This year's roast turkey with giblet gravy

Thanksgiving is always fun for our clan. We had 20 people gather at my Lisle abode. Dinner was a massive feast. It consisted of roast turkey, a slow roasted picnic ham, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing (or dressing) mashed rutabaga and carrots, mashed baked sweet potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberries, mac-n-cheese, a salad, homemade breads, pumpkin pies, and apple pies. 

I pulled the twenty pound turkey out of the refrigerator around 9:30 in the morning, to bring it to room temperature. I just lightly seasoned it, and it spent about 4-1/2 hours in the oven. I don’t get fancy with turkey. Here’s how I roasted it.

20 lb. turkey with giblets

4 tbs. of butter

Adobo seasoning

Poultry seasoning

Olive oil

Onion flakes

Bay leaf

1 quart of water

Flour

Chicken broth

White pepper

Preparation

About  forty five minutes before you plan to put the turkey in the oven, take it out of the fridge, and remove the packaging. I never buy a frozen turkey because I keep my refrigerator so cold, that it would take almost a week to thaw. The extra expense of a fresh turkey is worth it to me. I found that sometimes they really try to hide the giblets. I expect to find them in the cavity, but all I found was the turkey neck. After looking around, I found the bag of giblets in the neck opening. 

Place the giblets in a sauce pan, and add the water, about a quarter cup of onion flakes, and the bay leaf. Bring that to a boil, let it simmer for about an hour, then let it cool. Save it for the gravy.

Preheat the oven to 350º. Place the turkey in a rack in a large roasting pan. Rub the turkey with olive oil, and then dust the top of it with the adobo seasoning. Sprinkle on some poultry seasoning, and grind on some white pepper. Cover the turkey with aluminum foil. Set the turkey in the oven, and start it roasting. 

After about two hours, remove the foil, and baste the turkey with some of the drippings. Baste the bird about every half hour. The general rule is about 20 minutes per pound, but different ovens vary in the actual temperature. Aim for 165º or 170º as the coldest internal temperature reading. It took a little longer for my turkey to reach the proper temperature.

Remove the turkey when the internal temperature is reached, and set it on a carving board to rest while you make gravy. You’ll probably have more turkey fat than you’ll need for gravy, but maybe not. I made a half gallon of gravy, and it was all gone by the end of the meal. 

Set the roasting pan so it straddles two burners, and start it sizzling. Chop up the giblets and add them to the fat. Sprinkle on enough flour to absorb the fat, and then add first the strained broth from the giblets. Stir and then add chicken broth, a little at a time, until the gravy is thinned out to the right thickness. Let it simmer for a minute more to make sure it right, and then pour it into a huge bowl. 

Have someone carve the turkey for you, while you enjoy a glass of wine, and then ring the dinner bell.

Serving

The hardest part about serving a feast like this, is finding room for all the food. We had a ton of food, lots of wine, lots of beer, and lots of laughs.