Tyler Florence’s Super Fast Turkey
Serves 10 to 14
Adapted from “Inside the Test Kitchen,” by Tyler Florence (Clarkson Potter, 2014; 252 pages; $35. Also available as an e-book). You can ask the butcher to spatchco*ck the turkey for you.
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Stuffing
8 cups of 1-inch pieces of crustless sourdough bread
5 tablespoons grapeseed or vegetable oil
1 pound sage breakfast sausage, crumbled
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced onion
5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
10 sage leaves, minced, or 20 if not using sage sausage
8 thyme sprigs
2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
2 eggs
Turkey
1 10- to 16-pound turkey, thawed
1 to 2 bunches sage
1 to 2 bunches thyme
Special equipment
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Make the stuffing: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the bread with 3 tablespoons of the oil and toast it on a sheet pan in the oven for 15 minutes, until crisp and golden.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage; brown lightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrots, celery, onion and garlic, followed by the sage and thyme. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. When the vegetables are aromatic and tender, 15-20 minutes, add a splash of water if necessary to loosen the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat.
Remove the thyme sprigs and pull the leaves off, adding the leaves back to the stuffing. Add the toasted bread and the chicken stock, and mix.
Transfer about 2/3 of the stuffing to a food processor. Process until somewhat smooth, adding the eggs while pureeing. Spoon the remaining stuffing into a buttered baking dish, about 8-inch square.
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Prepare the turkey: If the butcher did not spatchco*ck the turkey, remove the heart and giblets and reserve; discard the liver. Flip the turkey upside down so the breast is on your cutting board. Using kitchen shears, cut on both sides of the backbone so the bone can be removed. (This will take a little force.) Pull the bone out of the turkey and reserve for another use, such as turkey stock. Gently but firmly open up the bird a little, and set it on the board with the skin side up. Twist the thighs around so they lay flat.
Insert your fingers gently between the skin and the breast meat, separating the two while keeping the skin attached. You want to create a pocket for the stuffing without tearing the skin. Work your fingers all the way from the top of the thigh to the neck cavity.
Rub grapeseed or vegetable oil over the skin of the entire turkey, then season liberally with salt and pepper. Do the same to the inside of bird. (A good guideline for how much salt to use is 2/3 teaspoon per pound.)
Pipe the stuffing: Use a spatula to fill a piping bag or large Ziploc freezer bag with the pureed stuffing. Snip off the tip or one corner so you have a nickel-size opening. Stick the piping bag between the skin and meat of the left breast and begin piping the stuffing underneath — a gentle zigzag movement should give you even coverage. Move to the right, and pipe under the right breast. Massage the skin a bit to make sure the stuffing forms an even layer. If you have leftover pureed stuffing, pipe it into the neck cavity.
Roast the turkey: Keep the oven set at 375 degrees. Place a large rack on a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet, and put the whole sprigs of sage and thyme on the rack. Place the turkey skin-side up on top of the herbs.
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Put the turkey in the oven and roast 1¼ hours (for a 10-pound bird) to 1½ hours (for a 16-pound bird). At this point, the skin should be golden brown and the internal temperature should be 135 degrees. To measure the temperature, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, keeping the tip away from the bone, and then do the same with the thickest part of the breast.
Tent the turkey with foil and continue to roast until the temperature reaches 155 degrees in the breast, about 20 minutes. (The internal temperature will continue to rise after the turkey is removed from the oven.) Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest at least 15 minutes before slicing.
While the turkey is resting, bake the pan with the stuffing for 20-30 minutes, until lightly browned on top.
Carve and serve: Cut the legs off first, and separate them at the intersection of thigh and drumstick. Then slice the dark meat. Use your largest knife to remove each breast, whole. Start at the breastbone and slowly carve down and along the ribcage. Once you’ve removed both breasts, you can slice them lengthwise so each guest gets a stripe of of stuffing and crisp, golden skin. Serve the baked stuffing as needed.
Jonathan Kauffman has been writing about food for The Chronicle since the spring of 2014. He focuses on the intersection of food and culture — whether that be profiling chefs, tracking new trends in nonwestern cuisines, or examining the impact of technology on the way we eat.
After cooking for a number of years in Minnesota and San Francisco, Kauffman left the kitchen to become a journalist. He reviewed restaurants for 11 years in the Bay Area and Seattle (East Bay Express, Seattle Weekly, SF Weekly) before abandoning criticism in order to tell the stories behind the food. His first book, “Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat,” was published in 2018.
