Turkey Prepared 2 Ways-What is Best?

Question

Long time no post for me. Question to the experts. I see two methods for doing a Turkey

1) Low temp, covered for a long time, short time, high temp
2) High heat, short time, mostly uncovered. 

Also, two methods for skin:

1) Nothing but dry skin, S&P, no basting
2) Oil oils, butter, herbs, basting constantly

Any preference? What is best? I am leaning toward high heat, short time, sort of ala Keller chicken, but I know a turkey is different than a small chicken. Help!

Answer

Are you cooking a full bird or a crown?

If it's a full bird, you can wrap the legs in foil to protect them as they cook quicker than the breasts. 
Basting is always the way for me.... so i would opt for oil, butter, herbs, seasoning and basting (it is more work but it's got to be worth it!)

I typically cook a crown completely wrapped in bacon.... this is mainly due to everyone other than me only enjoying breast meat.

Also, option 2 on the cooking method would be what i'd go with.

Answer

I've tried different methods and #2 delivers want my family likes best. #1 for skin. Of course, variations are available for everything! 

I dry-brine, as in the note for the following recipe, and roast the spatchcocked turkey. Mine came to temp faster than the 80 minutes he used as a guideline. An oven probe or instant read thermometer is your friend. We're going back to this method next time I cook a turkey. I bought some garden shears for cutting out the backbone. Poultry shears will break and a knife was awkward.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/11/butterfiled-roast-turkey-with-gravy-recipe.html

I've tried the Judy Bird but it didn't deliver quite the same juicy breast meat, although miles better than most I've eaten. I seem to recall the skin being more leathery, too. The herbed brine flavored the meat all the way through and was delicious. It's especially nice since you can do it frozen and it brines while thawing.

The back-story
https://food52.com/blog/2713-russ-parsons-dry-brined-turkey-a-k-a-the-judy-bird

The recipe
https://food52.com/recipes/15069-russ-parsons-dry-brined-turkey-a-k-a-the-judy-bird

The meat from a slow-cooked bird is great but my kids are crispy skin lovers and whine if disappointed.

Answer

Although it's a battle to dismember the sucker, I quarter a turkey. It cooks much faster that way and you can throw the back bone in with the neck for making stock or gravy. Another advantage to a quartered bird is you can give the dark meat extra time without overcooking the breast.

The problem with high heat/short time for something as big as a turkey is getting the middle of the meat done without overcooking the outside. I'd be more tempted to try it with a spatchcocked or quartered bird than with a whole one because you have more surface area exposed to the heat. Still, you'd need to make sure the bird is fully cooked all the way to the bone.

If you are looking for crispiness and dark skin of the high heat method you could try a variation on reverse sear -- take the almost done turkey out to rest, jack up the oven temp, and then shove the turkey back in the oven for a short browning.

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Turkey Prepared 2 Ways-What is Best?

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