Gobble, Gobble

This may end up being one of my favorite all time posts, and I wanted to get it up early to inspire everyone who will be making their first, third or twenty-fifth turkey in a few weeks. 

For the past two years I have hosted a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving feast for my friends in Chicago. I love all of the food associated with Thanksgiving (except yams - you can keep those) so the opportunity to be surrounded by people I adore and eat delicious food is a great excuse to celebrate. I usually host it the weekend before Thanksgiving so those who are traveling home for the holiday will still be in town. My menu is generally classic, and I provide staples so all of the guests just bring a side dish and their choice of beverage.

Last year we had 21 people over, so I figured a 25-ish pound bird would be perfect. I wanted to buy from my local butcher shop because the turkey I got the previous year was amazing. However, they don't ship them from Wisconsin until the weekend before Thanksgiving so I wasn't going to have time to thaw and brine the turkey before the celebration. Hence, I went to the local grocery store and found a decent bird high reviews for the supermarket varieties.

With 25 lbs of bird it takes 4-5 days to thaw in the refrigerator (or on my screened back porch is isn't heated and thus is like an extra refrigerator in November before the freezing temperature arrives...) Then comes brining overnight in a sluice of sea salt, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and pepper. In order to do this, boil some water and dissolve the spices, then add more cold water until the turkey is covered...

If you have never brined a turkey before I will say that it makes a moist, delicious turkey. However, unless you have a clean bucket large enough to hold the bird and fluid, you might need 2 giant bags (aka trash bags) which should be doubled up to prevent leakage. Make sure to put the bags inside one another in the roasting pan BEFORE adding the water or the turkey. The added benefit is that my roasting pan has lovely handles so I can lift it easily.

Please, please, please before you move the pan, remember that it will be HEAVY (we are talking upwards of 35-40 lbs with the water and a 25 lb bird)! 

After the turkey has brined, lug it to your sink and carefully dump the water. Then rinse the turkey inside and out to get rid of any salt crystals remaining on the skin.

Time to stuff and season! First make an herb butter using butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, parsley. It helps to use a few tablespoons of olive oil as well to get a creamy consistency. 

Basically I throw it into a food processor and magically you have compound butter!

What to stuff inside? I actually never do traditional stuffing inside the turkey. Why? It takes longer to cook, the turkey is overdone, and the stuffing is barely warm. (Thank you for a more scientific explanation Alton Brown.) Instead I stuff the turkey full of onions, lemons, smashed cloves of garlic, and bay leaves. Then I threw in an orange because it wasn't full enough. 

The best way to do this is to halve your fruits/veggies (don't bother removing the skin of the onions), then set the turkey breast side up in your pan. Then stuff everything inside until the turkey perks up and no longer looks depressed. 

Time for the butter! Loosen the skin over the breasts and legs with your fingers, taking care not to poke holes in the skin. Place a golf ball sized lump of butter just under the skin. Then pull the skin closed and push the butter forward under the skin. Repeat until you have used most of the compound butter. Spread any remaining butter on top of the skin, covering all parts of the turkey.

Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes then bring out of the oven. Get the smoked bacon and lay slices in single row over turkey breasts. Turn the temp down to 350 F and roast according to its weight, basting every 30 min. 

Remove bird from oven. Remove the crispy bacon from the top and onions and lemons from inside. Transfer the turkey to a carving board and cover with aluminum foil to rest for 2 hours.

Drain excess fat from roasting pan into a small container and set aside. Set the roasting pan on the stove over 2 burners and turn heat to medium. Roughly chop the roasted bacon, lemons and onions and add to pan. Add a couple rosemary sprigs as well. For additional turkey flavor, remove turkey wings and add to pan, saute for 2 minutes. 

Add juices from resting turkey and hard apple cider. Simmer until reduced by half. Using a potato masher, crush all ingredients together for extra flavor. Add chicken broth and continue to simmer until again reduced by half.

Strain gravy through a fine sieve, pushing all the liquid through with the back of your spoon. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and keep warm until serving. 

Carve the turkey and serve with all the fixings!

Overnight Turkey Brine

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 gallons water
• 1 1/2 cups sea salt
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon ground pepper

Instructions

1. Heat 1 quart of water to boiling. Add sea salt, brown sugar, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and pepper and stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool.
2. Remove giblets from refrigerated turkey. In a large, heavy duty plastic bag or small bucket, lay turkey flat. Pour cooled brine and remaining cold water over the turkey until covered. Close bag or place lid on bucket. Allow to brine for 12-24 hours in refrigerated area.
3. Before baking turkey, remove from brine and rinse skin under cold tap water to remove any additional salt.
4. Cook turkey to preference.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay Christmas Turkey, see video for more details

Ingredients

• 25 lb turkey, brined

Compound Butter

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

Stuffing

• 2 medium sweet onions, cut in half
• 2 lemons, halved (from compound butter above) 
• 2 cloves garlic, whole
• 2 bay leaves
• 6-8 strips of smoked bacon

Gravy

• Roasted onions, lemon and crispy bacon from turkey, roughly chopped
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• Turkey drippings
• 12 ounces hard apple cider
• 4 cups chicken stock

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 deg F. In a small bowl, add butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest and juice, garlic and chopped parsley. Mix until well combined. Set aside.
2. Place turkey breast side up in roasting pan. Stuff cavity with onions, lemon halves, garlic and bay leaves. 
3. Loosen skin over turkey breasts and fill space between skin and meat with compound butter. Massage remaining butter all over turkey skin.
4. Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and baste with liquid in bottom of roasting pan. Lay bacon in single row over turkey breasts and return to oven.
5. Reduce temperature to 350 F. Roast for about 4 hours, basting every 30 minutes. .
6. Remove from oven and transfer to carving board. Remove bacon from top and onions and lemons from inside, and roughly chop. Cover turkey with aluminum foil and rest for 2 hours.
7. Drain excess fat from roasting pan. Place pan on stove over medium heat. Add chopped bacon, onion, lemon and rosemary to pan. Stir well. 
8. Remove turkey wings and add to pan, saute for 2 minutes. Add juices from resting turkey and hard apple cider. Simmer until reduced by half. Mash together all ingredients. 
9. Add chicken broth and continue to simmer until again reduced by half.
10. Press through fine meshed sieve and garnish with sprig of rosemary.