Is the pillowcase method the secret to the best Thanksgiving turkey?

Don’t sleep on this turkey hack.Using a “pillowcase” to cook your Thanksgiving turkey is the key to a perfectly cooked bird.The internet-famous recipe shared by TODAY food contributor and chef Elizabeth Heiskell involves putting a whole turkey in a pillowcase.Pillowcase turkey is made by slathering the bird in butter and then wrapping it in bacon, and, lastly, a clean cotton pillowcase that’s been soaked with a mixture of butter, wine and chicken broth to make sure the bird stays moist.After roasting and basting the pillowcase-wrapped turkey, remove the pillowcase and finish it up in a hot oven to get the bacon and skin nice and crispy.You could also use a cheesecloth instead of a pillowcase if you prefer to stick with kitchen items rather than bedroom items.Heiskell explained in the recipe on Williams Sonoma that it was actually her grandmother’s recipe, and back in the 1920s, there was no way for her to buy a cheesecloth.Her grandmother was a “perfectionist” and it “it drove her crazy that her turkey would get too brown before the bird was done.”“Being a resourceful woman, she took a clean, white pillowcase, tore it in two, wrapped it around the turkey, and then soaked it in sherry, white wine and melted butter.Right before the turkey was done, she removed the pillowcase, then put the bird back in the oven to brown,” she said.

“Not even a Norman Rockwell painting was prettier than my grandmother’s turkey.”Better Homes & Gardens put the recipe to the test and said it was “the best turkey I’ve ever tasted.” Their Test Kitchen director Lynn Blanchard called it “worth the effort.”The test kitchen at BH&G tried both the cheesecloth and pillowcase methods, and the pillowcase turkey came out on top.“Until we actually tried the pillowcase vs.the cheesecloth, I never would have guessed there would have been that much difference.

The pillowcase method gets a thumbs up for certain,” Blanchard said.Culinary Specialist Emily ...