Roasted Turkey

It’s the holiday season and you’re looking for yet another turkey recipe that will yield crispy and flavorful skin and a moist and juicy turkey meat. This recipe is guaranteed to provide you with the most perfect whole roasted turkey you’ve ever had and provide you with some tips to make it easy to do.
This turkey recipe includes, brining and then roasting over vegetables while simultaneously being coated and basted with a herb based compound butter.
Brining a turkey helps to infuse the turkey with salt which then retains water and moisture during the cooking process. If you are using a frozen turkey, this is beyond important since freezing and thawing draws a lot of moisture out of the turkey. Brining a turkey also adds flavor, as a marinade would. By adding salt, sugar, citrus, herbs, and spices your turkey will absorb some of that flavor. Brining also tenderizes, the salt in the brine will break down muscle fibers that tend to make turkey a bit tough.
Roasting over vegetables and/or stuffing the bird with vegetables, citrus, and herbs helps to add moisture and flavoring to the bottom side and inside of the bird while also helping to add moisture to the oven during the cooking process which makes the oven humid and keeps the turkey from drying out.
Rubbing your turkey with flavored butter, on top of, and underneath the skin helps to make the skin crispy as if it were being fried but also helps baste the breast meat with fat throughout the cooking process.
To make this Roasted Turkey recipe, start by making your brine the day before. Bring vegetable stock (or water just add another 1/2c of salt), salt, brown sugar, honey, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, orange, and lemon to a boil over high heat. Allow the ingredients to boil for ten minutes before removing from the heat. Add ice water to the brine to bring it down to room temperature quicker. Let your brine cool down to at least room temperature but between 33-42 degrees Fahrenheit is optimum.
Once the brine has cooled pour it into a food safe, non-reactive container or brining bag then submerge your whole turkey into the brine. Brine the turkey for at least 24 hours, and no longer than 48 hours.
After brining for recommended time, remove the turkey from the brine, rinse it and pat it dry with paper towel.
In a roasting pan, add carrots, onions, celery, garlic, and turkey/chicken stock.
Make your compound butter by mixing and folding together softened butter, garlic, fresh dill, fresh thyme, zest of one lemon, zest of one orange, salt, and pepper. Using your hands rub the entire turkey with the compound butter, including underneath the breast skin. You should be able to get a good amount of the butter under some of the breast skin then just smooth and push down from the top of the skin to move the butter to where you want it to be.
Set your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the oven is up to temp, place the turkey in the oven and cook the turkey for 30 minutes before lowering the oven temp to 325 degrees. Cook the turkey until the breast temps at 165 degrees, and the thighs temp at 175 degrees. Baste the turkey with the drippings and rotate the turkey every 30 minutes. Plan on your turkey taking anywhere from 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours and 30 minutes. The best way to know the exact temperature of your turkey is by using a leave-in meat thermometer, it is a great investment for those who cook roasts, large birds, and expensive cuts of meat.
A 13/15lb fresh turkey will take two and half to three hours to cook with this process. A great way to keep the breast from reaching temp before the drums and thighs is to place foil or buttered cheesecloth over the turkey before lowering the oven temperature. This may keep the breast skin from being crispy but you can always remove the entire breast after it is rested and broil them for a few minutes to get your crispy skin back.
When the turkey is up to temp, remove the turkey from the oven and tent the turkey with aluminum foil and then cover with a towel. Allow the turkey to rest for one hour. Resting for this long gives the turkey muscle fibers to relax and redistribute the juices through the roasted turkey. Carving before the turkey has had time to rest will result in most of the juices running out and a dry turkey.
Carve the turkey by breaking it down into thighs, drums, wings, and breasts then slice the breasts into 1/4″-1/2″ slices.
You can use the drippings to make gravy, serve the turkey in the drippings, or pour the drippings over top of the turkey.
As much as people like to act like the turkey is the focal point of the holidays, the sides almost always are. This recipe and this Roasted Turkey might change everyone’s opinion of the star of the show.
Good luck and happy holidays! Enjoy your Roasted Turkey with Compound Butter.