Roasted Turkey with Bread and Mushroom Stuffing

Ingredients

• 1 20-pound turkey, preferably fresh and organic, with neck, gizzard, heart, and liver
• 8 ounces carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice (1½ cups)
• 8 ounces onions, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice (2 cups) (see illustrated onion preparation, page 21)

Glaze

• ½ cup sweet cider
• I teaspoon Tabasco hot-pepper sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt

Sauce

• 1 cup white wine
• 2 teaspoons potato starch dissolved in 2 tablespoons white wine (from preceding item) (see box, page 22)

Bread and Mushroom Stuffing

• 1 pound crusty bread, from day-old baguettes or a country loaf, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 10 cups)
• 1 cup slivered or sliced almonds
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (½ stick)
• ⅓ cup canola oil
• 2 medium onions (8 ounces), peeled and coarsely chopped (2 cups)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped celery
• 1 leek (about 6 ounces), peeled, washed, and coarsely chopped (2 cups) (see illustrated leek preparation, page 107)
• 1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
• 3½ cups chicken stock (see White Stock, page 15)
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 10 ounces mushrooms, washed and coarsely chopped (3 cups)
• 2 cups coarsely chopped parsley

Method

For the Turkey

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut off the ends of the drumsticks, and make a cut about 1 inch deep at the joint connecting the drumstick and thigh of each leg. Set a small wire rack in the bottom of a large stockpot, and pour 1½ quarts of water into the pot.
2. Place the turkey (minus the neck, gizzard, heart, and liver) on the rack in the pot, and bring the water to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and steam the turkey for 45 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and, when the turkey is cool enough to handle, remove it from the pot (reserving the stock created in the steaming) and place it breast side up, in a roasting pan. Put the pan preheated oven, and cook the turkey for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, pour the reserved stock into a bowl , and let it rest for 10 minutes, or until most of the fat rises to the surface. Skim off as much fat as possible (I removed about 1 cup), and discard the fat.
4. Transfer the stock to a saucepan, and add the turkey neck, gizzard, and heart. (As a special treat for the cook, sauté the liver in a little butter, add salt and pepper, and consume immediately.) Bring the stock to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and boil gently for 1 hour. Remove the neck, gizzard, and heart from the stock, pick the meat from the neck. and coarsely chop the meat along with the gizzard and heart. (You should have about 2 cups of meat pieces.) Return the chopped meats to the stock, and defat it again.
5. After the turkey has roasted for 1 hour, sprinkle the carrots and onions around it.
6. In a small bowl, mix together the cider, Tabasco, and salt to make a glaze. Brush the turkey with the glaze, and continue to cook it in the oven for 1 hour longer. At this point, put the bread-and-mushroom stuffing (recipe follows) in the oven. If the top of the bird begins to brown too much during this period, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.
7. Remove the turkey from the oven when the breast and the leg register an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
8. Place the turkey on an ovenproof serving platter, and, using small pliers and a fork, pull the sinews (which are visible at the drumstick tips) from the drumsticks through the tines of a fork, so you do not pull out chunks of meat along with the sinews. Discard the sinews. Keep the turkey warm, uncovered, in a 160-degree oven.
9. Add the stock mixture to the drippings in the roasting pan, and mix well. Transfer the contents of the roasting pan to a saucepan, and let rest for 5 minutes. Skim off as much fat from the surface as possible. Add the wine, and the dissolved potato starch, and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste.

For the Stuffing

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the bread pieces on a cookie sheet, and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are nicely browned, then transfer them to a large bowl. Arrange the almonds on a cookie sheet, and bake them in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are nicely browned.
3. Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet until the butter is melted, then add the onions, celery, leek, and herbes de Provence. Cook over medium to high heat for 5 minutes.
4. Pour the stock into the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Now add the contents of the skillet, along with the mushrooms, almonds, and parsley, to the bread cubes in the bowl. Mix lightly, then spoon the stuffing into two 6-cup loaf molds. Cover with aluminum foil.
5. About 1 hour before serving time, place the molds in the 350-degree oven, and bake the stuffing alongside the turkey for 50 to 60 minutes.

To Serve

1. The turkey can be carved at the table and served with the dressing, sauce, and vegetable garnishes. For a less showy but easier presentation, carve the turkey in the kitchen, and arrange it on plates with the dressing, sauce, and garnishes in the kitchen before bringing it to the table.

Notes

I love roast turkey, and Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is always celebrated with turkey at our house. Throughout the years, I must have cooked turkey in at least a dozen different ways: upside down to keep the breast moist; studded with garlic slivers; straight up, the conventional way; and cured in a brine first, then coated with barbecue sauce these are just a few of the different preparations that I remember. They were all good, but the recipe below is turkey a new way.

For this recipe, I cut off the ends of the drumsticks, so the skin and meat shrink during cooking, causing the tendons in the drumsticks to stick out and thus be easily pulled out when the bird is cooked. I also make an incision between the thigh and drumstick, the place that takes the longest to cook, to accelerate the cooking, so I don’t have to overcook the breast in order to have the legs cooked at the joint. Finally, I steam the turkey first (the stock created in the steaming is used for the sauce), then roast it. The steaming gives a lot of moisture to the meat, and the roasting browns the skin, resulting in a beautifully browned and moist turkey. I like the stuffing cooked separately. It is easier to control the cooking of the turkey and easier to serve it.