GRASSHOPPERS "FACE DOWN" OR "UPSIDE DOWN" TURKEY
One Thanksgiving morning, Grasshopper, a friend of Fred, awoke to find out that his wifey had partied a lot too hardy on Thanksgiving eve and wasn't gonna make it ..... "it" being the Thanksgiving day turkey dinner! So our friend, not wanting the kids / family to miss this tradition decided to make it himself. After all, he had watched wifey, a gourmet chef, prepare many-a turkey and it ain't rocket science so here's how it went .
1 Turkey (we prefer fresh but frozen/thawed is ok too)
Butter - get a couple of sticks at least because you're gonna need it .
Garlic - crush it, chop it, get it fine.
Rosemary - dried or fresh , we use dried.
Garlic Salt
Some veggies - Celery , Carrots, Potatoes, Onions , etc.
Hardware:
Grill/smoker/Big Green Egg / oven
Roasting V-Rack or Vertical (stand up) Turkey Stand (makes him look like a little soldier in your grill!)
Thermometer - I prefer the Maverick ET-73 Wireless remote 2 probe unit
Smoke wood or pellets
Roasting pan - aluminum toss-away usually
*** A note about food safety - Raw poultry ...watch out ... clean your work surfaces with disenfectant or water mixed with a little bleach before and after. NEVER let cooked food get in contact with an uncleaned area where raw poultry has been. ****
Procedure:
Firstly , take 2 sticks of butter and chopped garlic (about a tablespoon) and microwave to melt it to liguid. Stir occasionally etc. Add a little (1/2 teaspoon) garlic salt and a little ground black pepper.
Clean / rinse your turkey thoroughly and be sure to check that you removed all the "extras" inside.
Put the turkey on your counter / cutting board / work area "breast up" .
Work your fingers under the skin on the breast and loosen the skin, creating an access to the entire meat of the turkey.
Now, take your gloved hand, and start working that butter mixture under that skin, smear it liberally all around .. spoon it in and work it .. down around the thighs / etc. and leave a good coating in there. If you want to , you can use sometoothpicks to "pin" the skin back on at the neck end.
Now transfer your turkey to it's roasting pan.
Now...smear butter mixture ALL OVER the outside of your turkey.
When it's really coated good, sprinkle turkey, all over and INSIDE with
1. garlic salt (watch it, a little goes a long way )
2. black pepper (yes, ground)
3. if you want some "color" sprinkle some paprika
4. rosemary (again, it's strong so sparingly sprinkle)
5. Some good barbecue rub like Butt Rub, Dizzy Pig, Blues Hog , etc.
You can stuff those veggies inside the turkey if you like but I prefer to add them to the roasting pan about 1 hour into the turkey cooking process.
Prepare your grill for indirect cooking, 375 degrees, you can add a LITTLE smoke wood if you prefer but watch out Turkey really sucks up the smoke and some people will get grossed out if you really smoke it hard.
Now , as the story goes, said wifey-of-Grasshopper awoke to find that hubby had already dutifully prepared and roasted the Holiday Turkey. It was extracted from the oven and lo and behold, wifey exclaimed ...'YOU HAVE IT UPSIDE DOWN YOU FOO' ... yes, Grasshopper knew not the way of cooking a Turkey so he just stuck it in the pan in a way that looked "logical" (like Mr Spok would have done) and cooked the bugger until it looked done. Not knowing that breast-up was the correct, socially acceptable, way to mount the turkey to the pan.
BUT .. here's the good part, upon carving and eating said turkey breast, lo and behold ..the most moist, juiciest turkey whitemeat they ever tasted. By being "on the bottom" the breast benefitted from all that fat/juice/spices/etc. etc. running down and settling into the breast meat ... it is only logical ....and Grasshopper had made a great culinary discovery. Now we have heard that some have spoken of this "upside down" turkey roasting technique before but this is the first your writer has heard of it so we're going with the story that Grasshopper invented it and we're sticking to it.
Regardless, this is how it happened. The turkey gets excellent when prepared this way.
Stick it on a roasting rack, BREAST DOWN, in your roasting pan. If you like, you can add water, wine, beer, whatever to the pan and even dump it over your turkey before you stick it in your oven/cooker/smoker/grill/whatever.
After an hour or so , add your vegetables if you prefer and cook until breast is 165 or so. I like to overcook mine. I like the meat falling off the bone and the turkey, when cooked on the Big Green Egg, it does not dry out and the flavor is fantastic.
Now you know the fable of "Grasshoppers face-down Holiday Turkey"
Enjoy and Happy Holidays.
Submitted : FB
"Grasshopper" is a long-standing employee of Fred's Music Shop, great drummer, black-belt tai-chi master, and all around good guy who goes by the name of Jan.
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