Thanksgiving is all about tradition… good and bad. In Chef Mia’s house we have the Dilemma of the Cranberries. Artist husband grew up on canned cranberry sauce and loves it like nobody’s business. He even claims it is an essential part of the Norman Rockwell painting. Chef Mia thinks otherwise. How to keep peace in the family? Compromise solution: Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce
What she came up with is a delicious compromise. A recipe catering to his tastes and still beautiful enough and made with simple fresh ingredients for her. Sometimes it’s time to adopt new traditions.
Special Equipment: Food mill and 4 cup decorative mold
Place cranberry juice in a small bowl; sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the juice and let sit for at least 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a deep saucepan, combine the cranberries, apple, orange zest & juice, and sugar. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer stirring often until the cranberries begin to pop about 5 minutes. Continue cooking an additional 3 to 5 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. Turn off the heat and stir in the softened gelatin.
Transfer the berry mixture to a food mill and pass through the finest holes into a bowl. (Discard the solids in your compost) Transfer the berry mixture to a lightly oiled mold. Top with a piece of oiled plastic wrap placed directly on top of the jelly. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours. (Can be made several days ahead)
To unmold, dip briefly in a bowl of hot water. Using a spatula, press gently on one side of the jelly (placing the spatula between the side of the mold and the jelly) to release the vacuum seal. Then turn out onto a plate. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Dearest Readers, We are so very thankful for each and every one of you who have supported us all year. We love hearing from you and when you share with us. Please share your favorite dish with us here or on Facebook! We’d love to hear from you.
When company’s coming we pull out all the stops and make the creamiest and smoothest potatoes we know how! The secret is…our mashed potatoes aren’t mashed at all, but put through a ricer or food mill. Instead of a rustic mash the texture is smooth and perfect for making a “gravy lake” in the center. We know, we know, there are purists who will say you can’t call it mashed if it’s not mashed but potato puree sounds scary so we’ve agreed to call it an elegant mash!
Call them what you will, this is not the recipe to skimp on the fat and cream. This dish is all about the little details… The butter, crème fraîche, and heavy cream all play an important role in the richness and texture of the final dish. If you can’t find crème fraîche in your area you can substitute with a really good quality sour cream or full fat Fage plain yogurt.
Don’t forget to infuse the cream with the aromatics — it’s an extra step but adds depth to the flavors. And, pop the drained potatoes back into the hot pot for at least 30 seconds to dry out the potatoes which makes them even fluffier.
Watch for the tip at the end of the video on how to keep the potatoes warm — it’s worth the price of admission we promise! Happy Start-to-the-Holiday Season!
Crème Fraîche Mashed Potatoes
Serves 4
2 pounds (about 3 large) russet potatoes
Handful of kosher salt
½ cup heavy whipping cream
4 to 5 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, peeled and mashed
½ stick unsalted butter, cubed and room temperature
½ cup crème fraîche
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters and place in a large saucepan. Cover the potatoes with at least an inch of cold water. Add the salt and bring the potatoes to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer potatoes until tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat with peppercorns, bay leaf, and garlic to a simmer. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.
Drain the potatoes in a colander and return potatoes to the pot to allow the potatoes to dry.Process the potatoes through a food mill or ricer. Toss in the butter to the hot potatoes as you work. Fold in the crème fraîche and heavy cream and gently fold until the potatoes are thick and creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Woohoo, you made it to the main event! Now we all just have to survive tonight and tomorrow.
How to Survive Thanksgiving–Our tips for surviving tonight and tomorrow… (in no particular order):
1. Don’t freak out — at this point whatever gets done, gets done.
2. Don’t stay up too late tonight.
3. Don’t forget to eat a good breakfast tomorrow morning.
4. Sip a glass of wine as you go. Make the mood festive and relaxed.
5. Don’t announce your mistakes... whatever you are obsessing about that you think everyone will notice— if you don’t say anything they probably won’t notice.
You’re gonna do great. The food is going to be great. Even if the worst happens (insert whatever that means to you), it’s all about having a good time with family and friends tomorrow so whatever happens won’t matter.
Don’t forget if you run into trouble tomorrow you can search the technique videos on our site or go straight to our youtube channel for help. Be sure to watch the Carving Club video for a glimpse of both Mia and Terri’s family Thanksgivings over the years.
If ya wanna be a real-card-carrying-member of Carving Club you gotta spread the word…like it, share it, reblog it, pin it!
For step by step instructions how to carve the turkey watch How to Carve the Bird.
Thanks so much to all of you for supporting our little blog and videos. You are the reason we continue to do what we do — we give thanks for all of you EVERY day! Wishing you all a wonderful day with your families.
Apple Pie. Just hearing those two words spoken together makes us rub our hands together with happy anticipation. It’s a standard dessert option on our Thanksgiving menu. Just imagine: A flaky crunchy crust… giving way to tender sweet buttery apples spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg… if we’re lucky, there’s a cool hit of silky vanilla ice cream in the mix… But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves.
The secret to a deliciously sweet-tart apple pie is all in the apples. Apples are amazingly diverse in flavor with some super sweet and others so tart they make your mouth pucker! We use a combination of tart Granny Smith and sweeter Braeburn for our pies. They taste great and retain their texture when they bake so they don’t turn into a gloppy mush. Also delicious are Pink Lady and Honey Crisp. These are also our favorite out of hand and salad apples these days…. The perfect balance of sweet-tart-tangy and crisp not mealy apples. So really, as long as you use a combination of your favorite apples, you’ve got it made.
To make our 9-inch double crust apple pie, you need about 8 to 9 medium apples. If just the thought of peeling, coring, and slicing all of those apples makes you reluctant to make a pie, here’s a quick tip to speed up the process.
The old-fashioned hand crank! turn the handle and the machine peels, cores and slices the apple simultaneously. Preparing the apples has never been easier. We’ve pressed this into service in our pie-making classes and the students (adults) actually fight over who gets to use the crank! “My grandmother had one of these… but I never got to actually use it!” Folks would exclaim, clutching it close to them keeping it away from grabbing hands. Great for pie-making, salad-making and any time you need sliced apples. Can be used on firm pears and potatoes too.
Double-Crust Apple Pie
Makes One 9-inch double-crust pie
Nonstick cooking spray
2 pounds Braeburn or Fuji apples (about 4 medium-sized)
2 pounds Granny Smith (about 4 medium-sized)
Juice of ½ a lemon
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
1 recipe Basic Pie Dough
1 large egg
1 tablespoon whole milk
Special Equipment
9-inch deep-dish pie pan
rolling pin
pastry brush
cooling rack
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a deep-dish pie pan with nonstick spray.
Peel and core apples, and cut into ¼-inch slices. Toss apples as you go with lemon juice. In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour. Toss apple slices with the sugar spice mixture.
Roll out half the pie dough on a lightly floured work surface with a floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round. Brush off excess flour; roll dough around rolling pin, and place it over your prepared pie pan. Press the dough into the pan and trim the edges so that the dough hangs over the pie pan by about 1-inch. Roll out remaining dough to a 13-inch diameter circle. Cut a couple of small vent holes with a paring knife or cookie cutter.
Mound prepared apples in the center of the pie shell. Dot with butter.
In a small bowl whisk the whole egg and milk together to make an egg wash. Brush egg wash on the edge of the dough (this will act as your glue). Center the remaining rolled out dough over the apples. Tuck edges of the top crust between the pie pan and bottom crust. Using your fingers, gently press crusts together along the edge, and crimp. Brush the top of the pie with egg wash and refrigerate uncovered for 30 minutes. Brush pie a second time with egg wash and bake for 20 minutes at 400°F. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake approximately 45 to 50 minutes more until crust is golden brown and filling bubbles. Remove pie from the oven and cool COMPLETELY before serving.
Rich and delicious a perfect pecan pie is a study in contrasts… nutty crunchy pecans on top with a layer of silky-not too-sweet filling underneath. Chef Mia is our pecan pie purist (she’s been making pecan pie since she was knee high!) and insists that this contrast between gooey filling and the pretty concentric circles of whole nuts on top is what pecan pie is all about.
Her secret to the perfect filling is resisting the urge to whisk the filling. Unlike many other pie fillings, you DO NOT want to incorporate air in the filling. To make it look as good as it tastes, we take the time to place the nuts in concentric circles in the bottom of the shell before pouring in the filling. Many cooks just toss them in with the filling. Using our preferred method as you pour the filling over the nuts they are coated with the filling and magically float to the top (creating the two distinct layers!) Top off the pie with a dollop of Bourbon Chantilly Cream and it’s heaven. And, before we fall into that sugar coma after the Thanksgiving meal we usually head outside for an after dinner walk (or as Mia’s dad likes to say “the pre-amble to a second piece-o-pie”!) Be sure to check out our post Perfect Pie Crust to learn the secrets to making the best pie crust (ever!) and video tips on how to roll and crimp the dough.
Check out the video to see for yourself the pecan magic.
Pecan Pie
Makes one 9-inch pie
Yep, you read that right… the recipe calls for a pinch of finely ground black pepper! Just as with savory dishes a little salt and pepper brings out and enhances the flavors in a sweet dish too.
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup dark corn syrup
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch finely ground black pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
1 ¼ cups pecan halves
1 recipe Bourbon Chantilly Cream
Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a large bowl, combine eggs and corn syrup; stir to combine. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and vanilla, and melted butter. Allow filling mixture to rest while you place the pecans in the pie shell.
Remove your pie shell from the refrigerator. Place pecans in concentric circles on the bottom of the pie shell. Pour filling gently over the pecans following the concentric circles as a path. Once all of the pecans are floating, continue to pour the remaining filling around the edge trying not to disturb the circles. If you have left over pecans, you can fill in gaps and or slide them gently underneath the top pecans. Bake pie in the center of the oven 40-50 minutes or until center is firm. Remove pie from oven and cool on a baking rack for at least 1 hour before serving. Do not even think about cutting this pie before it cools — the pie needs the cooling time for the filling to set — if you cut it hot the filling will ooze all over the plate.
Cut pie into wedges and serve with a generous dollop of Chantilly Cream.
Cook’s note: Pecans have a tendency to go rancid quickly (as do all high fat nuts.) Store nuts in the freezer for best results.
Bourbon Chantilly Cream
Makes 2 cups
Chantilly Cream is the cooking term for any lightly sweetened whipped cream that includes a liqueur.
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon bourbon
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Place your bowl and whisk in the fridge 20 minutes before you are ready to whip the cream. Whip the creamwith bourbon and powdered sugar. Keep covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Cook’s note: Substitute 3 teaspoons of vanilla if you’d rather skip the bourbon.
It’s the first week of November, and you know what that means… time to order your bird!
The Thanksgiving Turkey is the centerpiece of any Thanksgiving Feast. It’s the main course, the entrée… the piece de resistance… the real deal… the Big Kauhuna… so don’t treat purchasing the turkey like it’s an afterthought! Take a few extra minutes to decide on what kind of bird you want, then pick one out that’s the best you can afford. Starting off with the right bird – you’re halfway there to a delicious Thanksgiving!
Picking Out a Bird:
Here are some questions to think about that might help you choose the right bird.
1)How many people are coming to dinner?
The general serving rule is 1 pound of turkey per person. This factors in for bones, too, so if you’ve got 12 people coming over, choose a bird that’s 14 – 16 pounds so you’ll get to enjoy some leftovers and second helpings.
2)How are you cooking the turkey?
Are you doing a traditional roast turkey? Deep-frying? Split-roasting or grilling? For most cooking methods, it makes little difference between fresh and frozen. A frozen bird, however, requires extra time for thawing. So keep that in mind.
3)Do your guests prefer white meat or dark meat?
Lucky you! You get to be the provider of all things delicious and bountiful! In some households (well, maybe just ours), the majority of folks prefer dark meat… which means there is never enough dark meat carved right off the turkey. Consider buying a few extra turkey legs so there will be enough of the succulent dark meat to go around. Conversely, if the household prefers white meat, buy an extra breast to make everyone happy!
4)Fresh or frozen bird?
There is no shame in purchasing a frozen bird, as long as it’s from a good-quality producer. Just keep in mind you will need time to thaw the bird. It will take a 10-pound turkey 1 day to thaw if kept in a refrigerator at or below 40°F. For every 5 pounds of frozen turkey, add another half day. See the Turkey Thawing Chart for more information.
5) Natural? Organic? Kosher? Help!!!
Regular — Plumped (or pumped!) with anything including: water, salt, chicken fat, broth, and or BUTTER.
Natural — Minimally processed and contains no artificial ingredients or colors.
Organic — Must follow strict USDA standards for organic production and processing including access to the outdoors, no antibiotics or growth hormones, and fed organic feed.
Kosher — Slaughtered in accordance with strict kosher law (Jewish rabbinical dietary laws) then soaked in water and salted inside and out (great if you don’t want to bother with brining.)
6) What the heck is a Heritage Turkey?
Ah, the Heritage Turkey…. Remember back to the illustrations from your schoolbooks depicting people dressed up like Pilgrims and Indians enjoying a Thanksgiving feast? Think about how that turkey look in the picture: smaller breast, larger wings, legs and thighs in equal proportion to the breast. Now think about the commercial ads you see for Thanksgiving Turkey in your local newspapers, magazines and television ads. Commercially-raised turkeys today have been bred to yield larger breasts, and smaller wings and legs. They are raised to be grown quickly, then processed to be available in the frozen bird bin immediately after Halloween.
Heritage Turkeys, however, are farm-raised more naturally and slowly in the exact opposite way industrially raised birds are. Heritage birds might actually be specific breeds with names like Bourbon Red or Standard Bronze and are more similar to wild turkeys. According to chefs, the meat from Heritage turkeys is tastier, a little gamier, and healthier given the ways they are fed and raised. They can also be more expensive to purchase, but since the bird is the star of the meal we allow ourselves to splurge a little more to get a better quality bird.
The Dear Martini Thanksgiving Playlist and Hotline
This week, we are announcing TWO essential tools to get your Thanksgiving Holiday off to a great start.
Dear Marini’s Homemade Thanksgiving Playlist
Our YouTube Channel is bursting with plenty of great videos that highlight every technique you need to know to cook your Thanksgiving dinner – from boiling potatoes, to making cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie… all the way to carving the roasted turkey! Be sure you subscribe to our channel so you’ll get immediate updates when we add new videos!
The Vegetarian Thanksgiving — it’s a topic that’s coming up more often now. Years ago, if a vegetarian came to Thanksgiving dinner, all he or she could hope for was to enjoy some of the meatless side dishes, salads and of course pumpkin pie. In more recent years, folks are becoming more health-conscious and in general adopting a meat-free lifestyle. A happy consequence: dinner hosts are also becoming more conscientious and planning for more meatless options for the Thanksgiving Table.
I originally developed this for my sister, Alex. I wanted to make something unforgettably special for her that was filling, delicious and healthy… something that would be so special, she wouldn’t miss having turkey at all.
As I heartily encourage you to make this recipe, I am obligated to warn you: it’s not something that can be quickly thrown together. This recipe is for a very special occasion, so please take the necessary time and steps to prepare. Cook and season each component before it gets mixed together as the filling – by doing so, each component has its own flavor. The whole thing will become greater than the sum of its parts! (and consequently, that’s why it’s so darn complicated to make this dish).
I serve this pumpkin with onion gravy(it looks and tastes like turkey gravy but it’s vegan) and a side of cranberry sauce!
* Be sure to click on the blue links to see all the helpful videos we’ve prepared to guide you along! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!
Roast the pumpkins by first cutting their tops off and scooping out their seeds and strings. Prick all over the inside of the pumpkins with a fork and brush with olive oil. Season the insides with salt and pepper. Place the pumpkins cut-side down on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast in the oven for 35 min at 350. Remove and set aside to cool.
Prepare the filling: In a large bowl mix together the cooked couscous, quinoa, cranberries, nuts, parsley and any of the prepared sub-recipe components (mix 1 – 1 ½ cups of each component). Season with salt and pepper and moisten with vegetable stock.
Stuff each pumpkin with the filling – making sure you’ve firmly (but not compressed) packed it in. Make sure it comes over the top. Return the stuffed pumpkins to the foil-lined baking sheet and bake until heated through, about 45 minutes. You can roast the tops of the pumpkins, too and place on top for presentation. Bake any leftover filling in a baking dish to serve along side.
2 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed w cold water to create a slurry
In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high flame and sauté the onions until soft, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the water, tamari, and boullion cube. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the onion is clear. Mix together the cornstarch slurry and pour in. Bring to a boil, stir a few times until the gravy thickens and turn off the heat. Set aside for a few minutes to cool slightly, then puree with a stick blender. If you are using a traditional blender, cool the gravy down completely before blending (you’ll have to heat the gravy back up). Strain the gravy into a clean saucepan, taste and season with salt and pepper if needed and keep warm until ready to use.
The First Rule of Carving Club is you do not carve at the table.
The Second Rule of Carving Club is– YOU DO NOT CARVE AT THE TABLE.
Carving the turkey is a big deal, so please be the Thanksgiving ROCK STAR you are and carve in the kitchen. YOU DO NOT want to waste all that time brining, roasting and preparing that beautiful Thanksgiving turkey only to hack it into chunks.
The lovely scene depicted and immortalized in Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want, has given you the wrong idea. While it might seem like a great idea to carve at the dining room table in front of your admiring guests; for many reasons, it’s not. For one, it can be nerve-wracking — it’s a live performance with sharp knives in front of family and friends who will mock you at your every move. For another, the mess — if you’re not the most scrupulously skilled surgeon, the juices may stain your tablecloth, your shirt and whomever is sitting nearest to you. Lastly, from a culinary perspective, it’s the wrong way to slice turkey — slicing the meat while still on the bone forces you to cut with the grain of the meat rather than against it (and we all know that’s a culinary cardinal sin). And if you look closely at the painting, the turkey is being presented and appreciated… not carved.
You can still have that Norman Rockwell moment by bringing out your beautiful bird and presenting it to your guests — just do it before whisking it back to the kitchen to carve following the steps below. Good luck – we know you’ll be great!
*Be sure to hit the blue links to see the helpful videos we’ve made to guide you through the recipe. As always, subscribe to our YouTube channel!
The night before Thanksgiving is the best time to make the stock for your gravy. The stock is your secret weapon for making fabulous gravy. If you make the stock, you won’t have to resort to flavor-additives or thickening agents… just simple, homemade gravy. If you don’t have time to make stock be sure to buy frozen freshly made stock that most grocery stores make available around Turkey day.
Make the gravy right after the turkey comes out of the oven. In the time it takes for the bird to rest before it’s presented to the table, you can make the gravy and get everyone to the table. Be organized and prepared — keep all of your gravy-making ingredients and equipment together in one place so it’s ready when you are.
*Be sure to hit the blue links to see the helpful videos we’ve made to guide you through the recipe. As always, subscribe to our YouTube channel!
To make the stock: Rinse the giblets, neck and tail under cold running water and place in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the onion, celery, carrots, bay leaf and peppercorns. Pour enough water to cover the giblets and vegetables by 2-inches.
Bring the saucepan to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer, simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. If any foam develops on the surface, carefully skim it off as stock simmers.
Turn the heat off and allow stock to cool until pot is cool enough to strain. Strain stock through a fine mesh sieve into a clean container. Discard the giblets and vegetables. Cover stock and refrigerate until ready to use.
To make the gravy: Immediately after you take the turkey out of the oven, move the turkey to a carving board to rest and pour all of the juices from the roasting pan into a fat separator.
Return roasting pan to the stove and place it over two burners. On medium-low heat, add a tablespoon of the fat from the fat separator and butter to the pan and let the butter melt. Add the flour and whisk the flour and butter together into a thick paste. Keep whisking until the butter and flour mixture (roux) smells nutty, up to three minutes.
Quickly, but carefully pour the cold stock into the roasting pan, a little at a time, and whisk to blend the stock and roux together – do not worry too much if you have lumps at first. Bring the heat up to medium-high and keep whisking until it begins to boil. The gravy should thicken as it boils. Turn off the heat and taste. If the gravy needs salt, whisk in the turkey pan juices one tablespoon at a time.
Dear Martini exists to make cooking easier and more pleasurable for all. If it’s your first time in the kitchen, we’re here to guide you through your recipes by offering simple cooking techniques whenever you need them.
Our mission couldn’t be more true than for the Thanksgiving Holiday. If you’ve ever been gripped with fear over preparing the Thanksgiving Turkey, herein lies your salvation. The turkey is cured for a couple of days before roasting — that is, it’s been rubbed with salt and left to sit in its own salty juices to season and tenderize. The night before you roast, you’ll take it out of the salt juices and allow the bird to dry overnight in the fridge. This process makes the skin tight and dry — which will reward you later with the tastiest, crispiest skin you’ve ever had!
This simple recipe, if followed to the letter, is a foolproof, confidence-booster. Once you make this turkey for your friends and family, you will be requested to make the turkey for the next 100 years!
Please take note: it’s a four-day process from curing to roasting, which does not include time for defrosting if the bird is purchased frozen. Most frozen birds take 2-3 days to thaw in the fridge. Make sure you factor the thawing time in with your preparations. In our experience, a fresh bird is the better way to go — but only if your budget allows.
This four-day process can be broken down into three phases:
*Be sure to hit the blue links to see the helpful videos we’ve made to guide you through the recipe. As always, subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Roast Turkey
Serves 8 to 10
1 (14-16 pound) turkey, defrosted
1 cup kosher salt
2 lemons
8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
4 sprigs rosemary or thyme
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Special Equipment:
Cotton kitchen twine
Large brining bag
***This is a four-day process.***
Monday:
Remove the turkey from its wrappings and rinse under cold running water. Remove the giblets bag and set aside for making stock later. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
Rub kosher salt all over the surface of the turkey. Place the salt-rubbed turkey into a large brining bag. Move the turkey onto a large tray or platter and refrigerate for the next three days.
Tuesday:
Turn the turkey over so the salt and juices redistribute. Keep the turkey refrigerated.
Wednesday morning:
Flip the turkey back to right-side up so the salt and juices redistribute again.
Wednesday, early evening:
Remove the turkey from its brining bag. Use as many clean, dry paper towels as you can manage to clean the turkey by wiping the surface clean of any salt or juices.
Use a fork to prick holes all over the surface of the lemons. Stuff the lemons, garlic and herbs into the cavity of the turkey. Tie the turkey’s legs together with cotton kitchen twine.
Place turkey breast-side up on top of a roasting rack that has been set into a roasting pan. Place the turkey in the fridge and keep over night, uncovered. This will allow the skin to dry out and tighten, which will produce a crispy skin when roasted.
Thanksgiving Day:
Move your oven rack to the lowest position without being too close to the heating element. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Remove the turkey from the fridge. Keep the turkey on the counter for about an hour to bring it up to room temperature. Take a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil and shape it to the top of the turkey, as if to cover the turkey breast and the roasting pan. Remove the foil and set aside for later use.
When ready to roast, rub or brush the surface of the skin with canola oil and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
Roast at 425°F for 30 minutes, or until the skin of the turkey is golden brown. Rotate the turkey 180° and lower the oven temperature to 350° and continue roasting until the internal temperature of the bird registers 165°F. Remember to insert the thermometer into the thickest place of the bird, either into the meatiest area of the breast (165°F) or into the thickest part of the thigh (170°). A 14-16 pound turkey should take between 2-3 hours to roast.
Turkey Weight
Oven Temp
Internal Breast Temp
Internal Thigh Temp
Approx.
Cooking Time
10 – 13 lbs.
350°F
165°F
170°F
1 ½ to 2 ¼ hours
14 – 20 lbs.
325°F
165°F
170°F
2 to 3 hours
21 – 25 lbs.
325°F
165°F
170°F
3 to 3 ¾ hours
26 – 30 lbs.
325°F
165°F
170°F
3 ½ to 4 ½ hours
During roasting, if the bird is browning too quickly, use the aluminum foil shield to cover the bird. Remove the foil during the last 20 minutes of roasting to crisp the skin.
Carefully remove the bird to a large carving board with a well and tent with foil. Immediately begin making the turkey gravy, using the roasting pan. Allow the bird to rest for 20 minutes before carving.
Dear Martini 