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Dry-Brined Turkey
Kim Severson
5137 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
5,137
3 1/2 hours, plus 2 days’ brining
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Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium (10-inch) skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and fennel seeds and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the onion is tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Off the heat, stir in the chopped sage and the rosemary; set aside to cool.
Set the turkey breast on a cutting board and open it up, skin side down. If necessary, pound the turkey to an even thickness of about 1 inch. Sprinkle the turkey with 4 teaspoons salt and 1½ teaspoons pepper. Once the onion mixture has cooled, spread it evenly on the meat. Grate the butter and sprinkle it on top. Arrange the prosciutto on top to totally cover the filling and meat.
Starting at one long end of the turkey breast, roll the meat up jelly-roll style to make a compact cylindrical roulade, ending with the seam side down. Tie the roulade tightly with kitchen twine at 2 to 2½-inch intervals to ensure that it will roast evenly. Slip the whole sage leaves under the twine down the center of the roulade.
Place the roulade, seam side down, in a roasting pan and pat the skin dry with paper towels. Brush the skin with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Pour the wine and 1 cup water into the roasting pan, surrounding the turkey with the liquids without pouring them directly over the roulade. Roast for 1¼ to 1½ hours, until the skin is golden brown and the internal temperature is 150 degrees.
Remove from the oven, cover the turkey with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Remove the string, slice the roulade crosswise in ½-inch-thick slices, and serve warm with the pan juices.
Two tips for this or any turkey breast roulade: - Butterfly or pound out and salt generously 1-2 days ahead (dry brine) - Before filling, remove the skin in one piece, then fill and roll and re-cover with the skin and tie. This way it’s all crispy skin on the outside and no soft flabby skin rolled up inside.
Genius tip on the skin! Doing it.
I am going to try this, but will be adding a bunch of fresh spinach to the filling. It's what I have done in the past for veal and pork and it's just a great combo with these flavors.
Two tips for this or any turkey breast roulade: - Butterfly or pound out and salt generously 1-2 days ahead (dry brine) - Before filling, remove the skin in one piece, then fill and roll and re-cover with the skin and tie. This way it’s all crispy skin on the outside and no soft flabby skin rolled up inside.
Have made various turkey roulades several times & whether this recipe or others, I SO agree with cooks who have posted here about the importance of NOT rolling the skin in with the roulade but making sure the skin is kept on the outside. Otherwise you'll end up with flabby skin roasted in the final product. One of the best 'how to' videos for roulade turkey breast for technique is by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. See steps 3 and 4. Can apply technique here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEofA0SvS1k
Has anyone tried this with porkloin?
Back in Argentina, my aunts made it filled with chimichurri sauce. I have fond memories of those flavors from my childhood
It takes a village to make a turkey breast roulade. I just prepared it and have placed in the refrigerator for a couple of days (as suggested by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEofA0SvS1k). Thanks Ina Garten, Julia Moskin and by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt--to get this far, I needed all of you. I highly recommend you watch the youtube video if you are going to attempt this and you are not a professional chef. Happy Thanksgiving (I hope.)
could mini roulades be made with chicken breasts? I know it's thanksgiving but we do not like turkey.
Yes! I tried it last night, halving all the ingredients. It came out very well. Because it’s much smaller, it cooks a lot faster—definitely start checking w a meat thermometer after 30 min. Depending on your oven, it will probably be ready in 45 min or so, but go by the 150F reading to prevent it from drying out. Also, I had very fresh sage from the garden, and I found it rather overwhelmed the other flavors, so go easy on the sage if yours is fresh & pungent.
This process cries out for an explanatory video. Cheers!
Sure! Just buy a single turkey breast. It will probably be skinless. Instead or wrapping it in the skin so it is moist, you can wrap it in bacon or pancetta.
PLEASE amend the recipe to indicate Diamond Kosher salt, if that is indeed what is called for here. I used 3 tsp of Morton's Kosher salt (stopped there because it just looked like a lot of salt, of which I am generally not afraid) and the turkey was too salty, though not completely inedible. If I'd known that Diamond was called for I'd have stopped at 2 tsp. I'm surprised not to find many comments about this; recipe otherwise great, do follow other tip to remove skin before rolling!
Is the prosciutto necessary, or might some substitute be suggested for those who do not eat pork?
The above note about using the skin is perfect. I also found that pounding the turkey to 1/2 thickness nearly impossible. Instead, slice off a few small fillets from the inside until you have the proper thickness. Lastly, to prevent the ends of the roll from drying out in the oven, wrap both ends in butter soaked cheesecloth and leave on until the last 20-30 minutes. Then remove the cheesecloth and let the ends brown.
Susan used a 300 degree oven instead of 350 and cooked for one and a half-two hrs. She checked the temp of the turkey every 15 min after the first hour to make sure the turkey didn't dry out. meat temp shouldn't exceed 150 She put a rub of 1 Tbs kosher salt (on the pounded turkey breast), half tsp pepper, 1 tsp sage, 1 tsp thyme, and 2 Tbs brown sugar, on the turkey for 24 hrs before baking.
OMG. Forgot to add I used finely chopped bok choy. Also, didn’t have Chablis. Substituted Chablis and water with 2 cups chicken broth. Great gravy.
Finally, had a chance to prepare this roulade. The flavor is phenomenal! The fennel really pumps up the flavor of the other herbs. A must. Like the suggestions below such as removing the skin until the roulade is rolled, then replace. Bypassed prosciutto and used thin sliced and chopped portobellos. 350 temp is fine but I think 145 internal temperature is better. It will continue to cook while resting. Tremendously flavorful recipe. Hard to return to a whole turkey in future.
I’ve made this twice now and it’s really the only way I’ll ever eat a roasted turkey breast! I don’t cook mine with the skin on bc I want it cooked and served with the spices and sage, but you can cover in foil so it doesn’t get too dry. Start checking the temperature at 45-60 mins. I think the time shown is for a much less enthusiast oven! Definitely don’t skip the butter or prosciutto.
Delicious. I used 1.5 lbs turkey breast for two (with leftovers). Agree with making sure the skin part of the breast is on the outside. Also, the wine/ pan juices were great to serve on the sliced chicken.
6 garlic cloves is WAY more than two tablespoons minced?
My son is a turkey hunter so I made this last year with a wild turkey breast but had no skin. It was a tad dry so I think I'm going to try it again this year but wrap it with the prosciutto instead. I'm also going to make it ahead of time (as suggested in that fine video from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt) and see if the flavors permeate the meat a little more. Overall it's a really great way to have turkey and pairs well with the traditional Thanksgiving sides.
Wow...This is very easy and incredibly tasty. The combination of flavors is outstanding. I will be making this for Thanksgiving this year.
I used this stuffing recipe for a deboned whole turkey that I made. It was 10.8 pounds and yielded 7 pounds of boneless turkey. I used Food Wishes YouTube video for deboning, excellent video and guidelines. I basted the turkey with olive oil before roasting. Roasted for 15 min at 450* and then 1.25 hr at 325 to get to 150. The pan juices were slightly charred around the edges so not suitable for pan sauce (need slightly smaller roasting pan?) All the bones yielded 5 qts of turkey broth.
This was a delicious main for Christmas for a family that avoids red meat. Followed the recipe except added some cooked kale to the stuffing and dry-brined it as one reader suggested. It appears my thermometer is broken, but even a little overcooked it was delicious and tender. A keeper.
I made this for Christmas dinner tonight and it was wonderful. I put it together yesterday and just popped it in the oven today, which was perfect. I’d ordered a whole turkey breast with the skin from our butcher, but realized I’d ended up with two skinless halves once I got it home. I managed to keep them together with an excess of twine, and I wrapped the whole thing in bacon to make up for the skin. It was delicious! Will make again.
This was the biggest hit for Thanksgiving this year. The turkey was perfectly moist and so flavorful, and took an hour and a half. Will be making this again!
Delicious, moist perfect white meat. I thought it was a little intimidating when I first read the recipe, but now that I've done it 3x it's a snap. Totally worth it.
Help! My boneless turkey breast did not come with skin. I don’t want to wrap it in bacon or prosciutto, any other tips to help keep it moist while cooking?
If you’re doing a dry brine w salt a day or two before, should you cut back on the salt when preparing the roulade? Or proceed with the recipe as usual?
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