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Today on Bon Appétit, learn how to make Southern-style roast turkey with Executive Chef Marcus Woods of Sylvia’s Restaurant, NYC’s legendary soul food institution. Marcus shares his grandmother Sylvia’s timeless approach to holiday cooking–from dry brining the turkey for deep flavor to preparing a rich Southern gravy using homemade turkey stock and fried chicken oil.
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00:00I'm Marcus Woods, executive chef here at the iconic Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem,
00:07New York City, and today I'll be showing you how to make the best roast turkey with
00:10some southern gravy. I'm third generation. Sylvia's my grandmother and the main
00:17thing that she told me was that you have to cook with love. Cook like you're
00:20cooking for your children. The perfect turkey should be nice and golden brown
00:23on the outside, juicy on the inside, seasoned very well. I know a lot of
00:28people get intimidated by cooking a turkey, but I'm going to try and make it
00:31as simple as I can for you. Allow me to show you.
00:37Make sure you get a bird that is humanely raised. You want product that lived a good life.
00:41Looking at this turkey here, I can tell that this is going to be a great bird.
00:44Skin is very clean. It's not all breezed and bruised, which is another clear sign
00:48that it has space to live and grow. So this bird right here is a 12 to 14 pound bird.
00:52It's a little bit on the older side, but it's able to build up some nice fat content,
00:57which is going to help in the cooking process. The turkey that I have now is fully thawed.
01:01Get your turkey early, get it in the fridge, let it thaw out the right way,
01:04and it will be a better product for that. And a common mistake people make at home is
01:08they get that frozen turkey. They're like, it's not thawing out fast enough.
01:11They're like, oh, I'm just running down into some water. You know, that that'll work,
01:14but you're not going to get a complete thaw. So that means your turkey is going to cook uneven.
01:18Today, I will be doing a dry brine for our turkey. I choose a dry brine because that's the way
01:22we've done it at Sylvie's for all these years. A brine is generally a blend of seasonings
01:27that you're going to use to impart a flavor on whatever protein you're cooking.
01:31When you brine a turkey and you actually give it the time to brine,
01:34you're not just going to get that flavor on the outside. You'll get that flavor imparted
01:38all the way to the interior of the bird so that everybody who's getting that wing
01:42to that person that's getting the inner slice of the breast will get the same flavor.
01:45This is my dry brine right here. This is Sylvie's Soulful House Seasoning.
01:49We use this for pretty much everything in the restaurant. So you have some garlic in there,
01:52some black pepper, some smoked paprika, onion powder. Those things right there are going to
01:56add a lot of flavor to your turkey. When it comes to cooking, salt, sodium,
02:00it's usually the last thing I add. I try my best to impart as much depth of flavor
02:05in what I'm cooking before I add salt. That way the sodium actually becomes a flavor enhancer
02:09instead of your core of your flavor. The biggest thing is to make sure you get flavor everywhere.
02:15One of my grandmother's funniest lessons she taught me when it came to seasoning,
02:19seasoned things like you're putting lotion on a baby. When I was a kid, I thought that was a little
02:23strange, but the older I got, I get it. If you have a child at home, when you're putting lotion on
02:28them, you don't want to leave any open spaces because you don't want them to be dry. You want
02:31every piece to get the proper attention that it deserves. You see, this bird is dried. I had to
02:36pat it dry after it thawed out. If you put a wet turkey in the oven, the issue is you're going to be
02:41steaming your turkey instead of roasting it. We're going to let this brine in our walking box on a speed rack.
02:46It's going to have the fans blowing on it. That's going to help the air dry overnight. For the home
02:50cook, your refrigerator is a perfect place. Put it on a low shelf, uncovered, 24 hours, take it out in
02:56the morning. You even let it sit out for about 30 minutes or an hour before you even throw it in the
03:00oven. That's going to help that skin dry out even more. The dry skin is super crucial because when you
03:04roast it off in the oven, that skin is going to become super crispy and golden brown. And that's a lot of flavor.
03:09That Maillard reaction that you're getting from that skin browning off in the oven, that's flavor.
03:14That's depth of flavor. And that's something you can't achieve without taking that time and letting
03:18it dry. Now I need to take this time and start working on the aromatics. I'm going to be creating
03:22a bed of vegetables and aromatics to sit in the bottom of the roasting pan. This is a traditional
03:28old-school roasting pan. This pan is probably older than me, but it's been used by my grandmother. It's been used by
03:33pretty much everybody that's worked in this restaurant in 64 years. So this is a piece of history right here.
03:39You don't want something too deep because then you're going to pull up a whole bunch of moisture,
03:41but you do want high sides. You want something that you could build up some juices because those juices
03:45that build up in the bottom of the pan, that's what you're going to be basting on top of your turkey.
03:48I'm going to start with my bell peppers. Just giving a rough chop. My grandmother's philosophy was,
03:54you can't beat her at giving. She used to always say that. And she meant that because she was a true
03:58giver. And anybody who's ever been around a true giver knows that they're a special person because they're
04:02going to give you their all. They're going to give you their best. And that's what we do here at Sylvia's. We're
04:06going to give you our best. The whole process of cooking a Thanksgiving dinner is a labor of love.
04:10But when you come to terms with the fact that it is a labor of love, you will give it love. And if
04:14you give it love, you will give it attention. If you give it attention, it will come out good.
04:18I like to add a little red onion for a little added sweetness. Celery is part of what we call the
04:24holy trinity. Onions, celery, carrots, your citrus. Acid makes things taste better. In balance though,
04:30you don't want it to become overpowering. You want it to just impart a little bit more floral notes to
04:35what you're cooking. That looks pretty even. We're going to put the rosemary and the tom in the cavity
04:40of the turkey. But I'm also going to add a little bit more on top of this. It's only going to make
04:44it taste better. Inside every turkey comes a goodie bag. I call it a goodie bag because it's a lot of
04:49flavor in there. These are called the giblets. This stuff right here is what I would call the essence of
04:55turkey. It's a mixture of turkey necks, turkey livers, turkey tails, and turkey hearts. A lot of
05:01flavor in there. Do not throw this in the garbage. Utilize this. Utilize every piece of the bird.
05:05That's how we give animals the respect. This is going to go into a stock pot and we're going to let
05:09it simmer overnight till all the meat falls apart. And that stock that now you've come to now in the
05:14morning that has completely broken down all of your protein, all of your vegetables, onions, celery,
05:20carrots. That's what we're going to also use to make our gravy. And once everything starts to fall off of
05:24the bone, you could take those turkey necks out, pull all the meat off, and you can use that for
05:28whatever you like. I choose to put it in the stuffing. You can add it to your gravy. You can add
05:31it to whatever you like. So after 24 hours in the air chiller, the skin is now tight. It's nice and dry.
05:37That's exactly what I was trying to achieve. I pulled out a lot of moisture from the bird. That's another
05:41good sign, but still a lot of work to do. Now I have a compound butter. A compound butter simply is a
05:48butter mixture that you blend with other seasonings. Rosemary, some thyme, some garlic, and the same
05:53seasons that I use for the turkey. So this is just going to add more and more nice good buttery
05:57flavor. So now we're going to do like grandma said, we're going to lotion the baby. Make sure we don't
06:02miss any crevices, okay? You're going to be very generous with this. I'm going to make sure that
06:06I get this lathered all on the outside, but not just the outside. You want to go even on the inside
06:10of the bird. You want to get under the skin. You want to make sure that you're getting every, every
06:14nook and creme. That's going to make sure that flavor gets into the meat, and that's going to make sure that
06:17the meat stays nice and moist. You want to be careful not to break the skins. If you break the skin,
06:21you're not going to be able to achieve that crispy skin. The final step, you get this bird tied up.
06:26Butcher's twine. This is what we use in the kitchen for trussing protein. Trussing is simply
06:31tying, keeping everything close together. That helps make sure everything cooks evenly.
06:35When you're doing any trussing, you want to give yourself a lot more slack. After you get to this
06:40point, you're going to make sure it's nice and tight. Bring it up around the body. You're going to
06:44tighten it up. You're going to make sure those wings come nice and flush to the side of the bird,
06:48and make sure these legs are going to protect that cavity. It's going to keep it nice and tight so
06:51it cooks evenly because I don't want those wings to cook it faster than anything else. Turkey's truss,
06:56it's almost ready to go in the oven. Just can't forget adding some final aromatics to the cavity.
07:00That's going to help impart more flavor throughout the cooking process. Rosemary, thyme, a little bouquet
07:05garni. This is just going to impart more flavor to the center of the bird, which is going to end up on
07:10the outside regardless. A lot of people like to stuff their stuffing inside of the bird. I'm not a huge fan of that
07:16because your turkey has to be cooked 100% through. You have to get this bird up to 165 degrees in
07:21order for it to be safe to eat while your stuffing doesn't need to be cooked to 165 degrees. It just
07:26needs to be cooked to the proper doneness. So I recommend putting your stuffing on the side.
07:30Let your stuffing be its own dish. All right, so I have my roasting pan here ready to go and your turkey
07:35is going to go on a roasting tray right over this. The reason that I'm elevating the turkey on top of all
07:40these vegetables instead of putting it directly on is because I don't want the turkey to stew. We want a roasted
07:45turkey. Allow all of this stuff to go ahead and marinate with all those turkey juices and you're
07:49going to use this to finish off your stock and make your gravy.
07:55So here's the game plan. You got three hours of cook time ahead of you. Make sure your oven is preheated
08:00to 350 degrees. You're going to do the first two hours covered in the oven. Don't bother it. Just let it
08:06cook. After those first two hours, you're going to uncover it. You're going to crank the oven up to 375
08:12degrees. Then you're going to let your turkey go ahead and roast and develop that nice crispy skin.
08:17And you're going to baste that consistently throughout that process with those juices that
08:20develop at the bottom of the pan. And check your temperature. Once your temperature gets to about
08:23160 degrees, you can pull your turkey out of the oven and that's the time to rest. You're going to
08:27let it rest and that carryover temperature is going to bring you up to your desired temperature,
08:31which is 165 degrees. Nothing more, nothing less. All right, so we're going to go ahead and get this turkey
08:36covered up. Seal it nice and tight for this first part of the cooking process. You don't want
08:41too much to escape. You want to keep everything locked up in there. All right, bringing it to the
08:45oven. So we got it in the oven now. Let the oven do its work. Let that heat circulate around. Do not
08:51open it, please. I beg of you, do not open the oven. I know you want to. I know you want to poke and
08:56prod and check. Do not check. It's only going to slow down your cooking process, all right? So turkey's been
09:01cooking for two hours now. I've already uncovered it. Those juices that build up in the bottom of the pan,
09:05tilted and poured into a pan. So it makes it easier to baste it. When you see that golden color,
09:10you're achieving that color that you want. Baste it maybe every 15 to 30 minutes just to
09:15to make sure you're not opening the oven up too many times. This last hour is going to be very touch
09:19and feel. You have to know your oven. You really have to keep eyes on it at this point because now
09:22it's uncovered. You're really achieving color because you already got pretty much 75% of the way as far
09:27as the temperature goes. So now it's all about the color that you want. Once you start seeing that crisp
09:31skin start to develop on the top, you start seeing the skin start to bubble a little bit.
09:35That's when you start wanting to baste because you've already kind of achieved the crispy texture.
09:40So you can baste at that point. You're not going to lose too much. You don't want to baste too early
09:44because your skin will never get crispy if you start basting too early. You don't need to spend
09:48money on a turkey basted old-fashioned ladle like grandma would have did it. So you want to rotate
09:52the bird halfway through your basting process just to make sure we don't overcook. Let's check if this
09:56turkey's done. I've already basted it twice. Our turkey's out of the oven now. It has the perfect color that
10:01I'm looking for, but now I'm trying to make sure that that internal temperature is where I also
10:04wanted it to be. You want to find the thickest part of that breast and go in as far as you can,
10:09not through the bone. And I'm getting 160. That's exactly what we were looking for. You see our little
10:14frame right there? It works. A lot of people don't trust it, but trust me, it works. This thing is
10:19tried and tested. It's telling me that it's time to let this bird come out and rest. We're going to let
10:23this bird rest for about 15 to 20 minutes. You don't want to cut into it too early and all your juices are going to run out.
10:28So let it rest. And while it's resting, you still have work to do. Let's start working on this gravy.
10:36My gravy is very traditional. It starts with the roux. A roux is just a fancy term for thickening
10:41agent. It's what you're using to thicken your sauce, your gravy, or your soup, or your stock. The roux is
10:46the base of a southern gravy in my eyes. That's what I was taught by my grandmother. Equal parts flour,
10:52equal parts fat. We're going to start with our fried chicken oil. This is our secret ingredient here at
10:55Sylvie's. We use the oil that we fry our chicken in to make our roux. That flavor that you develop
11:00from frying chicken, it becomes such a nutty, aromatic kind of smell. That's incorporated into
11:05the roux. That's incorporated into the gravy. Very down-home southern flavors. All-purpose flour.
11:11You're going to start nice and hot, but you're going to want to bring that temperature down nice and
11:14low so you can have time to actually let your roux brown over time and not burn. This usually takes about
11:2010 to 15 minutes depending on how dark you want your roux. The color you're going to need is like a
11:25dark brown and the consistency of like wet sand. So I know a lot of you guys at home don't have access
11:30to large capacity deep fryers. If you are frying chicken for Thanksgiving, use that oil that you
11:35fried. If you fried something maybe a couple of days before, save that frying oil. You can use it for an
11:41application like this. You can even use bacon fat. Absolutely. Duck fat. Duck fat is beautiful. Use any type of fat
11:47you have at home and try to incorporate it into this dish. So it's been about 15 minutes now and
11:52now the roux is getting that color that I want to achieve. Most importantly, I'm also getting that
11:57smell, that nuttiness from the flour browning in that oil. And I'm also getting of course that hint
12:03of that fried chicken essence. If you're making a gumbo at home, you're going to want to stir this for
12:08about 30 to 40 minutes just to get that dark roux. But if you're making a soup, a gravy, you don't need that
12:14dark, dark roux. You just need a light brown roux. This is the base of our gravy right here. You see
12:18that? Wet sand. My roux is finished now. I'm going to set that to the side. Now it's time to incorporate
12:24the turkey stock. When it comes to a gravy, usually it's going to be about 10% roux to about 90% stock.
12:30But this is one of those also touch and feel things. You have to kind of watch it because you could think
12:35that your roux looks proper being a 50-50 oil to flour, but you won't know until you start incorporating
12:40everything together. So you want to add it slowly. You're just going to keep spooning in until you
12:44achieve your desired consistency. Then you're going to flavor it. Looks good. You always want to check.
12:51Coats the back of a spoon. Yeah, this gravy is good to go now. This is ready for the table. You want to
12:56keep it nice and warm, not too hot, but don't allow it to cool down or it will start to like separate.
13:01So our turkey is probably rested now. We can get ready to serve.
13:04Okay, so my turkey is rested now. It's been about 30 to 40 minutes, which is ideal. Now it's time to
13:12get carved into it. You can look by the skin, the color of it. You can actually lift it and tell that
13:17that water weight is completely gone now. That means that the turkey is done. So you see the wings,
13:21perfectly done and crispy. The skin, everything is done to perfection. This does not have to be
13:26intimidating. Carving a turkey is fairly simple. We're going to start with the drums. I like to take the
13:30drums off first. That's going to allow us to make it more of a manageable piece to deal with.
13:39And then separate the breasts, debone them. So I'll get the breasts on a flat surface so I can
13:46slice the breasts and make it look nice and pretty. I have a heavy duty knife, what you would call in
13:50the kitchen a workhorse knife. A sturdy handle, nothing that's going to bend on you. So I have the two
13:55breasts off. Everything's looking nice and crispy and nice and juicy. Next thing I would actually be
13:59taking off the wings. Those wings you want to get by the joint. You don't want to cut through those
14:03oysters. You don't want to cut through anything that you don't want to be on the table. I'm going
14:06to separate the wings from the wingette so everybody gets a fair piece. My personal favorite is this
14:13because this is what I saw in the holidays growing up. Everybody wanted that turkey drum. And at home,
14:19I like to carve it at the table because that nostalgic feeling of somebody pulling out a knife, carving a
14:24turkey, serving you pieces by piece on your plate. That's just a beautiful feeling.
14:32So I have everything I need right now to make my plate perfect. So I have myself some collard greens
14:35seasoned with some smoked turkey, some macaroni and cheese and some mashed potatoes. We have our gravy
14:41lathered on top. When I see a plate like this in front of me, it reminds me of my grandmother. All of
14:44these things are going to taste like a touch of the south. That's the most important thing. It should
14:48taste like love. It's going to feed your soul because that's what grandma would have did. It's about feeding your
14:52soul and feeding your spirit and making you feel whole. Beautiful. That crispy skin, that gravy,
14:58all that seasoning, that garlic, that rosemary. I'm getting a little bit of everything. All that
15:03hard work and that attention that you put into this dish. You're tasting at the end. Gotta go back in.
15:08This feels like my grandmother cooked it for me. And that's what you get when recipes are passed down
15:13over time. You get historical data. Every kind of taste is food. You get to taste history. You get to be a
15:17part of history when you follow all recipes. Good things do take time. This is the labor of love.
15:23So like my grandmother will always say, give time time. And at the end of the day, you'll get a
15:27beautiful product that all of your family and all of your guests will get to enjoy.
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