When you go to school 400 miles away from home—you make your own family. Your family away from home. Last Thanksgiving, before term broke for the holidays, some of my close friends and I decided to cook our own Thanksgiving meal and celebrate with our school family before our home families.
We all volunteered to make a different aspect of the classic Thanksgiving meal. Since I’m the foodie and significantly more culinarily endowed than my dear friends—I got the turkey.
I had never cooked a bird that big before. Normally, I don’t even eat much turkey at Thanksgiving because I’m not a big fan of picking meat off of the bone. (I know. To be a foodie that’s really weird, but it just grosses me out. I prefer a fatty burger any day of the week).
But anyway, I knew that if I didn’t get a good recipe for my turkey, that Thanksgiving would fall apart because of me. Of course I turned to—Ina Garten and her recipe for a Perfect Roast Turkey.
Since we’re now in the full-swing of the holidays (and don’t tell me we’re not. I’m shuffling “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as I type this) I decided to share her fabulous recipe with you. Also—it’s so easy! I prepared this whole turkey in an ill-equipped kitchen, separated from my parents’ beautiful collection of Williams-Sonoma tools.
- 1 (12 pound) fresh turkey
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large bunch of fresh thyme
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 Spanish onion, quartered
- 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
- 4 tablespoons unsalted (1/2 stick) melted butter
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Take the giblets out of the turkey and wash the turkey inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry. Place the turkey in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the turkey cavity. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, lemon, onion, quartered, and the garlic. Brush the outside of the turkey with the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the turkey.
Roast he turkey for 2 1/2 hours, basting from time to time with pan juices, until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh. Remove the turkey to a cutting board and cover with foil; let it rest for 20 minutes. Slice the turkey and serve hot.
You can watch Ina cook it herself, here.
At the end, don’t skip the step about covering your bird and letting it rest. It really is crucial when you’re cooking any meat. The juices go back into the meat keeping it moist and tender.
Maybe they say it because they’re my friends, but they still talk about how delicious this turkey was. I insist you try it at home.
—Jacob
Perfect Roast Turkey can be found in Ina’s book, Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ina also has a new cookbook released in October of this year, How Easy Is That?
Garten, Ina. Barefoot Contessa Parties! Crown Publishing Group: New York, N.Y. 2001.
