David's World Famous Garlic, Onion, Apple, Upside down Turkey

David's World Famous Garlic, Onion, Apple, Upside down Turkey .

Prep and basic recipe.

It's that time again. The time when a simple recipe for a 25lb bird just wont do. When traditional methods are thrown out the window and in a battle for all that is holy and good, taste prevails.  It’s time for the penultimate panache of all foul recipes, it’s time to prep that bird.


Playing with narrative, is an actual expertise of mine, I have been re-inventing the wheel since my first days. So it’s no surprise that somewhere along the way, I decided to up the ante and give it a go with the most dangerous of recipes and most sacred of traditions, the Thanksgiving turkey.

Knowing what I liked most about the end result, and understanding the vicious turkey cooking cycle took some years before I could , in only my opinion, cook a bird that was worthy to eat, and dare I say it, an enjoyable experience.
So there I was , armed with the entire collective knowledge of all who came before me, and personally observing the skills of a Holiday master (yes my mother is a legend) my entire life; I, like any maniac and desperate gambler/thrill seeker decided to give it a go.

In the end, no one (there may be some people) really enjoys dry turkey. Worst of all is when you go for the almost guaranteed dark meat in those situations and experience that same result, the dreaded dry turkey mouth.

So for prep I took a step back from the bird and looked at how its traditionally made. I love good turkey skin, but I also wanted the white meat to be as juicy as the dark on the bottom of the bird. Everyone who knows turkey makes some half successful attempt with foil  shielding, but we all know this doesn’t work.

Then there is the meat itself, I’ve seen and been on the end of basting that turkey for hours and I have also tried the injection method with butters. Both yield a good result , but not one gives you more than half of the bird with the desired result. The real questions became, what and how to I do to address this all at once.

Step by step. If you are going to make any big event meal, you need some prep. I personally do not fancy the whole sous chef side of making any dish, so it has to be worth it. Spices need to be specific and produce specific results while being big on flavor. It's also better if less work is more.
So let's just say prep is critical.

Prep your turkey by giving it a nice warm shower in the sink. Grab its wings and dance with it to appease the turkey Gods and give respect for the animal you are going to consume. This is the traditional cleaning ritual passed down for generations. Don't forget to salt the heck out of the cavity. No one needs to die because of some micro-this or that organism ruining the day.

Then comes the rub. Its really your flavors here. I usually rub the bird quite liberally with paprika and basil. Rosemary is a nice alternative to the basil. It's really your taste buds in play here.

Next we have to ask our selves  about the marinade. What can we do to make certain our bird’s pores open up and accept all the flavor we are going to bestow on it. What can we do?


Simple food science suggests giving your aromatics a chance here. Time to get the garlic and onions. Firstly generously chop up some cloves. No not 5 or 6, more like 15 - 20 cloves, or 3 - 4 heads of garlic, or a half bottle of crushed garlic. Make it easy. Now chop up some onions, red, white, and brown, mix them up. It doesn't matter, just use about 5 onions and their flavors blend really well. Now put them in a big pan, I like a really big wok. Add enough oil to sweat these guys to a golden brown edge, and mix them all up. You will be smearing this all over the bird. Once the bird is saturated in this, put some of the stew into the cavity. The rest you can puree into the marinade.

So let’s talk about the marinade. We want that bird to swim in flavor for at least 12 hours. You’re going to need a big pot and you're going to have to flip it (the bird) so the top and bottom soak it all in. For this I use apples, get them all off the shelf. Throw the Pink Ladies, the Machintosh's, the Greens and the what-evers into your juicer. Get about 2 quarts of juice together. Then because you bought too many apples, later you will slice some and dice some. You will cover the bird with the sliced ones while cooking, and the diced ones will be part of your dressing.

So there we are, the bird soaking in juice. Ok, you can just buy apple juice too, buts its unreasonably sweet so if you do, throw a whole carrot or two into the bottom of the basting pan. Soak the bird over night. It's being infused with onions, garlic and apples. One pro tip, don’t just use apples, add a few pears into the juicer. It's very nice.

The next day, you are going to take that bird out of the marinade. Grab those remaining apples and onions slices that didn’t make it on the bird. Use toothpicks to secure them into place and cover the entire bird with them. Don't forget to pull all the toothpicks out before serving!

Now go and put this bird in a cooking bag. If you’re adventurous, you can use  a pan with a lid, but it must have a lid. Next you’re going to add enough marinade so that the bird is sitting in about a knuckle high of this juice concoction. After 4 hours this will all cook away. Cleaning the oven is a spectacular adventure, but it is worth it.


Make sure before you put the bird in the oven its upside down. Cook it sunbathing belly up to the sky.

Right near the end, if you have a big enough pan to maneuver the bird around you can attempt to pull it from the bag early and flip the bird, only to expose the other side to the heating elements. Heck some people like crispy wings and legs. This is the time to ensure that can happen.

Of course there is much more to this technique, but even if you’re only partially successful following this, (my fault entirely) you will have a non-traditional bird packed with flavor and the juiciest white and dark meats you can imagine. This is a good technique for success!

Happy Thanksgiving , enjoy.

David