Thanksgiving Turkey

Will and I were so excited to tackle the Thanksgiving turkey this year!  And, by excited, I mean we were nervous and happy and a little more nervous and a little excited.  I do love that Will tackled this one with me.  I handle meat, but, well, I am happy to let him handle the meat too!  especially one as large as this!  We watched Rachael Ray and Ina Garten's TV clips on cooking the turkey.  I read the November Food Network magazine stories on the turkey.  We looked up Alton Brown's "fool proof" recipe.  This is where we landed:

Stuffing the turkey with carrots, onion, and celery, as well as a couple sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf.

Season all over with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and steak seasoning.  Then butter over the seasoning.

In the oven it goes for browning, cooking and basting!

With help from a budding chef-ette, adding a half cup of white wine to the roasting pan.

Letting that pretty turkey rest!

Then off to Opa and Oma's house to carve the turkey!

- 10-12 lb turkey
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 ribs of celery, roughly chopped
- 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp steak seasoning
- 1 tbsp poultry seasoning
- salt and pepper
- 1 stick of butter, softened
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stuff the cavity of the turkey with the onion, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaves.  (We put a little extra in the roasting pan surrounding the turkey as well.)

Season the outside of the turkey.  Rub the outside with the soft butter.  Tie the ends of the legs together.

Place in the oven and roast at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  Drop the heat to 325 for 2 more hours, or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.  Remove from oven and tent with foil.  Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.


This turkey was so great!  We made a gravy with the pan drippings.  It was really good too!  Because of the wine, it was not a traditional Southern gravy, but still good!  The turkey was not as intimidating as feared, and this recipe is definitely worth repeating!