The Part Of The Turkey You Should Never Ignore, According To Bobby Flay

During a recent appearance on "Today," the anchors questioned Bobby Flay if the holiday feast is like his big game moment of the year. While the celebrated chef seems prepared to put all his cooking knowledge through the wringer, the reality is that those years of experience make him the culinary expert that people trust. As home cooks prepare to create their own legendary feast, Flay has opened the oven to some valuable insight. 

Over the years, Flay has shared how to carve a turkey, the secrets to roasting a turkey, and a variety of other helpful cooking techniques. While he swears about the usefulness of warm chicken stock to warm up various side dishes, he told Today.com that properly resting a turkey can help recirculate the juices and keep it from getting dry. Although that cooking hack helps to avoid the dry bird, it is only part of the story. Beyond the enticing visual that a golden, roasted turkey offers on the holiday table, it puts one part of the turkey on display. For Flay, a beautifully rendered, crispy turkey skin should never be ignored. Cultivating that succulent perfection is a different story.

Although side dishes might fill the plate, the turkey can make guests applaud at just the sight of that golden, crispy skin. While Insider reports that Bobby Flay believes attention should be given to that turkey skin so that it avoids being flabby, it is more than just a wing and a prayer that controls the final outcome. Specifically, Flay recommends cooking the turkey low and slow and occasionally basting it with butter. The combination allows the skin to render and become crispy.

As OXO discusses, the key to delicious crispy turkey skin is to maximize the fat while reducing the moisture, which is often done by basting during the turkey roasting process. While Flay recommends butter, there is more than one stick that can be used. Putting aside vegan butter or other butter substitutes, OXO tested ghee, microwaved clarified butter, and stovetop clarified butter. Although all three options produced similar results, it found that microwaved clarified butter produced the best results for that golden, crunchy turkey skin.

As the holiday cooking prep lists take shape, there could be another item added. Listen to Bobby Flay and give some extra attention to the turkey skin. Butter might save that gravy but it will also make render the prize of delicious, crispy turkey skin.