This is the turkey recipe that I meant to post during Thanksgiving. (Remember we weren’t able to get Wi-Fi in the mountains…) It sounds messy but tastes wonderful and I promise it won’t be dry. Christmas is coming and families do different things but our family usually has a turkey and a ham but if you want to split it up, I say make a turkey for Christmas and then a ham for New Year’s.

Some people will tell you to “brine” your turkey. This means to soak your turkey overnight in a water, salt, and sugar mixture. You can also add a few more seasonings if you like. It will help give it flavor and keep the turkey moist. On the day you cook and before you season, make sure to rinse the turkey good.

To brine your turkey, you need to have plenty of room in the fridge because the turkey will need to stay cool. It will take a large pot–think about it….large bird, water to cover the bird—you get the picture. You can also use an ice chest and cover the bird with water and ice but this is too messy for me. You will need at least 1 cup of salt, 1/2 cup sugar–you can use regular or brown, any other seasoning and water to cover. Mix the mixture first before placing the bird in it or you can skip this and use my recipe below for a moist, great tasting turkey!

Roast Turkey

Turkey–whatever size you need

1 large onion–cut–I’ll tell you how in the recipe

2 carrots–cut–ditto above

2 celery ribs–ditto above

1 lemon quartered or so

1 orange–ditto above

salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Dale’s Steak Seasoning, paprika, Italian seasoning, water or broth

First, remove all of the “stuff” from the turkey. There is stuff in both ends of this bird and you don’t want that to stay in there when you cook it.

If you brined your turkey, rinse and place it on paper towels to drain. If you didn’t, still rinse and do the same. Use more paper towels to pat the turkey dry. On your cutting board, cut your veggies. To do this, take the onion and slice off each end. Slice in half going from cut end to cut end. Remove the outside layer of skin. Take each half and make 3 or 4 slices lengthwise and then 2 slices widthwise and then move to the side. Take the celery and slice into 1 to 11/2 inch pieces. Do the same with the carrots–you don’t need to peel them because you will not eat them. Slice the lemon in half and take each half and quarter, then do the same with the orange.

Place the turkey “breast side” down to begin seasoning. Drizzle a little Dale’s over the turkey and rub it in. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and paprika. Now place the turkey where the drumsticks are facing up. Inside the cavity, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Now put in a few onion pieces, a lemon or two, a couple of celery pieces, a few carrots and repeat until it is filled. Anything that is left place in the bottom of the roasting pan–except for the fruit. If nothing is left, lay the bird back on its breast and chop some more.

Now place the turkey breast side up in the roasting pan. Repeat the seasoning process–Dale’s, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and paprika. If any of the fruit was left, squeeze the juice over the bird. Now place 1 inch or so of water into the bottom of pan then read the back of the package the turkey came in to find the temperature to put the oven on. Don’t pay much attention to the time to cook. Mine is usually done way before that. It will give you an idea though. It may say–10 to 16 pound turkeys cook for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. If my turkey is 12 pounds, what do I do? Check it at 3 hours. It really needs to be 160 degrees on the inside but cooking to 155 and removing it is fine because it will keep cooking for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven. Another way to tell (this is what I do) if the drumsticks move freely when wiggled–it’s done!

The water we placed in our pan almost steams it, too. This will help to keep it moist. You can start the turkey at 400 degrees and brown the top for about 30 minutes and then reduce the heat to the temp on the package and cover. Or you can start it at the temp on the package covered and the last few minutes, uncover to brown. The thing to remember is to cover loosely! If you have a lid or aluminum foil on top and it touches the bird, it may stick and you will not have that pretty golden skin.

When done, remove and keep covered for 15 minutes or longer. This will get the juices back into the bird. When ready, place on a platter and if possible, remove all the stuff from the inside. If you can’t do this it’s no big deal. Now you are ready to carve. Can’t carve or don’t know how? Do what I do. There is always a man somewhere and most men think they can do anything. If you say “Can you carve the turkey?” they will NOT tell you they don’t know how–they will figure it out and it will be their fault if it looks bad–and no one will say anything about it.

I hope you enjoy this. By the way, all that stuff you removed from the cavity, don’t throw away. It makes a wonderful gravy and I’ll share this recipe soon!