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From: johnf@apollo.uucp (John Francis)
Newsgroups: net.cooks
Subject: how to cook a turkey (and how to make gravy for it)
Message-ID: <2a885e58.917@apollo.uucp>
Date: Wed, 4-Dec-85 20:20:23 EST
Article-I.D.: apollo.2a885e58.917
Posted: Wed Dec  4 20:20:23 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Dec-85 06:32:37 EST
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, Mass.
Lines: 55

First and foremost - get a GOOD turkey. It's no good wasting all your time
on a deep-frozen piece of reconstituted cardboard. I am fortunate enough to
have a local butchers shop that sells fresh free-range turkeys (walking
around on Dec 23rd, bought on Dec 24th, eaten on Dec 25th).
Right - now what do you do about the fact that there isn't one of those
funny little plastic things to tell you when it's done? Read on ...

Stuffing - optional. (If you are using a frozen turkey it is NOT optional -
leave it out unless you are prepared to pre-cook the turkey for an hour or
so to get rid of all the water first - nobody likes soggy stuffing).
Stuffing will never cook exactly right inside a turkey, so what I do is to
put a little sage & onion stuffing in the neck cavity for effect, and cook
the other stuffings (more sage & onion, chestnut, ... ) separately. Some of
the local stuffings around here (local = USA - I'm English) would probably
cook O.K. in a turkey, especially those involving apples and raisins, but I
have no first-hand experience of these. Truss the beast up somehow using
anything you like (little skewers and string, dental floss, surgical cat-gut,
potato nails, etc.) and get ready for the next step.

Cooking: we want to roast the bird, not boil it. So try and arrange some way
to stop it sitting in any liquid that runs off. I use a rack, but I have
seen one of those conical wire-cage roasters large enough for a turkey. This
would be a good idea (of course you can't have stuffing in the bird if you
use one of these), except that most ovens are not high enough to cook a 25lb
turkey standing on end, and I cook large turkeys. Rub the outside of the bird
with butter, and sprinkle LIGHLTY with your favourite herbs ground with rock
salt in a mortar. Lay strips of bacon across the breast of the bird (the best
use I have found for the low meat-content bacon sold over here), and set it on
the rack in the roasting pan. Cover the whole thing with a foil tent.
I normally set the oven at about 350, but it depends on your oven. Cook until
almost done, turning occasionally so that different parts of the bird are in
contact with the rack. For the last 45 minutes remove the foil and bacon so
that the skin gets nicely browned. The bird is cooked when a SHARP skewer
inserted into the crease where the leg joins the body just gets clear liquid
out - if you see any pinkness cook it some more. When it is done take it out
and set it to one side for about 15 minutes, laying something damp over it.
Linen or cotton is best, but damp paper kitchen towels used double work well.
This makes the eventual task of carving much, much easier.

What do we do with the runoff ?   Two things. The fat goes into a roasting
pan together with any dripping you have saved from steaks, chops, etc., and
goes into the oven during that last 45 minute period with potatoes in it,
turning them every 15 minutes or so. When you take the bird out you are still
about 15 minutes away from eating, so drain off the fat from the potatoes,
turn the oven up to 400, and you will soon have nice crisp golden-brown roast
potatoes. The remaining juices go into the gravy. I thicken my gravy with a
flour roux made by putting flour and butter into a heavy metal pan (I think
its about 60% flour by volume, but that is just a guess - the result after
the butter has melted should have the consistency of a paste) and cooking it
until the flour is just showing the slightest signs of beginning to turn golden.
Then add liquid to the roux a little at a time and STIR - it will absorb an
extremely large amount of liquid and get very thick while you are stirring
it in. This same roux is also useful to thicken any other sauces you are
making (plain white sauce or cheese sauce for any members of the cabbage
family, for example).