Compound Butter & Herb Roast Turkey
Description
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I slow-bake an 18 to 20–pound turkey| New Window at 325°F in my huge graniteware pan. The turkey is cooked with the steam that builds up in the pan, and then basted and finished on high heat to crisp and brown the skin. The meat is tender and juicy and very tasty. I don't load the compound butter with lots of garlic and herbs, just enough to flavor the turkey very delicately.
Ingredients
- kosher salt
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed
- 3 fresh sage leaves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 18 to 20–pound turkey
- compound butter (recipe above)
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- olive oil
Directions
- In a mortar and pestle, crush garlic with a pinch of salt. Add thyme, sage, and lemon zest and pound it all together.
- Transfer garlic-herb mixture to a small mixing bowl and add the softened butter. Mix together. That's your compound butter!
- If you're cooking the turkey right away, don't refrigerate this butter. If you're cooking the turkey later, roll this butter in plastic wrap into a log and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before you apply to the turkey.
- Turkey
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Put turkey on work surface and make sure it's clean and dry. Insert fingers under skin to loosen from the breast meat. Work slowly so you don't tear the skin.
- Spread a generous amount of the compound butter under the skin on both sides of the breast. (Reserve a small amount of the compound butter to baste the turkey when you brown the skin.)
- Using butcher's twine, bind the legs together and place the turkey on a rack in your roasting pan.
- Rub the turkey with some olive oil and generously salt and pepper the entire surface. (I like to do this the night before; if you do this, let your bird sit at room temperature for an hour before placing in the oven.) Put lid on pan and place into the oven. No basting required! (If you don't have a roaster with a lid, just tent with aluminum foil, making sure its sealed well around the pan.)
- After 3 hours, check the internal temperature of your turkey by inserting a thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh. When it has reached an internal temperature of 150°F, remove from the oven, and brush the turkey with the remaining compound butter. Crank up the oven to 450°F. Put back in the oven without the lid and let it roast until the skin is a nice golden brown. The internal temperature should be 160°F when you remove from the oven. Total cooking time for an 18 to 20–pound turkey is 4 to 4 1/2 hours approximately.
- Let turkey rest for at least 30 minutes tented with foil. Final temperature should be 165°F to 170°F.
- Warning: If you use a graniteware pan, the turkey cooks VERY quickly. Depending on the size of the bird you should start checking for doneness after a couple of hours. My 19 1/4–pound turkey was completely done at 3 1/2 hours. If you use a roasting pan and foil, the cooking time is a bit more. My big bird was ready to brown and crisp at 3 hours. All of this depends on individual ovens as temps and bird sizes vary.
