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Garlic, butter & Herb Turkey with Crispy skin

Want a roasted turkey with crispier skin? Try this garlic, butter & herb brined turkey. It's much simpler than you might think. The result will be juicy turkey meat with just the right flavor and seasoning inside while covering with thin, crispy, and brown skin. Specially craft for Thanksgiving, Christmas or any occasion dinner.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Brine 1 day
Author Victoria

Equipment

  • kitchen twine

Ingredients

  • 10 lb whole Turkey

Dry Rub & Brine

  • 4 Tbsp salt
  • ½ Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper

Cavity Seasoning

  • 1 sweet onion
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 apples
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 stalk celery
  • ½ bunch rosemary
  • ½ bunch thyme
  • ½ bunch sage

Basting

  • 6 Tbsp unsalted butter melt
  • 5 cloves garlic crush
  • 4 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp dried rosemary, thyme, and sage combined

(optional) Turkey Gravy

  • turkey juice
  • 1 cup unsalted chicken/turkey stock or water
  • ¼ cup flour adjust to desired thickness
  • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • giblet & liver from the turkey

(optional) No Turkey Roasting Pan option - additional seasoning turkey stock

  • 1-2 apple
  • 1 sweet onion
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 bay leaf

Instructions

Prep & Dry Brine Turkey

  • Make sure the turkey is defrosted according to the label.
  • Remove giblet & liver (usually in the neck cavity) and the neck bone in the main cavity. Save these for turkey gravy later if desired.
  • Use a paper towel to blot dry both the outside skin and inside cavity.
  • Combine salt, baking powder, sugar, and ground black pepper.
  • Rub the above mixture all over the outside of the Turkey. Work your finger into the area underneath the skin in the neck cavity as well. Do it slow and carefully.
  • Once done covering the turkey in salt/pepper mixture, pour the remaining into the main cavity, shake and use your hand to make sure all the inside cavity area is rubbed well with salt.
  • Now chop and cut all the sweet onion, apple, and lemon into quarters, celery into 2-inch sticks, peel garlic, etc.
  • Stuff all the above into the turkey main cavity as well as rosemary/thyme/sage.
  • Use a piece of turkey tie or kitchen twine to tie turkey legs together.
  • Tuck the wings to the back.
  • Situate turkey with its breast facing up and chill in the refrigerator, uncover to brine and dry over night.

Before Roasting

  • Let the turkey out of the refrigerator to let it come back up to room's temperature.
  • Flip the turkey over so its back is facing upward, if there any leftover water precipiated it will be mostly dripping out now.
  • Right before roasting, prepare the roasting pan & rack or if you don't have one, create an elevated planar in your pan by arranging quarters of apple, onion, and lemon. These fruits & vegetables will add flavor to turkey gravy, so add a bay leaf to the pan as well.
  • Melt butter, stir in crushed garlic as well as 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary/thyme/sage combined.
  • Add Maple syrup in and stir really well, the mixture will become a bit thicker and ready to be used for basting.
  • Baste this garlic butter mixture all over the turkey backside.
  • Now flip the turkey over (breast side upward) and situate it onto the roasting pan or the prepared elevated fruits & onion.
  • Baste the breast side with the remaining garlic butter mixture, go over each area carefully. Make sure to work into all crevice, under the wings/thigh area, etc. Cover them all.

Oven-Roast

  • Adjust the oven's shelf to the lowest level.
  • Preheat oven to 325F.
  • Place the ready turkey in the middle area and start baking.
  • Bake for approximately 3 hours on a regular oven or 2 hours on Convectional oven or as label's suggestion by the bird's weight.
  • When baking halfway through, turn the roasting pan 180 degrees, opposite to what you originally placed it. Then fold a piece of foil and place it to cover the turkey breast.
  • Bake till the approximate total time, and check for doneness with a thermometer. Turkey's meat internally should reach 165F minimum.
  • Once done, take the turkey out of the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before any cutting.

(optional) Turkey Gravy

  • Once the turkey is finished roasting/baking and rest, you can take the dripping for gravy.
  • Slice and chop turkey giblet, liver and heart.
  • In a sauce pan over medium heat, add 1 Tbsp butter or turkey fat from dripping.
  • Stir in the sliced giblet, saute till it's almost done then add the heart and liver.
  • Stir till the liver pieces are brown on the outside then add flour.
  • Keep stirring until all piece are cooked and the roux (flour) is golden and cover all the piece well.
  • Now pour in turkey dripping, taste test and and adjust with unsalted stock or water to dilute if the dripping liquid is too salty. Add more dripping if you want it saltier and so on.
  • Remove from heat. Gravy will be thicker when cooling down, so just heat and stir till it lightly thicken enough.

Video

Notes

  • Only baste once with garlic butter syrup mixture before roasting, no need for additional attempt to preserve the dryness and hence crispiness of the skin.
  • Do not open the oven frequently as this will only prolong the baking duration.
  • Check the temperature with a meat thermometer to make sure the turkey is done.
  • Let the turkey rest for 30 minutes before any carving for juicier meat.