Roast Turkey and Gravy

Posted by Patrick
November 30, 2009

The key to this recipe is cooking the bird breast side down.  The result is that it self bastes, with gravity taking the moisture and fat that is in the dark meat into the breast.  The dark meat is still plenty moist.  This also makes  a ton of pan drippings which is great for gravy.  I haven’t specified the size of the turkey, or the cooking time.  Cooking time will depend on the size of the bird, and if/how it is stuffed.  The key is cooking it to proper temperature, so that a) you don’t kill anyone, but b) it is still tasty and moist.  I take my turkey out of the oven around 175 degrees.  185 is the “traditional” temp, but I also let my bird rest for 30 minutes and the temp will continue to increase for a bit…

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 400
  2. Remove all organs, save the neck
  3. Rinse and pat dry
  4. Arrange vegetables, neck, and fresh herbs on bottom of roasting pan (do not use a rack)
  5. Add stock to bottom of pan
  6. Put bird, breast side down on vegetables
  7. Roast for 20 minutes
  8. Reduce oven temp to 300
  9. When temp in bird (between drumstick and thigh) hits 140, flip bird and roast for 30 more minutes
  10. When temp is 175, remove from oven, tent with foil, and let rest 30 minutes before carving

For Gravy

  1. Remove bird from pan and strain, discarding all solids
  2. Allow fat to seperate
  3. Skim fat off top and combine fat with equal amounts of flour in a pan over medium heat
  4. Cook until roux is a light brown
  5. Add pan juices gradually, stirring constantly, until the gravy is the desired consistency – (you may need to add chicken stock to thin the gravy out if there are not enough pan juices)
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Pat's Corner

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