Citrus and Herb Roasted Turkey + Turkey 101

We’ve got less than 72 hours until the big day.

Until party time.

Until it’s socially acceptable to start drinking prosecco at noon.

Until it’s time to stuff our faces with stuffing and turkey and gravy and potatoes.

Until we all have to un-do the top button of our pants. Unless of course you’re going to be like me a wear stretchy leggings to dinner. It’s the right thing to do. Let’s all do it this year. Even the men.

So I think it’s time to talk turkey. Maybe you have a recipe that you use every year for your turkey. Or maybe you need a new one. Either way, you’ll love this post. Why? Because I break it down for you step by step on how to prep a turkey, season the turkey and roast the turkey. And it’s complete with a Citrus and Herb Roasted Turkey that will make you swoon. Ready?

Okay go.

First lets make a compound herb butter. Add a bunch of your favorite herbs and lemon zest to a food processor with some butter.

Pulse away until everything is incorporated.

Season it with salt and pepper and give it a few more pulses, just for good measure. Then set this aside and lets get the bird ready!

Let’s truss the turkey. Grab a piece of twine. It’s awesome. See where the head use to be attached to the bird? That’s where we are anchoring our twine. Place it underneath that little piece of the bird where my hands are.

 Bring the twine down both sides of the breast so it’s close to the legs.

Tie a super tight knot at the top of the bird!! A lot of youtube videos suggest tying a surgeons knot to keep things extra sturdy. It’s basically a regular double knot but you thread the twine though one extra time!

Give it a nice tight tie and then make another double knot. Kinda like you would tie your shoes in a double knot.

Then hook the twine around the 2 birds legs

Here’s another angle….

Cross the twine around the breasts again so the legs get pulled together.

Make another tight knot so the legs are not only tied up but the turkey is pulled into kind of a ball shape.

Pull the twine on either side of the breast

And pull it all the way down so we can tuck the wings behind the string to secure them in place.

See how the wings are tucked under the twine? Now let’s flip the bird over

And tie another knot right where we originally started.

Then pull the twine back around the bird, keeping the lower part of the wings tucked away…

 And then flip it again…

Okay one more knot at the top by the legs now that we’ve flipped the bird over again!

Make it a double or triple knot just for peace of mind

Voila!!

Now stuff the cavity with some parsley

Sage

And thyme

A few lemon halves

And make sure it’s all nice and snug inside the bird.

Remember that herb butter we made? Slather it all over the bird and give it a good massage.

Season it with some salt and pepper and then place it into a roasting pan on top of a metal rack. It’s UBER important to use a rack so the turkey doesn’t sit in it’s own juices which makes it soggy. Unless you want a soggy bird. But I want one with extra crispy skin because it’s so so so good!

Into the oven it goes!

And a few hours later…..

It’s TURKEY TIME!! Don’t even worry about the twine until it’s time to carve. You can just snip it off before you carve and serve the bird!

So here’s the super delicious and MOIST turkey recipe!! A decadent homemade gravy post coming your way shortly!

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