Roasted Turkey
Cooking turkey is the tradition of the American Thanksgiving. I have been using several methods, but the best of them all is the one described here. The flavored and moist turkey meat makes this recipe standing out. There are many options to stuff the turkey. I like the vegetables, apple and lemon combination. For a 20 lb turkey, I have used the quantities below . Adjust them depending upon the size of your turkey. For this recipe you will need a shallow roasting pan with rack and extra wide aluminum foil.
Prepared and Photographed by:
Recipe Source: Adapted from: How to Cook Turkey - YouTube Video
Serves: 10
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 1 turkey (here a 20 lb turkey
  • 4 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • salt, pepper, thyme
  • ½ cup of white wine
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup of olive oil for basing

Stuffing:
  • 1 cup of chopped carrots
  • 1 cup of chopped celery
  • 1 apple, chopped
  • 1 lemon, chopped
  • freshly chopped herbs: parsley, dill, thyme
  • 1 whole apple
Instructions
Preparing the turkey:
  1. If using a frozen turkey, follow the defrosting instructions
  2. Make sure that the turkey goes in the oven at the room temperature
  3. If they are present, remove the neck and giblets from inside the turkey
  4. Rinse the turkey thoroughly with water and dry inside and outside with a soft cloth or paper towels
  5. Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C)
  6. Using your hand carefully loosen the skin from the turkey breast
  7. In a shallow bowl place 4 butter sticks make sure the butter is at room temperature, add 1 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of pepper, 2 tbsps of thyme, mix it well with your hand.
  8. Push the butter mixture up between the breast and the skin, make sure you covered all of the area between the skin and the breast
  9. Spread the rest of the mixture evenly all over the turkey
  10. Season some more with salt, pepper, thyme (optional)
Stuffing the turkey:
  1. In a deep bowl mix the stuffing ingredients and place them inside of your turkey. "Plug" the turkey cavity with a whole apple to fit the size of the opening. The herbs and vegetables will lend their flavor to the turkey meat.
  2. Twist the wing tips back under the turkey
  3. Tie the turkey legs with string or simply tuck the legs under the skin
Preparing the turkey for the oven:
  1. Remove the rack from the roasting pan and lay one sheet of foil, length wise, roughly three times the length of the pan .
  2. Place the second sheet of foil width wise
  3. Push the foil well into the pan and place the rack on top of it
  4. Add 2 cups of boiling water and ½ cup of white wine to the roasting pan
  5. Place the turkey on the rack and bring up the two opposite long sides foil and join them together. Do the same for the end pieces and do remember to leave space between the turkey and the foil
Cooking the turkey
  1. Use a meat thermometer for the safest results
  2. Place the turkey into the preheated oven at 425 (220C) F for 40 minutes
  3. After 40 minutes, turn the temperature down to 325 (170 C) F and cook depending on the size of your turkey, see notes.
  4. After the main cooking time is over, increase the temperature to 400 F (200C) and remove the turkey from the oven
  5. Remove the foil and fully expose the turkey. Base the turkey with warm olive oil
  6. Place back in the oven for 30 minutes
  7. During this time continue to base the turkey with olive oil or turkey juices every 10 minutes.
  8. When the turkey is nicely brown, remove from the oven. Check the doneness with a meat thermometer A fully cooked turkey should read a temperature of 170F, with the thermometer inserted the thigh .
  9. Place on a warm serving dish. Do not forget to save the dripping juices from the pan for the gravy. Happy Thanksgiving!
Notes
Cooking time for a turkey

-10 lb (4-5 kg): 2 - 2½ hrs

-13 lb (5-6 kg): 2½ - 3¼ hrs

-16 lb (6-7 kg): 3¼ - 4 hrs

-20 lb (8-9 kg): 4 - 4½ hrs

-24 lb (9-11 kg) 4½ - 5 hrs

 

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