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Roast Turkey With Gravy Recipe

Ingredients

How to make it

  • Gently fry the chopped neck and giblets, the chopped bacon or Pancetta, the chopped onion, carrot, celery, swede and leek, the bay leaves, peppercorns, and vegetable ‘scraps’, in the oil, for about 20 minutes.
  • Add the water and simmer for about an hour. Strain the resulting stock. Into a roasting pan, pour about 1 pint of the stock, and the lemon juice.
  • Under the skin of each side of the turkey breast, thread the rashers of bacon.
  • Preheat the oven to Gas 6/400F/200C. In a small pan, melt the butter, salt, dried sage and onion powder.
  • Brush the bird with this mixture. Lay strips of streaky bacon on the breast in a lattice pattern, and lay some bacon on the legs and wings too.
  • Place the turkey breast-up on a rack over the stock in the roasting pan.
  • Rub some butter on a large piece of aluminium foil and cover the bird with it.
  • Calculate the roasting time as twenty minutes per pound, plus an extra twenty minutes.
  • Baste the meat three or four times during cooking. Inject some of the basting liquid under the skin of the breast.
  • Top up the tin with a little more stock if necessary.
  • Half an hour before the end of cooking time, remove the foil and the bacon. Baste the bird again and put back in to brown. The bacon should be starting to crisp up. You can pop this under the grill to get really nice and crisp!
  • When the bird is ready, a meat thermometer placed between leg and body should register 75 - 80ºC. Check the temperature of the breast meat also.
  • At the end of cooking, Put the thermometer into the stuffing as well, (if using), which should reach the same temperature there too.
  • ‘Rest’ the bird for thirty minutes before carving. See Photo
  • Pour the stock out of the tin and remove the excess fat. Thicken the gravy with a cornflour ‘slurry’. That's a heaped teaspoon of cornflour, mixed in with a little water to dissolve it. (You could cheat and use a little packet turkey gravy!). Add, if liked, a little redcurrant or cranberry jelly.
  • Serve with the bacon and stuffing and any other trimmings of choice.
1. Fry giblets and veg   Close
2. Bird ready to start   Close
3. Add liquid and veg scraps   Close
4. 'Bard' the bird   Close
5. Brush on herbs   Close
6. Put on the bacon   Close
7. Strain the stock   Close
8. The strained stock   Close
9. Remove the fat   Close
10. Turkey ready to go in!   Close
11. Meat thermometer   Close
12. Cover with foil   Close
13. Baste often   Close
14. Brown with the foil off   Close
15. Check done-ness   Close

Reviews & Comments 5

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  • mommyluvs2cook 14 years ago
    Love the sound of the bacon in this! Yum!
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    " It was excellent "
    momo_55grandma ate it and said...
    great post! Turkey and instructions gonna try next thanksgiving thanks. Great flavor combo
    Was this review helpful? Yes Flag
    " It was excellent "
    dollhead ate it and said...
    That looks amazing!! I think we might try this sometime! Thanks for the share.
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  • goblue434 14 years ago
    Great Job There Susan, The Turkey Looks Increible!
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    " It was excellent "
    valinkenmore ate it and said...
    Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Susan! Great post and pictures. Love the criss cross of the smoked bacon! Great instructions - so informative! Thanks and I will be trying this for Easter as we are having prime rib for Christmas. Have a wonderful Christmas!
    Valerie
    Was this review helpful? Yes Flag

The Cook

sitbynellie Glasgow, GB

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