ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

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When it comes to magazine cover-worthy models, maybe she’s born with it—or maybe it’s Maybelline. (Or, more likely, it’s Photoshop.) When it comes to magazine cover-worthy Thanksgiving turkeys, maybe it’s this elixir—or maybe it’s dish soap. Wait. Hold up. Did we just say dish soap? It’s a common food stylist hack for commercial photoshoots—raw or ever-so-slightly cooked poultry is often brushed with a mix of Angostura bitters, caramel coloring, and soap to achieve an even, lustrous, and deep golden-brown color that conveys a perfectly roasted bird. In the interest of total edibleness, we wanted to achieve the same gorgeous Instagram-worthy results without soap—and while ensuring the meat is cooked through and not raw. So, we swapped that soap for liquid soy lecithin. Its darker color helps to build that golden-brown gorgeousness we’re after, and it’s sticky—this helps the elixir adhere more evenly to the turkey to prevent streaking (no racing stripes or tan lines here, friends). This isn’t all about the elixir, though. To achieve the perfect results, you’ll need to roast that beautiful bird in three easy stages. Low and slow is the name of the game here—this helps to get the doneness you desire while also providing a few opportunities to slather on the elixir to build up those layers of color and flavor. 
 
In tandem with that three-step roasting process, this elixir will give your Thanksgiving turkey the Norman-Rockwell-painting treatment with a gorgeous glaze that’ll inspire even the least social media-savvy dinner guest to pull out their phone and start posting pics! No Photoshop know-how required.