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I adore Thanksgiving food. I knew that our meals for the week would all revolve around Thanksgiving, even those meals we ate
at home in front of the TV just the two of us sitting at the table like grown ups. There's no harm in roasting a turkey and making sides just for fun! Jarrod told the congregation at church that I was roasting a turkey because we eat Thanksgiving food all week - he literally said "that's just how we roll" during the children's message.
Exactly.
So early Sunday morning, with a 15 pound turkey defrosted in the fridge, I was ready to get moving! I used
this recipe as my guide. I didn't brine my turkey and it didn't look near as pretty, but the turkey turned out incredibly delicious!
This was the first year I made a turkey and used a recipe. In years past I'd just throw some veggies and oranges around and inside the turkey and be good to go. This year I decided to do things a little more creative and see how it turned out. I wasn't really convinced that anything put on the outside of the turkey would make a difference in flavor. I was wrong.
We received a free turkey for spending over $100 at Tom Thumb. The turkey was a frozen 15 pounder. I defrosted it in cold water in the sink (adding cold water and ice every 30 minutes while flipping the turkey over so it was constantly cold enough to combat any bacteria.) Once it was mostly defrosted, I placed the turkey in the fridge and waited 2 days.
On Sunday morning I got everything ready to go. First, I made a seasoned bacon butter to slather on the turkey. Once the turkey was on a roasting pan, I rubbed it town with the most delicious smelling butter I've ever experienced. I used my hands to do this - probably not the most wise thing to do as my hands smelled like bacon and butter for the rest of the day. But it was effective!
Once the turkey was covered in butter, I stuffed it with herbs and veggies. I sliced an onion into eighths and spread them around and inside the turkey. I did the same with slices and chunks of celery and carrots. Finally, I stuffed the bird with several sprigs of rosemary.
Frankly, the turkey could probably be considered done right now. But I promised my bacon-loving husband a bacon turkey and that's what he's going to get! I grabbed the bacon and got to work. Of course, my bacon isn't as nearly weaved as the inspiration, but I think it turned out pretty good.
I weaved the bacon back and forth by layering each piece in a different direction - horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical. Once the bacon is set, I could have tied the turkey with kitchen twine. I didn't. I wrapped him up in aluminum foil and put him in the fridge. I did all this preparation before heading out the door to church. The turkey would have to wait until I got home to get cooking!
Once I got home, I set the oven to 450 degrees, removed the foil, and got the turkey in the oven. I only cooked him that hot for about 30 minutes. This is to crisp up the skin and bacon. After 30 minutes I reduced the heat to 350 degrees and baked for about 4-4 1/2 hours. At about 3 hours I put the meat thermometer into the turkey and just kept him cooking until that got to 165 degrees. If the turkey starts to get very brown but still isn't done, you can add aluminum foil over the top of the turkey to keep the skin from burning.
Once the internal temperature was high enough, I removed the turkey and let him rest for about 30 minutes. That's when the fun began. By this time, Jarrod was home from work and was able to smell the deliciousness around our home. (The smoke had cleared from earlier...) I was in charged of baking the turkey and he was in charge of carving it.
He watched a short video on youtube to learn how to carve it (which made it sound like a breeze!) and then went at it! We were careful to tip the bird into the pan to let a lot of the juice run into the pan rather than all over the cutting board.
We quickly moved those canisters before they got into the mess! Notice the stock pot and two rubbermade containers on the counter above the turkey. The stock pot was for inedible, but good stock-making pieces and each rubbermade was for white or dark meat. I will give you one guess on who decided we needed to have containers ready to go for easy separation.
While Jarrod went to town carving, I started on the gravy. I've never made gravy before, but figured that the delicious bacon/turkey drippings could not go to waste. I poured the pan drippings into a small pot (I skimmed some of the fat before pouring) and set it to simmer. I included the cooked veggies that remained on the bottom of the pan as well.
I should have lined the pan with aluminum foil before roasting. I'll remember that for next time. :-)
Once the drippings started simmering, I gave them a quick blend with the immersion blender. My goal was just to chop the veggies slightly to make the gravy a bit more smooth.
Once blended, I added a mixture of 2 tablespoons cornstarch - 1/2 cup milk. This was to thicken the gravy and it worked perfectly. I wasn't sure about the milk, but a recipe I read recommended milk, so that's what I did.
I finished the gravy about the same time Jarrod was finishing the turkey.
It was time to eat! Because I'd made several sides for our Thanksgiving week days before, I had to warm them up in the microwave. That is why everything is in small bowls and not large serving casseroles.
The large rectangle in the foreground of the picture is the dark meat, the other rectangle is white meat. The large red bowl is
mashed potatoes, the green bowl is
corn casserole, and the brown bowl is
broccoli cheese casserole. The pot on the end is gravy. The two blue blows near our plates are for salad. And yes, I do always drink out of a water bottle, even at home. Some people find that strange.
There's my plate - salad with slivered almonds and
homemade dressing, mashed potatoes, white meat turkey, corn casserole, and broccoli cheese casserole. YUM!
And if you thought I was completely crazy, I'll throw this at you - I plan to make
cornbread stuffing tonight to finish out the meal. I cannot wait!
Here's the details on the
Turkey - Bacon Style
14-16 pound turkey, defrosted
4 tablespoons of butter
5 sprigs of rosemary
1 teaspoon of poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon of salt
1 pound of bacon
1 onion
2-3 stalks of celery
2-3 carrots
Mix the softened butter, poultry seasoning, 2 pieces of raw bacon, and 2 sprigs of rosemary (twig removed) in a blender or food processor until blended. Place the turkey on a roasting rack if possible and in a pan large enough to fit the whole bird. Rub the turkey down with the butter.
Slice the carrots, celery, and onion - don't worry about peeling, just remove the paper from the onion and make sure they are all cleaned thoroughly. I found it best to cut the onion into eighths, placing half the onion inside the turkey and the other half around it. The carrots and celery I cut into chunks and placed around the turkey. Finish my putting the sprigs of rosemary inside the turkey.
Criss cross the bacon over the turkey. You can use kitchen twine to keep it in place or you can just allow the butter to hold the bacon. The body of the bird should be covered evenly with bacon.
Bake the turkey in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Decrease the temperature to 350 degrees and cook until internal temperature reaches at least 165 degrees. If the bird starts to brown, cover with aluminum foil for remaining cooking time.
Once done, allow the turkey to rest for 30 minutes before carving. Use the drippings (minus 2 tablespoons of fat skimmed off the top) for a delicious gravy by adding a mixture of 1/2 cup of milk and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
After the turkey is carved, you can use the bones, skin, carcass to make turkey stock. Simply place bones into a stock pot and cover with water. Cook for about an hour, strain, and let cool. Stock can then be frozen or stored in the refrigerator and used in recipes. We got about 16 cups of stock from our turkey.
