Adventures in Eating: The Perfectly Easy Roast Turkey

Let’s face it, every cook has at least a few culinary items they are downright afraid to try to make. I always had a fear of making home­made danish pastry, and rightly so! Never will I forget the disaster of that enterprise. Making danish pastry is a difficult process, a skill that requires a thorough knowledge of the “art”. I call it an “art” Because that’s what it is! After spending half the day in my flour-filled kitchen, failing miserably at this endeavor, I realized it is virtu­ally impossible to make danish pastries by simply reading a reci­pe.

Then there are other kinds of “difficult” recipes. They are the ones that aren’t really hard to make, we just think they must be. Like roasting a savory stuffed turkey. I know people who go to great lengths to make their Thanks­giving buffet one the Pilgrims would be proud of. Then, of all the atrocities…they buy a store-bought already cooked turkey!

Please, cast away your fears. Making a perfect roasted turkey is almost as easy as scrambling eggs, yet far more rewarding. And nothi­ng quite compares to the luscious holiday smell of a turkey roasting away in your oven.

The Perfectly Easy Roast Turkey

8-10 servings

1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 16 oz. bag Pepperidge Farm Herb
Seasoned stuffing (dried)
4 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 7 – 12 lb. turkey
Salt and Pepper

Melt the butter and saute onions and celery until soft. Add seasoned stuffing and toss gently. Add 2 1/4 cups of the chicken broth (reserve other 2 cups) and cook until just moistened. Loosely stuff turkey (re­serving extra stuffing to serve later). Place turkey in a roasting pan and pour reserved chicken broth in bottom of pan around turkey. Sprinkle tur­key with salt and pepper. Immediate­ly place in a 450 degree oven. Turn down heat to 350 degree and roast approximately 20 minutes per pound. Baste turkey every 15 minutes. Tur­key is done when drumstick is loose when jiggled.

Remove turkey from oven and let stand 20 minutes before carving. Re­move all stuffing from cavity before carving.

Note: It is not necessary to tress a turkey.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•