Bought a turkey breast by mistake

[HeatherC]

Turkey breasts are so easy to cook. I put herb butter under the skin before I cook it. Always turns out moist and flavorful.

 

[AustinTink]

We're both sick with breakthrough covid and there are only 2 of us.

Hope you feel better soon!

 

[DebbieB]

I always do a breast. I pour a can of chicken broth over it and into the roaster.

 

[DLgal]

I always just do a breast as well. Start it off upside down and turn it over after 30 minutes.

Rub an entire stick of softened butter all over it, mixed with salt (1/2 teaspoon per pound), pepper, thyme, sage, and rosemary. This will give you enough drippings to make a good gravy. Pour half a can of turkey stock or chicken stock in the bottom of the pan so the drippings won't burn.

 

[izzy]

Yes to adding chicken broth to the bottom of the pan if you are roasting it. I also tent it with aluminum foil but take it off the last half hour or so of baking to let it brown. Also baste it about every thirty minutes, and add more broth if you need to during cooking. I use the broth and any drippings to make the gravy.

I use leftover turkey to make individual pot pies and then freeze them. You do need to have a good amount of gravy for this to turn out right. I use the really small aluminum pans to make them individual servings. It is a little labor intensive, but oh so good. I make my own pie crust dough. (I tried using the refrigerated dough one time and it wasn’t near as good as the homemade pie crust.). While they dough is chilling, I cut up carrots to boil for about 15 minutes. I throw in some peas for about the last 4 minutes of cooking. I also cut up about two large potatoes in bite sized chunks and boil those in a separate saucepan for about 6 minutes. Heat up the gravy, throw in the drained veggies and some shredded turkey. Add salt and pepper to taste. Each little pie tin gets a big cup full of this mixture - almost to the top. Let them then cool. Roll out your dough to cut individual pieces to cover the top of the pan, and when you place it on top of the mixture cut a few vent holes. I then wrap it in plastic wrap, followed by wrapping it in aluminum foil. Throw those bad boys in the freezer.

When you want one, unwrap it from the foil and plastic, place it frozen on a baking tray, and cook at 375 for at least 45 minutes up to an hour.

When my mom and I cook a turkey breast, we are usually tired of turkey after about 2 days. Using the remaining turkey I usually make a huge bowl of turkey salad with grapes and pecans, and also am able to make about 7-8 of these individual pot pies.

 

[DuskKodesh]

I always do just a breast here too, good on years when it's just the spouse and I. I have to brine it, I believe Alton Brown said something in a Good Eats about basting really just being for getting flavor on the skin, brining is for juiciness. I put Marjoram, rosemary, and sage under the skin with garlic, oil the skin lightly and roast breast up. Pull it out when it gets about six degrees short of what you want it at, cover with foil and let it sit, it'll coast up the last bit and let the meat rest.

 

[bcla]

I was at a market the other day and saw them in the freezer section alongside whole frozen turkeys. While I didn't really see what looked like legs, the first thing I thought was that it might look like a really small turkey to someone not paying a lot of attention to it. It also says something about how breeding (the broad breasted white) has resulted in a really large piece of breast meat.

And it's actually remarkable what this looks like on a whole roasted bird. I found this photo of what's probably a broad breasted white. The breast meat literally sticks out well past the bone.

Here's one of a heritage breed (supposedly a bronze). For someone used to the breed on top, it looks rather emaciated. The breast meat is tiny (doesn't extend past the bone) and the legs are much thinner, but my understanding is that these breeds can actually fly.

I wonder what a wild turkey is like. We've got way too many of them around here - I understand from Rio Grande subspecies that was released in the state for hunting.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I agree if you cook it right its not dry at all.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I do feel the poppers are less effective but I think it has to do with less of cooking window. The center of the cooking drastically changes so if you don't take out right when it pops it can be bad. Half the time I take out before pop, but keep in mind those are probably smaller size then you mistook for a whole turkey.