Slow-Roasted Turkey

Slow-roasted turkey is marvelously tender, with meat that falls off the bone and golden, rich brown skin. It’s an easy, hands-off way to prepare turkey, and yields consistently excellent results.

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Why We Slow-Roast Our Turkeys

Pasture-raised birds tend toward toughness, both because they have the freedom to exercise their muscles more and because they’re culled at an older age than birds that are raised conventionally.   There’s really only one reliable way to produce particularly tender results when it comes to cooking pastured poultry, and that’s with long cooking times and low temperatures.  That might mean that you simmer birds in water, for bone broth and soups, or that you braise it, or that you slow roast it.

Those long cooking times and low temperatures give the proteins in the bird’s meat an opportunity to break down, and for the fat to melt into meat which also helps it to become tender; moreover, pasture-raised birds tend to have high amounts of collagen within their skin, joints and bones, and slow-roasting facilitates the breakdown of that collagen which then melts into the meat and leaves it impossibly tender.

Slow-roasting is a Pretty Easy, Hands-Off Approach

I like to begin by preparing and herb butter, and then slipping that softened, flavored butter between the skin and flesh of the breast.  As it roasts, the butter melts into the bird’s meat, and not only helps to make it tender, but also infuses it with the vibrant flavor of fresh herbs.  Stuffing the bird’s cavity with lemon, onions and herbs also helps to keep it moist while it roasts.

Beyond that, you just need to pop it in the oven, baste it occasionally with pan juices when you check on it.  It’s a fabulous way to cook a turkey overnight, in a low and slow oven, while you sleep.  We usually serve Thanksgiving dinner around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, which means that we stay up late the night before drinking mulled wine and hot spiced cider, place the bird in the oven to bake, and then baste it when we wake up.  When the bird is done, we pull it from the oven and allow it to rest, then carve it where it falls apart into utterly tender pieces.

Real Food Thanksgiving Favorites

It’s a pleasure to cook for Thanksgiving, and everyone has their favorite dishes.  Here are some of Nourished Kitchen reader favorites.

Pumpkin Custard is a wonderfully simple, relatively easy to make dessert for Thanksgiving.  It’s like pumpkin pie, but without all the fuss of the crust.

Maple Pecan Pie offers a twist on the classic.  Instead of corn syrup, maple syrup offers an incredible flavor and just the right sweetness.

Cranberry Mandarin Relish is another favorite for its light, vibrant and refreshing flavor.