Roast Stuffed Turkey

NOTE: For some cooks, the stuffing is the best part of the holiday meal, and for best flavor they want to cook at least some of the stuffing in the bird. This causes all kinds of cooking problems since the stuffing can be slow to heat up. The stuffing enthusiasts in our test kitchen developed a method that gets the stuffing hot enough to kill any bacteria without causing the delicate breast meat to dry out.

At the outset, we limited our turkey to a maximum of 15 pounds because it is just too difficult to stuff and roast larger birds safely. From initial tests, we saw that the stuffing generally lagged at least 10 degrees behind the breast and leg. Since the stuffing must reach a temperature of 165 degrees according to USDA standards, our breast meat was at a bone-dry 175 degrees in these early experiments.

Clearly, we were going to have to heat the stuffing before putting it into the turkey. When we heated stuffing to 120 degrees in a microwave and then roasted the bird at a constant 325 degrees, we cut 45 minutes off the roasting time we'd needed with cold stuffing. The breast was still overcooked, but this method was promising. In the end, we settled on a combination of high and low heat.

We also determined that, regardless of temperature, roasting the bird breast down for only one hour was not sufficient. The breast needed to be shielded for most of the cooking time. We also abandoned roasting leg side up because the turns were too awkward with a stuffed bird.

A 12-to 15-pound turkey will accommodate approximately half of the stuffing. Bake the remainder in a casserole dish while the bird rests before carving. Make the gravy recipe. Serves 10 to 12.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Dissolve salt in 2 gallons of cold water in large stock pot or clean bucket. Add turkey and refrigerate or set in very cool (40 degrees or less) spot for 12 hours.

2. Remove turkey from salt water and rinse skin and both cavities under cool water for several minutes until all traces of salt are gone. Pat dry inside and out with paper towels; set aside. Adjust oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Scatter onions, carrot, celery, and thyme over shallow roasting pan. Pour 1 cup water over vegetables. Set V-rack in pan.

3. Place half of stuffing in buttered medium casserole dish, dot surface with 1 tablespoon butter, cover with buttered foil, and refrigerate until ready to use. Microwave remaining stuffing on full power, stirring two or three times, until very hot (120 to 130 degrees), 6 to 8 minutes (if you can handle stuffing with hands, it is not hot enough). Spoon 4 to 5 cups of stuffing into the turkey cavity until very loosely packed (see figure 6). Secure skin flap over the cavity opening with turkey lacers or skewers (see figures 7 and 8). Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Tuck wings behind back, brush entire breast side with half of melted butter, then place turkey breast side down on V-rack. Fill neck cavity with remaining heated stuffing and secure skin flap over opening as above (see figure 9). Brush back with remaining butter.

4. Roast 1 hour, then reduce temperature to 250 degrees and roast 2 hours longer, adding additional water if pan becomes dry. Remove pan from oven (close oven door) and with wad of paper toweling in each hand, turn breast side up and baste (temperature of breast should be 145 to 150 degrees). Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees; continue roasting until breast registers about 165 degrees, thigh registers 170 to 175 degrees, and stuffing registers 165 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 1 to 1¹/₂ hours longer. Remove turkey from oven and let rest until ready to carve.

5. Add ¹/₄ cup stock to dish of reserved stuffing, replace foil, and bake until hot throughout, about 20 minutes. Remove foil; continue to bake until stuffing forms golden brown crust, about 15 minutes longer.

6. Carve turkey; serve with stuffing and gravy.