Time: 3 hours.
Difficulty: medium
Servings: 8 - 10
Ingredients for the Recipe:
For Brine:
- 1 turkey (6.8 kg.), Without neck and viscera
- 3/4 Art. coarse salt
- 1/3 Art. Sahara
- 2 diced onion heads
- 2 diced carrots
- 3 diced celery stalks
- 1 whole garlic head cut in half across
- 1/2 small bunch of rosemary
- 1/2 small bunch of sage
- 2 tbsp. l coriander seed
- 2 tbsp. l fennel seed
- 6 bay leaves
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
For Butter with Herbs:
- 225 gr. butter at room temperature
- 2 tbsp. l finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 tbsp. l finely chopped fresh sage
- Salt
For Gravy:
- 2 tbsp. dry white wine
- 2 l chicken broth
- 2 diced onion heads
- 2 diced carrots
- 2 diced celery stalks
- 4 crushed cloves of garlic
- 8 thread-bound thyme twigs
- 3 bay leaves
- Salt
- 1 tbsp. wheat flour
Recipe preparation:
Marinate Turkey in Brine: In a container large enough to include all the ingredients and the turkey, mix 2 liters. water with salt, sugar, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary, sage, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, and crushed red pepper. Shuffle. Dip the turkey in the brine and refrigerate for 3 days.
Make Herbal Butter: In a small bowl, mix the butter, rosemary, sage, and a little salt. Use your fingers to gently slide under the skin of the turkey to separate it in the area of the breasts and legs. Rub oil under the skin, and then rub the bird thoroughly over it to form a crispy golden crust when baked. Tie the legs of the turkey with kitchen thread so that the carcass remains compact and beautiful during cooking. On the evening before frying, remove the carcass from the brine and dry it with a paper towel.
Prepare the ingredients for the Gravy: In a baking dish, mix onions, carrots, celery, garlic, a bunch of thyme, and bay leaves. Salt. Put the turkey on the vegetables and refrigerate for the night, without covering anything. So the skin of the turkey will dry out, which will provide a luxurious ruddy and crisp. Now all the preparatory work is finished, and tomorrow you only need to put the bird in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 230 ° C. Pour white wine into a mold and place the turkey in a very hot oven for 35-40 minutes, until it is beautifully browned. Reduce heat to 180 ° C. Water the bird with the excreted juice and rotate the mold every 30 minutes. by timer. Calculate how long it takes: 17 min. for every 450 grams If the turkey starts to burn, loosen it with foil.
Remove the turkey from the oven when the cooking thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh shows 74 ° C. (Make sure that the probe of the thermometer does not touch the bone.) Put it on a baking sheet with sides, cover with foil, and let stand for at least 30 minutes.
Prepare the Gravy: Over a large bowl, strain through the sieve the juice released during baking and strain the vegetables. Let the fat rise to the surface. Throw out the vegetables. Collect fat from meat juice, put it in a large pan and heat over medium heat. Add flour and cook to the consistency of wet sand, 4-5 minutes.
Add meat juice and chicken stock to the flour mixture. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer the sauce. Cook until thickened, 10-15 minutes. Try and salt if necessary. Slice the turkey and serve with gravy.