Ingredients
- 1 (10 to 12-pound) turkey
- Brine, recipe follows
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 large yellow onion, cut into 8ths
- 1 large orange, cut into 8ths
- 1 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 large carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken or turkey stock, for basting
Turkey Broth:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Reserved turkey neck and giblets
- 1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
- 1 onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 large celery stalk, coarsely chopped
- 1 small bay leaf
- 3 cups turkey stock, chicken stock, or canned low-salt chicken broth
- 3 cups water
Gravy:
- 4 cups turkey broth
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Remove the neck, giblets, and liver from the cavity of the turkey and reserve for the gravy. Rinse the turkey inside and out under cold running water.
Soak the turkey in the brine, covered and refrigerated, for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels, inside and out. Place breast side down in a large, heavy roasting pan, and rub on all sides with the butter. Season lightly inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff the turkey with the onion, orange, celery, carrot, bay leaves, and thyme. Loosely tie the drumsticks together with kitchen string.
For the turkey broth: Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Add the turkey neck, heart, and gizzard to the pan and saute until just beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Add the chopped vegetables and bay leaf to the pan and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Pour the stock and 3 cups of water into the pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the stock is reduced to 4 cups, about 1 hour, adding the chopped liver to the pan during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
Strain the stock into a clean pot or large measuring cup. Pull the meat off the neck, chop the neck meat and giblets, and set aside.
Roast the turkey, uncovered, breast side down for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, turn, and baste with 1/2 cup stock. Continue roasting with the breast side up until an instant-read meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F when inserted into the largest section of thigh (avoiding the bone), about 2 3/4 to 3 hours total cooking time. Baste the turkey once every hour with 1/2 to 3/4 cup chicken or turkey stock.
Remove from the oven and place on a platter. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.
For the pan gravy: Pour the reserved turkey pan juices into a glass-measuring cup and skim off the fat. Place the roasting pan on 2 stovetop burners over medium heat add the pan juice and 1 cup turkey broth and the white wine to the pan, and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining 3 cup of broth and bring to a simmer, then transfer to a measuring cup.
In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, to make a light roux. Add the hot stock, whisking constantly, then simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add the reserved neck meat and giblets to the pan and adjust seasoning, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Pour into a gravy boat and serve.
Brine:
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 oranges, quartered
- 2 lemons, quartered
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 4 sprigs rosemary
To make the brining solution, dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons of cold water in a non-reactive container (such as a clean bucket or large stockpot, or a clean, heavy-duty, plastic garbage bag.) Add the oranges, lemons, thyme, and rosemary.
Note: if you have a big turkey and need more brine than this, use 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar for every gallon of water.
Photo: Brined and Roasted Turkey Recipe

















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By Luv the beach 34
on April 26, 2013
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The first time I brined my turkey with this recipe it was delicious. I had 10 people for dinner and everyone said that it was the moistest turkey they ever ate (and 1 was my mother in law who is usually tightlipped with the compliments and 1 was my brother who is a cook. I've made every turkey with this brine since then and it never disappoints. I haven't tried roasting the turkey upside down as suggested but maybe next time I will.
By mpt
on January 06, 2013
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As nobody really knows how to cook a turkey here in Switzerland, I started a large scale Turkey-Recipe-Evaluation with all my Amercian friends; and this recipe turned out to be the winner! It was the BEST TURKEY EVER. Extremely moist, tasty, tender - just perfect! And the gravy was 2die4! I believe I’ve even improved the recipe by purée the giblets after cooking (in an attempt to trick some family members who surely would have been distgusted by recognizing giblets, which made the gravy even more viscid and homogeneous. I also put thick fat slices on top of the breast (removing them during the last 1/2h of cooking to brown the skin. It was tricky to find a way to soak the turkey in the brine; I used a large cooling box and added cooling elements. I was sceptical about the low cooking temperature, but I sticked to the recipe and it turned out just PERFECT. Cooking time 3.50h for a 6.8kg (15lb turkey.
My mum is now bragging with her friends that her son cooked the best turkey EVER :-
By macfoodie
Cerritos, CA
on January 04, 2013
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Let me begin by saying that I did not do the entire recipe. I used the brine recipe, buttered the skin, and put the orange, onion, celery, carrot and bay leaves inside the turkey. From there I used a Reynolds turkey bag since clean-up is so much easier. I used this recipe in November and yesterday. It's produced the best turkey I've ever roasted and perhaps the best I've ever tasted. YUMMY!!!
Read all 341 reviews