Spice Rub for Poultry

An article I wrote recently required that I find a creative use for Thanksgiving leftovers.  Since I do not tend to keep mashed potatoes, roasted turkey, or sweet potatoes in the ‘fridge, I decided to treat my family to an early Thanksgiving dinner.  As I have alluded to before, there appears to be something in my family’s genetic makeup that does not allow us to cook poultry.  We burn it, we dehydrate it, we make fantastic gravy to drown it, but cook it?  Not so much.

Therefore, every time I tackle baking a bird, I approach it with the same preparation and trepidation as Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay (the first men to climb Mount Everest.) 

  1. I read every article I can on cooking a turkey. 
  2. I read the directions on the package. 
  3. I reread the articles (since the packaging and the articles never agree.) 
  4. Only then do I tackle cooking.

This year, though, I decided to be daring. 

I thought I would change up my rub recipe to see if I could get better flavor from the skin of the bird.  It worked!  In fact, it worked too well!  The skin of the bird tasted far better than the interior.  But that is okay, the next time I have to cook a bird, I’ll turn this rub into a brine.

Without further ado.  Spice Rub Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1 tablespoon shallot pepper
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 teaspoons Old Bay
  1. Mix the ingredients in a bowl
  2. Apply liberally to the patted dry skin of the bird

While I did use this rub on a whole turkey, I bet it would be good on just turkey or chicken breasts or used to season the flour for fried chicken.

However, this brings up a question.  Given my admission that I am a poor turkey roaster, does anyone have any advice for me?

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