Turkey Day-Not Thanksgiving

It is a cheap meal, if you count all the additional meals you get from just one day of cooking.
Cost of turkey: $24
Time to roast it: 5 hours
Finished result:


How I cooked it:

Rinse turkey and remove neck and giblet bag.
Salt inside of bird.
Set in roasting pan with rack.
Lift skin and cut away fat from neck.
In bowl mix minced garlic, olive oil, minced onion, and sage. (to taste)
Lift skin again and pour mixture under the skin. Pat along skin on top to get the mixture all over the bird.
Sprinkle poultry seasoning over top of bird and drizzle with olive oil.

Place in preheated oven (350)

Set timer for 4 hours and walk away.
I do not tent my turkey or baste during this time.
At 4 hours, check bird. If juices from thigh run clear, check with a meat thermometer. 165 is needed. If it is not that warm, put the bird back in and check every 30 minutes until done.

Yep- no basting. Not hard work.

When done, pull bird out of oven and let it set for at least 20 minutes. Do not pick at it. Yes I know picking is yummy and you want to, really- leave it alone! This lets all the juices settle and you will have moist turkey.

Now carve for dinner.
I also cut everything off the bird at this time. I put stuff in freezer bags so we can eat later.
I save one breast just for turkey sandwiches -- Sarge's favorite part of the turkey!
The first night we eat off the other breast and I made Apple cranberry dressing on the side. I omitted the liver, used chicken stock. I also used sour dough and corn breads instead of wheat and white. It was yummy!

I made gravy from the neck bone (boiled in 4 cups of water and then thrown out) and added the dripping from the pan. Season to taste with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, onion and garlic. Make a rue (I use flour and part of the water from the pan but you can use cornstarch if you wish) thicken and serve. I make enough to fill a 2qt pan, that way I can freeze it for later use. I use ice cube trays to freeze it and pop them out into a Ziploc bag.

Dinners pulled off the turkey were 7- including last nights, plus, I will boil the bones and make stock for later meals. Cost average then is: $24/8= $3 per meal for meat. Plus we get at least 4 days of turkey sandwiches for lunch.

Enjoy!!