If anyone knows how to roast a turkey, it’s the senator who just helped Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
A viral video from 2019 is making the rounds this week, showing Vice President-elect Kamala Harris deftly offering off-the-cuff advice on how to roast a Thanksgiving turkey.
Harris casually shared her technique in a 90-second break between filming television interviews, and Washington Post journalist Jonathan Capehart reshared it.
Capehart’s husband Nick had asked about how to brine a turkey, and Harris provided answers:
First, Harris advises using a brine ― either wet or dry. Simply put, a wet brine is a solution of saltwater you submerge meats in overnight, and a dry brine is a dry salt mixture that you spread on the bird’s skin. Both techniques not only season your bird, but they allow the proteins in the meat to retain moisture.
“If you have time to do a wet brine, that’s fine,” she said. “Do it like, a pot of water, a couple bay leaves, a little sugar, a cup of peppercorns, you can even do a slice of orange, something like that.” (Here’s a similar recipe for a wet brine.)
“But a dry brine is easier,” Harris continued. “Brine for 24 [hours], but 48 hours is best if you have the time. [If you have a fresh turkey, dry brine it with] kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, maybe chop up a little thyme. … Do the salt and pepper all over. Lather that baby up on the outside, in the cavity.”
Then she suggested slathering your bird in seasoned butter ― under the skin and outside it.
“Mix that up also with some thyme, you can even do a little rosemary if you want, under the skin with some butter, before you’re gonna cook it. So that butter will just melt in there. And then get a nice big bottle of cheap white wine to baste with butter.”