some kitchen surgery.
So, how do you take an unevenly shaped turkey breast
and turn it into a perfect cylinder? Simple. Remove the
breasts from the bones and put them together head-to-heels,
then wrap the whole thing up with their breast skin and tie it
up to roast slowly. Then, after the breast is cooked, brown it
on the stove top to crisp up the skin.
This method offers a few distinct advantages:
- Even cooking. Because of its symmetrical shape, the
turkey breast cooks through along its entire length at the
same rate. Nobody gets stuck with a dry piece. - Better seasoning. By removing the breasts from the
carcass, you expose more surface area and you can then
season the breasts on both sides before assembling the
turkey roll. - Easier carving. With no bones and an even shape,
carving the turkey breast is as simple as slicing a
tenderloin. - Better gravy. With the bones from the breast at your
disposal, it’s easy to make a delicious very turkey-ey
gravy.
It all sounds great, right? And it is, but after all the work
I’ve done on improving those darn breasts, the legs are
beginning to feel a little left out. Should they be content with
plain old roasting? Well, sure—if you feel like it you can
just add them to the baking sheet while the breast roll cooks
and make sure they reach at least 160° to 170°F degrees
before taking them out and following the same searing