The Juiciest Thanksgiving Turkey You'll Ever Make (Cider-Braised) | America's Test Kitchen

Sean's way of cooking with what grows, roams, and swims near where you live makes perfect sense. So I asked our staff at Cook's Country to cook through his book to become familiar with his tastes and the vibrant flavors. And Morgan is here. She's going to tell us about one of those dishes. That's right, Tony. So I'm making a cider braised turkey that's inspired by one of his recipes from his book, The Sous Chef's Indigenous Kitchen. And so here I have eight pounds of bone-in turkey pieces. So I'm using thighs and drumsticks, and I'm going to start by patting them dry. You can use any combination of thighs or drumsticks. You do want to make sure they're each about a pound. And now I'm going to sprinkle them all over with a tablespoon of fine sea salt. So this is going to help season them throughout. I'm going to let this sit on the turkey thighs and drumsticks. It's going to actually help them retain their moisture and stay nice and juicy during the braise. So if you have a large platter, of course you could use that. I'm just using a sheet pan just because it's what I have that fits these. I'm gonna cover these with plastic and let them sit in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, which will really help enhance that flavor and bring out that juiciness while they're braising. But first I need to wash my hands. So we're actually going to braise the turkey. So I do want to make a really flavorful base for the braising. And I'm starting with two tablespoons of sunflower oil. This is another nod to the indigenous pantry. Sunflowers are indigenous to the Americas. So I added this to a large saucepan. I'm going to heat it over medium-high heat until it's just shimmering. And while that heats, I'm going to prep some ginger. So here I have a three-inch piece of ginger. You can see it still has its peel on and everything. And I'm just going to slice this into thin rounds. So I'm doing quarter-inch thick rounds. And let's just see if this is shimmering. I think I see some light shimmering going on. So I'm going to add this, my ginger, and then I'm also going to add a chopped onion and one and a half teaspoons of that fine sea salt again. I'm just going to cook these until they're nice and soft, which will take about three minutes. These are looking nice and soft. I've got three cups of apple cider. I'm going to add six sprigs of fresh sage. This is something we borrowed from Sean's recipe. He uses a lot of sage. And then I have an ounce of porcini mushrooms that we rinsed and drained. So these are actually our own addition. This isn't something we borrowed from his recipe, but it adds a lot of meaty depth here. So I think we're officially at a boil. So I'm going to add this to my roasting pan. I have a tendency to splash, so I'm going to stay away from you. I'm going to stand over here. Yeah, I don't want to accidentally splash you. This is our turkey. Of course it sat for 12 hours, so it's gotten nice and seasoned. You actually don't have to be super thoughtful in which side goes skin side up or skin side down now, but later you will. This turkey is going to release a lot of juices while it braises. That's going to also mix with this apple cider and make a really flavorful sauce. Okay, so the turkey's all nestled in there. Now I'm going to cover with foil and put it in a 300 degree oven on the middle rack. We're going to let it go an hour and a half, then I'm actually going to remove it from the oven, remove that foil, and flip the turkey to keep it nice and even and it's cooking. Then I'm going to put it back in the oven for another hour and a half, and by then it'll be fork tender. Thank you. You are welcome. Oh, it smells so good. It does smell good, doesn't it? I'm not quite done, but it does smell delicious, right? It does. Let's see. Let's check some. So, oh yeah. See how, like, tender that meat is? Oh, it looks delectable. Yes. So, I'm going to pull these out. Now I do want to strain this liquid into this eight cup liquid measure. Here I have these solids and I'm actually going to use them to add body to the sauce. I've got these sage leaves but I'm actually going to use the rest of this to thicken the sauce. I'm going to give this a little stir because the fat's settling on top. So I've got a little over six cups in here so I'm just going to add two cups into this and blend it just to give it enough liquid to blend with. That looks nice and smooth. And it smells divine. Yeah, very nice. I'm just going to add this right back into the roasting pan. Would you mind adding the rest of that braising liquid in here too? You want this full amount? The full amount. Okay. Now I'm just going to whisk this all in. You can see it is taking on this nice body. The sauce is getting nice and thick. And you're also getting a little bit of that fond that's in the bottom of the pan. Yeah, so a few more things. So here I have two tablespoons of whole grain mustard. This is our own little spin. And then I also have two tablespoons of cider vinegar as well. Nice hit of acidity there. And back in the turkey goes. This time I do want to be really thoughtful about putting the turkey skin side up because we're going to put it back in the oven and get some nice browning on there. So this time I'm not going to cover it, this time it's going in uncovered. We bumped the oven up to 400 degrees and it's going to go in there for another 20-25 minutes until that skin is nice and well browned. Sounds great. Oh my goodness, look at that. I know, isn't it so pretty? It's beautiful and the skin crisps right up. Exactly. I know, so it looks so pretty now. I feel like we've got that skin nice and crisp. The extra 20 minutes just does so much work to make this presentation worthy and get that skin Let's get nice. Absolutely, it's beautiful. Okay, so it is almost time for us to eat. These do need to rest about 20 minutes, but I am going to move them over to the serving platter. Tony, it's time to eat. Do you want a thigh or a drumstick? Oh, I want one of those crispy-looking thighs. This one's like the prettiest, so I think it's a good Tony one. Let's see, there we go. Thank you. I'm going to add some of the sauce, some of the braising liquid and that beautiful sauce we built, tears. It's so beautiful, and it smells so good. Look at that, the way that it's coating the skin. All right, I'm going to go in for this little corner. You know, the meat's so tender. It's got some nice sweetness. I feel like everything you've ever heard about turkey being bland is just, like, gone. Out the window. Out the window with this. It's so moist. And we know that dark meat is going to be moist, but there's something else here. The sweetness from the apples, it really comes through. And that little hint of ginger, just the tiniest little bit of a bite, but you don't quite know what it is, right? You just know there's something really special about it. Yeah, just like a little bit of complexity in there. I just love that sweetness. The skin has a really nice crispness. It's like even after braising, you still get really nice like texture. It's not at all soft. It's just really nice and crisp. For full episodes of your favorite cooking shows, head over to ATK's full episodes channel on YouTube. You can stream complete seasons of America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, and more. See you there.