Mustard Butter Basted Roast Turkey With Bacon Recipes

BUTTER-BASTED TURKEY AND GRAVY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
• Stuff the turkey: Place the turkey on a flat surface, season with salt and pepper on the inside and out and stuff the cavity with stuffing if using. Tie the legs closed with a strong piece of kitchen twine or string by wrapping them around and around the drumsticks and pulling them closed like you're tying a shoe.
• Prepare the turkey: Soak 1 large double-layered piece of cheesecloth in the butter. Brush any remaining butter on top of the bird and cover the breast meat with the cheesecloth to keep it moist for the first part of cooking, tucking it into the natural crevices of the bird to keep it in place. Arrange the garlic, carrots and onions in the bottom of a roasting pan and arrange the turkey on the roasting pan right above them. Place the pan in the center of the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
• Lower the oven to 350 degrees F and count about 12 minutes per pound of the turkey weight.
• After about 2 hours, take the turkey out, gently remove the cheesecloth from the top of the breasts, baste the turkey with any pan juices, rotate the pan halfway and return to the oven. Place the turkey neck and the chicken stock in a medium pot and simmer gently on the stove as the turkey finishes cooking. Reduce the stock by about half.
• How do you know when the turkey is done? The temperature of the thigh meat (where the meat is thickest and takes the longest time to cook) should register 160 to 165 degrees F when tested with a thermometer. The thigh juices should also be clear, not pink. When done, remove the bird from the oven, transfer to a flat surface and allow it to rest, breast side down, for 30 minutes. Why rest the turkey breast side down after cooking it breast side up? So the juices flow back through the meat as it sits.
• Make the gravy: Place the roasting pan over the burners of the stove, whisk in the sherry and mustard to the pan and warm it over low heat. Scrape the bottom to get the drippings and tasty bits off the bottom of the pan as the sherry reduces almost completely. Strain the neck out from the stock and add the stock to the roasting pan. Simmer over medium heat, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce further until the mixture starts to thicken. Puree half of the gravy (with the cooked vegetables) in a blender until smooth, and then stir back into the gravy. The vegetables are a natural thickener that is healthier and lighter than the classic cornstarch or flour! Stir in the vinegar. Taste for seasoning. Carve the turkey and serve with the gravy.

ROAST TURKEY WITH MUSTARD MAPLE GLAZE

Steps:

• For the mustard maple glaze: Whisk together the maple syrup, horseradish, mustard and ancho in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. (Can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before using.)
• For the turkey: Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour prior to roasting. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Scatter the carrots, celery and onions in a large roasting pan and set a roasting rack on top. Place the turkey on the rack and sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper. Brush the entire turkey with the melted butter and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. In a medium saucepan, combine 4 cups of the chicken stock and the 1/2 stick butter; keep warm over low heat. Ladle a cup or so over the bird.
• Transfer the turkey to the oven and roast until light golden brown, 45 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue roasting, basting with a few cups of the warm chicken stock mixture every 15 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 145 degrees F. Return the turkey to the oven and cook, basting with mustard maple glaze every 10 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature of 155 degrees F. The total roasting time will be about 2 hours 45 minutes.
• Transfer the turkey to a large cutting board, tent loosely with foil, and let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour before slicing. Meanwhile, strain the drippings from the roasting pan into a bowl, discarding the solids. If needed, add enough of any remaining chicken stock to make 6 cups of liquid.
• For the gravy: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook until light golden brown. Slowly whisk the drippings into the flour mixture. Bring to a boil, whisking until the mixture begins to thicken and the flour taste has been cooked out, about 10 minutes. Add more stock if needed and a splash of white wine if desired, and cook for 2 minutes longer. Fold in the herbs and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

ROAST TURKEY WITH MUSTARD-MAPLE GLAZE

Steps:

• Make the glaze: Whisk the maple syrup, mustard, horseradish and chile powder in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and let sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. (The glaze can be made up to 2 days in advance; store, covered, in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before using.)
• Prepare the turkey: Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting. Preheat the oven to 450˚ F. Season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper. Rub the outside of the turkey with the butter and season liberally with salt and pepper. Put 4 cups chicken stock in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
• Place the carrots, celery and onions in a large roasting pan and place a roasting rack on top. Put the turkey on the rack, place in the oven and roast until light golden brown, about 45 minutes. (Tent the turkey loosely with foil if it is browning too quickly.) Reduce the oven temperature to 350˚ F, baste with 2 cups warm stock and continue roasting, basting with 2 more cups warm stock halfway through, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 155˚, about 1 hour. After the turkey reaches 155˚ F, begin basting with the maple glaze; continue roasting, basting with the glaze every 10 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165˚ F, about 20 more minutes.
• Remove the turkey from the oven and transfer to a large cutting board. Tent loosely with foil and let rest at least 45 minutes before slicing. Strain the drippings into a bowl and discard the solids. Add enough of the remaining chicken stock to make 6 cups liquid.
• Make the gravy: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook until light golden brown, about 8 minutes. Slowly whisk in the stock-drippings mixture, then bring to a boil and whisk until the gravy begins thickening and the flour taste has been cooked out, about 10 minutes. Add more stock until you reach the desired consistency. If desired, add a splash of white wine and cook 2 more minutes. Stir in the herbs and season with salt and pepper.
• Heat the remaining stock in a saucepan over low heat. Remove the turkey legs and wings, then remove the dark meat and shred. Remove the breasts and cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices. Ladle some of the warm stock on top of the turkey and serve with the gravy.

MUSTARD BUTTER-BASTED ROAST TURKEY WITH BACON

Steps:

• Weigh your turkey and calculate the cooking time by allowing 40 mins per kg for the first 4kg, then 45 mins for every kg of turkey over that weight. As a guide, a turkey this size should take 3½-4 hrs plus 30-45 mins resting time.
• To make the mustard butter, beat the butter with the mustards, thyme and some ground black pepper until soft and well mixed.
• Gently push your fingers under the skin of the turkey, starting from the neck, until you can push your whole hand in down the length of the breast - take care not to tear the skin. Spread the butter under the skin so that it covers the breasts. Lay the streaky bacon on your work surface in 2 rectangles of 6 overlapping rashers (for extra flavour, you can brush the bacon with a little wholegrain or English mustard first), and carefully push each rectangle of bacon under the skin to cover and protect each breast. This can be done the night before, but take out of the fridge for 1 hr before roasting so that it comes back to room temperature.
• On the day, heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Lift the turkey into a roasting tin, massage the olive oil into the skin and season well with flaky salt and pepper. Put the onion, thyme and bay inside the cavity of the turkey, then pour in the wine. Cover the tin loosely with foil and roast for the calculated cooking time. For the final 30 mins, remove the foil and pour off all of the cooking juices (use for the gravy; recipe in 'goes well with'). Increase the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and roast for 30 mins more until the turkey is golden and the juices that run out of the thigh are clear, with no sign of pink, when pierced with a skewer. Leave to rest on a warm platter covered with foil and tea towels - it will keep like this for up to 45 mins.
• To serve, carve the turkey and arrange the meat on a hot platter with a little of the hot gravy poured over, or bring the whole turkey to the table garnished with herbs. To fill the platter, you could surround the turkey with potatoes, if you like. Any leftover meat can be frozen in the gravy.

BACON-WRAPPED TURKEY

Steps:

• Add 2 cups water to pan. Roast, uncovered, until bacon is lightly browned, 25-30 minutes. Reduce oven setting to 350°. Bake until a thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reads 170°-175°, about 90 minutes longer. Cover loosely with foil if bacon browns too quickly., Remove from oven. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes before carving.

ROASTED BUTTER HERB TURKEY

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine softened butter, poultry seasoning, garlic herb sauce mix, and crushed garlic. Use a fork to mix together until well combined. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes, until firm but not hard.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Arrange celery, carrots, and half of the diced onions in the bottom of a roasting pan. Add chicken broth and set aside.
• Rinse the thawed turkey and pat dry. Use your finger to carefully loosen the skin around the entire bird. Take the butter mixture and cut into large pieces. Place the butter pieces under the skin of the entire turkey. Rub the remaining butter pieces on the outside of the skin and season with salt and pepper. Stuff the inside of turkey cavity with remaining onions, fresh herb poultry blend, and lemon slices. (Truss if necessary.) Insert the pop-up thermometer at an angle about 3-inches down from the neck cavity and 2-inches from the breast bone, in the thickest part of the breast.
• Place turkey on the bed of vegetables in roasting pan. Place in the oven and reduce temperature to 325 degrees F. Roast for 1 hour, then baste with pan juices every 20 minutes until thermometer pops up or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 180 degrees F, about 3 hours.

CRISPY BACON-BASTED TURKEY

Steps:

• If you have time the day before, salt the turkey. Make the salt mix by grinding the salt with the thyme leaves and pepper in a spice grinder or with a pestle and mortar. Sit the turkey in a roasting tin and season all over, inside and out, using about two-thirds of the salt. Leave the turkey in the tin, breast-side up, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for up to 24 hrs. If you don't have time, or there is no room in the fridge, simply prepare the salt and season the turkey generously before roasting.
• To make the bacon butter, gently cook the bacon in a dry frying pan for about 10 mins, stirring occasionally, until the fat has seeped into the pan and is sizzling gently, and the bacon is crisp. Take off the heat and leave to cool slightly. Scrape the bacon and the fat into a food processor with the butter and maple syrup. Blitz to combine, scraping down the sides of the processor from time to time. Roll up the butter in cling film to form a log and place in the fridge. Can be made a few days ahead or frozen for 1 month.
• Remove the turkey from the fridge an hour or so before you want to cook it. Remove the bacon butter from the fridge to soften up. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Calculate your cooking time based on 40 mins per kg for the first 4kg of the turkey, plus 45 mins for every kg after that.
• Gently push your fingers under the skin of the turkey, starting from the neck, until you can push your whole hand in down the length of the breast. Take care not to tear the skin. Use your hands to spread the bacon butter under the skin so that it covers the entire breast area, and there is butter in the crevice between the thigh and the main body. Pop a sprig of thyme under the skin of each breast, then smooth the skin over with your buttery hands. Place the onion, lemon, bay leaves and garlic in the cavity.
• Cover the tin loosely with foil and roast for the calculated cooking time - 30 mins before the end of cooking, increase the oven temperature to 200C/180C fan/gas 6, remove the foil, baste the turkey and return to the oven. When the turkey is beautifully brown and cooked through, remove from the oven and leave to rest on a warm platter covered in foil for up to 1 hr.
• Pour the fat away from the roasting tin, leaving just the juices. If your tin is flameproof, pour in the Sticky Port gravy (see 'Goes well with', right) to reheat with the juices; if not, tip them both into a saucepan and reheat. Serve the remaining salt mix as a seasoning alongside the rest of the meal.

BUTTER AND WINE BASTED TURKEY BREAST

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325º.
• Place turkey, skin side up, in a shallow roasting pan and insert ovenproof thermometer in the thickest part of the turkey making sure it does not touch the bone.
• Roast 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• While turkey is roasting, mix butter, wine, thyme, salt, paprika, and garlic. After turkey has roasted 1 hour, brush with half of the butter mixture. Roast for 30 more minutes and then brush with remaining butter mixture. Roast for 1 hour longer or until thermometer reads 170º and turkey is no longer pink when you cut into center.
• When turkey is done, place on platter and cover with foil to keep warm Let rest about 15 so that juices can redistribute.
• To make gravy: While turkey is resting, pour pan drippings into measuring cup and skim fat from drippings. Add enough water to drippings to measure 2 cups. Heat drippings to boiling in 1 quart saucepan. Mix cornstarch and cold water; stir into drippings. Boil and stir 1 minute.
• Serve gravy with turkey.