In North America, turkey is a popular dish served during Thanksgiving. In Malaysia, this extra large bird tends to make its appearance during the Christmas season.

But turkey is not just for Christmas anymore, as this high-in-protein-but-low-in-fat meat is great for lowering cholesterol levels. It is also a source of iron, potassium, vitamin B6, amino acid tryptophan and selenium, making it a healthy meat to include in your daily diet.

Refrigerated, cooked turkey lasts about 4 days. Frozen, its shelf life extends to from two to three months.

Let’s get started on Part 1 of our basic guide to preparing turkey from freezer to table.

Ingredients

• 4.2kg whole turkey

• Kosher or fine salt (for dry brine)

• 150g butter (for the butter trick)

For roasting

• 550g stuffing (store bought, we used a mushroom, cranberry and bread stuffing)

• 5g garlic powder

• 3g onion powder

• 10g fine salt

Method: Defrosting

While fresh is always great, chances are your supermarket will only have frozen whole turkey in stock. Fret not, as long as you’re not planning to eat that bird within the next 50-odd hours.

• Important – leave turkey in its original wrapper.

• Place it breast side up in a large container to catch any leaks.

• Make sure fridge is on its coolest setting.

• Defrost turkey in the refrigerator at least 24 hours before preparation. The timing, however, depends highly on the size of the turkey. The general rule is 24 hours for every 2kgs. Most turkeys, even the smallest ones, clock-in at about 4kgs, so you’ll need 48 hours minimum.

• Don’t worry if you go over the required hours. You can keep a fully defrosted turkey in your fridge for a maximum of two days.

• The best way to defrost your turkey is via the refrigerator method above. However, if you are in a tight spot, you can speed up the process by using cold water.

• Ensure turkey wrapping has no holes and is completely waterproof.

• Make sure the container is large enough to contain the entire bird, otherwise, use the (clean) sink.

• Submerged entire turkey in cold tap water. Do not use warm, room temperature or hot water.

• You will need 1 hour of soaking for every 1kg, so a 4kg bird will require 4 hours.

• Replace water every 30 minutes.

• Turkey defrosted using this method MUST be cooked straightaway. Do not store in the fridge or refreeze to extend shelf life.

Important tip: Never thaw turkey on the countertop or in warm or hot water as this will breed bacteria.

Preparation

• Once fully defrosted, remove turkey from fridge, tear open packaging and discard it.

• If turkey drumsticks are held together with a piece of plastic, remove it. Also remove any other bits of plastic that seems to be holding the turkey to keep it in shape.

• Some turkeys come with a temperature gauge. If you’ve got a meat thermometer, you can remove this. If you don’t, keep it in as it can help identify when your turkey is cooked. The temperature gauge is supposed to pop out once the turkey is cooked, however, we don’t recommend relying on this alone.

• The turkey’s cavity will most likely be stuffed with its neck and usable innards. Remove these and set aside for the gravy. Keep the bits refrigerated when not in use.

• Rinse turkey thoroughly for a few minutes under cold tap water.

• Drain excess fluids and pat dry with a kitchen cloth or paper towels.

Dry brine

Brining is an important step as it gives you a more flavourful and succulent turkey. Generally, there are two ways to brine your bird, dry or wet. We’re keeping it simple and sharing with you an easy dry brine method.

Ingredients

• Kosher or fine salt

• Defrosted and rinsed turkey

Method

• Once turkey has been pat dry, pour a generous amount of kosher or fine salt all over its skin. Put extra salt where the meat is thickest. Gently pat salt into the skin.

• Let sit for an hour.

• You can dry brine for longer, but keep the turkey refrigerated (but uncovered) if you do.

• After the hour is up, or when you’re ready to roast your turkey, rinse and pat dry.

Removing the wishbone

This step is entirely optional as some families love digging into a turkey and “discovering” the wishbone – a V-shaped bone also called a furcula.

If you plan to carve your turkey before serving, we recommend removing the wishbone. If you plan to leave it whole, then it’s up to you.

However, the bone gets in the way of slicing cleanly with a knife, so if you’re having a grown-up fancy dinner with a whole roast turkey, definitely remove it.

Method

• The wishbone is located just beneath the neck joint at the top portion of the breast. You may need to push the skin aside a little. It’s identified by a white-ish triangular shape.

• Use a sharp knife to cut along the white shape on both sides, forming an upside down V. When you cut along the shape, you should be able to feel the bone along the outer part of your knife.

• Feel the bone with your knife, and cut immediately next to it. Now the bone should be on the inner part of your knife. Don’t forget to cut the other part of the V.

• Your bone is still buried in the meat, so hook your finger behind the bone and run it up and down the bone to sever the meat and sinews. Repeat on the other side.

• Lift the bone as far as it can go and use a knife to cut off the joint between the top part of the V still attached to the turkey. Be careful. Repeat on the other side.

• Wrap your hand around the V ‘legs’, and give it a few twists to remove the wishbone entirely.

• Discard wishbone.

The butter trick

Besides moist and flavoursome turkey meat, the perfect turkey also has a delicious, crispy and perfectly browned skin.

This butter trick is optional, but adds that extra oomph to your roast. You can use this technique to make roast chicken too.

Ingredients

• Softened butter

Method

• Gently insert your fingertips into the space between skin and flesh, pushing your whole hand in to separate it completely. Be careful not to tear the skin.

• You’ll want to separate the skin on the breast right up to the neck, the sides, along the back, as well as the top of the thighs. You don’t have to separate the skin on the drumsticks or wings as the space is a little too small to manoeuvre.

• Grab a lump of butter.

• Spread it all over the flesh underneath the separated skin. It doesn’t have to be perfect as long as you rub some butter everywhere.

Important tip: Short fingernails make this step a little easier!

Trussing

Why truss a turkey? For two important reasons.

Firstly, trussing ensures the wings and legs cook evenly.

Secondly, it keeps the turkey in a tight little bundle and so it looks good on the table when served whole for an absolutely Instagram-worthy picture.

Trussing isn’t difficult, but you may need a few tries to get it right if you’re a beginner.

Equipment required

• 3m long baker’s twine (longer, if you have a bigger turkey).

Method

• Lay turkey flat on its front and slide the middle point of your twine underneath the neck.

Slide twine under the breast until it’s level with the front wing joint (the joint connecting the wing to the breast). Pull taut and bring twine over the top of the joint, wing and thighs on each side. Important, the wings must be tucked in under the thighs, not over it!

• Crisscross twine under the back bone, just above cavity opening. Pull firmly. If your trussing is slipping, tie a dead knot here.

• Loop twine around drumstick end on one side, then repeat with the other drumstick.

• Pull drumstick ends together and arrange so it’s “cross-legged”. Crisscross twine and loop it around the drumstick again, finalsing with another crisscross. Feel free to knot this to secure drumsticks in place.

• Pull twine underneath thighs and cavity opening so drumsticks will cover the opening. Knot to secure.

• Run twine to the front of the bird, along the wing. Loop twine around wing joint, hooking it around the protruding tip.

• Bring twine back across the neck, to where you first started trussing. Tie a strong knot to keep it in place. Snip excess twine or tie into a bow.

• If there’s excess neck skin, tuck it under the twine to keep things neat.

Keep a watch out for Part 2 to learn the basics of roasting, carving and making the gravy.

This article first appeared in butterkicap.com

Butterkicap is a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of her people, food and places.