Roast Turkey With Oyster Dressing And Giblet Gravy Recipes

ROAST TURKEY WITH HERBED OYSTER STUFFING AND GIBLET GRAVY

Steps:

• Make the stuffing:
• In 2 shallow baking pans or jelly-roll pans arrange the bread cubes in one layer, bake them in a preheated 325°F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they are golden, and transfer them to a large bowl. In a large skillet cook the bacon over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is crisp, transfer it with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, and pour off all but about 1/4 cup of the fat. In the fat remaining in the skillet cook the garlic, the onion, and the celery with the thyme and the sage over moderately low heat, stirring, until the vegetables are softened and transfer the mixture to the bowl. Add the parsley, the melted butter, the oysters, the bacon, and salt and pepper to taste, toss the stuffing well, and let if cool completely. The stuffing may be made 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled. (To prevent bacterial growth do not stuff the turkey cavities in advance.)
• Rinse the turkey, pat it dry, and season it inside and out with salt and pepper. Pack the neck cavity loosely with some of the stuffing, fold the neck skin under the body, and fasten it with a skewer. Pack the body cavity loosely with some of the remaining stuffing and truss the turkey. Transfer the remaining stuffing to a buttered 3-quart baking dish and reserve it, covered and chilled.
• Spread the turkey with 1/2 stick of the butter and roast it on a rack in a roasting pan in a preheated 425°F. oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 325°F., baste the turkey with the pan juices, and drape it with a piece of cheesecloth, soaked in the remaining 1 stick butter, melted and cooled. Roast the turkey, basting it every 20 minutes, for 2 1/2 to 3 hours more, or until a meat thermometer inserted in the fleshy part of a thigh registers 180°F. and the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a skewer. During the last 1 1/2 hours of roasting, drizzle the reserved stuffing with the stock, bake it, covered, in the 325°F. oven for 1 hour, and bake it, uncovered, for 30 minutes more. Discard the cheesecloth and string from the turkey, transfer the turkey to a heated platter, reserving the juices in the roasting pan, keep it warm, covered loosely with foil.
• Make the gravy:
• Skim all of the fat from the roasting pan juices, reserving 1/3 cup of the fat, and add the wine to the pan. Deglaze the pan over moderately high heat, scraping up the brown bits, and boil the mixture until it is reduced by half. In a saucepan combine the reserved fat and the flour and cook the roux over moderately low heat, whisking, for 3 minutes. Add the stock and the wine mixture in a stream, whisking, and simmer the gravy, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the reserved cooked giblets and neck meat, chopped, and salt and pepper to taste, simmer the gravy for 2 minutes, and transfer it to a heated sauceboat.
• Garnish the turkey with the parsley and thyme sprigs and serve it with the gravy and the stuffing.

ROAST TURKEY WITH GRAVY

Steps:

• Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and remove the other racks. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey. Discard the liver, set the others aside. Dry the turkey inside and out with paper towels. Season the breast cavity with salt and pepper. Slice the onions and halve the garlic head crosswise. Stuff all the garlic and half the onions inside the turkey along with some of the herbs and 1 bay leaf. Halve the carrots and celery lengthwise; put them in the center of roasting pan and set the turkey, breast side up, on top of the vegetables.
• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, and brush about half of it all over the bird, season the skin with salt and pepper. Tent turkey with aluminum foil and roast for 2 hours. Set aside about 3 tablespoons of the butter for basting the bird.
• Cook the rest of the onion, neck and giblets in the remaining butter in the saucepan, over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until browned, about 15 minutes. Add the broth, remaining herbs, and bay leaf; cover and simmer over medium-low heat while the turkey roasts, about 2 hours. Discard the giblets if desired, or reserve for giblets gravy. After 2 hours, remove the foil from the turkey and use a pastry brush or bulb baster to baste turkey with the reserved butter and some of the pan drippings. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F and continue to roast until an instant-read thermometer stuck in the thigh registers between 170 and 180 degrees F, about 1 hour more. Transfer turkey to a cutting board and let rest 15 to 20 minutes before carving.
• For the Gravy: Pour all the turkey pan drippings into a liquid measuring cup and discard the vegetables. Ladle off 1/2 cup of the fat from the top of the drippings, and transfer to a saucepan. (Put measuring cup with remaining drippings and fat in the freezer for a few minutes to separate.) Heat fat over medium heat, scatter the flour evenly on top and cook, stirring constantly, with a wooden spoon until the flour browns slightly and smells toasty, about 4 minutes. Switch to a whisk; then gradually and carefully ladle the hot broth into the flour mixture while whisking constantly. Bring the gravy to a boil; adjust the heat so it simmers gently. Skim and discard any excess fat from the remaining drippings, and add the pan juices to the gravy. Continue to simmer, whisking occasionally, until the gravy is thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with the Worcestershire, salt, and pepper. Remove and discard onion, garlic, herbs, and bay leaf from the turkey cavity. Pour any juices that have accumulated into the gravy, Carve the turkey.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a shallow 3-quart casserole.
• Cut or tear bread into bite-size pieces. Lay bread pieces in a single layer on 1 or 2 baking sheets. Bake until slightly dry and crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool.
• Peel, core, and coarsely chop the apple. Coarsely chop the onion, celery, and apricots. Chop the parsley.
• Melt the 6 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apple, onion, celery, apricots, cranberries, thyme, salt, and fennel seeds; cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and parsley and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.
• Beat the egg in a large bowl. Add the toasted bread and the onion and fruit mixture; toss until evenly moistened. Loosely pack the dressing into the prepared pan. Bake, uncovered, until the top is crusty, about 40 minutes. Drizzle the pan drippings or melted butter over the top. Cook until the top is crisp and golden, about 20 minutes more.

TURKEY BREAST WITH OYSTER STUFFING

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook bacon over low heat until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside to drain. Add onion, celery, and sage to the bacon fat rendered in the skillet, and cook until onions are translucent and celery is soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add sage and broken-up bread to the skillet. Stir in parsley, butter, oysters, salt, and pepper. Lightly toss stuffing, but mix well, and let cool.
• Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F.
• Butterfly the turkey breast with smooth side down and stuff, folding edges over to hold stuffing. (You may want to secure with skewers or cotton kitchen twine.) Season turkey breast with salt and pepper and place into the oven to roast until it reaches an internal temperature of about 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• While turkey is in oven, place the turkey neck and giblets in a medium saucepan with 4 cups water and cook until you have about 1 cup of giblet stock. Reserve the neck and giblets, removing meat from neck when cool enough to handle and chopping giblets. When turkey is done, remove breast to a platter to let rest for 20 minutes before slicing. Skim most of the fat from the pan juices, reserving 1/3 cup of the fat. Add the wine to the remaining pan juices and cook over medium high heat until reduced by half. In a separate saucepan, heat reserved 1/3 cup of fat and whisk in flour over moderately low heat for a few minutes to make a roux. Add stock and wine reduction, continuing to cook until gravy simmers. Add reserved cooked and chopped giblets and neck meat. Slice turkey to reveal stuffed interior and arrange on plate. Serve with gravy.