OK, now it’s T-day and you’re ready to cook your turkey. Really, Thanksgiving Day doesn’t have to be Stress Central.  Follow Chef Renee’s step-by-step directions for turkey-making and both you and your bird will come out just fine.

Click here for Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe Part I: Double the Pleasure with Two Birds

Roasting the Turkey

Read all directions before starting. Organize your time and pace yourself. The following instructions are for two turkeys.

• Let the seasoned butter you made yesterday come to room temperature (and you will have made twice as much for two turkeys).

• Remove the turkeys from the brine. Dry them inside and out. Save all necks, giblets, gizzards and livers for the gravy.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees; make sure the racks are low.

Each turkey will sit on the following ingredients in a roasting pan:
4 onions, coarsely chopped, with the skin on (please wash them off before cutting)
4 large carrots, scrubbed clean (unpeeled) and cut into coarse chunks
6 ribs of celery, same as above
8 bay leaves
2 bunch fresh thyme
2 bunch fresh sage
4 parsnips, scrubbed and coarsely chopped
2 head of garlic, cut into 4 pieces—skins and all
1 bunch parsley

Toss all these ingredients together with ½ cup of olive oil and lay them down in the bottom of the roasting pan, close together so the turkey has a good bed to rest on.

In the meantime:
Gently lift the skin of the turkey away from the breast with your fingertips, stretching it slightly as you go. Try not to tear the skin.  Do the same for the thighs and legs.

Push the seasoned butter mixture under and around the skin: most of it should go under the breast skin, but save some for the legs.

Once the butter is under the skin, smooth the remaining butter on top of the turkey skin.

Place the turkey on the vegetables and sprinkle salt and pepper generously all over the bird.

Roast for 45 minutes, uncovered.

After 45 minutes, pour ½ bottle of white wine, water or stock into the roasting pan and return the turkey to the oven. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and roast for another 45 minutes.  If the skin is starting to brown too much, cover it loosely with a foil tent.

After a total cooking time of 1.5 hours, test the temperature of the thigh meat—it should be between 155 and160 degrees. Take the turkey out and let it rest, loosely covered.  The temperature will continue to rise to 165 degrees, At this point, the turkey should rest for 30 minutes before carving.  Resting is very important—it helps the turkey retain its juices and keeps it moist.

Sauté salted and peppered livers lightly in butter.  When they are browned and fully cooked, add a splash of sherry and swirl around until it has evaporated. Remove livers from pan and cut into small pieces, which you will add to the gravy at the end of the gravy making process (see below).

Meanwhile, heat up the stuffing:
When you’re ready to heat the stuffing, pour one cup of broth into and around the mixture and mix it well. If it’s moist, you have added enough liquid. If not, add a little more. You don’t want it to be too wet.

Place in pre-heated oven at 375F, covered, for 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350, uncover and finish roasting for 30 minutes, to crisp the top a bit.

To carve and to make gravy:

Lift turkey out of pan, tilting it so the juices run back into the roasting pan.  Start making the gravy now (directions below)—you can carve afterward.

Gravy:

Place the turkey necks and giblets in a saucepan (large), and cover with water by at least 3 inches. Add two onions, cut in half, a handful of black peppercorns, smashed, 6 smashed cloves of garlic and 2 pieces of star anise.   Keep on a low simmer, continually replenishing the water.  You want to end up with 4 cups of turkey stock, although you

won’t strain it until later.

Blend 4 tablespoons cornstarch with ½  cup cool stock at some point. Reserve—this will be for thickening the gravy later.

Add the vegetables and juices from the roasting pan to the pot with the giblets and necks.  If there are lots of brown bits on the bottom of the turkey roasting pan, place the pan on a medium burner and add wine, water or stock to scrape up the bits.  Bring to a boil and pour the liquid into the pan with the necks and vegetables.  You should have about 2 quarts of liquid.

Simmer everything together for 30 minutes, then strain, pressing on the solids, into another saucepan.  Rest 10 minutes and skim off the fat.  Bring the gravy to a simmer and add the well mixed cornstarch mixture, whisking it in to avoid lumps. Add the livers. Return gravy to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.  Taste and serve.

To carve the turkey:

The best carving instructions i know come from Judy Rodgers, of Zuni Café in San Francisco, so i am reproducing them here—thank you, Judy!

• Slice through skin between leg and breast, and begin folding back leg, rolling turkey on its side. Fold back leg further to expose ball joint at hip then use tip of boning knife to free the leg. Cut leg/thigh into two pieces at knee joint. I don’t aim for pretty slices from the drumstick—it’s too full of “hatpin” bones. I just carve off the meat in three or four neat chunks, sliding the knife against the bone and rotating the bone with each slice.

• To carve the thigh meat, set skin side up on the cutting board and slice parallel to bone, either side of the bone.

• To carve the breast meat, use a boning knife to remove the whole breast, just as though you were boning a chicken breast. Slide the tip of the knife close along the sternum, then gradually pry the whole breast away using a series of little cuts holding the blade of the knife flat against the sternum and rib cage. (if the turkey is properly rested, it won’ be too hot to handle).

• Use the tip of the knife to sever the tenacious sinews at the base of the wing. Study the direction of the fibers on the boned side of the breast—they curve abruptly near the wing joint, but generally run in a slight arc the length of the muscle. Now place the breast flat on the cutting board and carve nearly straight down into ¼ inch thick slices that cut directly across the grain you just studied. This will produce slices that are as tender as possible.

• Wide slices cut on a steep angle may look impressive, but will be tougher, since you are leaving too much muscle fiber intact.

Happy thanksgiving!

Related posts:

1. Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe Part I: Double the Pleasure with Two Birds
2. Thanksgiving Turkey Carving Is No Big Deal When Fairway’s Butcher Does It
3. Thanksgiving Recipe: Sweet Potatoes But Hold the Marshmallows Please