It's All About The Baste

This beautiful picture is not mine but rather it is courtesy of  pixabay, a public domain.

Recently, on YouTube, I saw a parody of Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" about cooking the perfect turkey called appropriately, "All About That Baste".  I laughed while watching it as I was silently applauding the fact that I don't have to babysit a turkey for 3-4 hours trying to get the perfect lacquered bird without drying it out.  Nope, I don't baste my turkey, I don't have to.  Not when I can get the turkey to do it for me.

There is a technique in cooking called barding which in essence is wrapping your food in fat before roasting (or braising, but usually roasting).  You know that picture of that turkey covered in weaved bacon that has been circling the social sites recently? That is barding.  I do a similar thing except I put a layer of compound butter under the skin (after deboning my turkey of course) then use the skin to wrap around my roast the best I can before I put it in the pan (or tie it with butcher's twine) keeping all that butter under the skin. So, as juice escape the meat the butter is pulled in, viola self-basting. (I know a little confusing but now you want to know how I do it, don't you? Next couple of posts I promise).

So I guess while for some people in is "All About That Baste" for me it is all about the bard. At least we can all agree on the "'more butter" part.

(Oh, as I start my Thanksgiving prep I will add it on here so that it will be up before Thanksgiving to give you guys tips and ideas.  That being said I may be posting a lot over the next couple days.  Sorry.)