FCG’s Thanksgiving Day Feast – Back to Basics: Perfect Roast Turkey
Thanksgiving Day is the only day where I cook for my whole family, which includes all the aunts, uncles, and cousins that live on the other floors of my house. This will be my 4th year continuing on with this tradition and I always look forward to it even though I am not much of a chef. The years before that my immediate family and I would just order a $40 dollar roasted turkey from a Chinese restaurant and we would have that with rice and other dishes that we make. I have to admit that Chinese restaurants can make one hell of a roasted chicken, but not this big turkey bird. It always seems to be too dry and flavorless and I end up finishing the gravy that comes with it. I mean like, how healthy can that be? And that is why I roast my own bird!
Perfect Roast Turkey w/Spanish Rub
Before this big day, my friend and I took a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up this:
Nonstick Roaster w/Rack from Bed, Bath, & Beyond - $19.99
Turkey Roaster w/Rack
With my friend’s coupon and this $10 rebate, I got it for almost $7! The deal can’t get sicker than that! I mean like, how I can I refuse to get it? If you plan to baste your turkey, don’t use the rack so that all the fatty juices can drip to the pan. This year I opted to go for a recipe that is more simpler and less fattening.
Now, let’s move on to the turkey recipe that I used and somewhat modified:
Foodnetwork.com
Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Turkey
Bobbly Flay’s Brine Turkey Breast and Spanish Rub
Days before Thanksgiving Day, you gotta brine your turkey! That way it makes the turkey saltier. Now, take the giblets out of the turkey and wash the turkey inside and out. Immerse your turkey in a brine solution in a large container, mine is just lots of koshered salt and water, and cover it and put into the refrigerator to defrost. Depending on the size of your bird, it can take up to 3 days to defrost in your refrigerator. If you want the skin to be crispier, do it the night before . And on the morning of, just take out your turkey and let it defrost under room temperature.
Ingredients
- 1 (12 pound) turkey
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
- 2 stalks of chopped celery
- 1 carrot chopped
Spanish Spice Rub:
- 6 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons cumin seeds, ground
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds, ground
- 4 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Place the turkey in a large roasting pan.
2. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the turkey cavity.
3. Then mix together all ingredients from the Spanish rub and rub it on the breast. I got a little greedy, and I’m not supposed it, but I rubbed it all over the body of the turkey.
4. Stuff the cavity with celery, carrots, lemon (quartered) I just use half because the cavity of my turkey isn’t that big, onion quartered (I used half), and the garlic. I used half of that garlic and the other half I stuffed underneath the skin by the breast.
5. Tie the legs together with string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the turkey.
Roast the turkey for 2 1/2 hours, basting from time to time with pan juices, until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh. Remove the turkey to a cutting board and cover with foil; let it rest for 20 minutes. Slice the turkey and serve hot.
Perfect Roast Turkey
I had my turkey on a rack so I chose not to collect the juices on the rack. What I did was use chicken broth and cook that with the rest of my celery, onions, carrots, shallots and garlic and poured it on to the bird. I did forget once to continue to do that so as a result my bird was dry.
To make up for that, I used that same juice concoction and added 3 tablespoon of corn starch, because corn starch thickens everything and anything, to make my gravy. And I must say, that gravy was finger-ling-ling good!
Overall, this turkey is very flavorful! It is perfectly salted and the Spanish rub really gave the turkey the extra kick that it needed. I am a big fan of paprika and cumin and that taste as well as the scent definitely came through.
Alright, the rest of my dishes will come up the next posts so stay tuned!
Until next time,
<3 FCG
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This turkey looks delicious!!! Did you have a lot left over?
And how come I didn’t get some of this yummy bird??