Perfect Roast Turkey

Perfect Roast Turkey

Yields: A good rule of thumb to follow when buying a whole turkey — plan on one to one and a half pounds per person

• 1 whole turkey (such as White Oak Pastures Holiday Turkey)
• 4 tsp fresh rosemary
• 4 tsp fresh sage
• 1 Tbsp fresh oregano
• 4 lemons (2 for juicing/zesting and 2 sliced in halves)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 10 oz butter (about 2.5 sticks) at room temp
• 1 large onion
• 1 carrot
• 4 stalks celery
• 1 bay leaf
• Homemade stock, water or bone broth (such as White Oak Pastures Poultry Bone Broth)
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• Olive oil

Your turkey will arrive frozen or very cold to the touch. Depending on the size of your turkey, allow at least 3 to 4 days to thaw slowly in the refrigerator. After the turkey thaws, remove the bag of giblets from the body cavity and set them aside. These are great for making gravy. There may be paper between the turkey breasts to soak up any juice. Remove this, too.

Roughly chop the herbs with the zest of two lemons and the garlic, then combine with the room temperature butter in a mixing bowl. Loosening the turkey’s breast skin with your hands, rub the butter mixture on the whole turkey, under and over the skin. Tip: Use a piping bag to get the mixture under the skin more easily. If you have time, cover and refrigerate the bird overnight to allow the flavors to deeply penetrate into the meat. Brining pastured turkeys isn’t necessary because they hold moisture and flavor better than conventional birds. 

Roughly chop the onion, carrot and celery, then place in the bottom of a roasting pan along with the bay leaf and enough homemade stock, bone broth or water to just cover the vegetables. This mixture will add flavor to the bird and keep it moist. Set aside a few pieces of onion to stuff inside the cavity of the turkey.

Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 30 to 60 minutes before cooking. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place the turkey on a roasting rack breast side up, and set the rack into the roasting pan over the vegetables. Loosely place two lemons cut into halves and the remaining pieces of onion inside the turkey cavity. Truss the bird loosely with butcher’s twine, drizzle the skin with olive oil and sprinkle on salt and pepper to taste.

Place the roasting pan into the oven and cook, basting the bird with pan juices every 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the turkey once the internal temperature at the thickest part of the thigh registers 160 degrees F, approximately 8 to 10 minutes per pound. Pastured turkeys generally cook more quickly than conventional birds.

It’s important to allow the turkey to rest for at least 15 to 20 minutes before carving so as not to lose all the delicious juices.