If anyone's searching for a last-minute turkey recipe, here's mine! New and improved! Required Materials:
Roasting Pan with a lid or Aluminum Foil
Turkey Baster
Meat Thermometer
Ingredients:
1: 15-20lb turkey (If larger may need to increase other ingredients)
1-2 stalks celery
1 large orange
1 onion (I prefer sweet)
1/2 to 1 head of garlic
1 big carrot or 8-10 baby carrots
1/2 to 1/4 bottle of ginger ale (2 liter)
2 cans chicken stock
1 bay leaf
2 tbs. thyme
2 tbs. parsley
2 tbs. sage
1 tbs. lemon pepper 1 tbs. Rosemary
1 tbs. Seasoned Salt (Johnny's or Lawry's is best!) Butter
(I know it's a long list, but it's totally worth it!)
Okay, here we go.
Preheat oven to 350
Mix thyme, sage, rosemary, parsley, lemon pepper, and seasoning salt in a small bowl
Chop the onion, carrot, and celery
Peel the garlic and split it into segments
Peel the orange and split it into segments
If your roasting pan doesn't have a lid, line the pan with enough foil to cover the turkey.
Remove the neck and giblets from turkey
Rub the herb mixture inside both neck and rear cavities of the turkey and a little on the outside.
Stuff turkey with chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic, orange segments, and bay leaf.
Place turkey in roasting pan. Slide slices of butter under the skin of the turkey breast
Pour all chicken broth and half required ginger ale into the cavity.
Truss the turkey and pour more ginger ale over bird and around it.
Either cover the turkey with roasting pan lid, or make a foil tent over the bird, but try not to have the foil touch it.
Baste periodically and remove foil to allow turkey to brown 45 min to 1 hr before done.
Turkey is done when thermometer inserted into thickest part of the thigh reads 180 degrees.
Here is estimated cooking time by weight:
10-15 lbs = 3 3/4 -4 1/2 hrs. 15-22lbs = 4 1/2- 5 hrs
22-24lbs = 5- 5 1/2 hrs. 24-29lbs = 5 1/2- 6 1/4 hrs
When turkey is done, remove from oven, cover, and let stand 10- 15 min before carving. This allows the juices to resettle.
Bonus Gravy Recipe:
Ingredients: (To taste and as needed)
Turkey drippings/ marinade
Milk
Cornstarch
Parsley
Thyme
Sage
Salt (if needed)
Black Pepper
Using the turkey baster, remove as much liquid from turkey as you need, skim off excess fat, and heat it to boiling in a medium saucepan
Mix cornstarch with milk and add to boiling turkey drippings,
Slowly lower the heat and blend with a whisk.
thicken to desired texture and in the meantime, season to taste with herbs and pepper. You can also cheat a little by supplementing with turkey gravy packets. This is especially handy if you are having a lot of guests.
LIFE NEWS: I had to have some emergency tooth extractions, so I wasn't able show off all the Halloween fun I had. Videos of my decorations are here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Annarkie12/videos And here's me in my costume! | .jpg)
