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The East Indian Turkey
The turkey is the centerpiece of the traditional AmericanThanksgiving meal. We’ve added an Indian spice rub under the skin and a glaze over the outside skin that takes your Pilgrim dream and turns it into a Bangalore beauty.
You may have your own favorite method of cooking a turkey that works for you. Don't rock the boat - go with what works for you. Just add the spice rub below to your routine and you are good to go.
We’ve tried brining the bird (which makes it oh so moist), we've fried it (too intense for me), slow baked and fast baked. Below is the ‘fast bake’ method. When we fast bake, we brine the bird in a cooler filled with water, ice, bay leaves, pepper corns and salt overnight before and prep it Thanksgiving morning. The salt opens up the cell walls so the meat proteins fill with water.
Here’s what you need:
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One (14- to 16-lb) turkey, neck and giblets (excluding liver) reserved for turkey giblet stock |
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The Rub: |
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3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground |
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3/4 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground |
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4 garlic cloves, chopped |
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1 (1 1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated |
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3 tablespoons vegetable oil plus additional for greasing pan |
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2 tablespoons fresh lime juice |
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1 1/2 teaspoons salt |
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1/2 teaspoon black pepper |
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1/4 teaspoon cayenne |
Here’s what you do:
1. Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Mix the rub in a blender. Rub it evenly in turkey cavities. Then under the skin. Take a piece of plastic wrap and wrap it around your index finger. Use the plastic and your finger to separate the skin from the bird. Massage the rub under the skin as well. Fold neck skin under body and, if desired, secure with metal skewer, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with heavy kitchen string.
3. Put turkey on rack in a large flameproof roasting pan. Roast, rotating pan 180 degrees halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hours.
4. Often we will make a quick glaze of honey (or just sugar water) and toasted ground cumin. Towards the end of the bake, paint the glaze on the outside skin. Do this several times and you will get a nice spicy varnish to the skin that not only looks great, but tastes great too.
5. Carefully tilt turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a platter (do not clean roasting pan) and let stand 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180°F). Cut off and discard string from turkey.
Note: We don’t recommend this high-heat roasting method for turkeys weighing more than 16 pounds. However, for turkeys weighing less than 14 pounds, start checking the temperature earlier. If you only have a dark-colored metal roasting pan or your pan juices start to look very dark, add 1 cup water to the roasting pan.
Adapted from: Gourmet - November 2005