How To Make The Most Delicious Turkey Ever By Elise Bauer Recipes

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST DELICIOUS TURKEY EVER - BY ELISE BAUER

Steps:

• Bring turkey to room temperature before cooking. Keep it in its plastic wrapping until you are ready to cook it. While you are bringing it to room temperature, have it resting in a pan, so that if the plastic covering leaks for any reason, the juices will remain in the pan. If you get a frozen turkey, you will need to defrost it in the refrigerator for several days first.
• 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.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Wash out the turkey with water. 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.
• For flavor, put in inside the turkey a half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some tops and bottoms of 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 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.
• Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle pepper over the turkey.
• Place turkey BREAST SIDE DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings. This is the main difference. Cooking the turkey breast down means the skin over the breast will not get so brown. However, all of the juices from the cooking turkey will fall down into the breast while cooking.
• Add several sprigs of fresh (if possible) thyme and rosemary to the outside of the turkey.
• Put the turkey in the oven. Check the cooking directions on the turkey packaging.
• 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 The turkey juices should be clear, not pink.
• Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Turn the turkey breast side up to carve it.

WORLD'S SIMPLEST THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Pull the neck and giblets out of the cavity; ditch the liver and save the rest of the giblets for gravy. Dry the turkey with paper towels, then season inside and out with salt and pepper. Fill the turkey with aromatics like chopped onions, carrots, apples and herbs, then place breast-side up in a roasting pan and brush with melted butter. Tent with foil and roast for 2 hours (for a 10- to 12-pound turkey; add an extra 15 minutes per pound for larger birds). Remove the foil, baste with more melted butter and crank the oven to 425 degrees F. Roast for another hour or until the meat at the thigh registers 165 degrees F. Let rest while you make the gravy.

JUICY THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a turkey roaster with long sheets of aluminum foil that will be long enough to wrap over the turkey.
• Stir together the parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, lemon pepper, and salt in a small bowl. Rub the herb mixture into the cavity of the turkey, then stuff with the celery, orange, onion, and carrot. Truss if desired, and place the turkey into the roasting pan. Pour the chicken broth and champagne over the turkey, making sure to get some champagne in the cavity. Bring the aluminum foil over the top of the turkey, and seal. Try to keep the foil from touching the skin of the turkey breast or legs.
• Bake the turkey in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear. Uncover the turkey, and continue baking until the skin turns golden brown, 30 minutes to 1 hour longer. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 180 degrees F (82 degrees C). Remove the turkey from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.

VERY MOIST AND FLAVORFUL ROAST TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Cut butter into 1-tablespoon pieces, quarter the pieces, and refrigerate butter until needed.
• Use your fingers to loosen the skin over the turkey breast and thighs. Cut a hole in the turkey skin between tail and body (to affix legs); cut a hole on each side of the turkey beneath each wing (to affix wings). Rub the entire skin with vegetable oil.
• Toss apple and onion wedges, garlic cloves, and celery in a large bowl until combined; sprinkle poultry seasoning over the apple mixture and toss again to coat. Stuff the body and neck cavities with the apple mixture. Insert each wing tip into the hole under the wing to secure wings; insert both legs into hole near tail to secure legs.
• Place turkey onto a rack and set in a roasting pan. Insert cold butter pieces under the loosened skin, distributing the butter as evenly as possible.
• Roast the turkey in the preheated oven until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh, not touching bone, reads 160 degrees F (70 degrees C), about 3 1/2 hours. Check for doneness after 3 hours.
• Remove roasting pan containing turkey from oven and cover with aluminum foil, lightly pressing the foil directly onto the bird. Let the turkey rest for 40 minutes before carving.