Alex Guarnaschelli's Tip To Prevent Turkey From Sticking To The Roasting Rack
The turkey is the star of the Thanksgiving show, yet there are myriad ways you can mess it up. Especially since most home chefs don't cook whole turkeys year-round, this holiday can often come with a lot of panic around serving the perfect bird. Some of the biggest mistakes everyone makes with turkey include buying a low-quality one, cooking it cold, covering it in the oven, and more. But what happens if you meticulously plan your cooking process, do everything right, and then can't get the bird off the roasting rack?
Luckily, chef Alex Guarnaschelli is here to help. And we're going to take her word for it – Guarnaschelli is an Iron Chef, hosts a primetime Food Network series, serves as a judge on Chopped, and wrote a New York Times bestselling cookbook in 2013. She's dished out advice on zhushing up martinis with an unconventional brine and even serving bread and butter in the most optimal fashion (via The Kitchn). And her latest series of TikTok tips can teach us how to save our turkey from Thanksgiving ruin.
Butter the rack first
In her TikTok video, Guarnaschelli first explains why she uses a rack for her turkey in addition to a roasting pan. "I like to elevate the bird a little bit so that the heat from the oven circulates all around the turkey," she says. Wielding a big brush and showing off an enormous bowl containing a couple of sticks of melted butter, Guarnaschelli then emphasizes an essential step to making sure the turkey doesn't stick to the rack during cooking. "I'm going to brush the rack your turkey's going to go on because it's going to stick otherwise," she says while brushing the rack with melted butter. "We don't talk enough about this, the hidden crime of the turkey!"
Indeed, this tip is not always top of mind when making Thanksgiving dinner, but it's an important step. If you don't have the plethora of butter Guarnaschelli displays, The Yummy Life says you can use nonstick cooking spray instead. It's no surprise that Guarnaschelli recommends butter since she literally owns a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan called Butter, which features stylish, cozy decor and a seasonal menu.