Roasted Turkey with Easy Gravy

prep time:: 30 minutes
total time:: 4-5 hours

Serves 8

There are numerous successful approaches to cooking a tasty and reliable turkey with good texture and moisture. This is the simplest and does not involve flipping the bird. There are a few rules. Stick to one recipe, don’t mix different recipes. Start with a fully defrosted Kosher Turkey. It takes three or four days to defrost the turkey in the refrigerator. You are using a Kosher Turkey because it is all natural and already brined so the finished product will have a good meat texture and be moist. Do not use a self basting turkey. They inject it with fat, salt and flavoring solution which gives the turkey a strange texture.

ingredients

10-14 pound defrosted Kosher Turkey (buy it frozen)
1 stick Butter
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs sage leaves
3 sprigs thyme
1 lemon
2 small onions
(Omit salt, Turkey it is brined with kosher salt), pepper and paprika
2 quarts low sodium chicken stock (you should have about a quart leftover, but better too much than too little)
An instant read meat thermometer
Butcher’s cord or plain, unwaxed dental floss

directions

1
Clean and wash the turkey with cold water. Remove the giblets and neck from the cavity and discard. You are not really thinking of making turkey stock on Thanksgiving are you? The stock is either in your freezer or use store bought low sodium chicken stock. Dry the inside and out of the turkey with paper towels and throw them away. Sprinkle the juice of a lemon into the turkey cavity. Now put two sprigs rosemary, sage and thyme sprigs, the peeled and cut in half onions and the remains of the lemon into the cavity, putting a half of lemon or onion into the neck cavity with one sprig each or rosemary, sage and thyme.
2
Twist wing tips under the back to hold them in place. Tie the legs together securely.
3
Prepare a mixture of 1/4 pound melted butter (or olive oil), 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon paprika and 2 Tablespoons superfine flour. Coat the bird with 1/3 of the mixture (I use a dishwasher safe cooking brush). Place bird on a rack in a dry roasting pan.
4
Roast uncovered in a slow over (325 degrees F). Now mix 1 cup chicken broth into the melted butter and flour and use it to baste the turkey every 20 minutes without fail. As the butter/and broth mixture is used up add more broth or stock thickened with a Tablespoon of flour for every cup of stock. Baste liberally since the basting will be the gravy. A turkey cooks in about 15 minutes per pound. (That would have a 12 pound turkey cook in 3 hours.) After about 3 hours test the turkey for doneness. A quick check is the ease with which the drumstick moves up and down and the thigh meat should feel soft to touch and the juices run clear. The thermometer should be inserted into the turkey between the fist and second ribs so that the tip is within the center of the breast meat. The turkey is done when breast meat is 165 degrees F.
5
Remove turkey from the oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes before carving while you are finishing the gravy. The bastings should have absorbed the flavors and brown color of the pan drippings. Remove the turkey rack (use pot holders) and place the bird and rack on a carving board. Put roasting pan on stove top, turn on heat. Add two more Tablespoons of flour and begin whisking. Now add about a half a cup white wine and let the wine cook down and add the a cup of stock and bring to a boil while whisking adjust sauce to right texture by adding more stock if necessary, taste and add seasoning if necessary. It should be gravy.