It's the Thanksgiving season again and people are at a rush to prepare that perfect dinner and what is Thanksgiving without the Turkey. So here in Empty Streets we deliver just as many have asked for this need :)
Here are the instructions on how to roast that perfect Turkey:
Ingredients
- 1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs.
- Juice of a lemon
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil or melted butter
- 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
- Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery
- 2 carrots
- Parsley
- Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme
Turkey Serving Size Guide
12-15 lb turkey for 10-12 people
15-18 lb turkey for 14-16 people
18-22 lb turkey for 20-22 people
Procedure
1 If the turkey came from the refrigerator, bring it to room temperature before cooking. Keep it in its plastic wrapping till you are ready to cook. While in the refrigerator, and or while you are bringing it to room temp, have the turkey in a pan, so that if the plastic covering leaks for any reason, you are confining the juices to the pan.
Remove the neck and giblets (heart, gizzard, liver). Use the heart and gizzard for making stock for the stuffing. The neck can be cooked along side the turkey or saved for turkey soup.
*Note that if your turkey comes with a plastic piece holding the legs together, check the instructions on the turkey's package. Most likely you do not need to remove those plastic ties for cooking (unless you plan to cook your turkey at a very high temperature). If you remove the plastic ties, you will need to use kitchen string to tie the legs together.
2 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3 Wash the turkey with water. Pull out any remaining feather stubs on the turkey skin. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Lather the inside of the cavity with the juice of half a lemon. Take a small handful of salt and rub all over the inside of the turkey.
4 For flavor, put inside the turkey half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some chopped up celery. You may need to cap the body cavity with some aluminum foil so that the stuffing doesn't easily fall out. Close up the turkey cavity with either string (thread strings and not anything plastic) or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together, held close to the body, and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close.
5 Rub melted butter or olive oil all over the the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle pepper over the turkey.
6 Place turkey on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings. Add several sprigs of thyme and rosemary to the outside of the turkey.
7 Chop up the turkey giblets (gizzard, heart). Put into a small saucepan, cover with water, add salt. Bring to simmer for an hour or so to help make stock for the stuffing.
8 Put the turkey in the oven. Gourmet turkeys often don't take as long to cook. We recommend a cooking time of about 15 minutes for every pound. For the 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400 F for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 F for the next 2 hours. Then reduce the heat further to 225 F for the next hour to hour and a half.
Start taking temperature readings with a meat thermometer, inserted deep into the thickest part of the turkey breast and thigh, a half hour before the turkey should be done. The dark meat in the thigh should be about 175 F. The white meat in the breast should be 160 F to 165 F. If you don't have a meat thermometer, spear the breast with a knife. The turkey juices should be clear, not pink.
9 Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for about 15-20 minutes. Turn the turkey breast side up to carve it.
Making Turkey Gravy
Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour drippings into a smaller skillet. Ladle off excess fat with a gravy spoon and save for possible use later.
In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add just enough water to dissolve the corn starch. Beat cornstarch with a spoon to remove lumps. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly.
You may not end up using all of the cornstarch mixture. Only add as much as you need to get the desired thickness. Allow time for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.
Aside from a home style cooked recipe for yah we have found a video to help out those that are more visually stimulated :)
This video is courtesy of Easy Cook Videos
One more thing - Since it is ThanksGiving I would like to say thanks for the following:
1. Being able to wake up every morning
2. Being able to work for a wonderful company with the most amazing people-ExcelAsia
3. For the most amazing Blogging Friends from around world
- Marzie of Mariuca and Mariuca's Perfume Gallery
- Lady Java
- Emila Yusof
- Jean of A Great Pleasure
- Kim of Lake Trees
- ECL of East Coast Life
- Bloggista
- Crissy of Housewifeatwork
- Kirhat of Seek No More
- Mark Tayag of Makoyskie
- Mize of Portuguese Menu, Night Clicks, and NetFreeSource
- Roxy
- Monica of Turn-U-Off
- Bombchell
- Ask Ms. Recipe
- Pinoy Cravings
- PCRemix
- BioTeck
- iWalk
- Xanfactor of Troubleshooting 101
- Serrandinho
- Matthew of MTMD
- Bono
