Turkey Day!

I love Thanksgiving. A day to cook, and then eat, eat, eat, and then sit around in a stupor with an extra 3 days of weekend to enjoy? Yes, please!

I have hosted Thanksgiving for the last few years, and this year I tried wrapping my turkey in bacon. It was delicious. Here's how I did it:

I started with a good-quality free-range fresh turkey from Whole Foods. I removed the neck and gibblets, rinsed the turkey and patted it dry with paper towels. I let it sit at room temp for about an hour.

I chopped some herbs (I found a pack of fresh herbs at Whole Foods called a 'Holiday Mix' - this was great - it had tarragon, oregano, rosemary all rolled into one package). I rubbed the turkey with olive oil, then spread the herbs on top, and dusted generously with salt and pepper.



I then layed bacon over the turkey.





I then made a mixture of white wine and butter - about 1.5 sticks of butter and a whole bottle of white will do. I poured this over the top. It's important to keep at least a 1/4 inch of liquid in the bottom of the pan while the turkey cooks.



I put it in the oven at 450 for 30 minutes. I then basted, tented the turkey with aluminum foil, and put it back in the oven for a few hours, until the thermometer read 180. I have a pretty cheap meat thermometer from Ikea, but it's one that had a metal end that sticks into the turkey with a wire that comes out to a display with the temp on it - these are worth the money! It takes a lot of guesswork and frustration out of cooking a turkey. I basted every 45 minutes once it was in the oven at 350.

When the turkey reached 165, I took the foil off and let it roast without cover until it was 175 (about an hour). I then tented it again, and since I had time, let it cook for another hour to get to 180. Still basting every 30-45 minutes!



The bird was done 2 hours before dinner was to be served, which is great because it gives it time to cool and set before needing to carve it. We had the great fortune of having a friend's father over who really knew how to carve a turkey, so we had an extremely professionally-cut turkey in the end. Thanks, Lou!

In the meantime, we enjoyed snacks, set the table, and relaxed.









We had 3 sets of friends over to help us celebrate all we are thankful for. Everyone brought vegetable sides and some pies. This is usually my favorite part of the meal - the vegetable sides everyone else brings. I have to say they were unusually delicious this year. Jennifer made a citrus-beet-fennel salad, Gail and Amy brought butternut squash, and Janice and Jeremy brought sauteed kale, and a dish with butternut squash, goat cheese, and leeks.

Charles made a fire to enjoy during dessert






Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!