Bacon All the Way
Look no further if you want the perfect thanksgiving turkey. So moist and juicy because of the bacon, you won’t wait for it to cool down even.
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In a food processor, blend together ½ pound raw bacon slices, ½ pound butter and generous handfuls of fresh herbs.
  2. Blend all this until you have a smooth paste.You can make this ahead and store the bacon butter in an airtight container for up to five days.
  3. When you are ready to prepare the turkey, bring the bacon butter to room temperature.Take the turkey out of its salt bag and give it a good rinse. Place it breast side up on a large platter or pan that will fit in the fridge.
  4. Gently separate the skin from the flesh.
  5. Take big fistfuls of butter and rub it up under the skin and over the flesh. Use about ¾ quarters of the bacon butter under the flesh. Pat the skin down and press the butter into a pretty even layer under the skin.
  6. Rub the remaining butter over the outside of the bird, paying particular attention to the legs, which will not be covered by the bacon blanket.
  7. Weave the bacon strips into a lattice on top of the turkey as in the picture.
  8. Line the deep roasting that fits your bird with several layers of foil.
  9. Just set the bird on the vegetables as follows. Cover the bottom of the roasting dish with a thick layer of aromatic root vegetables. Whole vegetables, don’t’ peel or chop, just remove the paper from onions and the tops from carrots.
  10. Stuff an apple and an onion into the cavity of the bird. Tuck some fresh sage leaves and any other herbs you have around the bird. Place the rack over the vegetables if you are using one, don’t worry if it’s wobbly, or just put the bird on the vegetables directly.
  11. Take a piece of foil and mold it to make a shield to cover the bird if it starts to brown too much later. Remove the molded piece of foil to a safe place. It is really hard to properly cover a hot turkey in a hot oven.
  12. Roast the turkey at 450° for 30 minutes, then turn the heat down to 375° for the rest of the cooking.
  13. Gently stick the probe thermometer into a thick part of the breast, carefully sliding it between an opening in the bacon blanket. Make sure you don’t’ go so deep you hit the bone. You want the turkey to be cooked to 165°.
  14. If the turkey and the bacon start to get too brown before the meat is cooked, cover it with your prepared foil armor. Generally, you need about 15 minutes cooking per pound of turkey. For a 20 pound turkey, go 4 to 4 ½ hours.
Recipe Notes

I highly recommend that you make the small investment in a probe meat thermometer, one with a probe to stick in the turkey and a long cord that plugs into a counter unit.