Ingredients
For the marinade
- 7 kg whole turkey
- 200 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 4 tbsp honey
- zest from 2 oranges
- zest from 3 limes
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground garlic
For the turkey and chicken stock
- 3 chicken wings
- turkey neck
- 100 g white onion, chopped to a medium size
- 100 g celery, chopped to a medium size
- 100 g carrot, chopped to a medium size
- 1 bayleaf
- 3 l water at room temperature
To inject into the turkey
- 350 ml stock from above
- 150 ml gin
To fill the turkey cavity
- 1 garlic head, cut in half
- 1 orange cut in 8 (it can be the one from the zest)
- 2 limes cut in 4 (it can be the one from the zest)
- 1 green apple
- 2 bayleaves
- 6 rosemary sprigs
- 4 thyme sprigs
To thicken the sauce
- 2-6 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in cold water
Instructions
Marinade
- First remove the turkey tail. Also remove the wishbone which is in an inverted "V" shape at the front of the breasts. To get to it you might need to open the skin a bit. For further reference you can watch the video above. Both can be used in the stock, you only need to remove the excess fat from the tail.
- Remove the bag of giblets that's inside the turkey's cavity. The organs can be used for a side dish and the neck goes into the stock.
- Remove what's left of the neck (if any) and also use for the stock. Remove also any excess skin around the neck but leave 5cm extra because it shrinks in the oven.
- Use your hands to separate the skin from the breasts and as much of the leds as you can.
- Mix all the marinade ingredients and rub on the skin and also under the skin.
- Cover the turkey in cling film and pop in the fridge for at least one day and a maximum of three so that the meat takes in all the flavour we put in the marinade.
For the stock
- Put everything in a pot on low-medium heat. Once it starts to bubble time 2 hours.
- Pass through a sieve and measure the amount of stock we need to inject into the turkey. The rest can be used to increase the volume of the sauce if necessary.
For the cooking of the turkey
- Fill the turkey cavity with all the ingredients.
- Tie the turkey using string if you're going to serve it whole at the table. You can see the method on the video above.
- Mix the stock at room temperature with the gin and inject on different spots on the turkey meat.
- Take to a preheated oven at 200C for one hour on an oven tray.
- Lower the temperature 180C and control the temperature in the turkey every 20min at first until it's close to 73C, then check every 10min.
- To make sure that all bacteria have been killed, you need to take the temperature of the turkey at different spots of the turkey (legs, breasts) to make sure that they have all reached at least 73C.
- Let the turkey rest outside the oven tray for 20min before carving.
For the sauce
- Pass the juices from the tray through a sieve and place in a pot. Take out the excess of butter that is floating on top of the juices using a spoon.
- Once it's difficult to remove more butter without taking some of the juices below, you can stop.
- Add 2 tbsp of cornstarch dissolved in cold water (to prevent lumps) and wait for it to boil so you can see the maximum thickness it can reach.
- If you want it thicker, at 2 tbsp at a time, also dissolved in cold water, until you like the consistency. I added 4 tbsp in total.
To carve the turkey
- Separate the legs from the body and dislocate the bone. Carve with a sharp knife following the shape of the body.
- Repeat the process with the wings.
- Cut along the bone that separates the breasts and then start going down one side, carving really cose to the bone so as not to leave any meat behind and then following the shape of the ribs.
- Cut each piece as you wish to serve and that's it! In general turkey is served at room temperatura (if you reheat it you could dry it out) but the sauce is served hot.
Notes
Cooking time guide in case you don't have a thermometer (not recommended as it depends on the oven and how well your turkey was thawed): 5.5kg 1h25min in total, 7kg 2h, 9kg 3h
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