Turkey is the quintessential Thanksgiving food. It's also one of those things that many people have never made due to the sheer amount of time, and amount of meat involved. Whether it's your first time cooking the bird, or you're just looking for a new recipe, here are our favorite turkey recipes for Thanksgiving, and the days after when you have all those leftovers. Many of the measurements are imprecise, as every bird is a bit different, and we tend to season to taste, rather than to a specific measurement of seasonings.
Interested in how to raise or butcher a turkey? Check out Ep 6 – Turkey Time on the Homestead.
Living Life Fuller Oven Roasted Turkey
Ingredients
- Fresh (or thawed) whole turkey
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
- Herbs (sage, rosemary, and thyme) or poultry seasoning
- 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
Directions
- If frozen, ensure the turkey is fully thawed, and free of ice, and remove bag of giblets. Pat the body dry with paper towels, and place in a roasting pan.
- Rub exterior of bird with olive oil, then sprinkle generously with kosher salt, pepper, herbs and garlic.
- Place in a 325-degree oven.
- Once juices start pooling in the pan (after an hour or so), baste the turkey every 30 minutes.
- As the turkey nears the end of the cooking time (12-15 minutes per pound), begin checking the temperature of the breast and thigh with a digital thermometer. 165 degrees is considered done, but we like to pull the bird out when both the breast and thigh are 160-165 degrees, as it will continue to increase in temperature slightly while it rests. As the turkey cooks, you may want to wrap the tips of the wings and legs with foil, and place a foil “tent” over the breast if they are cooking faster than the thighs.
- Once the bird is up to temperature, remove the roasting pan from the oven, remove the bird from the roasting pan (place in another pan or baking sheet to contain any drips), tent with foil, and let it rest while you make the gravy.
Owen's Turkey Gravy
Ingredients
- Drippings from turkey roasting pan
- Broth (turkey or chicken) or water to supplement volume of drippings (if needed)
- Chardonnay or other liquid for deglazing, such as broth or water
- All purpose flour
- Salt
- Pepper
Directions
- Remove the turkey and any large chucks of meat from the roasting pan (small bits are OK).
- Transfer the liquid drippings from the roasting pan to a 4-cup liquid measuring cup.
- Skim 3-5 tablespoons of fat from the drippings, and reserve in a small frying pan. Skim the reminder of the fat from the drippings, and discard.
- If necessary, add enough broth or water to the drippings to bring the volume up to 4 cups.
- Heat the roasting pan over two burners on medium to medium-high heat on the stove until the remaining solids in the pan begin to brown and crackle, but not burn.
- Pour in enough white wine (or other deglazing liquid) into the roasting pan to cover the bottom, and immediately scrape the bottom and sides, cleaning off any stuck on meaty bits.
- Add the drippings back to the roasting pan, and heat to a simmer/gentle boil until volume is reduced by approximately half.
- Heat the reserved fat in the small frying pan until quite hot, then quickly stir in equal parts flour to form a roux.
- Add the roux to the reduced liquid in the roasting pan, and stir thoroughly.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Allow to cool slightly if desired, and transfer to a liquid measuring cup or gravy boat to serve.
Stephanie's Turkey Soup
Ingredients
- Turkey bones with most of the meat removed (any little bits left on will be delicious, so don't be too meticulous).
- onions
- carrots
- celery
- whole peppercorns
- fresh herbs (I use parsley, thyme, oregano, and sometimes sage and rosemary and/or a bayleaf)
- garlic
- butter or oil
- bacon (optional)
- pasta or rice (optional)
- leftover turkey meat
Directions
- After Thanksgiving dinner, put the leftover turkey carcass in a large stockpot and fill with water to cover by two inches.
- Coarsely chop an onion and a couple carrots and celery stocks; add them to stockpot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- Once water is simmering, make a bouquet garni with your herbs and several peppercorns. I make mine by what smells good to me at the time, adding and subtracting herbs until I get a balance that smells amazing. Tie the herbs and peppercorns up in cheesecloth, and place in the stockpot.
- Simmer for approximately 2-3 hours. Do not stir, but check temperature occasionally to make sure it is maintaining a steady simmer (not a boil).
- Remove from heat and remove bones, bouquet garni, and veggies. Discard veggies and bouquet garni. Remove any remaining meat from the bones and set aside in fridge. Discard bones.
- Strain broth by pouring through a pasta strainer that has been lined with cheesecloth into a large bowl (or two). If the weather outside is nice and cold, let he bowls cool down outside for an hour before putting in the fridge.
- The next day, to make the soup, re-heat the turkey stock. While it is heating, cut an onion, some garlic, carrots, and celery. Fry bacon, crumble it up and set it aside.
- Add your onions and garlic to the bacon grease, and stir-fry for a couple minutes; add carrots and celery and cook a few minutes more. Pour stir-fried veggies into the (now boiling) turkey stock.
- Continue boiling the veggies in the broth for 10-15 minutes or so (until the veggies are nearly soft). Add in any leftover turkey meat, the bacon, and pasta. Continue to cook until pasta is cooked, and veggies are soft.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, and any dried herbs you like (sometimes I use poultry seasoning, other times I also add curry powder and crushed chili peppers).
- Optionally, instead of adding pasta into the soup, sometimes if I'm making a very large batch, or plan on freezing leftover soup, I cook the pasta separately and spoon it into bowls, then ladle soup over the pasta, so the pasta doesn't get too mushy.
