Breast Down Roasting Recipes

UPSIDE-DOWN TURKEY

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup salt and 1 tablespoon pepper. Rub mixture all over turkey, including inside body cavity. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least overnight and up to 24 hours, to allow seasoning to penetrate meat.
• Remove plastic from turkey; rinse inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees with a rack in lower third. Tuck wings under turkey; tie drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Trim bread to length of turkey breast (about 9 inches), then slice horizontally. Butter cut sides of bread. On a V-shaped wire rack set in a roasting pan, place slices side-by-side lengthwise, buttered-sides up. Place turkey breast-side down, so it rests on bread (not directly on rack). Roast 45 minutes.
• Remove from oven and, using a kitchen towel to hold neck side and a wooden spoon inside cavity for leverage, carefully flip turkey breast-side up. Pour broth into pan, then rotate pan and return to oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Continue roasting, basting with pan juices every 20 minutes, until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees, about 2 hours more.
• Transfer turkey to a serving platter. Remove rack from pan; discard bread. Set pan with drippings aside to make your preferred gravy recipe (keeping in mind that drippings will be salty). Let turkey stand 30 minutes. Serve, garnished with figs, grapes, sage, and thyme.

BREAST-DOWN ROASTING

Steps:

• To get a crisp skin and to keep moisture in the bird, air dry the chicken, completely unwrapped in the refrigerator, for two hours before cooking it. Place a plate on the rung below to catch blood.
• Wipe the cavity dry with a paper towel. On a V-shaped rack, roast the chicken breast down in a pre-heated 500-degree oven for 10 minutes.
• Turn the temperature down to 225 degrees. Baste the chicken with melted butter using a pastry brush. Roast for 30 minutes, breast down.
• Turn, baste and finish breast up until you have reached an internal temperature of 150-155 degrees at thickest part of thigh or breast. Approximate roasting time at 225 degrees is 15 minutes per pound.
• Let the chicken rest at room temperature for one to two hours before serving, to allow the juices to redistribute themselves. If carved immediately, the chicken's juices will be lost.

PAN-ROASTED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Place chicken breasts in skillet skin side down. Sprinkle with fresh herbs. Do not disturb the breasts until the skin side sears, 5 or 6 minutes. Turn chicken.
• Cook until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees F, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar and butter to pan with chicken. Shake pan gently until butter melts and internal temperature of chicken reaches 160 to 165 degrees F, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add a splash of chicken broth or water if sauce needs to be thinned.

MOM'S PERFECT ROAST TURKEY

Steps:

• Defrost turkey, if necessary.
• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
• Open turkey package, (try this in a clean sink) removing turkey giblets and other interior cavity elements along with thermometer. Unless you want to make gravy or cook these elements, throw them away, noting the exact poundage of the bird (cut off the label with this on it if necessary and reserve for time calculations later). Leave the skin on the turkey for roasting.
• Wash (rinse) turkey inside and out, making sure that any stray feathers are removed.
• Place turkey breast-side down in a foil-lined rectangular cake pan (depending upon size of bird, use a 9x13 pan) or foil-lined roasting pan. Also take into consideration that some juices and fat will melt during roasting time and may fill up the pan a bit around the turkey unless put on a roasting rack in the pan. (No one likes to clean up turkey mess, but if you're out of foil, spray pan with cooking spray to have easier cleanup later. I prefer to use a disposable foil pan so that I can discard entire mess after Thanksgiving is over.).
• Place turkey with pan into oven, about in the middle (enough space needed for bird to fit), and not so close to heating element that anything burns.
• Do not change oven temperature. Cook for fifteen minutes per pound. (Example: 20.2 pound bird would be: 20.2x15=303 minutes. 303/60=5.05, so you would need to cook the bird for five hours, and one to three minutes.).
• Take out of oven, and let rest for at least 15-30 minutes. The juices will need to settle back into the bird. If you cut it immediately, you will have a dry bird. Basting is only required when you overcook the meat (aka meat thermometer), or if you want a particular flavor to the turkey (basting with stock, juice of some sort, butter mixture, BBQ sauce, etc.) Turkey, when done well, may be nice with seasonings, but has a great flavor on its own. If you left in the meat thermometer, you should not see it pop out. The bird is still safe to eat and YUMMY!

FAST UPSIDE-DOWN TURKEY

Steps:

• Place turkey in a large pan, bowl, or tub. Remove the neck and innards and save to make a gravy, if desired. Season the inside of the turkey with 1 1/2 tablespoons salt, and then the outside with the rest, until the entire surface of the bird has a thin coating of salt crystals. Transfer to the refrigerator, uncovered, and let brine for 12 to 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Set a large foil roasting pan over a sheet pan.
• Cut the bread loaf lengthwise into two halves. Butter generously and place buttered-side up into the prepared roasting pan, pushing bread halves together so they are touching.
• Remove turkey from the fridge and stuff sage, rosemary, and thyme into the cavity. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and place breast-side down on top of the bread, making sure turkey is as steady and straight-up as possible. Tuck wing tips up and over the drumette.
• Roast in the preheated oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), about 2 hours. Let turkey rest for at least 15 to 20 minutes before carving.
• In the meantime, cut bread into cubes and transfer onto a serving plate; keep warm as needed. Spoon juices onto the turkey, place it on top of the bread, and carve.