Happy Thanksgiving!! 🍂🦃Hope you’re getting a chance to slow down today and spend time with family, friends, and a table full of delicious dishes!
It’s time for the grand finale of our Samin Nosrat Friendsgiving menu: Buttermilk-Brined Roast Turkey!
I’m usually team dry-brine, but if anyone could lure me back to a wet brine, it’s Samin. I’ve made her famous buttermilk-brined chicken more times than I can count (as I’m sure many of you have), and that deeply browned skin plus ultra-tender meat gets me every time.
Brining a turkey, though, is a whole different beast. First discovery: two-gallon zip-top bags exist (saving me marinating in a trash bag 😅). And while I’ve spatchcocked plenty of chickens, this was my first turkey – it’s the same idea just on a much larger scale that tested by kitchen scissors!
Once spatchcocked, the turkey goes into a bath of buttermilk and plenty of salt and marinates for 48 hours. If you have a giant bowl (I’ve never been more thankful for the massive prep bowl from Cassandra’s Kitchen) you’ll want to place it in there just in case you have any leaks (as I did).
Then you just let the buttermilk and salt do their magic – the salt flavors the meat while the acid from the buttermilk tenderizes the meat.
The day of you remove from the buttermilk, bring to room temp, and roast until the skin is deeply browned with tender, juicy meat. Even better with the spatchcock this cooks in about an hour and a half!
Three ingredients. One tasty bird!
Rating: 5/5
How Easy Is That – Skill Level: Easy
Store-Bought Is Fine: buttermilk
Recipe on NYTCooking (unlocked)
