This 3 day process of brining, marinating, and roasting your turkey will make you main dish for the big day the superstar! Your turkey will taste very similar to a Puerto Rican lechón (pernil).
This video is recipe tutorial to practice the process on pieces of turkey so you can decide (in an economical way) if you want to actually use this recipe for your full Thanksgiving bird so plan to do this at least a week prior to the big day so you can try and decide. Have pen and paper ready while watching to make your grocery list. Here we go!
Pavochón (Small scale for practice or for hosting a smaller Thanksgiving Dinner)
Day 1: Brine
-Fill at least a 6 qt pot with water to boil and add a full cup of salt let it completely dissolve until the water is no longer cloudy from the salt. Turn the fire/burner off and set aside to cool off and immediately add 1/4 cup of roughly ground peppercorns, 5-10 (your pick) cloves of garlic that have been halved. After at least an hour that it has cooled off (if you don’t have time and need to speed this up you can always add cups of ice and when the water is lukewarm move onto the next step of the process), take a large Tupperware bin and lay down some fresh herbs like what I used: Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme (most stores around Thanksgiving will carry a Poultry Mix of Herbs that makes this easy). Lay down your pieces of Turkey: A pair of Turkey breasts (skin on!), and 4 turkey drumsticks. Then pour the cooled off salted, seasoned water over the turkey pieces and herb mix… peppercorns and garlic included!
In your fridge for 24-36 hours!
Day 2: Marinate
Ingredients for marinade:
-1 cup of garlic cloves
-4 tbsp of Oregano
-2 tbsp EACH of Sazon and Adobo
-1/4 cup of Lemon Juice
-1 bottle of your favorite Italian Salad Dressing (divided: first 3/4 of it for your marinade in the blender and the rest for the veggie/herb filling inside the bird)
-1 tsp of Salt
Instructions for marinade:
Pour the brine liquid out of the Tupperware or storage container carefully keeping the turkey pieces inside so you can handle and rub the marinade directly on the pieces as demonstrated in the video. Place all of above ingredients in the blender and transfer this newly made marinade into a bowl. Rub the marinade directly onto the individual pieces even going under the skin of the drumsticks.
Ingredients for the veggie/herb mix (that will be the first layer under the turkey pieces…when baking an entire Turkey, this mix will go inside the cavity):
-4 cups of roughly chopped chosen veggies/herbs. I used: carrots, bell peppers, onion, garlic, parsley, and celery. The ratio of each really is determined by the chef’s choice. ;)
-The rest of the Italian dressing that was originally used for the marinade
Instructions for this step:
-Take the veggie/herb mix and mix in a bowl with the salad dressing.
-Take the roasting pan you’ll bake the turkey pieces in and lay the veggie/mix on the base of the pan and this will be your first layer. Than take your turkey pieces and lay them on top of your veggie/herb mix. Take aluminum foil and cover the roasting pan.
Back in the fridge for 24hours!
Day 3: Roasting/Baking your Turkey pieces
Preheat oven to 325 to 350 degrees. Place pan covered with aluminum foil (keep that foil on during baking!) and bake until the internal temp of both the largest meatiest sides of the drumsticks and breast reads 165 degrees.
If skin isn’t browned to your liking, uncover the pan and continue to bake another 10 to 20 min until desired color. But not too long or it’ll dry out your meat!
When fully cooked with desired internal temperature reading 165, let the turkey rest for at least 20 min to retain juiciness. Slice breast meat after resting period, serve, and get ready to receive all the chef’s praises! Buen provecho!
