baste the turkey

Meaning

This phrase means to pour, brush, or squirt melted fat, butter, or pan juices over a turkey while it is roasting in the oven. This culinary technique keeps the meat moist and helps the skin develop a beautiful, crispy golden-brown color. It is most commonly used in holiday cooking contexts, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners.

Examples

• Remember to baste the turkey every thirty minutes so the breast meat doesn't dry out.

  Remember to baste the turkey every thirty minutes so the breast meat doesn't dry out.

• She used a bulb baster to carefully baste the turkey with its own pan juices.

  She used a bulb baster to carefully baste the turkey with its own pan juices.

• If you baste the turkey with melted butter, the skin will get incredibly crispy.

  If you baste the turkey with melted butter, the skin will get incredibly crispy.

• The recipe says to baste the turkey frequently during the last hour of roasting.

  The recipe says to baste the turkey frequently during the last hour of roasting.

• He forgot to baste the turkey, which made the meat a bit drier than usual.

  He forgot to baste the turkey, which made the meat a bit drier than usual.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ You should paste the turkey with butter.

  ✓ You should baste the turkey with butter.

  'Paste' means to glue or stick something together, whereas 'baste' is the correct culinary term for pouring juices over roasting meat.

• ✗ Baste the turkey on the oven.

  ✓ Baste the turkey in the oven.

  The turkey is located inside the oven, so the preposition 'in' is required when referring to doing this action during roasting.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Open the oven door carefully and ___ with the pan juices.

  💡 Pour the hot juices back over the roasting bird.

  Show answer

  baste the turkey

• If you don't ___, the meat might turn out dry and tough.

  💡 Keep the holiday bird moist while cooking.

  Show answer

  baste the turkey