Blog's Category: Holidays
I've roasted a lot of whole turkeys for Thanksgiving. This recipe is the best. I think it deserves to be a staple for our Thanksgiving table, from now on. Please don't be intimidated by boning a whole turkey, I won't instruct how to do this because there are numerous instructional videos on Youtube.. Just allocate about an hour for deboning. I do deboning and stuffing in the night before Thanksgiving - it takes off some stress from a Thanksgiving Day.
I use regular frozen large-size turkey. I buy it a week before the holiday and keep it in a fridge (or garage if it's cold enough, just like in a fridge). During this time it slowly thaw and is in a perfect condition for deboning on the day before Thanksgiving.
There is a thousands recipes for stuffing, but I highly recommend to try this one - it is delicious and creates a perfect flavor and moisture level for the whole dish.
Note
After turkey was stuffed and tied together, I rubbed honey all over into a skin. That's why my turkey is almost burned. If you rub soft butter instead, you will end up with a lighter, golden brown, turkey and softer skin.
Whole Roasted Stuffed Boneless Turkey
- Frozen whole large-sized turkey, thawed in a fridge (it will take 6-7 days)
- 5 Bratwurst sausages, uncooked
- about 3 tsp salt
- 1-2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 3 apples (any kind), cored, peeled and diced
- about 1 stick of butter (6-8 tbs)
- 1 tbs honey (or 2-3 tbs butter) to rub into a skin (see note above)
- kitchen twine to tie turkey
- Set deboned turkey aside.
- To prepare stuffing, use sharp knife to slice sausages 1/8" think along with a casing. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together sliced sausages, chopped onion, finely chopped parsley, diced apples, 1/2 tsp salt and all black pepper.
- Sprinkle 1.5 tsp salt over inner side of turkey and rub it in. Evenly distribute pieces of butter. Then transfer stuffing onto middle part of turkey and wrap turkey fillets, both sides, over the stuffing. Tie around turkey to keep it together.
- Use remaining 1 tsp of salt to rub in into a skin outside. Then rub turkey with a honey or softened butter.
- Keep prepared turkey, covered or wrapped in plastic wrap, in a fridge until ready to cook.
- To cook, preheat oven to 420F. Place stuffed, tied turkey onto rack inside of turkey roaster. Cook turkey, uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until it is golden brown. Then remove from oven to cover tightly with aluminum foil, lower oven temperature to 350F and then cook for 3 more hours. Take it out from an oven and let it stay undisturbed for 30-40 minutes before slicing. To keep it warm longer, until guests arrive, I usually keep it warm on a sofa, tightly covered with a couple of throws. It keeps warm for hours without drying out.
- Use juices from a pan to make delicious gravy. I usually discard a half of a fat from a surface of juices and boil the rest, in a skillet (bigger surface speeds up evaporation process), until it reduces into thick very flavorful gravy. I don't add anything else as it has very potent, concentrated taste. Goes so well with mashed potato!
- Enjoy!
- * Don't forget to check out pictures below and some useful comments there :)
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IN PICTURES
Rubbing some honey over the skin, it will give it pleasant sweetness, although will make skin burn faster. Next time I might rub it with soft butter instead.
Ready to go. The idea is to cook first at a high temperature to lock juices in and to get golden-brown skin, then to cover tightly with a foil and continue to cook on a low-&-slow.
After 3 hours being under throws, it's very warm. It doesn't look that plump as right from an over because all juices soaked into mean, and that's a good thing!
Turkey is deboned now. The only different I did (from the video I referenced above), I cut out both leg bones but left the very end cartilage thingy to keep leg shape. Also I didn't remove those turkey's tough long tendons from a leg muscles leaving it to my guests to deal with ;)
I made a stock from all that pile of bones and carcass left from a deboning by slow-boiling them for a 3 hours. I can use it for chicken noodle soup and any other kind of soup.
Stuffing - Bratwurst sausages, onion, a lot of apples, parsley, salt and pepper. No bread in it, I want all those fruity juices to be sucked by turkey meat, not by bread.
Butter is the must.
Panoramic picture makes turkey seems small-ish. Trust me, this baby is big, use help if you can't move it around :) I tucked turkey's liver and heart in a neck folds.
I tied it three times, feel free to make couple more. If you are not lazy, another option would be to stitch it together completely.
My roaster has a tight dome lid, which I used over foil wrap to cover it tightly.
Done! It goes on a chair, covered with a newspapers, under a two warm and fuzzy throws, because guests will arrive in 3 hours.
Leftovers... I've got rave reviews for my turkey :)
A lot of apples in a stuffing is a key. They pair really well with Bratwursts and turkey meat.