There is nothing worse than a dried out turkey, or one lacking in flavor after hours of anticipation. With this recipe your turkey will be moist and delicious, and best of all it will take a lot less time to cook so go ahead and sleep in a bit! Please note do not stuff your turkey! Cooking stuffing inside the turkey will draw the juices and moisture out of the turkey. Also don’t forget to remove the little treat bag of organs, yes I did forget ONE time!
Ingredients:
Turkey
1/2 Cup Kosher Salt
¼ Cup Brown Sugar
4-6 Oranges
2 Onions
8 Cloves of Garlic
1 TBL Thyme
4 TBL Butter- room temperature
Black Pepper
Cold Water
Ice
4 TBL Flour
Directions:
Get a large container that will be big enough to hold your turkey plus room for the marinade. I have used an extremely large pot and also a clean small cooler. Add the following into your container: kosher salt, brown sugar, 2-3 oranges quartered and juice squeezed into mixture, 4 cloves garlic minced, thyme, and 1 onion quartered. Add ice and a couple of cups of cold water and mix everything together well, add turkey. Add additional water to cover the turkey. Marinade the turkey overnight. (Note if your container is quite large I recommend doubling the marinade.) *Tip, if you live in a cold climate, like I do in the Midwest, put the turkey out in the cold garage if it wont fit in your fridge.
Preheat the oven to 500F (Yes 500!)
Discard the marinade and pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Place the turkey in your roasting pan. Rub the butter all over the turkey. Slice the remaining onion and sprinkle on top of the turkey, place in the pan, and put some slices inside the open cavity of the turkey. Cut your remaining oranges in 1/4s and squeeze the juice all over the turkey, place reins in the pan and inside the turkey. Mince your remaining 4 cloves of garlic and rub on top of turkey, sprinkle with black pepper to taste.
Place your turkey uncovered into the 500F oven. Cook at 500F for 30 minutes, baste as much as you can- you won’t have a lot of juices to work with yet. After 30 minutes lower the over temperature to 350F and cover the turkey. Baste turkey often throughout cooking. A 10-14 lb turkey will cook for about 2-3 hours. Remove turkey from the oven when a meat thermometer reads 155F (please note this is 10F under the cooking time for poultry, the bird will continue to cook and increase temperature as it sits). Let the turkey rest for 20 minutes before carving.
Meanwhile make the gravy. Darin all the juices out of the roasting pan, skim off the fat. In a sauce pan over medium heat warm the drippings from the turkey. Mix 2 cups cold water and 4 TBL flour in a small Off Your Rocker Pottery Bowl, slowly add to the drippings whisking constantly. Continue to add flour and water mixture a little at a time until gravy is desired thickness. Please note you may not use all the flour and water mixture.
Serve on one of our handmade plates and enjoy your turkey and friends and family!!
Lindsay Klix
Off Your Rocker Pottery
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