food and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Even a simple one is able to soak a leg well, if properly processed. The latter has dry meat, bulky bone and a dense film under the skin. Before pickling, the peel is unrolled, the film is cut off, the pulp is pricked and smeared with a marinade of oil and spices, which can deeply soak the meat.

Ingredients:

• butter - 125 g;
• ground paprika - 40 g;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• clove of garlic - 3 pcs.;
• sprig of rosemary - 1 pc.;
• thyme - 5 g.

Preparation

1. Melt the butter and mix with the paprika, thyme and rosemary leaves.
2. Grate the onion, chop the garlic. Add to oil and stir.
3. Peel off the drumstick skin with a knife, and chop the pulp.
4. Coat the poultry drumstick with the fragrant mixture and leave in the cold for an hour.

- a classic of Asian cuisine. Citrus fruits have always been perfectly combined with dietary fresh poultry meat, filling it with an exotic aroma and kilo-sweetness. For a greater effect, the marinade is prepared from juice and orange peel, mixing them with oil, which serves as a "conductor" and promotes rapid impregnation.

Ingredients:

• orange juice - 80 ml;
• olive oil - 120 ml;
• orange zest - 20 g;
• marjoram - 10 g;
• clove of garlic - 2 pcs.

Preparation

1. Mix the minced garlic with oil, zest, orange juice and marjoram.
2. Coat the poultry meat with the mixture and leave in the marinade for 5 hours.

Those wishing to make the marinade for a simple, but more sophisticated, will not encounter obstacles. This is due to the tender and pliable pulp of the turkey breast chop, which is perfectly saturated with any marinades, but is especially good in spices and white wine. In such a marinade, the meat can be held for only 30 minutes and start frying.

Ingredients:

• oil - 40 ml;
• dry white wine - 100 ml;
• soy sauce - 50 ml;
• a mixture of peppers - 10 g;
• clove of garlic - 2 pcs.;
• red onion - 1 pc.

Preparation

1. Whisk butter with wine and soy sauce.
2. Add the pepper mixture, chopped onion and garlic and stir.
3. This marinade will do the job in 30 minutes.

A marinade for turkey fillets is a fertile ground for culinary fantasies. At the same time, one should pay tribute to the ability of meat to quickly absorb the tastes and aromas of neighboring components, especially such universal spices as ginger. The latter, possessing aroma and pungency, can replace a whole arsenal of various seasonings.

Ingredients:

• fresh ginger - 20 g;
• paprika - 5 g;
• vinegar - 40 ml;
• oil - 100 ml.

Preparation

1. Grate ginger on a fine grater and combine with oil and vinegar.
2. Add chili and paprika and mix well.
3. Marinate fillets in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Marinade for is juicy and soft meat at a minimum cost. The taste and consistency of the sauce allow you to use it as the main component and limit yourself to a minimum of additions. In this case, the marinade should lightly coat the meat. This is enough to keep the turkey soaked and not overly salty.

Ingredients:

• soy sauce - 100 ml;
• sugar - 10 g;
• lemon juice - 40 ml;
• clove of garlic - 2 pcs.

Preparation

1. Whisk the soy sauce and lemon juice.
2. Add sugar and minced garlic.
3. Place the poultry in the marinade and let sit for 45 minutes.

Turkey marinated with honey mustard

Turkey marinade with honey and mustard will make the meat juicy and healthy. These two components successfully complement each other: honey, in addition to the taste, provides an appetizing caramelized crust, and mustard protects the meat from drying out. In addition, its specific taste and pungency make it possible to avoid cloying in the marinade.

Ingredients:

• honey - 60 g;
• granular mustard - 30 g;
• lemon juice - 80 ml;
• turmeric - 5 g;
• clove of garlic - 2 pcs.

Preparation

1. In order for the honey to acquire a liquid consistency, heat it with steam.
2. Add mustard, lemon juice, turmeric and garlic to honey.
3. Place the poultry in the marinade and refrigerate for 8 hours.

Marinade for is selected taking into account the cooking technology. It should not contain onions that can burn quickly and fill the meat with an unpleasant odor. Moreover, it should be simple and convenient, because we are talking about a picnic. In this case, it is best to soak the turkey slices in mayonnaise, which itself contains the entire range of flavors and keeps the slices juicy.

Ingredients:

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Planning to bake a turkey for Christmas? Indulge your loved ones with turkey thighs from the oven for dinner on a weekday? Or maybe you have gathered in nature and will cook a barbecue? Or are you waiting for your friends who follow a low-calorie diet and are thinking of baking fillets?

Whichever of these culinary masterpieces you decide to master, the main thing that you need is to choose the right one.marinade for turkey... Yes, this is where 80 percent of the success of the finished dish lies. It is the marinade that is responsible for the juiciness, taste and aroma of the finished product.

But in what to marinate fillets? What is more suitable for barbecue and what to use for cooking a whole carcass? There are a huge number of marinade options for any meat. Some of them leave behind a slightly sweet aftertaste, some gently burn with pungency, some are characterized by unobtrusive sourness ... Finding the perfect recipe is as easy as shelling pears, especially since the best are collected here!

Great marinade for turkey in the oven

In general, the oven is the best "friend" of any housewife. Any meat cooked by baking is not only tasty, but also healthy. And you can cook in the oven both individual parts of the turkey and the whole carcass, if, of course, the dimensions allow. The advantages of cooking meat in the oven are undeniable:

• no splashes throughout the kitchen (and a clean stove as a bonus);
• there is no need to constantly monitor the process;
• maximum benefit (meat retains its properties);
• unsurpassed taste;
• festive serving.

Any dinner, even the simplest one, will become a little more festive if you put baked meat on the table. Well, birthdays, anniversaries and even more so, New Year's holidays are generally difficult to imagine without such a crown culinary masterpiece as meat. The whole baked turkey carcass looks especially solemn. What ismarinade for turkey in the oven in this case choose?

To begin with, it is worth noting that the weight of the carcass will not be small. This means that it will take a long time to marinate the meat. But believe me, it's worth it. Before talking about the marinade, it is worth warning: do not take too large a carcass. This may indicate a "mature" age of the bird. In this case, no marinade can soften the meat fibers to the desired state. If you decide to bake a whole turkey, then try the following recipe:

• carcass weighing no more than 6 kilograms;
• 2-3 oranges;
• a couple of tablespoons of mustard seeds;
• 3-4 cloves of garlic;
• 100 milliliters of vegetable oil;
• 0.5-1 kilograms of onions;
• salt, ground pepper;
• mixture of provencal herbs.

Even looking at the ingredients, it becomes clear that thisturkey marinade recipe pretty simple. There is no need to look for dust from the horn of a unicorn, dragon scales and similar "magic" ingredients. Everything you need can be bought at any store. The main thing in all this is a high-quality turkey carcass and you can easily find it in the Meat Paradise store.

Our range includes high quality farm products that meet even the highest standards. We scrupulously select bird feed, do not use any chemicals or hormones. Therefore, we can guarantee not only tasty, but also safe, and, therefore, healthy meat, which can be safely introduced as complementary foods to young children without risk of harm to health.

Now we proceed directly to the cooking process. Wash the carcass thoroughly and dry it, if the offal remains, remove it. The bird should be at room temperature, so the fibers are more likely to absorb the tastes and aromas of the marinade.

Mix orange juice, mustard seeds and vegetable oil. Add grated or finely chopped garlic to the mixture. Grate the carcass with the mixture on all sides, then salt, season with pepper and spices. Cut the onion into rings and stuff the turkey with it. We spread the bird with its breast up and send it to marinate for a day, not forgetting to periodically turn it over.

This marinade for roasting turkey can be used not only for the whole carcass, but also for drumsticks. Only they can be left for 5-6 hours or overnight. This will be enough to soak the drumsticks and exude incredible, mouth-watering aromas throughout the kitchen during cooking.

If you are not very fond of the aroma of citrus fruits in combination with meat, then you can replace orange juice with kefir or natural yogurt without additives. Fermented milk products add special tenderness to meat, softening it, but not depriving it of the aftertaste. It is enough to mix kefir, some vegetable oil and mustard, add salt and spices. After, you need to grease the turkey well outside and inside.

By the way, if you make small cuts in the skin, then the fibers are impregnated better. Very often kefir is usedmarinade for turkey kebab. The meat turns out to be unusually juicy and tender. And most importantly, everything is very simple. And since we are talking about kebabs, remember that it is not necessary to cut the meat for the skewer very finely. Otherwise, it will dry out very quickly and lose all the juice.

In the cooking process, the main mistake is to make cuts from which the juice comes out with greater activity. Any part of the turkey can be marinated in kefir or sour cream, including the breast, thighs and drumsticks. This is one of the universal recipes for any type of meat.

Proven turkey fillet marinade

As written above, the brisket can be left in kefir for several hours, and this will already be a guarantee that you will have a tasty and juicy dish. But this is not the only way. Soy sauce has been especially popular recently for steeping meat before cooking. Marinade based on it has long won the hearts of many lovers to enjoy a delicious and juicy dish. The only rule to remember when using this recipe is to control the amount of salt. After all, soy sauce is already salty enough, and if you do not want to get a salted dish, then you should not forget about it. Another advantage of the sauce is that it gives the crust an appetizing golden color.

How to cookmarinade for based on that very sauce? It's that simple! Mix soy sauce, add a few tablespoons of vegetable (olive) oil, 2 teaspoons of honey. Mix it all well. If you like it more sharply, then you can add grated ginger, hot peppers and your favorite spices. Would you like some honey? Tomato paste or natural juice will add spice to the dish. Some housewives also add strong brewed coffee to soy sauce. In general, fantasizing, you can create the most unusual combinations.

Now let's get down to the process itself. First you need to buy that very fillet, well, or breast. Pay attention to quality when buying. The meat should be fresh, chilled, not frozen, and have an even color with no chapped areas. And, of course, it should not exude an unpleasant odor.

If you want to get the most dietary dish, then be sure to remove the skin.

Now make small cuts in the sirloin and pour the marinade over the whole piece of meat. Refrigerate overnight. Before baking the brisket, it is necessary to insert chives cut into slices into the cuts that were made. This will spice up the meat.

Now place the fillet in the sleeve and bake. The finished dish can be served with a side dish, or sliced \u200b\u200bmeat can be used, for example, on sandwiches, as a tasty and healthy snack.

By the way,turkey marinade with soy sauce can be used not only for fillets, but also for other parts of the carcass and even whole poultry! Well, to be quite frank, this recipe can also be used for chicken and other types of meat. Try it, maybe he will become the most beloved in your family!

How to cook a Christmas turkey

How to cook a turkey. Oven baked turkey. Turkey fillet and breast. Turkey up the sleeve. Pickled (soaked) turkey is the juiciest!

Turkey is the main dish on the Christmas table. How to cook, bake and serve a festive turkey roast? Try 3 of the best recipes for juicy turkey meat (our recipes have been tested on numerous guests!)

The tradition of cooking poultry for Christmas (along with pork and roast beef) dates back many thousands of years and comes from the pagan rites of sacrifice. In some families, in accordance with old aristocratic traditions, they cook a pheasant, swan or partridge for Christmas, but the most popular Christmas birds today are turkey (which will be discussed in this article), duck and goose. If whole turkey is too big for your family, you can buy and bake turkey breast (with bone or fillet). Around Christmas and New Years, a large selection of such pieces of turkey, weighing from 1 to 5 kg, appears in stores. If you do not have the opportunity to cook any of the above, then you can festively bake and serve the most ordinary chicken.

Turkey baked with bacon

Preparing the turkey for roasting the evening before the holiday will help you save time on the day of the feast. Place the turkey on a plastic cutting board. Make deep cuts across the entire surface with a knife and place the flat halves of the heads of garlic there, as well as the frozen chicken fat cut into pieces (this fat is usually found inside every chicken, I collected it beforehand and stored it in the freezer). Brush the turkey with goose fat or olive oil and your favorite spices (I used the steak mix Montreal Steak company McCormick, whole grain mustard and my mom's homemade adjika). Cover the coated bird with sage and rosemary leaves from the outside and from the inside (they give the roast an extraordinary aroma). The inside of the turkey (or under the breast, if it's just the breast) can be cut into quarters of lemon, apple or orange. Place the turkey in an ovenproof dish (preferably breast-side down to make it juicier from the poultry juices collecting below) and top it with chunks of raw chicken fat, then cover nicely with fatty bacon. Wrap the turkey dish in foil and refrigerate overnight. On the morning of the meal, remove the turkey from the refrigerator ahead of time so that it stands for several hours at room temperature before baking.

Turkey, soaked (pickled) - the juiciest and no extra calories!

Way marinating turkey became widely known relatively recently. He is said to have been inspired by a process used to make kosher foods (soaked in water to remove all blood from a bird). It has been observed that kosher turkey, which are widely available in many countries today, are more tender and juicy than the usual ones.

Soak the whole turkey in the composition below for 2-3 days (depending on the size and weight of the bird) and keep it in the refrigerator or cold room throughout the marinating process. You can use the sleeves to marinate the turkey breast (see below). If you don't have one or two ingredients, that's okay, the turkey will still turn out juicy after lying in a salty solution.

For marinade (for turkey weighing 4-5 kg):

3 tbsp. l. black peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick, split into several pieces

1 tbsp. l. cumin seeds

a few sticks of cloves

120 g sugar

2 onions, cut lengthwise into several pieces

4 large cloves of garlic, passed through a press

6 cm ginger root, grated (or powder)

1 orange with peel, cut into slices (squeeze the juice into the solution, throw slices in the same place)

chopped parsley or celery

The night before the holiday, bring the marinated turkey into the room to bring it to room temperature. Before cooking, remove the turkey from the marinade, rinse in cold water, blot inside and out with paper towels and place breast side up in a heatproof dish. I use no spices, no fat, or bag sleeves to roast the soaked (pickled) turkey. Under the turkey, on a heat-resistant dish, I put only a handful of fresh sage and rosemary, and grease the bird itself with vegetable oil on top so that the skin is browned better.

Turkey: process and time of baking in the oven

Start roasting the turkey at maximum temperature (approx. 240 ° C) for about 30 minutes, until the top and sides of the bird are browned. After that, cover the turkey tightly with foil on the top and sides, reduce the temperature to 180 ° C (ovens with a fan) - 200 ° C (ovens without a fan) and continue baking the bird, occasionally pouring juices and fat on it, which accumulate at the bottom of the dish (not required for soaked turkey). In the last 20-30 minutes of baking, remove the foil again and make sure that the turkey does not burn. If this happens, you can turn the oven temperature down to 180 ° C.

Time to roast the turkey in the oven varies depending on the weight of the turkey, the baking temperature, your oven, whether the turkey is stuffed, and other factors. Therefore, be sure to follow the cooking process and refer to the meat thermometer (see below). The approximate cooking time for turkey in the oven is 30-40 minutes per kilogram of weight.

If you bake the filling or side dishes on the same dish as the turkey, then add them only 30-50 minutes before the expected time of the poultry is ready.

To make sure that turkey ready, it is recommended to pierce it at the widest point. The juice flowing out should be clean and transparent, free of blood. However, when the turkey is completely ready, it is already a little late to remove it from the oven, since the process of increasing the temperature inside the bird by inertia will still take about half an hour. This is one of the reasons many people overdry turkey. To avoid this, it is better to get a special thermometer for the oven.

How to use an oven thermometer

Special meat thermometers equipped with a long needle that measures the temperature inside the turkey. The thermometer should be inserted into the widest part of the turkey (usually the middle of the thigh) before placing the bird in the oven and left there for the entire baking period (the most convenient thermometers have a thin cord and a sensor; the sensor is outside and you do not need to open the oven every time. to find out the temperature inside the turkey).

The turkey is removed from the oven when the temperature inside at the widest point of the bird reaches 70 ° C, and left covered with foil and a towel in a warm place to "rest" for 20-25 minutes or until the temperature rises to 74 ° C. Now the thermometer can be removed, and the turkey can be cut, served and eaten.

Turkey baked in a bag / sleeve

Prepare the turkey for roasting as for the "traditional" method with bacon (see above), but you can reduce the amount of fat. Carefully, so as not to shake off the spices, transfer the turkey to a special plastic sleeve bag (see photo) so that the side seams of the bag are at the top and bottom, and not on the sides. Twist the opening of the bag and secure it with a special fastener (sold with bags). There are special large bags for whole turkeys, and smaller "sleeves" (for chicken) can be used for the breast. Fill the bag with air to keep it from sticking to the turkey. Carefully cut the upper corner of the bag obliquely to make a 2-3 cm hole. Extra steam will come out through it so that the turkey is baked and browned, and not stewed.

Bake the turkey in a bag at 200 ° C. Calculation of baking time: about 30 minutes per kilogram of weight (or as recommended by the manufacturer of the package). You don't need to cut the bag at the end, the turkey should be browned on all sides anyway.

I baked the turkey in a bag several times and I must say the roast always turned out very well. In the bag, the poultry is baked faster and at a lower temperature (saving time and energy), browning perfectly on all sides, while the oven remains absolutely clean. All the juice from the roasted turkey is collected at the bottom of the bag, from where it can be easily poured and then used in other dishes (for example, to make a traditional roast gravy).

However, since I tried pre-soaking (pickling) a turkey a couple of years ago, I have given up sleeve bags as unnecessary. Marinating makes the turkey juicy and tasty without excess fat (and calories!) Even when baked in the oven.

How to serve turkey

Baked poultry is the main dish of the Christmas table. Therefore, it is served solemnly, brought out last on a large, beautiful dish, when all the other dishes have already been served and the guests, refreshed with a glass of champagne or warmed up with mulled wine, gathered at the table. The host or hostess cut the bird into thin pieces, usually starting from the breast, and distribute it to the guests. Sliced \u200b\u200bturkey meat dries up pretty quickly, so it's best to cut off the pieces as needed, and store the rest in a whole piece wrapped in foil.

Leftover turkey makes great sandwiches and sandwiches, and can also be used in salads and pies.

Material and pictures: Oksana Jeter, CountrysideLiving.net

According to statistics, Americans eat 50 million turkeys on Thanksgiving Day. It costs them all that gorge in the amount of about a billion dollars. But in vain you think that everyone in America knows how to cook this classic dish, although certain traditions still exist. The technology of poultry preparation plays an important role here, which we will talk about.

Why and how to marinate a whole turkey for baking in the oven - the crux of the matter

Not only American citizens adore Turki - our people are also not fools to taste turkey meat. You probably noticed that we have been having a real turkey craze lately, especially on New Year's and Christmas. But, to be honest, few people have a delicious dish. I believe that the reason for failure is to ignore only two factors:

1. Turkey meat is quite lean, especially the breast, and the mass of an average bird is 5-6 kg. The following follows from this circumstance.
2. Such a carcass is being prepared according to the classic recipe for quite a long time. The result is almost always the same - dry, harsh meat, including the vaunted breast.

To be honest, how to marinate a whole turkey for baking in the oven, I myself have not thought about it before, preferring to cook or a goose. Apparently, this would have continued until I accidentally saw Elton Brown's cooking show "Good Eats" on the Food Network.

Some people think that soy sauce and honey are important here, others - honey-mustard marinade. What is actually needed is brining technology, in other words, pickling in brine. A short time will be enough for the end result to be soft and juicy.

The reception was heatedly discussed among the English-speaking authoritative bloggers. I trusted their recommendations and did not regret: firstly, the cooking time was almost halved; secondly, the meat turned out to be tender and tasty.

What is the magic of pickle?

It's not about the brine that people are actively using to improve their health after a wild feast. Let's talk about a solution for soaking a product before further heat treatment. A quick tour of the physics and chemistry curriculum is enough to understand how to pickle a whole turkey for oven baking. Who is not interested - skip the theory and get down to practice.

All the magic of a simple pickle rests on three whales:

• Diffusion - the process of interpenetration of microparticles of one substance between the molecules of another, which leads to a spontaneous equalization of their concentrations throughout the volume. In our case, the whole turkey marinade allows the salt molecules to enter the meat cells.
• Osmosis - a variant of one-way diffusion, when solvent microparticles enter through the membrane towards the most concentrated solution. In our case, water acts as a solvent, which saturates the cells of the meat together with salt. A carcass left in brine overnight will weigh 7-8% more of its original weight.
• - violation of the unique protein structure. Initially, the protein in meat has a twisted configuration; after exposure to saline, the polypeptide chain unfolds. In other words, before baking, a matrix is \u200b\u200bformed in the meat that retains moisture inside the cells, thereby preventing the carcass from dehydrating during cooking.

How it works in progress

Now I will briefly describe the essence of the operation of the marinade. Once again, I repeat - this is not pickling with vinegar, as we usually think, but rather soaking in brine. Bringing technology is not rocket technology, everything is simple here. The whole process can be described by the axiom that nature abhors a vacuum.

When we were going to marinate a whole turkey for roasting in an electric oven, we immerse the Turki in a solution of water, salt and sugar, thereby upsetting the balance of things in nature. An imbalance is created when the concentration of ingredients around the carcass is much higher than inside.

Natural forces begin to work, trying with all their might to equalize the balance, but even the best pickle will not do it quickly - it takes time. The cells inside meat are surrounded by a semi-permeable membrane through which water and salt molecules pass freely, but not proteins.

Through osmosis and diffusion, the cell moves the curing substances inward and outward, trying to restore equilibrium with the surrounding solution. Of course, the meat is also flavored. When the concentration of salt in the cells increases, the tightly coiled protein structure gradually unwinds. Some types of proteins are almost completely denatured and liquefied.

At the beginning of the process, the meat is dehydrated. With the diffusion accumulation of brine elements in the tissues of the carcass, a gradual transition from the phase of its dehydration to the phase of hydration begins. Due to the fact that the meat gains moisture, it will be tender and juicy, and no mayonnaise or wine vinegar is needed here.

Practice: how to marinate a whole turkey for baking in the oven

Friends, I hope I'm not tired of my theoretical research, so let's get down to business! To be honest, the recipe for marinade from Elton Brown put me on my guard, since the classic salting technology contains slightly different proportions of components. Nevertheless, I did everything according to his recipe and did not regret it.

The dish was ready in two and a half hours, which is almost two times less than traditional cooking without pretreatment. The meat turned out to be the most tender and with a rich taste. Now I know how to marinate a whole turkey at home for roasting in the oven, and I can recommend the secret to preparing a gourmet meal.

Ingredients and equipment

I had a bird weighing 6 kg, but the listed number of components is enough for a seven-kilogram carcass. You can find a bird and a more massive one, but is there any point and, most importantly, the possibility of baking it - it simply will not fit into a standard oven. So, we take:

• Salt - 250 g.
• Sugar - 100 g.
• Black peppercorns - 1 tablespoon
• Dried thyme - 1 tablespoon
• Dried rosemary - 1 tablespoon
• Dried sage - 1 tablespoon
• - 3.7 liters.
• Cold water - 3.7 liters.
• Ice - 3-4 glasses (if possible).

The minimum set of spices works flawlessly - checked. No, I do not insist on this list, I also came across recommendations for soaking poultry in an orange marinade. However, I prefer to put orange quarters inside the carcass before baking - a spicy taste is guaranteed. It is necessary to try to add kiwi in the future for greater sourness.

Many are lost in what to soak such an amount of meat. A bucket or deep bowl will do. For example, I used a ten-liter plastic container. You will need some other weight so that the carcass does not float and is completely in the brine.

Important! Do not forget to defrost the turkey in advance, if necessary!

They say that this "happiness" in America is sold ready-made in boxes, I have not seen this here, so I prepared the broth myself. There is nothing difficult here - no more difficult than or jellied meat. So, before marinating the whole turkey in brine for baking in the oven, prepare a vegetable broth:

• Water - 4 liters.
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Carrots - 2 pcs.
• Celery petiole - 3 pcs.
• Garlic - 3 cloves.
• Tomato - 1 pc.

As a matter of fact, the traditional ingredients for the vegetable broth are carrots, onions and celery. But other components can be used as desired. Cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers will do. And in general - put whatever is at hand and suits your taste. For example, I did not take garlic, because we do not like its aroma.

Preparation of the broth will not take much time. Pour all ingredients with water, bring to a boil and cook for 40 minutes. Then we filter and use it as intended.

Brine preparation

• In a large saucepan, add spices, salt, sugar to the strained marinade and cook for 10 minutes. Then remove from heat and cool to 20-25 ° C.
• Place the turkey in a bucket, fill it with broth, add cold water and ice. The amount of water must be the same as the amount of brine, otherwise the salt concentration will increase.

Important! The carcass must be completely immersed in the marinade, if it does not work out, turn it over every 5-6 hours. Keeping the meat in brine - two hours per kilogram of weight, i.e. a six-kilogram bird will be salted for 12 hours. It is not necessary for a day or two - just oversalt the product, it is better to underexpose.

We put the closed container with meat in the refrigerator or some cold place. I will not talk about the chemistry of the process, just remember - the optimum solution temperature should be at the level of -2 ... + 2 ° C.

Briefly about cooking meat

Well, now you know how to marinate a whole turkey with your own hands for baking in the oven, there is nothing particularly complicated here, but the result is excellent. No question - you can use lemon or pomegranate marinade, but believe me - this simple pickle can work wonders. And pomegranates will make a good sauce.

Before baking, remove the bird from the solution, rinse well in running water, both outside and inside. Then we stuff it, put the carcass on the back in a baking sheet, pour a glass of water into it - and into an oven preheated to 220 ° C.

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